Chapters tagged humiliation

by Levantin

Chapter 35

The seventh period dragged on like thick tar. I sat in the second-to-last row of the stuffy classroom, staring blankly at the chalkboard where Mr. Lindner was jotting down formulas for the basic physics course. Not a single word actually registered. The exhaustion from a sleeple...

by Levantin

Chapter 37

The clicking of heels on the stone steps of the stairwell died down right outside the apartment door. A short, demanding knock, and then Emma pushed the heavy door completely open. She stood in the frame, her beige coat worn confidently open, hands slid casually into her pockets...

by Levantin

Chapter 38

The heavy apartment door clicked shut with a solid sound. The deadbolt slid home, and in an instant, an absolute, suffocating silence settled over the hallway. I remained kneeling like a broken mess on the hardwood, pants pooled around my ankles, my thighs trembling uncontrollab...

by Levantin

Chapter 39

“Clean that up. Thoroughly.” Her cool voice sliced right through the thick fog in my head. Loona was already on her feet, smoothing down her pleated skirt and taking a step back, away from the spot on the rug and the light wood of the bed frame that still held a telltale gleam....

by Levantin

Chapter 40

The zipper of my jeans pulled shut with a rough, metallic scrape over the freshly locked resin cage. With every step I took toward the desk, the cold plastic chafed unyieldingly against my overstimulated, swollen flesh. Every single nerve in my body still remembered the massive r...

by Levantin

Chapter 42

The heavy wooden door of the restroom stall in the old wing swung shut with a hollow echo. I slid the rusted latch across, leaned my back against the cool tiles, and let out a deep breath for the first time in two hours. Outside from the urinals drifted the sharp scent of bleach...

by Levantin

Chapter 44

The dull hum of the computer fan had long since died away. My room lay in the deep, cold shadows of late night, with only the pale glow of the streetlights casting grid-like patterns across the ceiling. I lay on my back, the blanket pulled up to my waist. Sleep remained impossibl...

by Levantin

Chapter 45

Sunday had granted me a surprising reprieve. Loona wasn't a monster—at least that was what she called it, a mocking curve playing on her lips as she unlocked my padlock on Sunday afternoon. After the ordeal of the club night and days of mounting pressure, she had driven me to the...

by Levantin

Chapter 46

The steady hum of the MacBook resting across my knees was the only sound cutting through the dim room. I sat cross-legged on the plush carpet, my back braced against the base of the bed. Above me on the mattress lay Loona, wearing silk shorts and a cropped tank top, legs bent as...

by Levantin

Chapter 47

Two weeks had slipped by, during which the noose around my daily life tightened with surgical precision. The daily runs tracked by the glowing ring of my Apple Watch, the meticulously weighed portions of food, and the relentless clamp of the resin cage had hardened into a fixed,...

by Levantin

Chapter 50

The doorbell on Friday afternoon rang differently than it had yesterday with Nadja—more hesitant, almost nervous. Loona, already curled up on the sofa with her legs crossed and an iced coffee in hand, didn't even glance up from her tablet. “Answer it, John. And mind your posture...

by Levantin

Chapter 51

The soft click of the front door as Emma left the apartment sounded like a fracture in an overpressurized dam. Vanessa had retired to her own wing an hour earlier to sleep. The penthouse was enveloped in absolute stillness, broken only by the faint hum of the refrigerator. Loona...

by Levantin

Chapter 54

The late-afternoon click of the front door latch felt like another trap snapping shut behind me. In my backpack were Emma’s scribbled notes, in my groin the familiar, dull ache of resin, and on my banking app a fresh charge of nearly eighteen euros. It did not push my account int...

by Levantin

Chapter 57

Saturday afternoon washed over the penthouse in deceptively warm autumn light, yet a suffocating silence hung throughout the sprawling rooms. My father had left for a weekend conference in Frankfurt, and his wife was out for the day catching up with friends. The apartment belonge...

by Levantin

Chapter 58

Outside, a damp, biting late afternoon pressed against the tall, old-fashioned windows of the Berlin apartment. My schedule had long ceased to be an ordinary routine; it was a seamless corset. Every day forged from the exact same chain: absorbing the demands at the kiosk in the m...

by Levantin

Chapter 60

The days that followed blurred into a single, dull nightmare of harsh monitor glare, formulas, and sleep deprivation. My room smelled of cold coffee and stale air. While Loona spent her days at university and Vanessa attended her appointments, I spent every free minute after scho...

by Levantin

Chapter 62

The muffled drone of the intercom shattered the heavy silence shortly past four. My heart skipped a full beat before pounding furiously against my ribs. Loona was already lounging on the cream sectional in the living room, legs crossed loosely, a cup of tea balanced in her hands...

by Levantin

Chapter 63

She kept her palm pressed against my chest for another heartbeat, feeling the wild, unchecked hammering beneath before slowly drawing her fingers away. "Bedroom," Loona said flatly. Not another syllable. I trailed behind her down the hushed hallway, my head still swimming with...

by Levantin

Chapter 64

The metallic click of the lock still echoed in my ears. My hands shook as I fitted the cold resin shells around my numb, sticky flesh and slid the crossbar into place. The padlock snapped shut with a dull, final thud. The inflamed skin flared with an infernal sting, and traces of...

by Levantin

Chapter 65

The final weeks before graduation passed in a suffocating, seamless routine. Daily life in the period apartment ran like clockwork, its tempo dictated entirely by Loona. Every morning her silent wake-up call tore me from sleep: out of bed by five-thirty, icy water splashed acros...