Greetings, all! Time again for a Hump Day Hook!

I’m continuing with Subeo. If you’d like to catch up with the story so far, click here.

 “Liam! Liam, wake up!” The voice—Keith’s, he recognized—whispered nearby.

His tongue was thick and stuck to his teeth. He fought to sit up. Metal creaked loudly in the pitch black.

“Lie still! Just listen!” Tension pulled at Keith’s voice, making it thin and reedy “You can’t get out of here by resisting. The only way out is through the ritual.”

Ritual? What sort of shit had Keith gotten him into?

Cautiously he felt about. He was back on the cot. His clothes had been removed—he was oddly thankful not to be wearing piss-soaked jeans—and replaced by some sort of loose fabric that covered him from neck to foot.

“Don’t move!” Keith paused, his breathing fast and shallow. “Oh, crap—he’s coming back! I’m not supposed to be here! Don’t take the easy answer! Remember—don’t take the easy one!”

Easy answer? Any answer—hard or easy—would have been good!

This was getting worse by the minute.

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Be sure to check out more Hooks here!

‘Til next time!

Greetings, all! Time once again for a Hump Day Hook!

I am continuing with Subeo; if you need to catch up, click here. WARNING: Today’s snippet contains violent content which may upset some readers. Continue at your own risk…

****

“Stand up!”

He jolted awake, his head thumping painfully against the door. The room was still impenetrably black—he had no idea how long he’d dozed. It could have been minutes… or hours. Why had Keith done this?

“Stand up!” The voice cracked again. “I shall not repeat the request.”

He struggled to his feet, his legs complaining. The chill floor had sucked the life from his muscles, leaving stiff soreness behind. He supported himself against the doorframe. “Keith, where a—?”

“Silence!” Sound didn’t come from behind him, beyond the door. The voice seemed to issue from the very darkness that engulfed him.

Pain chewed at his joints. His head ached where he’d struck it, and he needed to take a wicked piss. Anger flared in his chest—he wanted answers. And he wanted them now.

“Keith! Answer—“

“SILENCE!” The voice thundered with a trace of feedback. It was some sort of PA system.

“I want to—Aarrgh!” A powerful electric current shot up his left leg, numbing it and throwing him to the floor. Refusing to acquiesce, he struggled to speak. “Wh… why?”

More current shocked him, his limbs twitching against the floor. Warmth flooded around him as his bladder let go, and he fell into even deeper blackness.

Thanks for reading! Be sure to check out more Hooks here.

‘Til next time!

 Greetings, all!

Once again, Wednesday is upon us and it’s time for a Hump Day Hook! Although Luk has come out of his sulk, I’m continuing with another piece from Subeo:

He sat on the floor in the dark, leaning against the cold implacable steel of his cell’s entrance. What the hell had happened? He remembered stopping by Perk ‘n’ Brew after class to write more of his clinical psych paper. Keith, Dr. Mellor’s T.A., had been there, and they’d talked about some of the research material. At that point he’d pretty much lost interest in working—he just wanted to look at Keith and listen to the animated way he spoke. Psychology wasn’t his major, but he’d have considered it if the dark-haired grad student were at every class.

Keith had offered refills, and he’d taken the opportunity to use the john—his cock had gotten uncomfortably full as he watched Keith’s lips, imagining them doing things other than sipping latte. Good to his word, Keith had procured two fresh cups and was texting when he returned from the men’s room. The T.A. quickly apologized and stuffed the phone into his jacket pocket.

“No problem, dude,” he’d assured him. “I don’t mind.”

“I don’t like to text really.” Keith shrugged. “It’s rude if you’re with someone—like speaking a foreign language that someone in the group doesn’t. Everyone always thinks you’re talking—or texting—about them. Which I wasn’t.”

He recalled taking a sip, savoring the chocolaty smoothness as Keith got warmed up on a discussion of Freud and egocentrism.

Then the world had slid sideways…

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‘Til next time!

Greetings, all!

Once again it is Wednesday and time for a Hump Day Hook! I’m stepping away from Ark for a bit (Luk has chosen to be rather quiet lately), so today’s hook is the opening to another WIP, titled Subeo, which is Latin for ‘I submit.’ (Ironically, this too involves a door…)

The snap of ammonia assaulted his nose. 

Waking, he struggled to orient himself. Where the fuck am I? Last he knew he was at the coffee shop across from campus. Now darkness pressed against his senses, filling his vision, stopping his ears. He shivered.

gregorfischer.photography / Foter.com / CC BY-ND

He lay on what felt to be a narrow cot, its frame digging into his shoulders. Carefully he reached out his left hand and encountered a rough, cold wall. Cinderblock. To the right his other hand found empty air. Rolling to that side, he cautiously sat up. The cot creaked loudly in the heavy silence.

Standing, he swayed a little and steadied himself with a hand on the wall. Trailing fingers along the bricks, he shuffled forward, his right arm extended. A few steps brought him to a corner; turning right, he continued his tour. Another corner.

“Ouch!” Table. He sidled around the obstruction, keeping his hand on the wall. The table stood next to a door.

Sweeping hands over the surface of the door, he found no window, no lock, no knob, only an expanse of cool metal.

“Hello!” His fists drummed on the door; hollow echoes followed. “Anyone there? Let me out!”

The darkness absorbed his shouts, muffling his cries for help. He kept pounding, kept hoping for a response. Only the silence screamed back.

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‘Til next time!