I asked for prompts regarding Circles here for The MicroPrompt Giraffe Call. This is written to Rix’s Prompt here and is set in the pre-apoc of my Addergoole ‘verse.

“Yeah, man, I’ll see you tomorrow. Par-ty!” Aluph pumped his fist, hoping he sounded enough like the other guys. Joining a frat may not have been the brightest idea he’d ever had. It might have been one of the dumbest ideas that he’d had, actually, but…

…well, but college was weird after Addergoole. And having a frat around him wasn’t quite the same as a crew – wasn’t anything at all like a crew – but it was something, at least. And the way…

…no, even he couldn’t make the way they treated the girls okay, and he’d had four Kept in three years.

…but he didn’t have to do that part and he could play the role most of the time, when they weren’t drunk or stupid or… well, it hadn’t been his best idea.

But he was a little drunk and a little high and none of that really mattered right now. Although the way the dogs in the area all seemed to be whining was a little distressing and the way the streetlights were all going out was a little too funky for words.

Aluph found himself hurrying a little faster. The frat house was up the top of the hill, which wasn’t fun on a good day, and it was up through some of the creepiest houses, which was sometimes fun but not at two in the morning. And there weren’t that many dogs here but right now they were all over the place, whining and whimpering and getting closer and closer… Aluph was running. He’d left that shit behind with Addergoole. He’d left that shit behind with…

His leg went up in the air before the rest of him, and then he was swinging in mid-air under what had to be the giant maple tree in the creepiest house on the hill. He started to spit out a Working, because fuck that shit, only to find that his throat wouldn’t make sound.

“Well, isn’t this fun.” He knew that voice. How did he know that voice? “So Aluph -” Shit, whoever she was, she knew who he was. This wasn’t a random targeting. “You’ve got two choices.”

This wasn’t going well. Being upside down wasn’t helping Aluph’s fuzzy mental state at all, either. “Choices?” he tried to say. But right, he had no voice.

She knew who he was, and she’d shut off his voice – so she knew what he was, and she was probably something similar. This was really bad. Aluph fought against the rope. Damn. Sober, maybe he could’ve gotten down. But he was a long way from sober.

“You can agree to be mine… or I can leave you for the dogs.” As if on cue, the dogs growled, far closer than the last time he’d heard them. “Your call… but they’re hungry.”

He couldn’t see her – who was she? He knew that voice. He knew that… He nodded his head.

“You’ll agree to be mine?”

He nodded again. The dogs sounded very close; he nodded very quickly.

“All right. Say anything else and it’s the dogs.”

Aluph swallowed. “One year.” His voice was rough, but he could talk. “I’ll be yours for one year.”

Tip Circle 😉

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