WHO: Clio, Martin [NPC] WHEN: From the last scene until Sunday night, monday early morning WHERE: Martin's WHAT: Just a lot of shit WARNINGS: Torture, beatings, rape, and some terrible parenting.
It went on like that for a few days, Clio following his little rules to the letter. She never spoke and he fed her twice a day. Let her up three times. He even gave her books. Clio couldn’t remember the last time she had spoken. Every night he curled up in bed with her, fucking her because he could feel himself losing grip on whatever inspiration being around her had caused, and somehow he thought sleeping with her would help. And Clio let it happen because everything was already so awful. What was the point in making things worse for herself with non-compliance? At least he hadn’t shocked her in ages.
She hadn’t prayed in days either.
With the loss of inspiration, things had started changing in Martin. Now when he sat at the computer, he looked dismayed. He got distracted easily, and then frustrated. He never really wrote more than a few words at a time. Clio knew that the removal of her inspiration was going to make him angry, even if he wouldn’t understand it. He was going to get dangerous.
“FUCK!” he yelled, shoving his chair away from his desk with a grunt. He rose and paced in front of his computer, and then he turned on Clio, glaring at her. “I don’t understand! W- What’s going on!? You’re doing something to me, aren’t you?”
Clio just raised her eyebrows and pointed to her chain. A way of signing ‘how could I possibly be doing anything?’ Feigning innocence when she was, in fact, to blame for it. If it went on long enough he would find himself lacking the inspiration to even get out of bed. Though she hoped to be out of here before then. She just had to get to him without the damn remote he always carried around with him. Without the remote he couldn't shock her, and she was going to strange him like Princess Leia did to Jabba the Hutt. Imagining it in vivid detail was keeping her going.
Martin growled and he turned on Clio, glaring at her. Slowly, she tuned so she was facing him, and she sat up. He looked livid and she hardly wanted to face him lying down-
"Whatever you're doing to me, fucking stop!" he screamed at her. Then before she could even react, he was on her. Martin was a slim guy, but he was also almost six and a half feet tall. He towered over her anyway, and it was a lot of body mass coming at her at once. She let out a howling scream as Martin slammed his fists into her belly and then he fit her across the face, her cheek exploding in pain.
She fought back as much as she could, though he was clearly stronger than she was. Blows rained down on her again and again and just when she thought she couldn't take any more, curled up there on a ball to protect herself, Martin straightened up and left her alone. He dug the remote out of his pocket and it was now or never.
With a banshee-like shriek, Clio uncurled and she kicked out at his wrist. The remote went flying out of his hands, across the room. Adrenaline was the only thing pushing her now, because she knew if she stopped he would electrocute her or kill her. With amazing speed for a woman who had just been beaten, she leapt at him, winding the chain that attached herself to the wall around his neck.
And then she pulled.
Martin went down, dragging Clio with him. She held the chain tight while Martin choked and spluttered, unraveling it when he lost consciousness. He was still alive, but unlikely to regain consciousness for a very long time, if ever. With a grunt, Clio pulled herself back up onto the mattress and she let out a howl of pain, frustration, horror- Everything she had felt in needing to keep silent, she released now that Martin couldn't hurt her for it.
****
She lay there for hours, just letting her muscles rest. Her entire body was battered and she was fairly sure Martin had at least cracked a few of her bones in the onslaught. She still needed to get out of here. Martin was unconscious and that meant no more food. And sure she could survive for a while without being fed, but she didn't want to-
She was still working up the willpower to lift her battered body up to search for something on Martin to dig at the chain in the wall with (probably a belt buckle?) when she heard it.
Footsteps.
Approaching.
Getting louder.
"Help," she said, her throat cracking. She rolled over on the bed, and lifted her broken body, her arms shaking. "Help!" she said more loudly. "Help. HELP! HEY! I CAN HEAR YOU, HELP ME!"
Clio was relieved beyond the telling of it, when the door cracked open. She let out a wail of relief. "Hey! Please, can you help me! This man has been keeping me here! I need your help, please!"
"John-" the woman at the door turned to someone in the hallway, and then she looked back at Clio. ...the expression on her face caused ice to steal into Clio's stomach. Oh god. This woman wasn't going to help her. "John. He's taken a woman-"
"Martin!" a man yelled, shoving the door open. Then he surveyed the scene. Martin on the floor, unconscious, dragging in rattling breaths. Clio beated and bloody and bruised, chained to the wall. He slammed a hand over his mouth shaking his head.
"Oh god, I always knew he was- I knew this was going to happen-" the woman said, baking up.
"What are you doing!?" Clio pleaded with them. "What are you doing, don't-"
"You don't understand," the woman said, her voice cold and devoid of care. "Our son has always- I'm sorry. John. We have to burn it. We have to burn it down."
"WHAT THE FUCK?!" Clio howled at them. She jumped off the bed and collapsed to the floor in a heap as her body refused to hold her. Still she tried to drag her body towards them, and she watched as the woman pulled her husband away, muttering about destroying the evidence.
Oh god. They were leaving. They were leaving her here, and they were going to burn the building down, and she was going to die-
Unless.
The parents. That was new. Maybe it could give them out there something new to look into. Maybe they could find her that way-
She hoped. She didn't think Martin's parents were going to wait long to enact their own plan.