The night feels ordinary when I step outside. Cool air. Quiet streets. The kind of silence that usually settles the nerves. I head home without thinking, following the same route as always. Nothing strange. Nothing alerting. Until I notice the van.
It idles at the curb with a low growl. Too still. Too patient. Before I can react, shadows peel away from the darkness. A bag drops over my head. Hands seize my arms. My world goes black in a heartbeat.
I fight out of instinct. It achieves nothing. The hands gripping me know exactly what they are doing. Plastic cuffs cinch tight around my wrists. Another set clamps my ankles. A female voice breathes against my ear. Cool. Amused. Unnervingly calm.
“You belong to us now.”
The van doors slam shut. The engine surges forward. I twist and thrash on the floor, but a boot plants itself on my chest. A gloved hand slaps my face. Not hard enough to injure. Just hard enough to remind me that I have already lost.
Time becomes a blur of engine noise and fear. The van finally stops. Hands grab me again. I am hauled inside a building that smells of damp concrete and old dust. A basement perhaps. A warehouse. Somewhere designed for secrets.
The bag is ripped from my head. A swaying lightbulb blinds me. Figures surround me. All leather. All boots. All watching with predatory interest.
One steps forward. Tall. Blonde. Eyes like sharpened glass.
“Strip him.”
I freeze. A single moment of disbelief. Then they move. My shirt is torn open. My shoes and socks vanish. My trousers disappear in a tangle of rough hands. I resist. They laugh. A slap across my ribs forces me still.
“Oh he is shy. How adorable.”
Fingers hook my waistband. One brutal pull and my underwear is gone. Cold air covers me like a second skin. I stand naked before them while they remain encased in black leather that gleams in the harsh light.
“Look at him. Pathetic. Nothing but a toy now.”
A collar snaps shut around my throat. A leash clips into place. The blonde gives the chain a sharp tug and I stumble forward. Her scent is all leather and command. I am kept close, exactly where she wants me.
“Crawl.”
The order hits me harder than the slap. I hesitate for a single second. Enough to earn another strike across my backside. The sting forces me down. Hands and knees on cold concrete. The leash tightens. Boots gather around me. They swat my exposed skin as I crawl, their laughter echoing above me.
They tire of that quickly.
Hands drag me upright. My arms are yanked above my head. Metal cuffs lock around my wrists and lift them toward chains hanging from the ceiling. My ankles are shackled wide apart. I am spread open. Fully displayed. Entirely helpless.
The first strike of the flogger lands on my back. A soft kiss at first. Then a sharper one. Then a far harder one. Heat floods across my skin. The blows fall without rhythm, without mercy. My breath comes in ragged bursts. My body tenses, then buckles.
“Let us hear you scream.”
Cold metal clamps bite into my nipples. A painful pinch. Another on the opposite side. A cruel tug on one sends a bolt of sensation straight through me. Pain mixes with something I do not want to acknowledge.
A gloved hand wraps itself around my exposed sex. Testing. Squeezing. I flinch. They laugh.
“Oh yes. We are going to enjoy this.”
A hum rises behind me. Sharp. Electric. Ominous.
The first shock hits my thigh. My body jerks violently. A cry escapes before I can swallow it. Another shock follows. Closer this time. Too close.
“No safe words here. You take what we give you.”
The next jolt hits my most sensitive flesh. My vision flashes white. My body convulses in the chains. The clamps pull. The flogger cracks. Shock after shock lights up my skin. Pain becomes a rhythm. Humiliation becomes a fog. Time dissolves completely.
When my body finally sags in the restraints, I am shaking. Sweat clings to my skin. The clamps still pinch. The aftershocks still twitch through my muscles.
The blonde grips my chin and forces my head up.
“Not so defiant now, are you.”
I cannot speak. She pushes my face aside with a dismissive flick of her hand.
“We are done with you.”
The chains release. I collapse to my knees. They do not give me even a second to recover. I am dragged toward the exit, still naked, still collared. The leash remains attached.
“Move.”
I stumble forward, every step a reminder of what they have done to me. The tools of my torment line the walls. Leather. Metal. Electricity. I am shoved into the van. I hit the floor hard.
The engine roars again. The van vibrates beneath me.
A voice cuts through the darkness.
“On your stomach, pet.”
I hesitate. A mistake. They flip me over. My cheek hits the cold metal floor. Thick leather cuffs encircle my wrists and buckle tight. Ropes loop around my ankles and pull them together. My legs bend. The ropes draw my ankles toward my wrists. Closer. Tighter. Until my spine arches and the strain bites deep.
I am hogtied. Completely immobilised.
Fingers press against my lips.
“Open.”
A ball gag is shoved into my mouth. The straps pull tight. The buckle snaps closed. My protest is a muffled, useless sound.
“Mmmph.”
They laugh.
“Perfect. Now he really looks like a helpless little toy.”
The van slows. Gravel crunches. Cold air rushes inside as the doors open. I am dragged to the edge, then dumped onto the ground. Pain shoots through my twisted limbs. Dirt clings to my skin.
The blonde crouches beside me. Her gloved fingers trace the marks they left on my back.
“Pathetic.”
The leash tightens one final time. A last deliberate humiliation. Then she unclips it and flicks it aside.
The doors slam. The engine fades. Silence follows.
I am alone.
Naked.
Bound.
Gagged.
Left in the dark, waiting for whatever comes next.
D.C. Chayne 