Silent Ground Part 2

by Quil Carter

  There was silence for several moments; Sasha’s eyes wide open as he burned alive from humiliation. Until Kheva spoke.

  “Do you belong to me, nightcrawler?” he asked directly.

  Sasha drew the covers down and stared at Kheva’s dark silhouette, stunned by the sudden question. Kheva was asking him that? Hadn’t Kheva… made that decision for him? The Master had never asked permission, he’d just saw what he’d wanted and Kheva had taken it.

  “Do you belong to me, nightcrawler?” Kheva repeated, and Sasha was made aware again that Kheva could read his own thoughts.

  Which meant he already knew the answer before Sasha even voiced it.

  “Yes,” Sasha said honestly. Call it madness, brainwashing, call it whatever a sane person on the outside looking in would call it, but it was what Sasha felt. Kheva was the Master, and Kel and Sasha were his nightcrawlers.

  “As your master, it is my job to not only train you, teach you, discipline you, my job as your master isn’t only to be worshipped and obeyed, respected and feared. It is more than that,” Kheva began. “You belong to me, which gives me the responsibility to make sure I provide everything you need, as long as it doesn’t interfere with what I am training you, or when I am disciplining you. I will be your everything. I will provide security, comfort, a roof over your head, food on the table. Everything my nightcrawlers need, I will give them.” Sasha could feel the bed shifting, then a hand slid from Sasha’s side to his back, and Sasha felt Kheva draw him close. “And in return, you will belong solely to me. There will be no others outside of our family. Myself, Keluva, and whoever else I may decide to bring in in the future. Do you understand?”

  Jobe… Lex…?

  Sasha froze at the thought, and prayed that the Dead Zone was doing its job.

  And when Kheva, both in reality and inside of his head, didn’t flinch, Sasha internally sighed with relief.

  “I understand,” he whispered, and although Sasha was torn between two worlds, tonight, after everything they’d just done, he surrendered himself to Kheva, his master, the man who understood him, who had sought him out and chosen him to come into their family.

  Sasha turned onto his side, and as Kheva drew him in, Sasha rested a hand on his master’s warm chest and nuzzled his nose into Kheva’s neck.

  And to Sasha’s joyous surprise, Kheva laughed lightly, a real laugh, not a sinister chuckle that seemed to be carried on the Devil’s chariot. “That tickles, you idiot,” Kheva said.

  Sasha smiled and stifled what could only be described as a snorted giggle. “Sorry.”

  The arm that held Sasha close to Kheva tightened, and Sasha felt Kheva’s cheek rest against his head. “It’s not easy being a nightcrawler, Sasha,” he said quietly. “There is a lot of pain, a lot of misery, we cannot grow without both, and more. But always remember… buried in the darkness, there are moments like these, and even at my most cruel, once it is over, I will be here at your request.”

  “Thank you,” Sasha said, Kheva’s words meaning more than he could know. Sasha then closed his eyes, and as the realities around him drifted away, he found himself stepping back inside of his head, and into his own Silent Ground.

  He was in Kheva’s embrace there too, both men joined in body and mind. Sasha fell asleep with Kheva’s beacon surrounding him, and his Master’s presence deeply entwined with his own.

  CHAPTER 28

  The little boy, with short black hair that curled around the tips, bounded off through the dark woods, a medium size white dog dashing ahead with its tongue hanging out. He kept tripping over the debris on the forest floor, but never for a moment did he stop or slow down.

  Cracking and snapping filled the air, and the steady gasping of a young boy out of breath; it was cold, and he was shivering but he ran and ran towards a destination unknown wearing nothing but Spider Man pajamas, until he suddenly stopped and whirled around.

  Behind him, sudden crashing, angry feet stomping through the forest like a charging elephant. “You better fucking run, boy!” an angry male voice roared. “Because the moment I fucking catch you I’m going to tear the skin off of your god damn body!”

  The boy gasped, he continued to run, but when he turned around again, he saw lights in the distance that were swiftly coming closer.

  So, the boy hid behind a tree. His arms went over his head and he began to cry, his eyes squeezed shut.

  The white dog came over and sniffed the boy. The boy raised his head. “No, Dayna. Go home!” he pleaded. He pushed the dog away, but the dog only began to lick the tears falling from his face.

  With a muffled whimper, the boy threw his arms around the dog and held her tightly to him, and behind him the crashing came closer.

  The dog growled, the white fur on her back bristling. Panicked by this, the boy began to plead ‘Be quiet, be quiet!’ again and again, but the dog remained in a threatening stance, her ears pressed against her head and her lips peeled back.

  Then, the crashing stopped and all that could be heard in the cold dark woods, was the scared breathing of the boy, and the dog’s low growl.

  “You think you’re a brave bitch, don’t you?” the man said, his voice now close and crystal clear.

  Suddenly, the dog screamed.

  “NO!” The boy burst to his feet as the dog rolled over onto the ground, her limbs flailing. A man then came out of the darkness, tall and intimidating with a trimmed black beard and burning dark eyes. He glared down at the dog with his own teeth bared, then raised a heavy boot and slammed it down onto the dog’s head.

  “NO! ANDREI, NO!” The boy jumped up and down with his hands clenching his hair. “NO!” he sobbed. “I’ll call you Daddy. I promise I will from now on!” But again and again the boot came crashing down on the dog’s head, blood spurting from her nose and her wide-open eyes, all black but for a crescent of white, stared off into the distance.

  “I didn’t pay four-hundred-thousand ruble for some runaway piece of shit!”

  “GET OVER HERE, BOY!”

  “How tragic…”

  Sasha was suddenly pulled backwards, and thrown roughly from the scene. Instantaneously, the cold darkness of the woods that he could feel so prominently on his skin, and the fear inside of his chest, faded, and the world around him shifted and turned until he found himself standing in a small room with a single light.

  And in front of him, was Rob.

  “What are you doing here?” Sasha whispered, his head looking from right to left. “What the fuck am I doing here? I didn’t want this.”

  Rob frowned, obviously not happy with what he’d just heard. “I see,” he said, his tone a razor’s edge. “So, your loyalties have changed, have they?”

  Rage flared through Sasha, rage that was only amplified from his shock at what he’d just seen in Kheva’s long-buried memories. “Exploiting the fact that Kheva was sold to be tortured and fucking sexually abused by some Russian asshole is disgusting and I refuse to fucking do it,” Sasha snapped. “If you want to take back your mind, go right ahead, but this isn’t the way to do it. I don’t know how the fuck you got in here––”

  Rob guffawed. “How I got in here?” he sneered. “You’re cuddled up tight against him this very moment. You’re inside of his fucking mind, you moron. It was as easy as walking through a door thanks to his trust in you.”

  “Trust I won’t betray!” Sasha yelled. His head turned in all directions as he tried to pull himself out of his mental nightmare. “Take me out of here,” Sasha’s tone dropped, “take me out of here right now.”

  Rob crossed his arms over his chest and began to laugh. “Oh, you’re such an idiot,” he said through the laughter. He brushed his black bangs from his eyes and took a step towards Sasha. “You’re willing to sacrifice Jobe and Lex because Kheva made sweet love to you? Your price is cheap, and your mind is weak. Kheva knows exactly what he’s doing and you’re readily falling into every trap he’s set for you.”

  “There’s no god damn traps,” Sa
sha said lowly. “I know more now. I understand nightcrawler training now. I know why Kheva treated me like that. I belong to him, I’m okay with that.”

  “And Jobe and Lex?”

  There was no pause, Sasha realized he had the answer to that already.

  “I belong to Kheva,” he said simply. “And if he knows that… he’ll leave Jobe and Lex alone. Gavin and the others… they hurt you, didn’t they? Kheva was avenging Kel. Kheva has nothing against Jobe and Lex; he has no reason to hurt them.”

  Sasha watched as Rob’s expression darkened, and the small shallow-lit room seemed to dim with it.

  “So, you choose to believe Kheva over me?”

  Rob had shown Sasha the very memory, Kheva on top of Rob raping him, with the others surrounding, jeering and taunting Rip him! Rip him! Rip him! but Kheva had a different story. Kheva said that those men had tortured Kel not Rob, raped him bad enough that he’d need surgery.

  With no mention of Kheva himself being there.

  What was the truth? And who had it been, Rob or Kel?

  But…

  Sasha paused.

  …what if the man on top of Kel hadn’t been Kheva? What if Rob had been showing him the memory of another nightcrawler? How could he even trust Rob?

  There were too many different stories. Who the fuck am I supposed to believe?

  Confusion overcame Sasha, and a sudden yet intense feeling of claustrophobia. “I… I don’t want any part of this,” Sasha whispered. He began to gather up his mental energy to force him out of this small room. That was his decision––he wanted no part of this. “Do what you want, that’s you and Kheva’s fight, not mine. I’m out. I won’t help you, either of you. I have enough problems of my––”

  Rob suddenly released a scream of rage. He grabbed Sasha before Sasha could jump back, and wrapped a hand around his throat.

  Rob then pulled Sasha forward until their noses were touching, a crazed anger burning brightly in his light blue eyes. Those were the eyes of a mad man, a pure creature of insanity that would tear Sasha’s mind apart like a grizzly bear, if only he had the ability.

  “Then see with your own eyes what Kheva has been doing,” Rob snarled, his breath smelling of coppery blood. “You cowardly fucking idiot, see what he’s done already to your fucking friend and your uncle, you-dumb-weak-asshole!”

  And with that, Rob shoved him hard, and backward Sasha tumbled, the small room disappearing, and a sudden burst of daylight appearing that made Sasha’s eyes squint.

  He breathed in spring air, and around him he heard traffic in the distance and birds chirping a friendly song. Sasha was in another memory… but whose? And where?

  Then Sasha heard him.

  “There is someone outside the loading docks who wishes to speak with you.” Sasha looked up when he heard Kheva’s voice, and saw the man himself leaning against the side of a large grey brick building.

  “Please use the exit door to your left,” Kheva continued, his words said through a breath of cigarette smoke. “Bring the tapes you’ve acquired as well.” He flicked the cigarette onto the ground then, and began to walk in a confident saunter away from the building and further into what looked like a loading area of a… a…

  Sasha’s eyes widened when he saw the large semi-trucks parked about fifty feet away on the flat pavement, one with its trailer backed into a large open port ready to receive crated merchandise.

  It was a Walmart.

  Sasha looked around to see who Kheva was speaking to, but he saw nothing; no one was there but the man himself.

  Kheva’s shoes crunched against the stray bits of rock on the pavement, until they stopped. The Master then turned around, and smiled towards a metal grey door as if expecting something amusing to happen.

  Then moments later, the door opened.

  And Jobe walked out, a hand shielding his eyes from the bright sun that shone down on him.

  Then Kheva chuckled.

  “Jobe!” Sasha cried. He wanted to run to him but he knew it was no use, all Sasha could do was stand beside Kheva and pray that this didn’t end badly.

  Oh god, Kheva had met with them. Kheva had met with Jobe. What if he’d fucking killed him like he’d done Gavin? Fuck! Fuck, what have I done? Rob warned me this would happen. Oh, fucking christ, Rob warned me and gave me a way out, and I pissed on it.

  “You certainly did,” Rob growled.

  Sasha looked to his left. Rob standing there with an expression of pure hostility, but even though Sasha wanted to plead with him to help, he had to watch this exchange play out. He had to know what Kheva was doing, and what he’d done to Jobe.

  And Lex…

  Who was now standing behind Jobe with an off look to him.

  Kheva… Kheva had his mind. Sasha knew that look well now.

  “Where’s Sasha?” Sasha’s attention turned back to Jobe when he heard his own name.

  “Where he belongs,” Kheva said, a horrible smile on his lips.

  Jobe then turned and saw Lex behind him, still holding a glazed look.

  “Want to see what Kheva was filling Lex’s head with?” Rob asked beside him, a cruel sneering edge to his lips. “Want to see what you’ve subjected your loving uncle to? All because of your refusal to stop this damn monster?”

  Sasha’s lips pursed together and his head shook back and forth. He didn’t want to know, already his heart was aching just seeing Jobe and Lex. How could he have allowed them to be hurt by Kheva?

  Rob had warned him time and time again; he’d shown him what could possible happen if Sasha had stayed with Kheva, but still he hadn’t listened. Kheva had extended his talons and had taken Sasha as his own, and not only had Sasha let him, he was currently sleeping peacefully in his master’s arms.

  “I’m a horrible fucking person,” Sasha whispered, guilt flooding him. “The moment Kheva shows me any sort of kindness, affection, love… I crumble. I turn a blind eye to the fact that Jobe and Lex are in danger, and they are in danger.” He looked up, and realized Kheva was now standing directly in front of Jobe, the two now only inches away from each other.

  “Sasha belongs with us,” Sasha heard Jobe whisper, his chin trembling. “He needs us.”

  Kheva chuckled. “Needs you? For what? To enable his weakness? To hold his fragile little hand as he exists through life as nothing but a pathetic burden on his enablers?”

  Suddenly Sasha heard Lex scream, but it wasn’t a scream audible to the two men standing nose-to-nose, it was a frightened scream that echoed inside of Sasha’s mind.

  And when Sasha turned to run towards his uncle, Rob grabbed his arm and yanked him back, and again Sasha was pulled into the darkness. The bright sun was sucked into nothing like a black hole, and Sasha was thrown elsewhere.

  But he didn’t go back to that small room…

  Sasha went inside of Lex’s head.

  What he saw, had his legs wobbling until he sunk to his knees.

  Fuck. Anything but this… Please don’t tell me Kheva made Lex see this.

  Unlike the previous two visions, this one was seen through the eyes of Kheva. He was on the bed and Sasha himself was lying down in front of him––and on top of Sasha, thrusting vigorously into him, was Kel.

  Sasha’s face was coated in blood, his eyes wide with terror and his mouth open in a continuous sobbing scream. Kel had his head bowed, both arms pressing back Sasha’s knees, and mixing in with Sasha’s hysterical cries, was Kel’s groaning, panting, and the smacking sound of his hips hitting flesh.

  Then Kheva leaned in, and Sasha became aware of the taste of blood in his mouth. He remembered this part, and wanted to look away, but he was trapped inside of this horrible memory with no means to escape until Rob pulled him out.

  Kheva kissed Sasha, and just like Sasha remembered, he consumed the blood in Kheva’s mouth with a desperate sob. The blood had helped, Sasha had remembered that fact, the blood had been the only solace he had during this horrific scarring experience.

  And L
ex had seen all of it.

  Then, as if Rob needed to prove that he was indeed correct, flashes of memories began to burst in front of Sasha’s eyes. He saw Kheva smacking him across the face, Kel attacking him with the shovel, Kheva forcing him to blow him in the office, and even Sasha’s failed escape and the whipping he endured after. Pulse after pulse of memories shot forth like a machine gun, each one breaking down Sasha’s uncle until he was rendered a sobbing mess.

  Sasha could feel Lex’s pain, and something that scared him even more––That something had broken inside Uncle Lex, something that would stick with him forever.

  Kheva had… Kheva might’ve permanently damaged Lex. Sasha’s uncle, the man who raised him when he was almost a child himself. Who’d looked after Sasha even at his worst.

  Kheva had hurt him, and he’d hurt Jobe.

  It was that, and that alone, that finally turned the tide on Sasha’s opinion on Kheva.

  Sasha’s jaw locked, and with anger replacing the growing feelings for the Master Nightcrawler, he said in a low and hostile tone, “I’ve seen enough.”

  Rob’s presence was there, and as he took Sasha out of that living nightmare, Sasha heard Kheva’s parting words to Jobe.

  “I told you you’d remember this day––Pray I don’t make you remember another one.”

  With the anger inside of Sasha boiling over, he viciously pushed himself out of Kheva’s mind. Sasha was yanked backwards like he was being sucked into a vacuum, and with a start, his reality came back to him.

  The first thing he saw was Kheva, the Master’s eyes flying open like he’d woken up with a start. It was morning, daylight making the crimson curtains glow, the master bedroom crisp from the morning cold, but Sasha could only feel the intense heat of his own anger.

  Kheva sensed it, his green and gold eyes shot to Sasha, then narrowed. “What are you so angry about?” he asked, not a hint of drowsiness in his tone.