Anastasis

Description

The skull rolled off his lap onto the floor as he stood up on legs weak from torture and starvation. They couldn’t hold him up on their own anymore, and the boy held onto the chains that were secured above his head. His fingers were slick with sweat, and his hands slid on the chains several times, leaving deep cuts in their wake. The boy ignored the pain in his hands. It would be nothing compared to what was coming next.

A single chocolate brown creature came around the corner and stalked up to the boy. It leaned down and wrapped its claws around the boy’s throat; easily lifting him up until his toes just barely touched the ground.

The boy knew what was coming next, but he couldn’t stop the tears that burned his eyes and ran down his dirty cheeks. He dropped the blood covered chains and grabbed the creature’s arm instead. He couldn’t hope to remove it, but the boy had just enough strength to pull himself up a little bit; releasing some of the pressure on his throat so that he could speak three words.

“Please,” the boy sobbed out a choked whisper that nevertheless managed to echo off the stone walls several times, “kill me.”