The two women stumbled through the brush, soaked to the bone, breath ragged and lungs burning from the run. Just ahead, hidden beneath the overgrowth, loomed a dark cave. Lina spotted it first.
"There," she pointed, shivering. "Hide."
Seraina didn't question her. Her legs carried her like a dying flame carried by the wind. They entered the cave, hearts still thumping, bodies trembling with cold. But the cave wasn't what they expected. It was dimly lit, fire torches neatly placed along the mossy walls, casting flickering shadows.
"How.... is this even here?" Lina whispered, but Seraina said nothing. She moved to a nearby torch, pulled it off the wall, and both girls held their hands toward the flames, desperate for warmth. Their soaked clothes clung to them, freezing.
Without hesitation, they removed their clothes and wrung them dry, modesty long forgotten in the haze of fear and fatigue. Their breath slowed. The silence between them was heavy but not hostile.
Then Seraina saw it ... the bruises and old palm-shaped welts marring Lina's back.
She touched her shoulder softly. "Lina... what happened to you?"
Lina flinched. Her knees buckled and she sank to the stone floor, weeping quietly.
"The female cops...." she gasped. "They hurt me, Seraina. There was no way to stop them. I screamed, I begged, but they didn't stop."
Seraina sat beside her, heart pounding in rage. "Why.... why is this happening? Who's doing this?"
Lina sniffled. "Matteo. That idiot who always got bullied... if he's behind this — and that woman said it's for his entertainment ... then I don't think we're getting out of here."
Seraina's eyes burned. She nodded slowly. "Then we fight. If we're going down, we drag that bastard with us."
A silence followed. But something caught Lina's eye ..... a glowing red symbol carved faintly into Seraina's chest. A demon circle, pulsating like a brand, softly etched with runes in an ancient, twisting script.
"What the hell is this?" Lina whispered. Her fingers trembled as she reached forward and traced the edges of the symbol. The skin beneath was tender. Seraina winced, but didn't stop her.
"I.... I don't know," Seraina said, her voice strained.
Then Seraina noticed the scars on Lina's waist ... small, circular, deliberate. As if someone had pressed burning metal into her skin. Her breath hitched.
She reached out, fingers trembling, and mirrored Lina's touch ... gently grazing the old wounds.
Lina closed her eyes, but her shoulders shuddered with silent sobs.
"Does it still hurt?" Seraina asked.
"Not as much as remembering it."
Seraina leaned forward, lips brushing one scar gently, hoping the symbolic gesture would soothe what pain she could.
But Lina winced ... the wound flared with pain. "Don't.... it still burns."
Seraina pulled back, eyes wet. "Sorry... I just wanted to take some of it away."
They leaned into each other, naked, wounded, but not alone. Their fingers entwined, a flicker of trust in the madness.
The sound of a glass shattering on polished floor echoed through Matteo's luxurious home. Eliane trembled, standing over the spilled water. Her hands were shaking so violently she couldn't grip the edges of the tray she carried.
"Professor," Matteo's voice floated from the living room, sweet but sadistic. "I'm thirsty. Don't make me wait."
He was watching something. A massive screen glowed in the dark ... showing Seraina and Lina inside the cave.
"Touching, isn't it?" Matteo said, almost like a child watching a bedtime story. "Two pathetic little rats huddling together. I wonder if they even realize they're in a ....."
Eliane approached him with a new glass of water, her knees wobbling with each step. She handed it to him.
But the glass slipped from her fingers again. It crashed onto the floor, splashing Matteo's feet.
He stood up slowly. "You really are broken, aren't you?"
Eliane swayed. Her vision spun, her breaths grew shallow.
"Please," she whispered. "Let them go. Haven't you done enough?"
Matteo smiled cruelly and walked past her. "I haven't even started."
Eliane's knees gave in.
She collapsed onto the floor, her body finally surrendered.
Behind Matteo, on the glowing screen, Seraina and Lina lay huddled together in the cave ..... unaware they were the centerpieces of his grotesque stage.