Work Text:
“It’s a surprise, though, Adrie! You gotta close your eyes!”
I managed a wary smile.
“If you say so.”
I slowly shut my eyes and carefully placed my palms over them, blocking any light that might try to sneak through my lids.
“Alright, Harry is just this way.”
I followed Bea’s voice as she carefully guided me out of the school. After a few dozen steps, I felt the cold air rushing past me, casting my long hair to the wind.
November was chilly, as it always was. Fourteen years I had spent in this town, and not a single one was spared by the icy solitude of the month.
The gale carried the sound of muffled giggling to my ears. Nothing abnormal for a bunch of teenage girls, but my blindness planted the seeds of unease in my mind.
“How much further?” I asked my guide.
She let out a chuckle and answered, “Getting cold feet? What would he think of you now…”
I fell silent, and continued towards her voice. Based on the path we have taken, I could roughly guess that we were somewhere behind the main building at this point.
“Almost there…”
I heard two pairs of feet running towards me, and before I could even think about it, panic set in. My eyes shot open, but rather than seeing the dark palms of my hands, I could observe my immediate surroundings, cast in an odd purple light.
The adrenaline that flooded my body made time slow to a crawl. The feet were owned by two girls from Bea’s clique, as they rushed towards me carrying a large bucket of freezing water. Despite being painfully aware of my impending shower, it was too late for me to do anything about it. They were too close.
If only I could reach out and just… stop them. I could place my hands in their path and push them back. I could grab the bucket and dump it on Bea. I could visualize it all so well…
I removed my palms from my face, a dull pain forming in the back of my eyes. The flat, grey sky blinded me briefly, but before long I saw my would-be assailants knocked to the ground, dazed from the sudden fall.
“Wh… what?” I muttered to myself.
Mired in confusion, I turned around to look at Bea. I was in utter disbelief; the bucket, now empty, laid next to a completely drenched girl.
Her cold stare bored straight through my soul. She stood before me, completely motionless, save for a twitch in her frown.
The pressure was too much to bear. I turned tail and ran away as fast as I could.
As the distance between us grew, I could hear them cry out, “She’s… she’s a witch!”
I ran, and ran, and ran, until my legs couldn’t carry me anymore.
It’s been years since that day, and I never stopped running, hopping from town to town, city to city, doing my best to stay under the radar and just live my damn life.
Although, right now, it seems like I can’t run, tied to this chair. Whoever grabbed me off the street did quite a number on my hands, fully wrapping them in some kind of tape.
I test the bonds that are locking my arms behind both my and the chair’s back, but to little avail. I can feel the coarse hairs of rope brush against whatever skin isn’t covered in adhesive wrap. It seems like my wrists have been tied together, connected to a veritable web of hemp that is spun around my chest.
Pulling at my restraints provides little relief. Instead, every tug causes the rope to dig deeper into my flesh, tightening its grip on my torso.
A grunt tries to escape my mouth, only to be met with a wall of rubber. The orb lodged behind my teeth does an annoyingly good job at keeping sound in, but in forcing my mouth open also does nothing to prevent saliva from escaping.
Thankfully, my captor, in their magnanimity and grace, had thought of this and sealed my lips with plentiful amounts of tape.
What a pain in the ass.
“Awake, are ya?” echoes a voice from behind me.
I don’t even bother responding.
She grabs me by my shoulders and gives me a forceful massage, pressing in far harder than necessary.
“Well now, Adrie… is that really how you treat old friends?”
I tilt my head up and am immediately met with two jade eyes staring right back into mine. Bea. No way I could ever forget that face. My eyes widen from surprise, but I try to keep my demeanor calm.
She grins, and continues, “Looks like someone recognizes me.”
She lets go of me and walks around my chair to face me. I scan her from top to bottom, and confirm that this is, in fact, the same school bully I once knew, now all grown up. She seems like she’s doing well, although I can spy some fraying on her sleeves. There’s also a pack of smokes sticking out of her jeans pocket, deformed from years of carrying cigs around.
“Funny, don’t ya think? In the end, it’ll all be thanks to you Adrie… I can finally get my life together,” she says, pulling a cigarette out of her pocket. “To think a fucking Omnivoyant could save me…”
She chuckles, and lights her smoke.
“Some bigwigs really want you, you know? Said they’d pay good bloody money to get you alive.”
She turns away, lost in thoughts of riches. Well, I suppose it’s as good an opportunity as any.
I kick her legs in, aiming right behind her knees, knocking her to the ground. As she falls, I immediately wrap my legs around her neck, and start choking her out.
“Y-you… whore…”
Her body limply falls to the cold concrete floor. I should have a few minutes before she regains consciousness.
As if on cue, a dozen minutes later, my captor’s eyes slowly open. It doesn’t take long for panic to set in, as she realizes she’s now in the very chair I occupied not long ago, wearing the same gag.
“Comfy?” I taunt her.
She lets out a muffled complaint as a bit of drool unceremoniously drips out of her mouth, underneath the ball.
“I must have been really memorable, for you to come after me all these years later… A crush, maybe?”
I lean in to face her, getting uncomfortably close to her eyes.
“That day must have lived rent-free in your mind… so much so that you were so focused on rendering my hands useless. Good job.”
I take a step back, and using my foot, tip over the chair to make her fall on her back. She lets out a stifled scream, but she’s not injured. It’s just the shock.
“However, you seem to have completely forgotten about my legs. Turns out, I don’t need my powers to be better than you.”
I carefully place my boot on her torso and slightly press down, just enough to get my message across. I can see fear shoot through her gaze.
“By the by, I don’t go by Adrie anymore. You can call me Tia.”
I take a look at her ball gag, and briefly smile.
“Well, actually, I’d much rather you don’t call me anything at all.”
