I dragged you. I dragged you and you followed. By the hair, bloodied fist clenched over its soft, matted lengths, I dragged you through the Hells, across the broken shards of glass, across muddied fields filled with coarse gravel, across hot coals and chunks of jagged ice. I dragged you through rushing streams and splintered logs.You bit me, took chunks of my flesh off, blood dripping from the shreds of skin in your mouth. I winced, but dragged you further still. I took you and dragged you through the landscape of my body, and you came out the other side worn, marred, weary. Now I am fleshless, and you are broken.

Is this worse than death? Tell me. Having had my flesh torn and devoured by your mouth, I am now free of that carnal prison, and my skeletal remains have risen anew. But you... you still live. Is this worse than death? Tell me; my teeth feel the ghostly memory of salivation, and I am so very eager to hear.

the pain must be unbearable