"What fucking privileges? You don't even feed us!" Nora exclaimed and rolled her eyes. The second the hood was off, she squinted and huffed. The light was blinding and made it hard to see. After a few minutes, her vision was restored and she could actually see what was going on.
The voice tutted. Around Nora, the two guards were plugging in a cord that attached to the chair Nora was in. Unrelated to the conversation, though Nora didn't know that. "Last chance. Will you stay quiet today?" The voice paused, waiting.
Nora craned her head and looked to see the cord. Well, that was certainly new. "Last chance. Will you go fuck yourself?" She ran her mouth too much for her own good. Everyone always said it would be her downside but she never did care much for what other people said.
"Well then I suppose you're spending the night here tonight," the voice said, sounding smug. "And you look cold, dear. I think we'll turn up the heat." The room started to warm up to the point of discomfort as hot air was pumped in. The guards finished with the chair and left the room.
Nora sighed heavily before she leaned her head against the back of the chair. Was this supposed to be a form of torture? Sure, it was hot but she lived in the desert for several years. She was sued to the hot and humid weather. "Same time tomorrow, shit weasel?"
The temperature continued to climb. A thermometer was nailed to the wall and though Nora couldn't see it, it kept climbing. 100°. 110°. 120°. 130°. 140°. Once reaching 140°, it stayed like that for an hour, just enough to push the girl to the brink of death. After an hour, the temperature started to rapidly drop. 100°. Eighty degrees. Sixty degrees. Forty degrees. Twenty degrees. Zero degrees. Negative twenty degrees. Negative forty degrees. It remained at that temperature for another hour, then climbed back up to seventy degrees. Three more hours passed and nothing happened.
Nora could handle the early hundreds but she started to get baked when the temperature climbed high. She sweated like crazy and panted, she was desperate for some water. Once at 140° she passed out and didn't wake up again until it was at seventy. By then she was simultaneously sweating and freezing her ass off. To say she was miserable was an understatement. She coughed and shivered and just felt sick. Her lips were badly cracked and her entire body ached. The pain in her leg was especially bad.
An hour passed. Then another. Rowan laid there, wondering what was happening to Nora and when she would get to see her again. She closed her eyes and thought about all the nights they spent together, sharing body heat and comfort. What she wouldn’t give to be laying in her bed with Nora right now. . . .
The door opened and one guard entered. He flipped a switch and Nora’s chair started to hum. He walked around to the other side of it and pressed a button, sending an electric current through Nora.
(Oh, prepare for the puns!)
Nora was jolted to her senses by a electric current. It ripped through her body and caused her to yelp. Fuck, fuck, fuck. It hurt like hell! The second she caught her breath, she locked eyes with the guard and put a shit-eating grin on her face. "That was a shocking turn of events. I don't know watt you were thinking but your current plan won't work. Though it hertz a lot I'm still not going to tell you anything. However, I am amped to see what you'll do next."
(Yessss that was amazing)
The guard pressed the button again. At the same time, the door buzzed opened and the second guard walked in, wheeling in a giant metal tub. He wore thick rubber gloves. The first guard pressed the button again, then walked over to the tub where the second guard handed him a matching pair of gloves. He pulled them on.
(I am a big sucker for puns so I couldn't help myself lol)
Nora laughed at the guard, pleased that her puns had hit their mark. Unfortunately, the guard hadn't appreciated her puns and had zapped her again. She started to taste blood in her mouth. That wasn't great. "What are we doing now? A spa day? That would be nice. Some go fetch me a warm towel and some cucumber water. And make it snappy, I don't have all day."
(Dude I love puns. That was amazing)
The guards walked over to her and each of them started to unstrap her arms and legs. They grabbed her and carried her over to the tub, which was filled to the brim with ice and water. They shoved her under the water and held her there for about thirty seconds until the voice over the speaker said "enough". They pulled her out.
(Thank you!)
Nora sighed heavily and bit at the guards when they unstrapped her from the table. What greeted her was a tub of ice water. She barely had a chance to take a deep breath before she was shoved under the water. She gasped for breath when she was pulled out of the water. "Fuck you!" She snarled and spit on the nearest guard.
"Again," the voice said. The hands pushed Nora underwater again for forty-five seconds. They pulled her out when the voice indicated them to and strapped her down to her chair again. "Enjoy the spa?"
Nora took a deep breath before being plunged into the freezing cold water. By the time she was pulled out, she was soaking wet and looked like a pissed off dog after a bath. She glared viciously at the guards, the fire was still in her eyes. "I want a refund."
The guards left the room, rolling out the giant metal tub with them, and Nora was left in silence once again. That is until a loud, high pitched whining started playing throughout the room.
Nora glared up at the ceiling when the noise started. "What the fucking hell? Is your goal to just annoy me? Clearly you dumbasses don't have much experience in torture if you think that's gonna work."
An hour later the guards came in again. Yesterday at this time they had come to take her back to Rowan. Today, they grabbed her from her chair and put shackles on her ankles and wrists. They forced Nora into a squatting position and strapped a board under Nora's arms and to her back. Her wrist restraints attached to the metal board. "If you move from this position we will take her in here and shock her until she dies. Do you understand?" the voice asked.
Nora once more bit the guards that grabbed her. There wasn't much she could do in retaliation but she could always bite. "What if I have to pee? Or what if I get bored? No one pays me any attention. It's always 'tell me who the mechanic is!' and never 'how's your day? are you hungry?'. You people need to look how to be better hosts. My stay at a brothel in Spain was better than this. They gave me food and a nice bed. You people just keep blabbing your mouths." The constant talking was her only way to disguise how worried she was.
The guards left the room. An ear-shattering, blaring alarm played in the room for just a moment, then stopped. At the same time, two blinding lights flashed. This continued every seven minutes.
In the room over, Rowan worried. This was about the time yesterday that Nora had come back if her calculations were correct. Was she not coming back? Where was she? What were they doing to her? She winced as the alarm blared in her room as well. She did not try to sleep so she wouldn't miss Nora coming back, but every time she had almost accidentally drifted off, the lights and alarm woke her.
"Are you fucking kidding me?" Nora screeched, beyond annoyed now. Did they really expect her to talk after they pulled this shit? Now she really missed the brothel. Working there hadn't been fun but it was better than this. "Let me out of there, you goddamn motherfuckers! I'll break your fucking knees!" The noise and light had her really worked up for some reason but she didn't know why. It was just really really pissing her off.
Rowan looked down. It had been seven hours since the alarm had started. She quickly looked back up. Somehow they hadn’t taken her watch and she had been keeping time. Where was Nora? She needed to see her, to know that she was okay. Her mind raced.
The guards burst into the room Nora was in. They put a bag over her head and started to unhook her. Then they transferred her onto the table that matched Rowan’s.
Nora had briefly fallen asleep during the alarm. It was weird but she had almost gown used to it. That peace was short lived. The stupid guards burst into the room and put that stupid bag over her head. That had definitely woken her up. "What is it now? Are we going to be having a masquerade ball?" She snarked, displeased. At least being strapped to a table is more comfortable than being on her knees. She didn't like being exposed and on her back though. It made her feel vulnerable.
The guards rolled Nora's table into the room Rowan was in. "Nora?" she said frantically upon seeing her. "Oh thank god. I didn't know when they were going to bring you back. I was so worried about you and I barely heard you all day yesterday and I didn't know where you were or what was happening. You didn't come back, do you know why they didn't bring you back?" The guards had left in the middle of Rowan's rambling.
"Rowan, it's okay, I'm okay," Nora assured her with a nervous laugh. "Sorry I'm so late, I just decided to have a spa day and to test out electroshock therapy. It's not for me." She made light of the situation to keep Rowan from worrying too much. "Are you okay? They haven't hurt you or anything, right?" That was all she cared about. Everything else be damned.
Rowan shook her head. "No, no they haven't hurt me. Don't worry about me." She didn't like the sound of a "spa day" or the "electroshock therapy" but she decided not to push Nora. All that mattered was that she was here now.
"Nora. I was thinking about something. . . . "
"I'm always going to worry about you, Bottom," Nora told her, her voice was incredibly soft and loving She didn't know what she would do if something happened to Rowan. The thought alone made her shiver. She never wanted to find out.
"What are you thinking about?"
Rowan smiled at the nickname. It seemed like ages since they had first met, first kissed. She really wished she could see Nora's face right now. "I think . . . I think I love you." Rowan's eyebrows knitted together as if confused by her own feelings. That confusion carried over into her voice as well.
It was now Nora's turn to be confused. She had already told Rowan that she loved her. Had she not heard or was she just now returning the feeling? "Rowan, I love you." That was really the only answer she could offer to such a statement. She meant the words, she knew that much.
"Oh. You love me?" 'Oh. Oh.' "What?" Rowan demanded. A smile started to tug at the corners of her mouth. "Since when?" Here they were, stranded in the middle space, but Nora loved her.