My lungs fill to the brim with oxygen as I raise my head out of the water. I gasp deeply as I become re-accustomed to breathing. He let go? I send my eyes frantically around the woods looking for a glimpse of him, to no avail. The night is darker than usual; it’s tainted with corruption and fear. Aside from the glittering stars in the sky, all I see are outlines. Outlines of the trees, critters, and bushes flowing along with the midnight autumn breeze, outlines of him as he gets closer and closer towards me. I pause, I don’t register that I need to go-now. He comes closer, I can’t see for certain, but I know he’s smiling. That same twisted grin that made his eye’s partially close, that grin he’d give me every time he had another game to play, the same grin he had every time he’d bring one of us to the back room with the red light. The same grin he’d-I feel my neck suddenly tighten and I’m slowly lifted into the air by his massive hands. I’m close enough to barely see his face. He isn’t smiling. “We’re going back to the cellar now my sweet little prince.” Searing hot tears drip down my face as I try desperately to breath. He holds me in his grasp for centuries, long enough to make me slide out of consciousness, but not nearly long enough to kill me. He never does kill us. He employs brinkmanship with our lives. He lowers me to the ground and reaches into his back pocket. I need to run, but I’m paralyzed, and he knows this. I plant my hands firmly into the ground and slowly rise up. I stand up, still hunched over in an attempt to regain my breath. From his pocket he withdraws his large knife, covered in a film of red, someone's blood. He would always clean the blade before punishing us, why isn’t it cleaned out? He must have used it recently. Did the others try to run to? He walks over to me at a regular pace, not bothering to build suspense as I’m already in the palm of his hand. He holds my arm out and begins to slice the middle of it, the same place as always. I wince and whimper as the blade splits my skin, blood flows out and drips to stain the grass beneath us. After my 10 slashes, he picks me up over his shoulder and walks back to the cabin. He turns on the light, and brings me back down to cellar.