Captive

Chapter Five

I poked at a dried up piece of bread. Thick cement walls surrounded me in the dampened cell I was in. I had been in here for three days now. I refused to eat the food they brought me, I didn’t know if there was anything in it or not, and I didn’t want to figure it out. They also brought be water, but I refused to drink that either. Instead I emptied the cup it was in and set it on the small ledge by the bar that led outside. It had rained a couple of times, filling the cup up. Grant it, it wasn’t a lot of water, just a small amount, but I felt much better about drinking it than what they were giving me. I was exhausted. My body ached and my bandage on my head soaked up so much blood that it wasn’t really working anymore. I had bruises scattering my body, especially since they had beat me before I was locked up in the cell. I felt like my sanity was leaving me every five minutes I was stuck in here. I knew there were a lot of other people, because at the door there were bars. I wasn’t tall enough to see through them, but I could hear others. They spoke to themselves and several at night screamed. I didn’t know if they screamed because they were going crazy, having bad dreams, or someone went into their cell at night. I hoped it was because they just had nightmares.

I moved away from the tray with the dried up bread and crawled into the corner, pulling my legs up to my chest, wrapping my arms tightly around them. I buried my face into my knees, my back sore as I bent over my legs. I rocked back and forth slowly, humming a sad tune my mother use to sing to me. “In the night, the world sleeps, but that is when we most go weak. We lose our minds always in sleep and face our fears. And even though we don’t know, we’ll wake up to life. But tonight, tonight, we shall live on, as our minds go blank and sleep comes in. Let it in, let it in, let us breathe in the things unknown. Because when the night comes, the world sleeps.”

My voice was weak, a hideous croak. I swallowed, running my dry tongue across my chapped lips. I lifted my head at the sound of pounding feet outside. Whispering filled the cells, mumbles, though I couldn’t make out anything they were saying. I shifted, using the wall to hold pull me up, pressing my back against it and lifting myself up with my legs. I stumbled forwards, moving to the door and pressing my body against it, trying to hear.

Suddenly the door to my cell opened forcefully and I felt forward, smashing into the hard ground. I lifted my head a little, staring at thick black boots. “Princess!” They cried out, and that really started a murmur through the dungeon. “You aren’t looking your best.” A hand gripped my forearm and pulled my limp body up, holing my dangling body up as I stared up at Eb. He blinked a few times, staring at me. “You are quite dirty and gross too.” He said, his eyes narrowing.

I didn’t even bother to open my mouth to reply, just staring up at him. My feet were on the ground, but my knees were buckling. The only thing holding me up was his fingers digging into my arms. It was starting to get painful, as the right side of my body was sagging lower than my left.

“Your eyes are wild. What has happened to you lately?” Then he chuckled as I blankly looked at him. “Enough of this. Let’s go.” He turned away from me, tugging on my arm as I forced myself to walk.

“Princess!” Someone yelled from a cell and I winced, closing my eyes. All that did was start a new chant of princess as several people started to yell it. It didn’t even make any sense; Trittan didn’t have a princess here. Hence me being locked up in a cell just like the rest of them.

“Help us! Please!” Tears strung my eyes hearing their pleas for help. I watched fingers reach out of the bars, barely getting out, but there were the few that were able to do it.

“What are you doing to these people?” I breathed feeling out surprised I had actually formed an actual sentence.

“They have broken the laws.” Eb replied matter-of-factly.