"What are you fighting for?"
The words broke through the thick layer of fog in Whumpee's head, wandering and finding their way to Whumpee's mind, despite the fact that they had long lost the thread of what was happening around them. They could barely muster the remnants of consciousness to understand their own predicament —however, the words sounded surprisingly clear in their head.
"Do you have a goal?"
They caressed the edges of Whumpee's consciousness, the soft echoes of the outside world, beckoning, wanting to pull them out of the secluded dark corner of their mind, into which they had crept in a stupid (you can't blame them for their little sanity, when they were barely able to think without loading their brain to boiling), stupid and pathetic attempt to hide from the painful reality.
But now they were finally here, curled up in this very corner and slowly withering away, only to be pushed back to the surface?
Back into this endless agony of torture?
"Some reason... Lord, any reason to be so nasty, huh?"
Whumpee whined, a soft sound burst into a small red bubble, inflated with a thin film of blood between their lips. The taste of copper tickled the walls of their throat unpleasantly. They took one quiet moment worrying about it before slipping back into unconsciousness. A blissfully empty cinema with a single occupied seat, occasionally buggy screen with echoes of their overly dramatic interlocutor (even barely conscious, they could get tired of these monologues).
Soft footsteps echoed through the small room, accompanied by a barely audible soft chuckle. And then — a smiling face appeared in front of Whumpee's half-closed eyes, making them spend the rest of their strength into flinch.
The raised thin eyebrows, the wide smile, the wide-open eyes and the dark pupils dilated from the faded lighting. They were willing to bet that this face would keep them awake at night if they got the chance to grab a quiet moment or two of a slumber.
Whumper's eyes ran over Whumpee's face, as if scanning, trying to memorize every detail: half-closed unfocused eyes, lightly parted lips and frozen blood like a cherry on a cake.
And this is probably what will make Whumper sleep sweetly at night.
"It's just... I'm really interested." They chuckled, their voice clearer now that they were much closer to Whumpee, almost inches from their own face. "A beautiful wife/husband waiting you home? A couple of toddlers? A cute golden retriever?"
It was barely possible to discern mockery in their words, it really sounded like simple interest, undisguised curiosity. Or just so exposed to the background that it was impossible to hear anything behind it.
Whumpee whimpered softly again, no more than a wheeze, and closed their eyes. The darkness continued to creep into their mind...
They flinched again when they felt a cold pressure on their eyelids. Whumper carefully, almost gently, opened Whumpee's eyes again, lifting the eyelids with the tips of their thumbs, and forcing Whumpee to face them again.
"C’mon, tell me, will you?"
Whumpee couldn't. Their tongue felt heavy in their mouth, their mind barely caught Whumper's words, not to digest them and give a reasonable answer.
However, Whumper didn't seem to be waiting for it. Their face softened as they moved their fingers to the sides of Whumpee's head, edges of their fingers gently stroking hair above their victim's ears. Thumbs never left their eyelids.
Whumpee tried their best not to enjoy the gentle touch after so many hours of torture.
"I know so little about you... Yet," Whumper chuckled softly and leaned just a bit closer, hot breath touching Whumpee's face when they spoke again: "I guess we'll have a plenty of time to get to know each other better, don't you think?"
Taking a last quiet look at their face with, Whumper allowed their hands to pull away, and Whumpee's freed eyelids finally fell, plunging their world into solid darkness.