Chapter 5: Unhinging the Door
It seems ironic, don't you think? To remove that door you once made me see. To achieve me goals, my dreams of life, I had to open a new door, choose a path that was suffice...
Vinyl entered the bathroom that was at the end of the mahogany hallway. The Victorian door creaked open on its hinges, and made Vinyl cringe.
"Some lube would do that good...", Vinyl mumbled.
She entered the small bathroom, and looked around. The tiles were marble, coloured white. The toilet was white and porcelain, along with the sink and tub. The shower curtain was a plastic-blue material and when Vinyl touched it, it made a scratching sound. That's what bugged her about shower curtains: that sound.
But, anyways... Vinyl opened the shower curtain and stepped into the tub. She looked up and saw that the shower head was pointing to her rump and she looked at the tap. It was a twist-tap and it made Vinyl grunt.
"Of course...", Vinyl said, looking at it closely.
Vinyl thought long and hard at the taps, and then realised that she was a unicorn, and could just use magic to turn them. Her horn then glowed brightly and the taps turned to a medium temperature. She stepped back as the semi-hot water started to beat down on her white coat.
After about an hour, Vinyl stepped out of the bathroom, to be greeted by Clarence.
"Ya'll wer' in dere way too long. Dat's th' problum with ya'll ladies. Takin' too long in dat dere shower.", Clarence grunted, gently tapping Vinyl's forehead with his finger.
It annoyed Vinyl, but she gave a response.
"Well, sorry, I was really dirty and I don't like be-- May you stop that?", Vinyl was still being poked on the forehead by Clarence.
"Wai shuld Ah?", Clarence laughed, still poking her.
"It's giving me a headache, that's why.", Vinyl said, furrowing her brow.
"Ah, ya'll are no fun. How 'bout dis?", Clarence raised his fist and punched Vinyl right in the left side of her jaw.
Vinyl fell back, smacking the right side of her face on the door frame.
"Ow!", Vinyl started to tear up, as blood left both her cheeks on each side of her face.
"Maybe dis will give ya'll a headache, huh?", Clarence then booted Vinyl directly in the stomach. Vinyl gasped for air as he did this.
"OWWW!", Vinyl cried louder, and louder. Clarence repeated to kick her for another few moments, and then stopped.
"Now, if ya'll ever ask me t' do sumthin', then Ah'll show ya'll a piece of mai mind.", Clarence went to turn, and then Vinyl slowly stood up, coughing.
"Ya'll talkin' back?", Clarence said, looking at her over his shoulder.
Vinyl shook her head, shaking softly.
"Guud. Ya'll learn fast.", Clarence finished and walked up the stairs, opening the white door at the top of the stairs, and slamming it behind him. The sound echoing throughout the house.
Vinyl sat there, dripping with blood and tears. She shook and quivered slowly, walking down the hallway.
She left the house, and directed herself to the barn. She opened the barn door and then closed it, curling up in a ball in the pile of hay that sat in one of the pens.
Vinyl sat there, and looked around for a moment. After checking if anypony, or any human was there, she started to let out a flood of tears. She groaned and moaned in sadness and pain; letting out sifts of pain. Blood dripped onto the hay, along with a geyser of tears and mucus from her mussel. She cried herself to sleep, in the 'pile' of mucus, blood, and tears.
Unfortunately, Vinyl would not be having a good night tonight.
Vinyl woke up several hours later, in a red room. She looked around and saw no doors, no windows, no beds, no pictures. Most importantly, no hay. Yet... There was something illuminating the room, even if there was no lights in it. She looked around, turning around, to see nothing. Nothing was there.
"Where am I...?", Vinyl asked, scared that Clarence put her somewhere she would hate to be.
"A place you've tried to repress...", A dark and deep voice called out.
Vinyl turned around, and around, to see nothing there.
"Hahahaha...", The deep voice laughed lowly, as a black entity formed in the centre of the room. Red eyes formed in the centre of the entity and it started to speak.
"Vinyl, do you believe you can forget me forever...? The one who took care of you? The one who loved you? The one who help to procreate you?...", The entity chuckled, and it started to form into something else.
Vinyl shook furiously, and pushed herself back into the wall. She knew what this was... Or more importantly...
Who...
The entity formed a large stallion, with a massive, black, unicorn horn. Its cutie mark was that of a large knife and its face was jet black. No features could be made out except for its piercing red eyes.
It forwarded itself straight to Vinyl, pushing her against the wall. It sniffed her slowly, up her neck, and to her ears.
"Don't you remember? The one who made sure you were well protected?... The one who hit you for disobedience?!", The black unicorn yelled in her ear.
"No... Da... Dad... Please... Go away!", Vinyl yelled, cringing her eyes.
"I can't go. I'll never leave! Heh... In fact, I'm enjoying being around you again... Seeing you in the flesh... The fun we'll have... Remember back when you were in the living room? Those children playing outside? They were laughing... And you were crying... And I was beating you senseless... Enjoying every... Last... Moment... Wouldn't you enjoy it, as well, Vinyl? ... My sweet... Helpless.. Daughter...", With that, the black unicorn pulled back its right hoof, and smashed it right into Vinyl's face.
Vinyl woke up immediately, breathing heavily and looking around. She was in the barn, still. Safe. Warm. Quiet. The dawn was breaking through the window at the 3rd story of the barn and she was being beamed upon from the sunlight.
The door creaked open and Clarence walked in, holding a large club in his right hand. His stance was one that Vinyl was now scared of. He forwarded himself close to Vinyl and looked her directly in her eyes.
"Ya'll left blood on mai floor. In mai home, ya'll clean yur messes. Now, ya'll goin' t' obey?", Clarence pointed the club at Vinyl's snout and she nodded slowly.
"Guud. Ya'll head into the house. While ya'll are at 't, clean th' entire place. Except mai room. That's th' only place Ah want dirty.", Clarence laughed, walking out of the barn, placing the club over his left shoulder.
Vinyl found herself slowly wiping up the blood and tears that were near the bathroom, on the floor. She was scrubbing with a sponge and had a bucket of suds and water next to her. After wiping the mess, she moved over into the bathroom, and started to clean out the tub. And then the sink, and then the toilet -- Unfortunately, a surprise was in that toilet.
Vinyl then went into the kitchen, and started to clean out the sink, the cabinets, the tables, the counter tops and then the windows. She repeated this process for most of the house that she was allowed to enter. She repeated each room, just in case she missed a spot.
Clarence walked into the living room, as she was just finishing scrubbing the rug. She looked up at Clarence and gave a small smile.
"Well, Ah'll be... 't looks perfect...", Clarence sat back onto the couch, kicking his feet up onto the table and letting out a sigh.
"So.. Uhm.. May I go and... Rest..?", Vinyl asked, softly.
"Hrm... Lemme think... ", Clarence tossed the thought in his head for a minute and then responded.
"Nah. Ya'll still have to go and clean the barn. Den ya'll can rest. Dat means all three floors, not jus' the bottom floor. Ya'll got dat?", Clarence laughed softly.
"Uhm... Okay...", Vinyl sighed, walking slowly out of the living room.
"Hey, Ah ordered ya t' do 't, now ya'll betta be happy about it!", Clarence stood up and walked next to Vinyl.
"I... I am. I just need to go to the barn... I'm so--", before Vinyl could finish, she felt a hard piece of bone smash into the right side of her jaw, making her slide into the hallway and hit the side of the staircase.
"Ya'll betta get workin' before Ah have ya'll killed. Ya'hear?", Clarence yelled, looking at Vinyl.
Slowly, Vinyl stood up, and started to nod.
"I'll... Clean the hallway when I get back...", Vinyl said, as she walked out of the house.
She ran to the barn and started crying again. Blood spewed from the side of her face and black and blue bruised skin crested around her left jaw. She opened the door of the barn and slammed it shut, looking upwards to the roof of the barn. It was only dawn, and this was her third day here. It was awful.
After a few hours of scrubbing around the dirty barn -- How it can get cleaner, she didn't know -- it was finally clean. She hadn't forgot about the blood stain she left in the house, though. Vinyl swiftly returned and cleaned the floor and wall of the stain, and Clarence was watching something a small box. It was yelling out at him.
"The Ford, F-150. Built. Ford. Tough.", the box said, smashing the word 'Ford' onto the screen, cracking concrete.
"Ah gotta get me one of dem dere littl' trucks.", Clarence lifted something to his mouth, taking a large gulp of it.
Vinyl slowly put the bucket and sponge away and started to walk out of the house. Unfortunately, Clarence was standing tall, looking down at Vinyl.
"Ya'll finish th' barn, den?", Clarence took a sip from the brown bottle. A vile smell left from his body.
"Yes. I... I cleaned it... And the mess here... May I.. Rest, please..?", Vinyl asked softly.
"Nuupe. Ya'll gotta take this next beatin', den ya'll can have yur stupid nap.", Clarence dropped the brown 'bottle' onto the wooden floor. It shattered into many pieces, and only the bottle shaft and a bit of the base remained. Clarence leaned down and picked it up, raising it to Vinyl's throat.
Vinyl quivered, as the sharp glass gently poked her sensitive neck. Clarence laughed softly as an odd fury built in his bright green eyes.
"Ya'll like dis?... Ya'll like 't when yur nearin' death? Ya'll enjoyin' yur last breath...?", Clarence laughed lowly, as he grasped Vinyl's neck in his, large, left hand, still holding the glass in his right hand.
"P-... P-please... I.. I'm s-sorry..", Vinyl quivered further, trying to appease Clarence.
"L-let me go... Please... I--", Vinyl tried speaking, but felt Clarence's grip tighten around her neck, her breath fading away from her as he did so.
"Ya'll are going to enjoy dis... Every moment... Of it... For ya'll... To enjoy!!", Clarence's grip tightened further, Vinyl gasping for air. Everything was fading around her and her mind was falling into a state of panic.
"Pl--... Pleea....!", Vinyl gasped out, in pain.
"Just be quiet, ya'll hear? Ya'll heaaaaarrr...?", Clarence's voice went deeper as everything continued to fade.
Her heart raced to try and beat oxygen into her brain. The blood thickened and flowed throughout her body, but then slowed as Vinyl went limp. Her eyes closed and rolled to the back of her head and Vinyl's head dropped. Clarence let go as her limbs flailed downwards and she fell to the floor with a loud 'thump'.
Vinyl let out a sigh as she hit the floor. Her head bouncing up and down and her body being pressed into the glass that was on the floor.
Everything went black for Vinyl, from there...