Silent Ground: Part 1

by Quil Carter

  Suddenly there was a flash behind Sasha’s eyes, like a light switch had been flicked on in a dark basement full of boxes and random things. But it wasn’t stacks of boxes that Sasha had seen in that brief illumination… it was a pile of towels resting on top of a dryer, in a laundry room.

  Sasha blinked, and realized his eyes had become unfocused. He squinted them and shook his head, then looked up at the smirking Kheva.

  “The laundry room,” Sasha whispered, and when the smirk on Kheva’s face turned into a cocky smile, Sasha smiled back. “He put the towels in the fucking laundry room.”

  “Indeed, he did,” was Kheva’s reply. He leaned in again and another kiss was planted, this time on the small dimple that everyone had between their upper lip and nose. “You will hate me, nightcrawler, and you will hate Keluva, but in the throes of your terror, you will remember…”

  Kheva’s mouth then shifted downward… and he pressed his lips against Sasha’s.

  Sasha’s eyes widened just as Kheva’s closed. His heart jumped and his body flushed with static electricity, but he didn’t pull away from Kheva’s lips.

  Instead, riding on the adrenaline of briefly catching a glimpse inside of Kel’s head, Sasha closed his eyes and softened his lips.

  My first kiss… this is my first kiss.

  Kheva parted his lips and Sasha followed suit. He didn’t know what he was doing so he took all of his direction from what Kheva was doing. When the man tilted his head to the side, Sasha did too in the opposite direction, and when Kheva’s mouth opened to take him in deeper, Sasha also followed. His pulse was racing now and his blood on fire, and the mixture of the two was making him feel lightheaded, and not in a bad way.

  Sasha kept expecting Kheva to pull away, to break the kiss, but he didn’t, instead, after what Sasha swore was a full five minutes of kissing, he felt Kheva’s warm tongue peek from between those busy lips, and enter Sasha’s mouth.

  There was no way to describe how Sasha felt when he realized what Kheva was doing, but every emotion he had trouble deciphering was positive. The abuse he’d endured this day, and his treatment last night was lost, dripping away like the shower water falling from his body, and only desire, excitement, and want, remained.

  Kheva’s tongue slipped past Sasha’s teeth, and began to caress Sasha’s own, encouraging it to come and greet him. Sasha obliged and together their tongues weaved around each other, their mouths still moving together like they’d become one single entity.

  When Kheva finally broke Sasha’s first kiss, the steam in the bathroom was gone, and the coldness of the fan and Sasha’s nakedness had his chest shaking from the chill.

  No, the shaking wasn’t from being too cold… it was from what he just did.

  Sasha slowly opened his eyes, feeling like he’d been lost in a trance for god knows how long, and before he could stop himself, he let out a small moan.

  Then Kheva’s eyes flickered down, and the smirk returned.

  Sasha looked down too, awareness just starting to come back to, not just his mind, but his body, and he gasped from embarrassment when he saw that he was fully aroused.

  Not just semi… he was hard as rock, the head of his un-circumcised penis rosy pink with a visible bead of clear precum resting on top of the swollen crown.

  “Fuck!” Sasha cried. He covered himself, his body roasting under the embarrassment, and he walked past Kheva to the laundry room door, thankfully right behind him.

  Kheva watched but remained silent, and when Sasha came back with the towel wrapped around his waist, his erection now lost from the influx of shock and humiliation, the Master was still watching him with his eyes bright.

  “K-Kel…” Sasha called, his voice strangled. He dropped his gaze and walked past Kheva. “Kel… can… can I get my clothes?”

  CHAPTER 10

  That evening had Sasha sitting at the kitchen table beside Kheva. The house was warm and cozy and the aroma of lasagna and garlic bread was heavy in the air. It was nine o’clock currently, but Sasha had learned that on busy days such as these ones, where there was a lot of work to be done, they ate dinner late.

  And he was going to get some of that dinner. After what happened last night Sasha didn’t dare question Kheva’s strange method for feeding him. He was starved after working so hard, but there was also a lot of pride attached to his fatigue and aching joints. When he sat down beside Kheva to eat, he felt like he’d truly earned his dinner. For once in his life… he’d actually earned his keep that day.

  It was a wonderful feeling.

  Sasha tried not to drool as he watched Kel bring the lasagna over to the kitchen island. The cheese was still bubbling on top and he could hear it sizzling in its glass casserole dish. He’d never had homemade lasagna before, the best he’d ever had was microwaved from frozen.

  “Kel, that looks fucking amazing,” Sasha said. “If you ever want to teach me to cook, I will be your willing slave.”

  “Yes, Keluva,” Kheva said. He was sitting at the head of the table which Sasha realized was a spot solely dedicated to him. “That looks quite good.”

  Kel’s beaming smile over the two compliments were so bright one could’ve sent Morse code to a space station. The plates were dished up after that: Lasagna, so perfectly made it almost kept its form completely once plated, caesar salad made from homemade caesar dressing and romaine grown in one of their indoor gardens, and garlic bread, which as one could guess, was also homemade… even the garlic had been grown by them.

  Kel presented Kheva with his plate first, then sat down opposite to Sasha with his own.

  At this point, Sasha just couldn’t scrape together a fuck to give about being fed, he just wanted in on this food.

  Interestingly enough, Kel waited for Kheva to take the first bite. Once he was finished, Kel began to eat too. They were both polite eaters, their manners exquisite. It was a far cry from the manners of the Zakharin family and Jobe. They ate in front of the television, and usually by the end of it, at least one of them had pasta sauce on their shirt and there was the occasional stray noodle on the floor.

  After Kheva ate several bites, he put some of the lasagna on his fork and offered it to Sasha. Sasha took it without batting an eyelash, and just like breakfast earlier, they both fell into a routine.

  “Yes, next week will be our store trip,” Kheva said to Kel. They were having light conversation while they ate; Kel had just asked Kheva when the next time they would be going into ‘town’ as he called it. Sasha had no idea where town was, but he guessed it was either Courtenay or possibly Nanaimo. But in all honesty, Sasha really had no idea where the fuck he was.

  Kel’s eyes widened at Kheva’s admission. He deflected his gaze and looked at his plate. “Could you… make me a list?” he asked. His eyes jutted back and forth like he was analyzing something, however the only thing he was looking at was his food.

  “Perhaps,” Kheva responded. He held up a forkful of lasagna and Sasha obediently took it. Sasha questioned Kel’s strange reaction to this, and what did he mean by making a list?

  Sasha watched Kel as he chewed his food. Then, feeling curious about what he’d been able to do earlier, he decided to try and look inside of Kel’s head to see if he could figure it out.

  But how? When he’d done it previously, Kheva had been right in front of him, their foreheads touching. Kheva had never confirmed it but Sasha had assumed that their physical contact had helped somehow.

  “Can we visit my favourite shop?” Kel said with a coy smile. “I’ll pay with my money.”

  Kheva chewed his food and said nothing until it was swallowed. “Yes, Keluva. I believe we will.”

  An expression of pure, undiluted joy filled Kel’s features, the man looking like he’d stumbled upon cloud nine and he had V.I.P seats. The strange, unstable man rode this happiness for the rest of the meal and even whistled while he cleared away the dishes.

  Sasha was disappointed when the meal was done, not only did he fail at infiltr
ating Kel’s thoughts but he’d barely gotten enough food to vanquish the gnawing that was a continuous discomfort in his stomach. He was still hungry, and he’d worked hard today, harder than he ever had his entire life.

  Breakfast had been stingy, and when Kel had made tomato soup and sandwiches, Kheva had only given him a quarter of a sandwich and the last three tablespoons of soup.

  What was the point in this? Why was he being starved?

  When Kheva stood up from the table, Sasha followed him with his gaze. “Master Kheva,” Sasha asked submissively. “Can I have some more? I’m… still really hungry.”

  The moment Kheva made eye contact with Sasha, he knew he’d made a mistake. But even though he knew it was wise to keep his mouth shut, he found himself stammering to make his case. “I worked hard today… I barely got anything… Please, man, it’s just food.”

  “Please… man?” Kheva said coolly. He turned around and glared down at Sasha. “Who the hell do you think you’re speaking to?”

  Sasha swallowed hard. He looked up over his brow at Kheva and held up his hands. “I didn’t mean any disrespect… I’m just really hungry and tired. I just–”

  Kheva grabbed him so quickly Sasha at first thought it had been Kel. A startled yelp filled the formerly quiet house, and when Kel’s arms were added to the constricting hold, Sasha screamed from terror.

  Kel wrenched Sasha backwards and he fell off of the chair and onto the floor. Sasha let out a second scream, and when his mouth was wide open, Kheva stuck two fingers down his throat.

  Sasha gagged, his eyes bulging out of their sockets. He tried to pull away, confused and alarmed over what was happening, but Kheva pushed the digits in deeper until Sasha heaved.

  Kheva removed his fingers just in time for Sasha to throw up lasagna, salad, and bread onto the floor. As soon as the vomit had left his mouth, Kheva’s fingers plunged back in, his short but sharp nails scraping against the back of Sasha’s throat as they were mercilessly jammed down his esophagus.

  Another gag, and more puke was ejected onto the hardwood floor. This went on two more times, Kheva’s face expressionless, until Sasha was laying on the floor gasping for breath. His eyes were red and tears were streaming down his face, and his cheeks were stained with snot, saliva, and vomit.

  “Who am I, nightcrawler?” Kheva whispered. He was kneeling over Sasha now, inches away from the puddles of vomit.

  Sasha’s bulging eyes were fixed on Kheva, his body heaving up and down as he tried desperately to return it to a calmer state. There would be no use however, what he’d just been subjected to was nothing short of traumatizing and he felt himself thrown into a state of catatonia.

  “Who am I, nightcrawler?” Kheva asked again, a sharpness coming to his tones like each word was a knife to a whet stone. Sasha recognized that tone already and knew he had to force himself to answer, even if all he wanted to do was burst into tears.

  I want Jobe.

  “Master Kheva,” Sasha rasped, and even those two words had his raw throat protest with pain.

  Kheva nodded and laid a hand on Sasha’s head. “You may rise and sit with us in the living room.”

  Sasha looked up at him, and though he tried everything he could to stop it, a sob broke through his feeble attempts, and tears began to fall.

  Unable to handle the embarrassment, Sasha jumped to his feet and walked towards the downstairs bathroom. He ducked into it and shut the door, then sat on the lid of the toilet and cried.

  Nothing was going right here. Nothing was how Sasha thought it was going to be. When he got into that truck, he thought he was going to be with two guys who understood him, who would be his friends. But it looked like all Kheva wanted was a slave to boss around, and Kel just wanted someone to beat on and to take beatings meant for him.

  What should’ve been the start to a new life, one he might actually like, had turned into something more fucked up than the world he’d run way from. At least in his old life, he had Jobe.

  I want Jobe. He was always there for me, taking care of me, worrying, and just being the kind-hearted person he was. Lex too, he might’ve been an asshole at times, but he only wanted what was best for me.

  At least before they all turned their backs on me… before they’d decided they had enough of me being crazy. Jobe doesn’t want me, Uncle Lex doesn’t… and these guys just want to enslave me.

  Even the two nightcrawlers, guys like me, don’t like me.

  This realization brought fresh tears to Sasha’s eyes, and he began to cry harder.

  When Sasha felt a hand on his shoulder his knee-jerk reaction was to pull it away. He looked up to see who had touched him and saw Kel looking down at him with a concerned look on his face.

  “What’s wrong, Sasha?” Kel said. He got down on his knees and brought a piece of tissue up to Sasha’s eyes. Every instinct in him had Sasha wanting to flinch from the touch, but with everything around him feeling dark and hopeless, the gesture was a small sliver of light, a brief moment of compassion that Sasha clung desperately onto.

  But even this action brought confusion. How could he be asking what was wrong? Wasn’t it obvious? Was Kel that fucked up in the brain that he couldn’t comprehend the abuse Sasha was being subject to?

  “I thought I would be accepted here,” Sasha croaked. “But you guys are treating me like shit and I’m fucking done. I want to go home. You guys obviously hate me, probably as much as I hate myself… so just take me home. We can forget any of this shit happened.”

  “You’re disappointingly weak.”

  Sasha looked up to see Kheva standing in the doorway, his arms crossed over his chest and his eyes glaring down at Sasha. “Under that filth, you’re a powerful nightcrawler, but you will achieve nothing with the layers of shit you let contaminate you. If you would, for one second, stop feeling sorry for yourself you would see just how much your self-loathing and whining is holding you back.”

  Kheva’s words stung and fresh tears welled in Sasha’s eyes. “Just bring me home,” he whimpered. He wiped his eyes with his hand. “Yeah, I know I’m a disappointment and a worthless piece of shit. Join the club. Everyone I know is a member of it already.”

  There was no change in Kheva’s steeled gaze, if anything it only got more intense. “You are a fucking nightcrawler. You possess powers that far surpass any human on this planet. Every man and woman outside of Ciel Lake should bow to you… and here you sit crying like a child on the god damn toilet. What the fuck is wrong with you?”

  Sasha deflected his gaze and sniffed. “The only two guys who don’t think I belong in the lunatic asylum, fucking hate me, keep beating on me and punishing me for any reason they can come up with. What the fuck do you expect, Kheva? If I fight, you’ll beat on me more. If I take it, I’m a fucking disappointment.” He felt his voice start to rise, and with every octave it climbed, anger started to peak out from the despair and depression. “What the fuck do you want from me?”

  Sasha expected a blaze of anger to come from Kheva over his raised voice, but the man’s face remained its stone-cold glare.

  And then he said something that Sasha would’ve never expected.

  “I want you to get angry.”

  Ironically enough, those words cut Sasha like they were made out of glass. He wasn’t sure if it was the way Kheva had said it, or if it was the complete dismissal of his feelings, but inside a rush of rage hit Sasha so hard it had him jumping to his feet.

  “Angry!?” Sasha yelled, more tears ran down his cheeks and he felt his body start to shake. “That’s all you fucking want? Me pissed off?” Sasha jumped to his feet and spread out his arms. “Here you go, asshole. I’m fucking mad. How’s that?”

  The smirk that appeared on Kheva’s face burned Sasha like he was staring directly at the sun.

  “It’s a start,” Kheva said, bemused.

  “Fuck you!” Sasha screamed. He stalked past Kel and pushed Kheva in the chest. “You’re the asshole who brought me here. You’re the o
ne who jumped me on the side of the road and got my uncle and Jobe thinking I’m insane. All of this shit is your fucking fault!” Sasha pushed him again and clenched his fists. “Then you bring me to this fucking place and make me – and make me think I had found people like me. But I haven’t. I just have some fucking control freak and his idiot slave who lure dumb-shit naïve men to their fucking house to kick around and abuse. Well, fuck you!” He shoved Kheva away and stalked into the living room. “You’re taking me home. You’re taking me home right now. I’ve had enough of this. How’s that for being pissed off? You fucking freak.”

  Sasha walked out of the living room and towards the kitchen, everything blurry from the tears that continued to fill his eyes. There was so much rage and anger inside of him, he didn’t know what to do with it. He wanted to hit something, make something scream, inflict on it some of the pain that he was feeling so strongly inside of him.

  “So, you can experience emotions other than self-pity and depression? Good,” Kheva said as he exited the hallway, Kel following closely behind. “Anger suits you, nightcrawler. It makes your features not as boyish. It’s actually quite alluring. I will enjoy tempering your mind, this I am sure of.”

  Sasha trembled with rage. “Alluring?” he said in a dry whisper. “You ruined my fucking life, and I’m now… alluring?” His teeth began to chatter from the same tremors that rocked him, and before his mind could convince him not to do it, he began to stalk up to Kheva, his fist balled and ready to inflict as much pain as he could.

  “How’s this for fucking alluring?” Sasha raised his fist and drew it back. But right when he was about to punch Kheva in the face, he was grabbed by Kel and yanked backwards.

  Sasha screamed, like a caged animal he screamed and snarled, his eyes never leaving Kheva. The fact that the monster wasn’t even batting an eye, infuriated him. He wanted to make Kheva scared, impose on him the same horrible feelings that the man had been making him feel.

  But not only did Kheva not respond, as Sasha hurled curses and threats at him, he smirked and crossed his arms over his chest. No matter what Sasha threatened, Kheva only smiled wider, the words bouncing off of him like they were made out of toothpicks.