Chapter 43: End of Her Rope (F-solo, hang)

Sonja woke up to the stench of blood and death. The coppery scent clung to the back of her throat and she tried to cough it out, but it wouldn't clear. She inhaled a rasping breath and then coughed hard. Her hacking shook her body but the smell still remained clinging to the back of her throat. The effort cracked the caked blood from her body and she winced at the cold ooze that dribbled down her side.

She pushed herself off the bed, breaking more of the dried fluids that covered her body. Her movements brought fresh scents to her nose: dried blood, the bittersweet scent of death, and stale sex. It was overpowering and she coughed again. She reached out in the darkness, fumbling for the lamp on her bedside table.

Her naked breast stroked against the cool, soft skin of her lover. She froze and shifted more, dragging the cold-hardened nipple along the body, it took her a moment to realize that Meris wouldn't wake up from her teasing.

Memories of the night rushed back. She sat back, dragging her hand along the gaping wounds along the deep cuts that she had inflicted herself on the only woman she had loved. The passion from the night before had faded, leaving only a nauseating ache behind.

Tears burned in her eyes. She sniffed and wiped at them. "Oh, love. Why did it come to this?"

There was no answer in the cold, still room.

She stroked her fingers blindly up to Meris' face and cupped them. Bits of dried blood flaked off the clammy skin. She pulled herself up and kissed the icy lips.

They had both talked about killing Meris more than once during their fantasies. The idea of it set both of their pulses on fire and their cunts grew slick with the images. But now that it had happened, now that she was pressed against the cold body of her lover, all the passion had fled leaving only an empty ache behind it.

Sonja had never thought about life beyond Meris. She had never considered the overwhelming darkness that filled her now, the realization that she was the one to murder the one woman she loved was almost too much.

Tears splashed down on her hand, the liquid was searing hot compared to the corpse of her lover. "Why did it come to this? What did we do wrong?"

Sonja knew what she did wrong, there was a pile of corpses behind her. She thought about all the times she was thrusting her fingers into Meris' clenching tunnel and whispering how she would cut into her lover. They were all the mistakes she made, she should have never encouraged Meris.

Rick was right. She had created the monster. She had led Meris down a path that could only allow one thing. And now... now....

She sobbed loudly. "W-What do I do now?"

The obvious answer was to call James and head for Dolcett County. She had no doubt he would get her to safety and then she could prove herself to the rest of the county. There would be no lottery or chance of death for her, only years of snuffing women and cooking.

She pushed herself off her lover, one leg raised to crawl over her, when the realization hit her. Meris wouldn't be coming along. She didn't know how much of the excitement came because Meris was always along the wall masturbating. Or watching her with rapt interest. Every time Sonja slammed the knife into flesh, she could hear Meris' little coo of excitement.

If she went to Dolcett County, that would all end. It would be just herself working, terribly alone. Perro's offer meant she wouldn't be in the lottery, which mean there would be no brushes of fear, no excitement at almost being caught.

Sonja lowered her leg and straddled her lover. She shifted her position until her lips were pressed against Meris, her nipples against the icy, sticky tips of her lover. She kissed Meris deeply, the despair growing when her lover didn't respond. It was something, but the kiss only reminded her more and more how alone she would be.

It only took a few kisses before she pulled away. Her lover was dead. Sniffing and wiping the tears from her face, she slipped off the cold corpse of her lover and sank to the ground. The icy floor seeped into her skin.

She looked up and addressed the darkness. "Is that what you want?"

Sonja held her breath as she wanted for a cold wind. When it didn't come, she glared into the darkness. "Come on, Cold, you're the one who had been pushing us."

No answer.

She staggered to her feet and shook her hands at the ceiling. "Well, was it worth it? Are you jerking off somewhere over my love? That's what you want, isn't it?"

Sonja lashed out. Her knuckles grazed the lamp which fell to the ground and shattered. She spun again, her fits hitting nothing. She lashed out again while splattering tears against the ground and her body.

Too soon, her strength fled her. She clutched to the side of the bed, her fingers wrapped around her lover's thigh. "That wasn't the way it was supposed to happen. It isn't fair. It just isn't---"

The word froze in her throat. She had heard the same words from the cunts in her basement: Theodora and Marisha said it constantly. At the time, she didn't think anything of it, they were just victims of their own abuse. Now, it was her saying the words. She was the victim.

She slumped against the bed. "It isn't fair, is it? But that's the point. You are getting your jollies off on this. This is all part of your game since I moved here, to encouraging me to kill everyone, everything around me."

Sonja looked back up, the tears burning her eyes. "Now what? Do you have some grand plan?"

The air remained still.

She shook her head and squeezed the tears out. After a few deep breaths, she looked back up. "Was I always a killer? Was this who I was or just what you made me?"

When he continued to refuse to answer, she pushed herself off the bed. Her heart ached with loneliness, her imagination filling in years of dream before her. "N-No, I can't do this. I can't live without her. And you? I can't kill you. I said I would kill anyone who hurt my Meris, but this is all part of your fucking game."

She staggered to her door and opened it. The light from the workshop shone directly in her face and she pulled back. She let out a shuddering breath before shielding herself with her hand.

Sonja tried to remember where she had left James' card, but couldn't. She considered looking for it, but the despair held her down. It didn't matter. Living a full life meant being miserable without her lover. She couldn't handle the days without Meris' little coos or the intensity as she begged for death.

Remember all the times Meris asked Sonja to be the one to kill her brought a fresh wave of sadness. She clutched the frame and sobbed. Never again, never would she hear those words. There was nothing for her.

She pushed herself away from the door. Maybe she should just give herself up. Maybe head to Dolcett not as a butcher, but as a victim. They would fuck and kill her, raping her right up the point they snuffed her like all the bitches she had done.

Her body warmed at the thought, but she shoved it down. No, she didn't deserve pleasure. There was nothing without Meris, no reason to live.

Sonja looked up to see the shadow of her workshop. The gallows still stood in the back of the room, a beautiful work of art that was meant to do one thing. She crossed the hall and peered at it.

Meris had almost hung herself on it. The noose still hung above the opening. She could see where she had landed in the sawdust and footprints in the sand. It was peaceful in the workshop, a place of comfort when she first moved. She entered further, glancing where she killed her mother and the endless tools she used to create something so beautiful.

But then she stopped. Before she moved to California, she didn't know how to build a gallows. The that knowledge came from somewhere else, someone else. She stopped and grabbed the workbench for balance. "This was one of yours, wasn't it?"

No wind tickled her skin, no breeze kicked up the sawdust.

"Was the gallows for me? For my love?"

She continued across the workshop to it. She ignored the set trap and headed up the stairs, stroking her fingers along the smooth wood. It was perfection under her touch, a smoothness that warmed her body and sent little flutters along her pussy.

Sniffing, Sonja looked around. "What did you want from me?"

Waiting for answer, she reached out and grabbed the noose. The soft rope caressed her palm. She regarded it, trying to imagine it around Meris' neck. It would have been exciting, thrilling. Looking down, she could see how it would only take a single step to be dangling.

It was a powerful idea not to resist. It would be over, the aching hole in her heart would be silent. She wouldn't have to worry about living for years without her Meris, she wouldn't be rotting in some jail, she wouldn't be fucked until the very end. Just one long, painful moment and all the agony would end.

Trembling, she pulled the noose over her head and tucked it behind her ear. The soft rope caressed her throat and she felt ripple of warmth filling her body. That is what Meris would have wanted, to hang for her lover to see. Sonja could almost imagine Meris calling out to her, masturbating in the corner as she watched.

Sonja lifted one foot and held it out over the gap. It was a long fall, it might be enough to break her neck. If it didn't, she would strangle quickly. There wasn't any way to stop herself, no way to escape.

She closed her eyes slowly and opened them. "I-I can't do this."

Her body trembled with the cold and her fear. The heat in her pussy fought with the despair in her heart. Both told her to step out into the void and end it.

"Fuck you."

Sonja stepped forward. Her body plummeted down and she came from the anticipation. The end of the rope snapped tight, slamming her head forward and she saw stars. They cleared almost immediately, but then she realized that her neck had not broken from the fall.

The pressure around her neck was intense. It had crushed her trachea and cut off any chance of breathing. Her heart pounded in her head, squeezing through constricted arteries as black spots swam around her vision.

She kicked, a reflexive need to save herself. Her toes hit nothing as she swung back and forth.

Sonja needed to breathe, she needed to gasp. She opened her mouth to inhale, but her tongue felt too thick and no air came into her burning lunches. More tears ran down her cheeks as she kicked again, feeling every switch of her body through the taunt rope wrapped around her neck.

Fear rippled through her body, filing her with the heat of an intense orgasm. It rippled from her cunt, fueled by her suffocation. She kicked violently as she lost control of her bladder. The hot rivers rand down both legs, but she could smell her pussy juices mixing in with the urine. It was intense, more than anything else.

She was going to die and she couldn't stop coming.

"I had hope you would try hang yourself," said a sudden voice in her ear. It was low and icy. "If you cut off your head, we wouldn't be able to talk."

Sonja tried to look around with her bulging eyes, but her swinging had rotated her. She stared at the back wall, trying to identify the voice.

Icy hands, so cold that they cracked the flesh, pushed her buttock. She winced at the agony that shot up her spine. It blurred with the intense orgasm of suffocation and she thrashed violently on the ropes, fighting the icy orgasm that wrapped around her heart.

Her movements brought her around. She silently gulped as she saw a man standing in front of her. He was just a shadow, a black outline of man, but the air wavered around him and ice spread out from his feet. She could see his face, but it was only lines formed by the wavering temperature. It was Master Cold.

He reached out and grabbed her left breast. Ice dug into the flesh, piercing skin as it sank deeper. The cold pushed away her orgasm as her entire world focused on him. She could feel ice forming inside her tit, crystallizing the fat. It hurt, more than she suffocating to death or anything else. She writhed, trying to escape it, but that only increased the pressure on the rope choking the life out of her.

"You don't have much time, so listen. Your answers will come later, in the actions you choose."

The pressure on her breast increased. Her entire weight seemed to focus on the agonizing tit as he lifted her up. A few gasps of air leaked past the rope around her neck. She strained to lift herself higher, to breathe deeper, but he dropped her back down and the rope cut tight across her neck.

"You can only see me near death, Sonja. The only way we can talk is if you are near to drawing your last breath."

She couldn't stop her legs from kicking, it was a reflexive action. She tried to gasp for air again, but the tight pressure across her ruined throat prevented anything other than suffocating stillness.

"Yes, everything was for this point," Master Cold said. "Everything I did lead up to you killing the one woman you loved."

Tears splashed down Sonja's face. She lash out at him, but her foot missed. She wanted to strangle him, cut him, burn him away. He took her Meris away from her.

"No, no, listen." He lifted her up again, the ice digging into her breast. She could see the skin darkening as if it was frostbitten, but it was hard to see through the agony of the icy grip holding her entire body up with only a single breast.

She gulped the air down. She tried to cry out, but her destroyed throat made no noise.

Master Cold dropped her again, but his hand never left her breast. "Listen."

She tried to still herself as her body panicked from being suffocated again.

"I need you to go to Dolcett. You must have a long life there."

She shook her head. She wanted to tell him that she couldn't live with her Meris.

"I need you to let me to use you as a vessel, so I can see my home again."

His words sank in. She gaped and stilled. Her heart still pounded painfully in her chest and ears, but she focused on his cold, cruel words.

"There is only one way I can leave this cursed house. And that is through you. This is the only way I can see my family again, to see how they fared in that place. I want to see everything one more time. I miss it more than you can imagine."

He lifted her up again to give her a few breaths of air.

Sonja tried to work her mouth, to ask why, but he dropped her before she could mouth them.

"Listen, you respond when you are safe. I'm willing to trade you. You give me your life and I give you Meris back."

The world stopped, her body froze. She stared at the dark blot of a man before her in shock.

"Everyone who dies in this house is still here. Every woman, every man. Some escape the house for a short time, such as the bitch who took over your mother, but they are still there. Your Meris? She waiting for you in your bedroom, a ghost but still in so much love with you. I can hear her, I can feel her."

Sonja shook violently, the black spots swimming across her vision and her lungs screaming for air. Her legs clenched together as she tried to listen through the pounding of her hears and the brief flare of hope that had filled her heart.

"If you have a long life in Dolcett, I gave you that. No lottery, no risk, no fear. Live it. Kill, snuff, and fuck as much as you want. When you are done, when it is time, come back here. This house will be here. Finish the job, kill yourself by any way and I promise---I will promise on the stars in the sky and the ice in my heart---I promise that you will have your Meris back."

He released her breast and her weight slammed down on the rope. It cut into her ruined throat, cutting off any chance to breathe. The black spots swarmed in from the edges of her vision. She could taste blood in her mouth but it only pooled in the back of her throat.

The rope snapped

She slammed into the ground, cracking her knees against the icy concrete. Clouds of mist rose up around her as she toppled forward, smacking her face against the hard stone and breaking her nose. Fresh blood, searing hot, poured out across the ground. When it flowed over the ice, it froze.

The end of the rope landed just in her vision, the end a solid block of ice.

Sonja let out a gasping gurgle, the only sound she could make with her crushed throat. She slid her hand along the ground toward the rope.

A card fluttered to the ground in front of her face. It was James' business card. A moment later, one of the phone slid across the icy concrete to land against her cheek.

Sonja froze, struggling with her heart. She just had to call James, he would use Caller ID to know that she was in trouble. She just had to dial the number.

She couldn't know if Master Cold lied to her, but the hope, no matter how small was enough. If the only way to have her Meris back was to live a full life as a butcher in Dolcett County, then she would do it. She would kill for her Meris.

With a shaking hand, she managed to grab the phone and start dialing.