Chapters tagged aftercare

by Levantin

Chapter 55

The document was done. On the desk lay the freshly printed stack of Emma’s geography assignment—neatly structured, typed, tucked into a clean plastic sleeve. I had spent three hours hunched over it, the resin cage chafing with every shift on the office chair. It was just before...

by Levantin

Chapter 92

Loona did not pull away from me in haste. Her hands remained on my shoulders, firm and grounding, while the trembling in my chest only gradually subsided. Every breath felt like dragging myself up from the depths of freezing, pitch-black water. When she lifted her head and looke...

by Levantin

Chapter 93

The cool linen of the box-spring bed felt like an alien world. I lay flat on my back, the duvet pulled to my chest, eyes pinned to the ceiling where the streetlamp cast faint, amber ribbons through the drapes. The loose grey cotton boxers rested lightly against my skin. No base r...

by Levantin

Chapter 94

The pale autumn light creeping through the curtains woke me. For the first time in weeks, waking up wasn't a sudden jolt of numb suffocation. No cold stainless steel biting mercilessly into my pubic bone at the first involuntary morning shift. The loose cotton rested easily on m...

by Levantin

Chapter 103

I stepped through the doorway, eased the heavy wooden door shut without a sound, and turned the key in the latch. The quiet, metallic click echoed behind my eyes like the final sealing of an airlock against the outside world. The air inside the room was heavy, dense, and suffoca...

by Levantin

Chapter 104

A dull, milky Sunday light filtered through the slats of the blinds. As I blinked awake, the first thing I registered was the heavy, steady warmth at my side. Loona was still deep in sleep, her face half-buried in my pillow, an arm draped loosely across my chest. Directly below,...

by Levantin

Chapter 110

A long, unsteady exhale broke from Loona’s throat as her fingers slowly loosened their grip in my hair. Her thighs parted, freeing my face. My forehead dropped against the sofa cushion, chest heaving as I fought for air, her taste lingering hot and intoxicating on my lips. My sh...

by Levantin

Chapter 117

The autumn wind struck my face with full as I emerged from the subway entrance into the open air. My body was a single field of high voltage: the dried layers of wax pulled at the fine hairs across my chest, the dried wine clung with a sweet, tart stickiness to my skin, and...

by Levantin

Chapter 125

The pale, grey light of Sunday morning crept sluggishly across the floorboards of my room, settling like a cold veil over the mattress. As consciousness returned, my body made itself known with a wave of dull torment. After the endless hours in the leather restraints, my shoulde...

by Levantin

Chapter 130

For several agonizingly long seconds, Loona did not move. She simply stood there, hands clasped loosely behind her back, looking down at me. Her gaze drifted over my trembling knees, the sweat running down my neck, and the gossamer-thin pink silk straining mercilessly over the co...

by Levantin

Chapter 134

I pulled the final pass. Inch by inch, I shoved the heavy zinc bucket ahead of me, while my raw, scraped knees burned like fire against the hard parquet. With every single forward crawl, the upper steel ring struck relentlessly against my irritated pubic bone. My head was on fir...

by Levantin

Chapter 135

The rush of the rain shower filled the tiled bathroom with a dense, humid cloud of steam. The hot water drummed against the back of my neck, washing the sweat, the floor oil, and the searing indignity of the salon from my skin. I stood there with my head bowed, bracing both palms...