FP1: Bound and Broken

I used to write a lot of Flash Prompts when I was younger, back when I didn't know that they were called Flash Prompts. If you don't know what they are, they are essentially very short stories, ranging from 1-2k words. As a mental calisthenics for me, I'm going to aim to write one whenever I am stuck creatively in my manuscript.

This idea for this first FP [flash prompt] is from an online magazine, hosting a literary competition. I, unfortunately, took longer to write and missed the deadline. Maybe next time. But anyway, enjoy.

Genre: Urban-Fantasy, Romance, Adult

Prompt: Charmed, Chained, Scroll

1

Naked, sweaty and cold. Jared squirmed in silver chains circling around his arms, legs and torso. His back leaned on the icy rails of the cage he sat in. Marks of red brightened against his glistening broad back. His butt, which he believed was his best asset as most of the ladies ogled them, was on the cement floor mixed with sand—chilly and dirty. Despite all these cool things, and the sea breeze that wrapped around him from the overlooking beach, the bright sun was high in the sky. Scorching. Hellish.

"Please, let me out, I'm sorry," Jared croaked for the… he couldn't really remember how many times he had apologised. But he kept on, hoping it would take him out of this cage, out of this place, out of this beautiful nowhere.

Lounging on a daybed, in a white bikini that held everything well, not too tight, just right, was a woman with bronze skin that seemed to glitter underneath the sun. Her sharp eyes and roundish features made a slight joyous expression as she sat up and reached for her drink. "Can you change your lines please? It's the same thing over and over."

"Leonora, you crazy bitch! Let me out of here. I swear to god, I'll rip your face out." The words spattered from Jared's lips. Not loud, but deep and cutting.

Leonora, the pretty bitch, continued to drink her fresh juice from the freshly opened coconut. "And we're back to that again. Can you please try something creative? Something different."

He reigned in the rage, the need for him to feel her neck under his weighty, strong grasp and twist it. To hear the snap when he removes her head off from that sexy, smooth body of hers. But the cool chains holding him in place, the barely large enough cage making him feel smaller than his statuesque height of seven feet and the calming sea breeze abated his anger—even if it was just for a moment.

After a few lungful breaths, something did come to his mind, something he really wanted to ask. "Who… what are you…"

Last he knew, he had been staying in his apartment, in the city, like any other time. The next moment, Leonora arrived with her scathing insults and accusations. He threw the arguments back and the fight was a war of words in high volume. Then it escalated to fists, slaps, figurines and other objects flying in the air, and then… he was here. He was in the beach, locked up in a cage, for—who knows for how long. Strangely, hunger, sleep and the need to relieve himself never visited him, but mental and physical fatigue did.

Her brow perked up at that question.

After three years of being together, Jared found that he knew who Leonora was, but at the same time he didn't; rather, he did not know what she was. Sure, she was smoking hot—those perky breasts and those thighs that spoke volumes to him whenever he caressed them. But beyond that, and the usual woman-nonsense she spouted, he didn't know much about her.

She shrugged. "I'm a trader."

That was her usual line when asked what she did for a living. Jared knew, his friends knew, his family knew. But what that entailed, for the life of him, he didn't know. He and all of his friends and family assumed it was trader for stocks and options? Maybe currency?

"Sure, and I'm a dragon." Sarcasm leaked from his tongue.

Leonora tilted her head, in a mild surprise. "Oh? You're kidding, right? With your charms and your social energy—could've fooled me. You're not hot-headed enough for that. And with a bank account like yours, I mean you're not poor, but you're not really rich either. Like filthy rich. I told you to stop lying to me."

'The hell is she snorting?' thought Jared. Did she actually think that he was serious? He thought she was insane, but this was taking it way too… far? He realised the way he was transported here, the cage, with nothing else in this place than the stupid sun lounge and the coconut— "This is insane. What the fuck are you?" he asked again.

She placed the coconut back down and crossed the distance to where he sat. Kneeling down, she looked directly at him; her face had none of the nonchalance and cool attitude she had on before. A distant, crestfallen gaze fell on him instead. "This is who I am Jared."

Her hand slipped into the bars, her palms gently resting on his head. Instantly, the rage, the cold, the exhaustion—all his discomforts vanished. His grey eyes changed in color. To green, he bore witness to the trades she had made with dragons, ghosts, kings, leaders and more like he had been there living it—the scenes replayed themselves with her as the focus. To blue, the details of what she did and how she did them laid themselves before him like passages in a book filled with highlights. To violet, the names she had been called in the past made sense to him: devil, monster, heathen, witch... the list goes on. And lastly to brown, the unanswered questions, unfinished discussions and odd events that happened whenever he was around her finally made sense.

Jared opened his mouth due to something he wanted to say before she touched him, before she answered his question. But now, he had nothing to say. He knew why he was here, out of nowhere with Leonora—what she planned to do. And so, he shut his mouth, finding no will to speak. Except for the waves hitting the rocks and shore, silence filled the space between and around them for some time.

POOOOOOOOTTT!

He farted.

A decent, full, not too long fart. Audible enough even against the strong winds. Probably not smelly enough since there was no strong scent. Not that he nor she could smell anything—again, strong winds.

The two looked at each other. Leonora smiled at him then burst out laughing. Her hand that was on his head, playfully slapped him on the shoulders.

Jared grinned sheepishly. "You know how cold and winds makes me fart."

She continued to laugh, a cute, full belly laugh that had always made him feel rewarded every time he heard it. Once she stopped, Jared apologised, "I didn't want to hurt you."

This time, he meant it, not something he uttered just so he could be free.

She had no response.

As she took her hand back from inside the cage, he tried to reach out for it, but the chains held him back. So instead, he arched his head up, placing her palms against his cheeks. His face warmed her cold touch. "It doesn't have to be this way… we could still be something, like before. Remember when we went shopping, you were trying clothes on and you suddenly had your period? I had to get you new underwear and then the sales lady was so confused—"

"Stop," interjected Leonora, turning red. "That was really embarrassing—I don't want to hear that again—or ever think about it. Ever."

Jared saw mirth in her eyes. He continued, "What about that afternoon when you came home and you were really mad and weird. You had that black tight dress on that looked like you were going to party, but it was for the office. You know that dress with the black blazer and golden dragon on it? You nearly chewed my head off that day…"

She nodded knowingly. "Oh god, I remember. I was really pissed off that day. Wait. You remember what I was wearing?"

"Do you remember what we did to make you calm? What I DID?" Jared licked his lips, not bothering to answer her question.

Leonora inhaled a sharp breath.

He looked straight into her eyes. "You were really, really sexy when you groan like that." He tried to be as honest and serious as best as he could.

She put a gentle hand over her face, half covering it while she turned away from his gaze. "Jared, you can't—"

"How about the time when you were at my parent's house?" Jared didn't let her finish. "When my mom asked you to take care of me? When she entrusted her worries, pains and my future to you? What about that?"

Tears gathered at edges of Leonara's eyes. "Stop. Don't bring her into this."

His jaw tensed. "She wished, someday we could have a boy and a girl. You're spitting at her wishes and her hopes if you do this."

"That's not fair—you know this isn't about her." She gritted her teeth.

"What's not fair is you taking my life into your god-damned devil hands!" He yelled at her with the same rage he had felt just minutes before only it had a righteous ring to it. Who was she to pass on judgement like this? Sure, he had made mistakes, but that was not for her to judge.

The cold, nonchalant expression returned to Leonora like she had simply put on a mask, or removed one—honestly, Jared couldn't keep up with who this person truly was. Or was she even a person?

"Let's make a trade. For all that you did to me in exchange for a punishment fit for it—a curse." She produced a regular, six-sided die out of thin air.

"Wait. Aren't I supposed to agree to the terms first?"

She shrugged. "This is a different case, an enforced trade. I roll the die, whatever comes out is the number of conditions you can enforce. The rest are mine."

"That's it? My life for something—"

She casually tossed the die on the ground. The cube fell, tumbled, before it stopped and showed a face of two dots. "First condition, you live your next life as a pig that you are. Let's see you not get turned into pork belly on your first week," she said gleefully.

A floating scroll appeared and unfurled itself. Leonora's condition scribbled itself in the blank piece of magical parchment without pen or ink.

"Second condition: the curse will be broken, and I will turn into my human self, same as this life, upon true love's first kiss," Jared found himself saying something fast to counter the situation. It was like this in fairy tale's right? True love always broke the all powerful curse.

Leonora crossed her arms and stood straight. "Smart, but not smart enough. Third condition: True love's kiss must be from a man who is similar to you—cheater, slutty, charming, overbearing."

"Wait, no fair! Why am I supposed to get it on with horny guys?" He pushed his face on the bars, wanting nothing more than to break them down.

"As if I'm going to doom the lives of innocent women and gay men just so you can save yourself. Fourth condition, you will only have a lifespan of one human year. If the curse is not broken in that time, you die again, and your soul will disappear forever. No resurrection for you." The magical law wrote itself on the next line in the floating scroll after Leonora declared them.

He shook his head. "You crazy—"

"Fifth condition," interjected Leonora. "You cannot harm me, curse me or do anything to harm me physical or magical in any manner in your next life—or ask anyone to."

Jared racked his mind for the right words to say. This was his only saving grace. What should he say? Maybe if… "Final condition," he announced. "I will be a pig that brings extremely good luck to anyone who owns me and takes care of me. The better I am taken care of, the stronger the luck will be."

"Cunning as ever," said Leonora. The last condition wrote itself in the paper.

He made a smug look. "Everyone's going to want me now."

"I'm so sick of you." When she snapped her fingers, the scroll rolled itself closed and disappeared.

Before Jared could retort, the back of his neck burned, his eyes rolled and he fell to his side. Dirt smudged his pretty face as his heartbeat slowed to a stop.

Jared was dead.