Small Mercies

Part IX

Her

My body hangs, suspended and tortured from the strap that binds me so totally...exposes me so completely. I have been ravaged in every orifice that I possess, and yet the cruelest torment has been the yawning hunger which screams in my mind each time you withdraw...leaving me empty and unfulfilled...praying for the release that only you have the power to give me.

I feel you move once again inside of me, plundering that which I have kept for you alone...taking what you will with vicious thrusts of your body.

"Please," I hear myself whisper, "No more. Finish me...finish me." And then it happens.

In one massive thrust you once again grasp my hips and join my body to yours. All reason has fled. We are like two beasts in the field, coupling urgently, desperately, all thoughts of civilized convention cast aside.

My pale tormented flesh, so ravaged by the lash, cringes as your assault escalates. I cry out, over and over...but not my "word"...never that...never that. I feel your crashing need plundering my delicate passage, hammering deep within my belly...the pain...the pain...the exquisite pain.

The room spins. My consciousness falters as wave after wave of shuddering release wash over me, inundating me, swallowing me in its wake. I hear your moan...loud and guttural as you spew your hot, thick seed deep into my hungering maw...driving me...filling me...completing me. The room darkens...the pain fades...and as I slip into one final moment of consciousness I hear your strange strangled cry behind me.

Have I let you down, I wonder as the darkness overcomes me...have I let you down?

Time passes [how long?].

Dimly, as though through a long and convoluted tunnel, I feel the firelight once again on the backs of my eyelids. How long have I been lost...between worlds? I have no idea.

My bonds have been removed, and I find myself curiously free once again, lying as I was at the time of my devastation...on my stomach, atop the leather couch upon which my tortuous adventure began.

I search the room. Have you gone? Have you left now that you have taken all that I have to offer...all that I have to give? And then I see you, sitting slumped in the soft leather chair, staring at my naked form in the firelight.

Did I use my "safe word"? In my abandon, did it slip from my lips...have I failed my test...my trial? I can't allow this to happen...I must continue until all has been resolved... until...

Frantically, I scan the wall upon which so many curious and painful implements reside. Surely redemption can be found there. There must be something with which I can prove myself to you...to atone for my obvious failures.

And then I spy them...deceptively small...the thought chilling me to the bone...but it must be done. There is nothing else...nothing.

Weak and faltering, I force my body upward and stagger across the floor toward my objective. I pause. Do I have the strength? Can I endure the pain?

My hand, shaking uncontrollably, extends before me, and I feel my fingers curl around the cruel steel teeth that I know will soon ravage my flesh. I tremble. Already my body is responding to what I know is to come...to the unbearable torment that my tender nipples will soon endure. Gently, I draw the dusky flesh into my palm, tenderly caressing it to a rigid peak as though to apologize for what I am to do. The jaws gleam hungrily in the firelight...I close my eyes.

And then I feel it.

Your arms circling my trembling body...your lips against my throat...

And your tears.

Your hand covers mine, releasing my rigid grasp...the steel clamps dropping softly to the carpet.

"No more, Sarah Rose...no more."

"Mercy..."

I turn to you, my eyes wide in amazement, unable to believe the word that has escaped your lips. It is then, and only then that I realize my journey was not taken alone...that you have been with me at every turn. My pain has been yours as well. We are fellow travelers. Lovers who have transcended the bonds of here and now...the mundane world. Survivors.

My strength falters, my knees quiver uselessly. Gently I feel myself swept up into your arms...so strong...so protective as you carry me from the chamber into the sheltered security of our bedroom, and place me...ever so tenderly beneath the down comforter atop our big, soft bed. You slide in beside me and I feel your lips nudge the frown lines from my forehead...a final passing of what was...a homecoming.

The clock ticks...tiny heartbeats lost in infinity...and I begin to drift off...lost in the safe haven of your arms.

But as I close my eyes one final time, I hear deep within me the "word" I held so guardedly inside, the one that only now I fully understand. It is a word that would have signaled my ultimate surrender...a word connoting compassion, a blessing...escaping now from my lips in hushed and reverent tones.

"Mercy," I murmur softly as I mold my body to yours... "mercy..."

- The End -