A thin blade ran over Filberto's arm. It wasn't sharp; it pulled, nicked, and tore at his skin, missing a few times. She didn't care. His flinching did not stop her. She just smiled even more at the sight of blood trickling out of the shallow cuts she had inflicted.
His skin burned, and his arms and legs ached from the bindings.
"Linda..."
"Shut up; you'll ruin the moment," she said, admiring the newest line on his skin.
Linda picked up a towel soaking in a bucket of solution and began wiping Filberto's cuts. They burned. The solution tingled his skin and caused the lesions to burn. The pain went beyond the cuts he saw. Untouched patches of skin burned just as much as the cuts. Filberto exhaled sharply, and Linda broke into a soft chuckle.
"You know that I love you, right?" Linda whispered against his hand before biting through the flesh on his knuckles.
Filberto clenched his teeth harder; he needed to not show that the pain affected him. His pain only made her more violent.
"I love you, Filberto!"
"I know..."
Linda picked up a small knife and stabbed Filberto's thighs a few times. Discarding the knife, she picked up handfuls of the solution from the bucket and rubbed it along Filberto's thigh, where she'd stabbed him.
Flberto could barely stand the pain now. He fought hard to block out the burning throbbing of his cuts, but they were too many. His tears escaped, and he began sobbing silently.
Linda, seeing Filberto sobbing, stopped for a moment to look at him. She saw the cuts she'd inflicted and the tears running down his face. She stopped and cradled his head against her bosom.
"Everything will be fine, love."
ns 15.158.61.20da2
