Two

His back was hunched over like he was in an enormous amount of pain.

            Alex’s heart lurched for him. His naked torso glistened in a curtain of blood, one that seemed too dark to be normal. He wore dark cargo pants with numerous slashes revealing tawny skin in the rips and tears and he was on his knees. His wrists were bound with a thick chain, the color wasn’t silver but a bronzed metal, which suspended both his arms over his head horizontally nearly vertical but at an angle. His dark hair was matted to his head, dripping with both sweat and his blood. There was a collar of some sort, bronzed in metal and color that was sparking due to electricity zinging around it.

            She was looking at his back as it strained, the muscles stretching and contracting with his movements as he struggled against his confines. She could not move though she so badly wanted to help him. She was within arm’s reach and slowly brought her right hand to rest on his shoulder blade. He jumped, his head jerking his sweaty hair about. Her fingers slid on his skin because of all the blood and Alex wanted nothing more than to wipe it off of him and hold him to her. That was a strange sensation but it’s the truth; she wanted to comfort this man with all that she had and help him heal from whatever was happening to him.

            All of a sudden, she was turned to face his front and what she saw shocked her beyond all reasonable doubt. Before her stood a man who was in unbelievable amounts of agony and pain. His teeth were ground together, his jaw clenched, and his eyes squeezed shut so tightly, he may have blinded himself. Three scars trailed thickly up from his left jawline to rest just above his cheek in thin lines, the middle one ran up to his top eyelid. Again, she reached for him, her fingertips just barely grazing his forehead when his head snapped up. Alex let out a cry of empathy as she read the anguish on his face; it was brutal and he was in pure torment. His large chest rose rapidly with every breath he took, almost to the point of hyperventilation. She sank to her knees and grasped his face between her hands, urging him to open his eyes so she could see his aching soul on the inside. A lone tear slipped out of the corner of her eye as she then felt the suffering he was enduring, her soul feeling as if it had been ripped apart because this man was in misery and she needed to take that away from him.

            His face was starting to relax, jaw growing slack as he melted like putty in her hands. His lips started to part as he sucked in a breath; his neck was no longer stretching to escape from his binds.

            He slowly opened his eyes and-