Page 46 of Hated By the Gargoyle

And I was worried.

I’d seen him lose his shit before, but never like that. He hadn’t turned on me, but I knew he was lost in his own mind and this was his desperate, unhinged way of keeping me from abandoning him.

I’d wanted to explain that I planned on coming back with him, but I knew he was too lost to hear, to understand. When he got back, I would have to coax him back to himself. Because this? This wasn’t the Qanek that I’d come to know.

The darkness was a part of him, a nasty part that he needed help with. I didn’t know the proper name for things, but surely it was PTSD?

I wouldn’t pretend to know, but something was wrong, and we’d swept it under the rug. Avoiding talking about the pain instead of trying to find a solution for it. And while I was pissed he’d left me here, I also wanted to protect him from hurting himself.

When he came back, I would explain–gently–that all I wanted was to charge my camera. That I wanted electricity. My laptop. Things that he didn’t have here. Then, we would come back to our den and everything would be as it was. We would continue our routine before any of this miscommunication happened.

We’d both exploded at each other and he’d taken it way too far by chaining me here.

If only he’d listen… Maybe he would understand. Maybe we could get past this.

I tugged at the chains again, a sob lodging in my throat at being tied up like a fucking animal. The panic started to seep in, and I fought so fucking hard to ignore it, but it was overpowering.

I huddled in the corner of the nest, shivering even though I wasn’t cold. My mind conjured up so many images. Of Qanek dying and unable to return to free me. Of me being caught in chains until I slowly starved to death.

Would he keep me like this forever now that he feared I wanted to leave him?

Fuck.

It became a struggle to breathe.

I dug my nails deep into my skin, trying to stay grounded to the present, but it evaded me. All I knew was fear. Panic.

“No, no, no, no.”

I screamed and yanked at the bindings, becoming feral in my need for freedom.

I screamed, calling for Qanek. For help. For anyone who would listen.

But nobody came.

I screamed until my throat was raw and I was covered in blood. I wasn’t sure how many inches the bindings dug into my skin. Surely I would need stitches. A hospital. Medicine.

I screamed and screamed and screamed and…

There was a whooshing sound and I clamped my lips closed, watching as Qanek came into the cave. He looked worse than he had before he left. Agitated, angry. He wasn’t fully there. He stalked through the den like a beast in a cage. Ironic, considering I was the one trapped.

“Qanek.” The sob broke out of me, and I dropped to my knees. “Please. Please unchain me.”

His eyes were glowing red and I wasn’t sure he heard me. He was having an… an episode, and it seemed he barely heard me, barely understood what was even going on.

“Qanek, I promise I’m not going to leave you. I promised, didn’t I? I only want to go home to charge my camera so I can take more photographs. We can go and come back. I promise I won’t leave. You have to believe me. Please, Qanek. Please.”

He shook his head violently back and forth, so violently that his entire body shook. The whole cave shook. He seemed to be trying to expel a voice from his head. He grumbled in his language, the one I didn’t understand, and gripped the sides of his ears so tightly, there was a crack. And then he slammed his back against the wall. And then his head. Over and over again until blood sprayed behind him.

“Qanek!” My eyes were wide, my heart pounding with fear. I didn’t know how to stop this. I didn’t know how to help him or help me…

Just then, there was more rumbling. The rumbling of his mysterious language and the very sound of it made Qanek pause. Like he was being pulled back to the present. But his body was still tense, poised and he whirled, as if ready for an attack…

Two figures burst into the cave with roars that thundered through the cave and shook the entire place like an earthquake.

I screamed, pressing myself back to the wall, trying to keep myself as small as possible.

The figures were a blur as they charged for Qanek. I caught snippets. Flashes of bodies and snarling teeth. Of violence and blood spraying.