Grendel

TW: Mutilation & Death 

Grendel, age 21, is a happy and outgoing person with a bubbly personality; spreading kindness wherever she goes. She lived in vintage old town with her father; a large and hefty man with wiry hair who works as a butcher and cook, while her mother; a  tall and slender woman with long flowing auburn hair, who resides in France, living out her career as a famous violinist. Her parents are happily married, but "separated" (only in distance) both supporting each other in pursuing their dream jobs. Grendel loves her parents dearly, but has always strongly connected with her father; a true daddy's girl. She helps him run his butcher shop while also maintaining a nearby garden where she plants and sells her own herbs and flowers. She is a ray of sunshine compared to the dullness of her surroundings and quickly became a town favorite among the people. With many people becoming so fond of her kind ways and personality, there are always plenty who liked her for more than that. Suitors of all genders would come her way hoping for a token of her affection. Humbled by their feelings as she was, she wanted to dedicate her time to working and her hobbies. She would kindly turn them down, with most being kind and understanding... until one man.

One day, while Grendel was tending to her garden, a childhood friend of her's approached her, revealing all of the feelings he had for her over the years. Grendel was shocked, never really seeing the signs of any affection towards her. With genuine warmth and compassion, she tried to let him down as easy as she could. He meant a lot to her, he did, but besides her heart set on other things, she simply couldn't see him anything more than the best friend he had been most of her young life. Although Grendel apologized and told him her own feelings, being only a friend was not the answer he was expecting. The man hung his head as a silence grew between them. With nothing more than a cold blank expression, he walked away. Grendel's shoulders sank and felt a sadness in her heart for hurting the feelings of her dear friend, but always found comfort in telling people the truth to avoid being unhappy and hurting others with lies.

Later that night, it was time for Grendel to help her father with closing up the shop. She would help with all the cleaning and set out the necessities for tomorrow. After finishing her labor, Grendel would turn the "OPEN!" sign to the "Sorry! We're CLOSED!" side and take out the compost from the day to the garden outside. Heaving along a tin trash can, on her way there, she heard movement coming towards her from behind. Thinking it was only a stray coming for scraps, as they usually would, Grendel's naivety got the best of her. An arm wrapped around Grendel, following a sharp sudden pain. Everything went dark as she was knocked unconscious; her body drug away by a mysterious shadow.

With Grendel's eyes fluttering open and adjusting to the sudden bright lights above her, she awoke to find herself strapped to a butchering table inside her father's  warehouse-like shed that was kept far to the back of the shop. Hearing footsteps along with a shadowy figure approaching her, she struggled to free herself from the restraints. As the light hit the figures face, her dear friend was revealed. Grendel cried out through a cloth gag for his help, but soon found no rescue from him upon seeing her father's favorite cleaver in hand. She laid there trembling while the man monologued his hatred towards her for denying him. "If I can't have you, no one can." The man raised the cleaver up above his head, a crazed look in his eyes with beads of sweat dripping  down his face. Grendel's eyes widened as a wave of terror came over her. She begged and pleaded for her life as tears streamed down her face, struggling harder against the restrictions. The man's arm came down as the cleaver slammed down onto the table, chopping off her leg at the thigh. Grendel screamed as the pain shot through her. The man brought down the cleaver to her other leg then up her body as he cut away at the rest of her limbs. Grendel whined out in pain, screaming as every chop came down, calling out on deaf ears as the soundproofing of the walls sealed in her cries. Her sobs quieted to a whimper and with nothing but her torso left, a numbness washed over her as she could feel herself slipping away. The cleaver was raised once more. The final cut came down on to her neck. Grendel was gone.

It was quiet. All but the heavy breathing of the man and an ear ringing noise could be heard now. As the man came out of his psychosis, his eyes darted around looking at the pieces of Grendel. Suddenly panicked, he frantically gathered her up, bit by bit, into a box and threw her into the freezer. Running out the shed and far away into the fields behind it.

__________

Grendel's father had been watching the clock for she never took this long. He never had any reason to worry about her going by herself while he finished with the shop since the garden was close by and he could never dream of anyone in this town wanting to harm her. Growing more distressed, her father set out to go look for her. He searched for her everywhere he thought she could've gone, even going back and forth between the same areas. As he went towards the back of the shop, looking out into the field, he noticed the shed door cracked open. Quickly, he paced along the stone path and noticed the broken lock on the ground and slid the heavy metal door open with a slam. The smell of iron instantly hit his nose. He quickly flipped on the lights. As the overhead lamps above flickered on, it was as if time slowed to a crawl. His eyes widened, the large amounts of fresh blood still dripping off the table. With a tremble in his steps, he walked closer, a lump in his throat forming as he spotted soft red strands of hair mixed in with the pools. His lips quivered in terror as his eyes searched for any sign of Grendel. He snapped to, when he noticed a dark trail leading to the freezer locker. Grendel's father walked closer and reached out with a hesitant, trembling hand. He pulled open the frosted door and sank to his knees. Tears pouring down his face as he looked into the half-lidded, icy covered eyes of his decapitated daughter.

(I'll eventually finish writing the last part, but TL;DR Grendel's father hops in his truck, drives to visit a modernized kind of witch doctor and pleads for them to bring her back. She's put on a slab and a ritual is performed and is able to bring Grendel back, but with limitations. Her limbs will never fully be able to correctly attach to each other and her eyes were taken as payment. But whomever answered the call to bring her back gave pity and returned her vision just like... not her eyes y'know. She's got magic smoke for eyes. Why?

TY FOR READING IF YOU DID! 💖 👋😊