Previously called "Diary of a Soul in the Underworld."
Summary: Long ago I sold my soul and doomed myself to an eternity in the Underworld. I did everything they wanted for centuries, but no more! I'll find a way out of my destiny or die trying! I leave you my story in the hope that someone else can succeed if I fail.
Click here for earlier chapters
The story so far: After the death of his first master Alistair, Ethan is resold to a factory along with his friend Anya. After being mistreated by the cruel foreman for months, Ethan attempts to fight back but loses. Foreman then sends him to their master’s room to be punished.
I found a place to hide in the lower levels of the factory once he finally let me go.
I wearily walked as far as I could from that room, until I reached a small corner of the basement full of pipes and mold. The floor was soaked with water, and every once in awhile I’d hear a hissing sound that I just couldn’t place, but I didn’t care. I wanted to be there. Anywhere other than that room or the factory floor was fine.
I must have sat there for hours. Shaking in the dark. It was unusual for Foreman to leave me alone for so long, but perhaps he wanted me to stew over what happened. To make me relive it again and again in my mind without any distractions until the punishment really sunk in.
Master David was a monster.
It was the only word I could use to describe him.
He stripped his clothes, bound me to a chair, and sawed into me again and again for days just to see what would happen. He made notes on whatever my ghostly body did, like he was trying to test every one of my physical limits to figure out how I worked. When he became tired of that, he started challenging my mental limits too.
I once broke down and cried in an attempt to make him stop, but that just made the bastard happier.
“I like that face,” he said with a mad grin. “You’re so much more beautiful when you cry.”
Then there was that girl, or what was left of her. The things he did to her, the things he made me do to her. How can anyone do such horrifying things with a smile on their face? How could anyone be locked inside a room with that man and come out okay?
“Ethan?” Called a faint voice from somewhere in the basement.
I flinched and raised my head, but there was only one person who knew that name and I didn’t want to face them. I backed away to hide amongst the pipes, but I forgot about the water and my splashes were a dead give away.
“Ethan?” Said Anya. All of a sudden she was standing before me like she’d appeared out of thin air. It must have been a trick of my mind which was having trouble following along with reality.
“Ethan, they said that you have to come back now,” she said gently but I didn’t respond. “Ethan?” She said more forcefully to try and grab my attention.
“Who are they?” I asked.
She paused like she knew that the answer wouldn’t make things better. “Foreman, and the others too. I think-”
“So you’re friends with him now?” I said darkly.
“Look! Something like that doesn’t matter. Come on, let’s just go back.”
She reached out and grabbed my arm but I slapped her hand away. “Don’t fucking touch me!” I snapped. Being touched reminded me of him, and I never wanted to think of what happened again. “How can you easily follow people like that who treat everyone like crap? I thought you were better than that! I thought you were my friend! Weren’t we supposed to support each other no matter what?”
I expected her to try harder. To actually sit down beside me and be the kind friend that I had in the past, but instead Anya let out an exasperated sigh like she was tired of dealing with me.
"Not this again,” she said bitterly. “You’re always ranting on about friendship this and friendship that, only when it suits you Ethan. Let me ask you something. What sort of guy says that he’ll support his friend no matter what, and then goes flirting around with her love interest behind her back?"
"What are you talking about?"
"What are you talking about? Don’t play dumb with me Ethan," she snapped. "I’m talking about you and Master Alistair. You always said that you didn’t like him that way, but I knew you did. You were always trying to make him like you when you thought no one was watching."
"That’s ridiculous! I would never do that!"
"Do you think I’m an idiot? I was there. I saw everything!"
"Nothing happened between us!” I yelled. I couldn’t believe that she was saying something so stupid after what David put me through. I was a victim. What sort of petty person would bring up old crushes when their best friend was clearly suffering? She should have comforted me instead. “I never wanted something to happen. You sound like a crazy person!”
Anya screwed her face up in rage like she was about to explode, but then closed her eyes and attempted to calm herself down. She opened them again and looked at me while trying her best to control her emotions.
The two of us were like that for over a minute. Angrily glaring at each other but not saying a word. Patiently waiting for the other person to give in and admit they were wrong.
I refused to loose, so it was Anya who broke the silence.
“Hey Ethan,” she said calmly. “I have an interesting idea. Some souls believe that it’s best to shed your old identity and start fresh with every new master. Apparently it makes it easier to cope with the things that happen in our lives. I’ve been doing some thinking, and the two of us have become different people, so maybe we should start over as well.”
She stood there and silently waited for my answer.
I understood what she wanted. A week earlier I would have refused to let her go no matter what, but on that day I couldn’t make myself care.
“Fine,” I muttered.
“Great,” she said with a forced smile. “So let’s go back to zero. My name is Toilet Brush Hair and yours is Girly Boy. We are now meeting each other for the first time,” she held her hand out for me to shake. I didn’t move so she hesitantly withdrew it and frowned. “Unfortunately we didn’t get off to a good start. I doubt that we’ll hang out together in the future.”
“I doubt it as well.”
Anya sighed and turned to leave. I couldn’t tell if she was sad or proud of herself.
“A long time ago I used to have a friend who looked like you,” she said. “But he was sold to a different master.”
“I used to have a friend named Anya, but she died on the same day as Alistair.”
“But then again, he was a crappy friend who ignored all my advice.”
“And she was a manipulative old cow who’d use anyone to get what she wanted.”
“If I saw him on the street I doubt I’d even bother saying hello.”
“I hope her new friends turn on her and make her life hell.”
“Goodbye Girly Boy,” she said before disappearing from the room. “I hope you enjoy the new grave that you’ve dug for yourself.”
And then my friend Anya was gone forever.
I drew my legs up to my chest and rested my head on my knees. I knew it wouldn’t be long before Foreman sent someone to forcefully drag me back.
I knew I should have felt sad that she left me, but I felt like our friendship ended long before that fight in the basement.
I still have no idea why she accused me of trying to steal Alistair. I supported her until the day we left, and I never made a single move towards our old master. I can only guess that the grief from losing him put strange ideas in her head. Perhaps I was just an easy target she could use to vent her frustration. Had I been Felix or Angela she would have said the same thing.
“Alistair,” I whispered into the dark, but there was nothing I could do to make him come back for her.
Next chapter: Two different masters and two completely different lives….
Click here for other chapters
It’s been almost a year since I started this story, so I recently went back and rewrote the first chapter. I also made some small changes to chapter two and three as well. I posted this story chapter by chapter as I wrote it, but some of my ideas changed over time.
I originally wanted this story to be more angry and graphic, but I realised that it was a bit too much to write an angry Ethan in every single chapter, so his personality became more chilled the more I wrote this story. I also found the idea of writing graphic scenes quite depressing, so I decided to just imply that they happened instead. I changed the first few chapters to reflect this change. Feel free to check them out and let me know what you think in a comment or review.
Click here for earlier chapters
The story so far: After the death of his first master Alistair, Ethan is resold to a factory along with his friend Anya. After being mistreated by the cruel foreman for months, Ethan attempts to fight back but loses. Foreman then sends him to their master’s room to be punished.
Chapter 22
I found a place to hide in the lower levels of the factory once he finally let me go.
I wearily walked as far as I could from that room, until I reached a small corner of the basement full of pipes and mold. The floor was soaked with water, and every once in awhile I’d hear a hissing sound that I just couldn’t place, but I didn’t care. I wanted to be there. Anywhere other than that room or the factory floor was fine.
I must have sat there for hours. Shaking in the dark. It was unusual for Foreman to leave me alone for so long, but perhaps he wanted me to stew over what happened. To make me relive it again and again in my mind without any distractions until the punishment really sunk in.
Master David was a monster.
It was the only word I could use to describe him.
He stripped his clothes, bound me to a chair, and sawed into me again and again for days just to see what would happen. He made notes on whatever my ghostly body did, like he was trying to test every one of my physical limits to figure out how I worked. When he became tired of that, he started challenging my mental limits too.
I once broke down and cried in an attempt to make him stop, but that just made the bastard happier.
“I like that face,” he said with a mad grin. “You’re so much more beautiful when you cry.”
Then there was that girl, or what was left of her. The things he did to her, the things he made me do to her. How can anyone do such horrifying things with a smile on their face? How could anyone be locked inside a room with that man and come out okay?
“Ethan?” Called a faint voice from somewhere in the basement.
I flinched and raised my head, but there was only one person who knew that name and I didn’t want to face them. I backed away to hide amongst the pipes, but I forgot about the water and my splashes were a dead give away.
“Ethan?” Said Anya. All of a sudden she was standing before me like she’d appeared out of thin air. It must have been a trick of my mind which was having trouble following along with reality.
“Ethan, they said that you have to come back now,” she said gently but I didn’t respond. “Ethan?” She said more forcefully to try and grab my attention.
“Who are they?” I asked.
She paused like she knew that the answer wouldn’t make things better. “Foreman, and the others too. I think-”
“So you’re friends with him now?” I said darkly.
“Look! Something like that doesn’t matter. Come on, let’s just go back.”
She reached out and grabbed my arm but I slapped her hand away. “Don’t fucking touch me!” I snapped. Being touched reminded me of him, and I never wanted to think of what happened again. “How can you easily follow people like that who treat everyone like crap? I thought you were better than that! I thought you were my friend! Weren’t we supposed to support each other no matter what?”
I expected her to try harder. To actually sit down beside me and be the kind friend that I had in the past, but instead Anya let out an exasperated sigh like she was tired of dealing with me.
"Not this again,” she said bitterly. “You’re always ranting on about friendship this and friendship that, only when it suits you Ethan. Let me ask you something. What sort of guy says that he’ll support his friend no matter what, and then goes flirting around with her love interest behind her back?"
"What are you talking about?"
"What are you talking about? Don’t play dumb with me Ethan," she snapped. "I’m talking about you and Master Alistair. You always said that you didn’t like him that way, but I knew you did. You were always trying to make him like you when you thought no one was watching."
"That’s ridiculous! I would never do that!"
"Do you think I’m an idiot? I was there. I saw everything!"
"Nothing happened between us!” I yelled. I couldn’t believe that she was saying something so stupid after what David put me through. I was a victim. What sort of petty person would bring up old crushes when their best friend was clearly suffering? She should have comforted me instead. “I never wanted something to happen. You sound like a crazy person!”
Anya screwed her face up in rage like she was about to explode, but then closed her eyes and attempted to calm herself down. She opened them again and looked at me while trying her best to control her emotions.
The two of us were like that for over a minute. Angrily glaring at each other but not saying a word. Patiently waiting for the other person to give in and admit they were wrong.
I refused to loose, so it was Anya who broke the silence.
“Hey Ethan,” she said calmly. “I have an interesting idea. Some souls believe that it’s best to shed your old identity and start fresh with every new master. Apparently it makes it easier to cope with the things that happen in our lives. I’ve been doing some thinking, and the two of us have become different people, so maybe we should start over as well.”
She stood there and silently waited for my answer.
I understood what she wanted. A week earlier I would have refused to let her go no matter what, but on that day I couldn’t make myself care.
“Fine,” I muttered.
“Great,” she said with a forced smile. “So let’s go back to zero. My name is Toilet Brush Hair and yours is Girly Boy. We are now meeting each other for the first time,” she held her hand out for me to shake. I didn’t move so she hesitantly withdrew it and frowned. “Unfortunately we didn’t get off to a good start. I doubt that we’ll hang out together in the future.”
“I doubt it as well.”
Anya sighed and turned to leave. I couldn’t tell if she was sad or proud of herself.
“A long time ago I used to have a friend who looked like you,” she said. “But he was sold to a different master.”
“I used to have a friend named Anya, but she died on the same day as Alistair.”
“But then again, he was a crappy friend who ignored all my advice.”
“And she was a manipulative old cow who’d use anyone to get what she wanted.”
“If I saw him on the street I doubt I’d even bother saying hello.”
“I hope her new friends turn on her and make her life hell.”
“Goodbye Girly Boy,” she said before disappearing from the room. “I hope you enjoy the new grave that you’ve dug for yourself.”
And then my friend Anya was gone forever.
I drew my legs up to my chest and rested my head on my knees. I knew it wouldn’t be long before Foreman sent someone to forcefully drag me back.
I knew I should have felt sad that she left me, but I felt like our friendship ended long before that fight in the basement.
I still have no idea why she accused me of trying to steal Alistair. I supported her until the day we left, and I never made a single move towards our old master. I can only guess that the grief from losing him put strange ideas in her head. Perhaps I was just an easy target she could use to vent her frustration. Had I been Felix or Angela she would have said the same thing.
“Alistair,” I whispered into the dark, but there was nothing I could do to make him come back for her.
Next chapter: Two different masters and two completely different lives….
Chapter 23 ------->
Click here for other chapters
It’s been almost a year since I started this story, so I recently went back and rewrote the first chapter. I also made some small changes to chapter two and three as well. I posted this story chapter by chapter as I wrote it, but some of my ideas changed over time.
I originally wanted this story to be more angry and graphic, but I realised that it was a bit too much to write an angry Ethan in every single chapter, so his personality became more chilled the more I wrote this story. I also found the idea of writing graphic scenes quite depressing, so I decided to just imply that they happened instead. I changed the first few chapters to reflect this change. Feel free to check them out and let me know what you think in a comment or review.
