Chapter Eighteen

Aftermath of all the fucked up s**t that happened in the last couple chapters

Warning: This chapter is rather mild and does not contain much actual violence besides a very small scene which is really just a death threat by knife point.  It does contain some blood and mild gore, taking care of injuries, and mentions of drug abuse.

-Rema-

After I wrapped my hand in a dirty cloth, we burned that godforsaken house of horrors to the ground and started stumbling down the road.   The car I had drove in was gutted in The man’s dirt driveway, so we just had to walk until we came across a car I could hotwire.

I held Frey up the best I could, since he couldn’t walk with his broken leg, but he could hardly keep himself awake at this point.  My arm was obviously broken, and my ribs screamed at me with every step, but I pushed through it, wiping the blood out of my eyes when it got too much to see.

Frey was in way worse shape than me, his hands still wrapped in barbwire and his leg swollen with nails driven into it.  He had cuts and burns everywhere, and had lost a lot of blood, yet he barely made a noise of pain… Actually, since he killed the man… He didn’t say a word at all, and it didn’t even feel like Frey I was walking with…

I’m not sure how he did that in the shape he’s in, but I’m thankful because if he didn’t I’d be dead.  I felt so helpless, just sitting there on those stairs day after day and listening to him cry and scream in pain, to the sounds of him being tortured by that psycho… all those hurtful words that were constantly being drilled into his head.  I don’t think I’ll ever get those sounds out of my head.

It scared me more than anything when The Man said he’d kill me, not because I was afraid of dying, but because I knew I’d leave Frey alone with that sick man, and no one would ever come looking for him… No one would save him.

“Frey,” I spoke slowly, “Do you know where we could go?  Anywhere nearby?”

He looked up, but his eyes were different, darker… Colder than normal.

“I don’t know my way around…” I said slowly.

“Then you probably shouldn’t have followed him.”

I froze, looking at Frey.  It… Didn’t sound like him… No accent, no sarcastic undertone, just cold and dead… and he referred to himself in the third person?  Just like when he killed the man.

“Frey?” I asked slowly, trying to catch his eyes.

“No.” He answered.

“Wha...Wait… Huh?”

“I’m really starting to not like you very much, Rema… You made him rather weak, and almost got him killed.”

I just stared with wide eyes, confusion running across my face. “Frey, what... are you talking about?”

“Honestly, I would have killed you back there too if Frey didn’t make such a big deal about it.” He spat at me, his voice laced with more hatred than I ever heard in it before.  That familiar darkness flashed back and forth over his eyes.

The voices he talked about once or twice… The Monster, I think he called it?  The thing that helped him escape… Was he using it as a protection right now?  In my mind, it seemed like he had Multiple Personality Disorder, and created this “monster” to cope with the abuse he went through as a kid.

“Listen, we need to get help… Find a phone, or a car I can hotwire, or someone who can help us… You’re really hurt right now and-”

“Yes, he is and it’s your f*****g fault!” He snapped at me, shoving me away out of the blue.

I winced and hissed through my teeth when I hit the ground and pain shot up my arm.  I looked up at him, “Frey, knock it off, why would you push me like that?  You can’t even stand on your own right now.”

“We don’t need you.” He growled at me, half stumbling and half falling as he walked toward me. “You aren’t worth this anymore, I was wrong about you… You’re just going to get him killed…” He pulled his knife, coming at me slowly and limping like some kind of roadside monster.

“Hey, Hey… Frey, chill…” I held my hands up in a passive manner.

“No, No, no, Not this time… I won’t let him.”

He was right over me, grabbing my torn and bloody tee shirt and holding the knife to my throat.

“Frey, stop, come back, stop.” I looked at the blade, and back at his empty face.  His eyes just staring at me like two black holes, sucking up all my thoughts.

In this altered and damaged state of mind he was in, I worried he’d kill me because of this hateful and angry part of him.  I swallowed and closed my eyes, reaching out and grabbing his injured leg.  I didn’t want to hurt him, but it was all I could think to do to snap him out of it.

He screamed in pain and dropped to the ground, whining like a wounded animal and looking around in a panic. “Wha… What the f**k happened?  Where are we? S**t, that f****n’ hurt!” He had that mild southern accent back, and I knew it was him again… The real him.

“We escaped, you killed him, Remember?”

He nodded as he rubbed his head, still holding his leg gently so he didn’t push the nails further into it.

“We fell, that’s why your leg hurts.” I lied, hoping he couldn’t remember him trying to kill me and me grabbing his leg like a cheap shot to stop him. “We need help, Frey…”

He really was in awful shape.  I honestly didn’t know if he’d make it much longer, and if he did, I wasn’t sure how I’d treat this.

“Do you know where we could find a phone? A car I can hotwire? Closest town or hospital? Anything?” I asked.

He shook his head, “I ain’t goin’ to no hospital.” His voice was quiet, but stern.

“Frey, I don’t know how I’d treat your injuries.  You have a broken f*****g leg-”

“I ain’t goin’ to no damn hospital!  They’ll figure out who we are and what we’ve done and we’ll be locked away.  I ain’t goin’.” He shouted at me, his eyes narrowed. “If you wanna go run to a f****n’ hospital, be my guest, but I’m not.  You can leave me here to die, I don’t really give a f**k.”

“Ugh… Fine… No hospital… But that still doesn’t solve our problem.”

“His car still runs, the beat up blue truck… Why are we way out here when we could have just drove that thing?” He asked, completely forgetting he and I walked this way.  I had no idea the truck ran, and Frey didn’t mention anything, but he was in that strange altered state, so maybe that’s why.

“All right, let’s go back..”

We stumbled our way back to the burning house, and I hotwired The Man’s truck and we drove home.  It took a few hours, and despite me constantly trying to keep Frey awake, he passed out about an hour in.  I had to check his breathing and pulse every few moments and risk crashing just to make sure he was still alive.

My mind ran circles.  I didn’t know what I was going to do.  Frey was right and a hospital was out of the question, but I didn’t know how’d I’d handle all this.  Frey’s injuries were serious, and I myself had a broken wrist, broken ribs, and a busted head. It was going to be extremely difficult to deal with this…

I got home in about two and a half hours by speeding through the backroads and highways.  I had to drag Frey up two flights of stairs and into the bathroom, and by the time I got him there my arm was killing me.

I ran into the kitchen and swallowed a handful of pain pills from Kacia’s “Secret (but not so secret) stash.”  I made a splint out of a Tee shirt and remote control for now and taped a bunch of gauze on my head to control the bleeding.  It’d last for now, and I’d take care of myself properly after I handled Frey.

Frey was a whole other story, and I felt at a loss of where to start.  So I simply stripped him down and ran a shower and scrubbed the blood and filth off him to begin.   The water sort of woke him, but he still faded in and out and didn’t seem to understand where he was.

“Frey,” I asked him, searching for his eyes while I bandaged the burn on his neck.  I was lucky we got out when we did, because the burn was becoming infected already.

He looked at me, his eyes focusing and unfocusing.

“Try to stay awake, okay?”

“Ugh, bu’ it ‘urts like a b***h…” He muttered, his words were extremely slurred, but at least he was responsive.

“I know honey… I know…” I said quietly.

I looked down at his leg and chewed on my lip.  I had to figure out something to support it… A makeshift cast of sorts… But before I did anything, I had to get all those nails out.  There was a lot of them, hammered cruelly into his skin and muscle… It must have hurt so bad, and for a moment I wished that sick man was still alive so I could kill him all over again.

I grabbed a washcloth and hovered over a nail for a few moments, before I grabbed a hold of it and began pulling it out.  Blood rushed past the nail, and when I removed it it gushed down from the hole it left.  Dark and thick.  Frey screamed.

Tears ran down my cheek and I took out the other one, and another, and another.  I knew I had to remove them, and that even though it must have hurt like hell it was for his own good, but Frey’s screams of pure agony made me break down.

With each nail I removed, his screams became longer until they broke into sobs at the end and I broke down and cried, hiding my face in my hands.

He was gasping and his eyes were screwed shut, “Rema, just f****n’ do it.” He hissed through his teeth.

“I can’t… I’m hurting you.” I stammered through my whimpers. “You need a real doctor, I can’t-”

“Just f****n’ do it already! Goddamn, I’m the one with nails in my leg, for f**k’s sake, stop f****n’ cryin’!” He screamed at me.  Then his voice broke and he dropped his head, “Just… Just get it over with, please.”

I nodded, pushing back my tears.  If Frey was in this much pain and still willing to go through with this, I could too.

I removed all the nails, and tried my best to block out his screaming and sobs of pain.  It must have hurt so bad, especially with the same leg being broken, I’m not sure how he stayed strong through it.  I would have been begging for it to stop.

I wrapped a towel around his leg and tied it tight, wincing when he cussed and gasped at the pain.

“What next?” I asked.

He inhaled sharply through his teeth, his eyes still closed. He didn’t speak, he just held up his arms where the barbed wire had been wrapped around his wrists. “Just get the worst taken care of first… And do them both quick, don’t f**k around...” He whispered.

I nodded, looking at the horrible mess of blood and metal and skin.  It was disgusting, like something out of a horror movie.  Chucks of his flesh was caught in between the sharp twists of the wire, and the pointed ends were embedded deep in his skin.  I didn’t know how I would take all these out without risking him bleeding out on me.

Suddenly, a knock made us both jump.

“Rema, what’s with all the damn screaming in there?  You guys okay?  Where the hell have you been?” It was Kacia, she must have just gotten home.

I looked at Frey, mouthing “can she help?” and he rolled his eyes and shrugged, leaning his head back on the wall.  At this point, I was sure he’d pass out again.  He looked so pale.

I cracked open the door and saw Kacia’s face drop with shock and fear. “Rema! Oh my god! What hap-”

“Please just help, I don’t have time to explain.” I told her quickly,

“Your face is a bruised mess, oh my god! What the hell did you get yourself into?”

I pulled open the door, “What happened doesn’t matter right now.  I need your help!” I shouted.

She stood frozen in the doorway, her hands over her mouth as she looked at Frey.  “What the… F**k happened to the homeless freak?”

“F**k you too, s**t, f**k you too.” Frey muttered a comeback, glancing over with heavy eyes.

“His name is Frey, how many times do I have to tell you?” I said, “He’s really hurt, I need your help taking this barbed wire out of his arm, he’ll bleed out if I don’t put pressure on it right away and he wants them both done quickly.”

“Rema, we aren’t a f****n’ hospital!  He needs professional help!  What the f**k is this s**t?  Who did this to you guys?”

“It isn’t important and we can’t go to a hospital, please, just help, I’ll explain everything later.”

“I’m not a damn nurse, Rema, how am I supposed to help.”

“Just help me apply pressure to the wounds once I get the wire off.”

“Hey, ya two mind shutting up and getting to work?  I’m over here sitting with my wrists wrapped in barbed wire, kinda f****n’ hurts…” Frey interrupted.

“Please, Kacia… Please…” I looked at her with doe eyes, full of tears and pleading.

She sighed, looking at him and then back at me. “Okay… Okay, but then you got some explaing to do!” She said sternly.

Kacia sat there awkwardly while I cut the wire and began untwisting it from Frey’s wrists.  Pieces of skin and tissue went with each strand, but I couldn’t focus on that or the blood that was pouring out of the wounds.  I got the first wrist done, and Kacia was pale and looking like she was about to throw up.  I told her to wrap his wrist in the towel and hold it tight as I worked on the second wrist.

Frey cussed, screamed, and kicked with his one good leg the whole time during the first wrist and half way through the second he passed out again.  I wrapped the second one in a towel and held it up and tight after I finished.

“Rema, he’s bleeding through this..” Kacia gagged, feeling the wet crimson touch her fingers.

“Wrap it with another on top.” I said, throwing her another hand towel.

“He’s gonna ruin all our towels…” She muttered like the selfish brat she was.

My wrist was killing me by the time the bleeding stopped, and it took a long, long time.  I then wrapped both wrists in gauze.  His leg, was more tricky.  I took two pieces of wood broke from chair legs (or more so, had Kacia break) and used them as support and wrapped the whole lower leg in an large ace bandage I had left over from the days of my husband and “falling down the stairs a lot.”

The cuts I cleaned and bandaged what I could, but the welts on his back and the broken ribs I couldn’t do anything about.  Once we finished, Kacia helped me drag him to my bed to lie him down.

“Okay, he’s all taken care of… Now while we fix you up, we’re having a talk…” Kacia said, a stressed look on her face.

Author's Note

Okay, Chapter Eighteen here. The Torture's finally over, but they're both pretty messed up.

Frey's Monster wants to kill Rema, and blames her for everything.
Kacia actually is useful, yet starting to suspect some stuff.
And Rema... Well, Rema's trying her best to do everything.

The First Volume's actually coming to an end in about five chapters, so things'll start wrapping up soon.
Then it's onto Volume Two!

Any feedback is great. Let me know your thoughts. =)

Reviews

[CAPOLAVORO]

This is so cool with Kacia involved already this is nice. Kacia is not that bad somehow. She really helped. :) Good to know.

[Sinbulvinter]

Kacia isn't really a bad person, you're right - she's just got some attitude problems and can be rather selfish and immature. But she ain't all that horrible - especially in a story full of serial killers. haha

[Kesha]

Idk but I hated when Rema said "just so I could kill (the man) him all over again" I immediately thought "you didn't kill him in the first place" lol smh. Great chapter btw :)

[Sinbulvinter]

Haha, yeah, everyone began to get annoyed with Rema at this point, she really was a pretty useless person during all that - Frey, who was fucked up with a broken leg, still managed to be more useful than her. haha

[Kesha]

Haha yeah Frey is pretty bad a*s :) Rema is supposed to be a murderer but it doesn't really seem like she truly is lol

[Sinbulvinter]

Yeah, Frey's a badass. haha.
And you're right. Rema isn't truely a murderer. She just kills mostly out of fear or paranoia, not because she's ruthless or wants to. She's just a damaged victim who killed to survive and it became a habit.
Frey was raised as a killer, and doesn't feel any regret for what he does and really has no value for human life, just kills because he wants to.
They both are murderers, but Rema's way less of one.

[Kesha]

Yeah I figured so I'm glad you killed her off, I don't think she would be of much help with Frey lol.

[Sinbulvinter]

Yeah, Rema wasn't cut out for the serial killer life, so I kinda had to kill her off. Plus, she would have never lasted through the second volume, the s**t the characters get into it that volume is way, way more dangerous - Rema wouldn't have survived a day. XP

[Kesha]

Haha that's awesome, Rema just didn't seem to fit in really.

[Sinbulvinter]

Yeah, she really didn't. I liked her character idea, being a battered wife turned killer, but she just wasn't savage enough to make it through.

[Kesha]

Haha no she wasnt

[Island Hippy]

Aloha, the nail removal made me wince and gasp and do all the things a scene like that should. Finally Rema is doing something other than being useless, I think she needs to tread carefully though. She's been frustrating the last few chapters because she mostly just cried, but I have to say the way she cares for him (like this) is quite a redeeming trait. I liked having another character break up the scene a bit and lighten it slightly but I can't see Kacia being around for long with the way the monster is at the moment. Nice transition. Izzy

[Sinbulvinter]

Yeah Rema was extremely useless in the worst of it, as she really couldn't stand up to The Man. But, at least she's got that caring side, and tries to take care of Frey after everything that happened.
Thanks for reading and reviewing

[Dr. YumnaKay]

Hmmmm the aftermath part - I must say it was interesting to read when Rema realises who really she was talking to instead of Frey. But I felt you could have prolonged that part, it felt too abrupt to me, or more like that you hurried with Rema trying to bring Frey back. But that was some quick thinking on Rema's part to use his broken leg...

That scene with Rema taking out nails from his leg was when I held my breath. You wrote that out really well, and it wasn't hard to imagine how Frey must have been feeling when the nails were being taken out.

Rema - that she wanted to kill the Man all over again, this made me laugh lol if the Man had been alive she would have done nothing lie before haha :p

Kacia - I don't blame her for being nosy. Anyone in their sane mind would be like her if the saw anyone covered in blood and all... But that dialogue of hers about Frey ruining all the towels, that was funny :p

This dialogue here of Kacia:
“I’m not a damn nurse, Rema, how am I supposed to help.”
This felt too flat to me. Like no exclamation marks, or question marks, it just read like an ordinary dialogue. I felt you could add in some expression of Kacia here...

The ending got me confused on one bit. This line here:
I took two pieces of wood broke from chair legs (or more so, had Kacia break) and used them as support and wrapped the whole lower leg in an large ace bandage I had left over from the days of my husband and “falling down the stairs a lot.”

That falling down the stairs bit, I didn't really understand that part..

Sorry this review turned out to be longer than usual lol but I loved this chapter. I'm relieved the s**t is over for now but yeah they are messy...

Oh and I have a new thought.. may be it's going to be Frey's monster who's gonna kill Rema.. but idk lol :p

[Sinbulvinter]

Thanks for reading and reviewing. =)

I see what you mean about the first scene with Rema and Frey's Monster, I could have easily prologued it. I think I might have rushed the pace a bit.

And you're right about Rema, she's talking a big game 'cause shes angry, but yeah - in honesty she would have probably done nothing if he were still alive.

Kacia's part was fun to write, and her character alone is a lot of fun to write - just cause she's a selfish b***h at times and just says stuff that gets under everyone's skin.
The dialogue line you pointed out was a mistake on my part I must have missed, I'll add a question mark to that for sure, and maybe a bit of body langauge.

The "falling down the stairs" bit is referring to Rema's past with her husband. A lot of abused women who get beat and injured, usually lie about how they got injured "falling down the stairs" is a common excuse.

It's fine about the length of the review. I like long reviews. I was also relieved to be done with all the torture, that was some tiring s**t to write. But yeah, the clean up was pretty messy. XP

Well, maybe... maybe not. You'll see

[Dr. YumnaKay]

It did feel like that but you covered that scene well in the next chapters so it's cool 😉😊
read moreIt did feel like that but you covered that scene well in the next chapters so it's cool 😉😊

Yeah Rema is pretty much all words and no action, I think lol

And yes, I enjoyed reading Kacia's part.
Hmm okay. A bit of a body language there would be cool.

Oh, thank you for clarifying that part. I had no idea regarding that, that's why the confusion 😶

The s**t was fun to read. I'm an adrenaline junkie so whatever gets that chemical running inside me is good haha 😂
Ahh, then I'll try to prolong my reviews lol

Hmm you're evil lol I will find out 😛
You're welcome 😊😊

[Dr. YumnaKay]

Oh lol this read more thing is not working and I wrote out a long comment so not gonna repeat that haha

[Sinbulvinter]

yeah, sometimes the "read more" thing glitches out. Its cool.

[matrixmark]

Well one thing is for certain, I wouldn't want to be picking up Frey and Rema walking along the road. They must have looked a right state. Its good that you remembered the barbed wire bit - some authors forget about things like this and you didn't - good work. So as I was reading the beginning, I did start to wonder why Frey was so quiet and then it began to dawn on me - is he getting pissed off with Rema already. Or is he just tired - I think its the former - so I will read on to find out and come back to these comments a little later in the review. SO IMMEDIATELY after I wrote the comment - I was given the answer.
So now Rema is walking with 'the monster' - hmm how lovely for her.
Good line - His eyes just staring at me like two black holes, sucking up all my thoughts.
The pulling out the nails was pretty dark and yet almost some kind of a weird bonding moment between them. It was showing that Rema was still willing do anything to help Frey even though Freys unpredictable 'monster' had threatened her earlier.
In a strange wy, it was a kind of touching moment - I cant really explain it BUT thats how i felt.
It was another great graphic scene to have read and I can only imagine how Kacia felt walking in on s**t like that. But I kinda guess that she wont be around for long. I am also guessing because of the 'monster' and Rema thing from earlier on - Rema is in more trouble than she realises with 'the monster' - I might be wrong BUT I will continue to read.

Another good piece.

Mark.

[Sinbulvinter]

Hah, yeah they're lucky they were on a desterted country road. Or people would be calling the cops for sure.
And Yes, The Monster pretty much hates Rema right now for being so utterly useless, it doesn't do anything awful to her, but it does threaten to kill her pretty much constantly.
Yeah, I really had to make sure I had things correct about the injuries they had and s**t, had to go back and reread to make sure I was right. I noticed people doing that before in stories, forgetting details, and that makes plotholes. No body likes plotholes.
And yes, these two have been through a lot together by now, so Rema doesn't really care Frey's monsters trying to kill her. She still wants to help him, and its the least she could do for being utterly useless for the last four chapters. heh...heh...

Thanks for reading and reviewing!

[matrixmark]

Plotholes - they can become a minefield. I see it quite a bit, but its good to see that you have taken time to remember things. Good work, I always applaud that.
Again it just goes to sow, how hard it is doing a book and that is why I like this story....... ITS A STORY and not everybody can do it.

Keep writing.

Mark.

[Sinbulvinter]

Yeah I try to avoid plotholes all I can, but I think I still have a few.
And thats true, writing novels aren't as easy as they seem, for sure

[Oneluv]

Now that the monster hates Rema, I wonder I Frey would be able to control it. I think Rema friend might stab her in the back and go to the police. I dont trust her lol. Great chapter! I cant wait to see what happends next!

[Sinbulvinter]

Yeah the Monster is starting to become a problem for Frey and Rema, especially since he has trouble controllng it.
And your right not to trust Kacia, haha. She's a friend of Rema's, but she isn't a very reliable person

[Jisad Oneida Cho]

Can't wait for the rest! I wonder how Kacia is going to deal with them moving forward...

Reader me just wants to read about more s**t happening to them, while adult me is just thinking about the pain, car insurance, medical care and roommate issues!

[Sinbulvinter]

They're basically going to try to keep Kacia in the dark as long as they can.

Well, there isn't much more torture or violence left, at least until Volume two (where some real fucked up s**t starts happening to Frey, again, He has the worst luck.) I hope that it still peeks your interest though. Now you get the aftermath, worrywort Rema, suicidal Frey, and nosey Kacia.

[Jisad Oneida Cho]

Yeah volume 1 has certainly hit its peak, but I'm super pumped for volume 2 (I'll def read the rest of 1 though too!)