'Please, please don't find me.'
Katsu could hear footsteps coming as if two thundering drums were banging right in front of his ears. Shutting off his light and hiding under his duvet, Katsu silently prayed to God to not let him find him out.
The door creaked. The sound alerted Katsu to the presence and it just took him a whiff of the sickeningly sweet cologne mixed with a smell of stale beer.
"Katsuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuu," the voice drawled sweetly in the darkness, but the voice could send a shiver down any sane person's spine.
"Did you miss me, Katsuie?"
Katsuy, the name itself, made Katsu want to throw up.
He forced himself to stop breathing, hoping that this would help him become quieter, perhaps he would be convinced that he wasn't here. He just hoped that maybe this time, he would be safe.
But he was so wrong.
Before he knew it, the covers were snatched away from him and in the process, Katsu found himself on the floor with a huge thud.
"Kaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaatsuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuueeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeey," the man slurred, "you have been a bad, bad boy, haven't you."
Katsu tried to swallow the lump in his throat as he shook his head frantically.
"You have Katsuy, and bad boys are punished."
____
Katsu could not move. Pain shot through his body, even as he breathed and he knew it would hurt more if he moved. He could feel his nose broken and a warm stream of blood flowed down his face, but he couldn't wipe it off. If he moved, the pain in his body would multiply by a hundredfold and he couldn't have that, not right now.
Katsu knew that the reason for his pain was in the twisted position he had been in for hours now. He lay twisted, half laying on the floor while he hung from the bed upside down. His hands were underneath him and had become due to the whole weight of his body being on them. Even if he wanted to move he couldn't.
Katsu hated this life. Ever since this man had agreed to take responsibility for him, he had received nothing but molestation, neglect and hatred. His new father left no stone unturned to break him down physically, emotionally and sexually. He wondered if being born an orphan was such a huge crime that he had to pay a heavy price for it now.
Goodness knows when he had fallen asleep.
When he woke up, Katsu was greeted with new pains as he tried to move again, a result of him sleeping in such a twisted position. He knew it would only hurt to move but he had to go to school and to work. One of the main responsibilities of his guardian was to see that his child went to school. The school authorities took care of that.
Getting up from his awkward position, Katsu examined himself in the full-length mirror in his room. Three more bruises had appeared on him, one on his forehead and two by the side of his ribs. It wouldn't have been visible with so many scars on his body, but the fresh red and purple hue highlighted them from the rest of his body.
Katsu sighed. A new day lay ahead of him.
Who would believe that Katsu was a humanoid?
He lived in conditions that even humans would not wish upon their enemies. His owner had to sell him off to another guy for money. And the pain he received was immense. Sometimes Zack wondered if he would ever be able to get out of the current situation.
There was only one thought that clouded his mind.
All he wanted was to die.
***************
'Whoa' Katsu blinked as he read the current chapter.
It had been more angsty than he had ever read. He knew he had expected this thing as he read the first chapter but the chapters were going on becoming darker and darker and he hadn't even seen the other male lead yet.
'Is the author even okay,' Rin couldn't help but think what had forced the author to fill the chapter with so much pain and angst. It was written in a way that was bound to tug at the heartstrings and could make a person cry if they wanted to.
He looked at the comment section as he tried to see if any other readers had felt the same.
"That's sad."
"Can't Katsu get help? I mean it's supposed to be a futuristic world where the government is a teensy bit better."
"Someone get Katsu out of that hell."
"When is Damon gonna arrive?"
Rin couldn't help but wonder what had driven the author to write a chapter filled with so much pain and angst. As far as he had observed, many writers wrote the chapters out to vent out their frustration of the day. Could it be that this author was the same.
Rin quickly scrolled to the top of the comment section where he had seen one comment posted by the author Mitsue Keisha, the link to her server.
'Maybe I could ask her if she's okay or not.'
Rin had never joined discord servers before. At least not from books. He had joined a whole other servers where he played a whole lot of games like Roblox and Among Us, but never had he once been driven to actually join an author's server. Many authors on NL posted their server links for their readers to join and interact with the authors. It had never struck Rin's mind to join any of them before but somehow this one was drawing him in.
He copied the link and joined the server.
"Dimensional Rift"
'That's an odd name to have for a server.' Rin couldn't help but remark to himself.
The server was nothing like a gaming server, where it would be like a party in full swing- people would be filling the different group chats, the voice channels crowded with people reaching the maximum number of people in the voice channel. No, this server seemed dead, like some apocalypse had taken place and now he was a sole survivor.
Ratsu: Hey everyone
ForeverPupa: The BL lord welcomes you into his server.
Rosella0214: [smacks Pupa] This is not your server!
ForeverPupa: Nani!? I am the one basically keeping this server alive.
Aislinn_Jasper: Doesn't mean that this server is yours [rolling eyes]
Lotus: Let's not scare the new member now shall we,
[This was nothing new to Rin, whenever he joined a new server, there were always a particular group of people always doing weird stuff. It wasn't doing anyone any harm, it was all kept within the rules]
Goro: I bet the new member has left already, the way that you people are behaving.
Ratsu: No, I am still here I guess? [nervous chuckle] Uh, who are you guys?
Goro: A person waiting for his own death
!-(Rayene_Blue) is Ded: I'm a newbie like you.
Rosella0214: I'm Rosella
Lotus: I'm Lotus.
ForeverPupa: I am the one and the only BL lord. Forever Pupa!
['Wait, ForeverPupa? You mean the author ForeverPupa, author of "Mr CEO Secretly Reads BL"?' Rin gasped. He could not believe he was actually talking to his favourite BL author at the moment]
Ratsu: BL lord Pupa? [nosebleeds]
!-(Rayene_Blue) is Ded: OMG are you alright? Do you need something?
Ratsu: No no, I'm absolutely fine. It's just that I am sort of in awe. I am a fan of Pupa-sama.
ForeverPupa: You see that Rose! I actually have fans, wait Rose! @Roselia_Black
Roselia_Black: What the fuck happened?
[Rin's jaw dropped to the floor on seeing his favourite author online]
Ratsu: R-R-Roselia B-b-black?
Roselia_Black: That would be me.
Ratsue: OMG OMG OMG OMG
[Rin could barely hold his excitement in as he saw his favourite author. He was completely hyperventilating as he saw his favourite author talking with him]
Roselia_Black: You need somethin from me kiddo?
Ratsu: No, it's fine, I am also a huge fan of you.
Roselia_Black: Thanks, I guess?
[Rin would have always had a nosebleed if he hadn't remembered as to why he had joined the server]
Ratsu: I can't see Mituse_Keisha san.
Roselia_Black: She has been offline for a while kiddo. You got a crush on her or something
Rosella0214: Lia Twinn, you can't go asking folks if they have a crush on someone! '-'
Roselia_Black: Newbie doesn't seem to have a problem against it, do you newbie?
[Rin couldn't help but be surprised at the author's bluntness]
Ratsu: No, honestly, I just read her recent chapter and it was filled with so much angst so I wondered if she was okay.
Roselia_Black: yep, newbie definitely has a crush on her.
!-(Rayene_Blue) is Ded: Well, I sense a new ship.
ForeverPupa: The BL shall commence.
Roselia_Black: Keisha is a girl
ForeverPupa: Stop throwing cold water on my fantasies.
Roselia_Black: Stop fantasizing them, ForeverBottom
ForeverPupa: I'm a certified top!
[Rin couldn't help but smile as he saw the two authors bicker with each other. However something at the back of his mind kept nagging him that something was off]