Ink Stained

08: sticks and guns may break their bones*

棒や石はその骨を壊すことができる

She woke from oblivion to the worst headache she had ever had, brought to violent attention when she twitched in unconsciousness that was ripped from her by the pain that lanced through her brain at the movement. It pounded at the base of her skull like a heavy, spiked mace the size of a mountain. The only sound she could hear was of her blood pumping through her veins and roaring in her ears.

Her whole body ached, even with as still as she laid. It felt like she had been dunked in a river of ice, her bones were shivering. Her eyes felt glued together; no matter how she tried once she set her aching mind to it, she couldn't open her eyes.

Pai knew she was lying down, she could feel the hard surface beneath her, all along her body. It was – wet. There was water under her bare arms and soaking through her clothes.

She took a deep breath, trying to calm the rising tide of panic in her chest. She needed – she had to stay calm. She knew that panicking wouldn't help her. She didn't know how she knew or if there was something wrong with her that this layer of shaky calm told her to remain in control, but it was firm, the knowledge that if she let herself go, nothing good would happen. She had to be calm if she was going to figure out what was going on.

She focused on trying to open her eyes. She took deep breathes, calming her racing heart, catching a whiff of salt in the cramped air around her. She tried wriggling her fingers and toes, wincing at the stiffness in her joints. As she rotated her ankles, something cold and hard, metallic, moved against her skin. Dimly, as if there were heavy earmuffs over her ears, she heard metal clinking.

Chains, she thought hazily. That sounded – that felt like chains. Why were there chains around her ankles?

She remained absolutely still as she fought to open her eyes. It was hard; she was so unbelievably tired, as if she had just run three dozen Olympic marathons instead of just waking up. The darkness behind her eyelids was so complete, so whole, that she wasn't even sure she would know that they were open. She was completely disoriented, confused, her mind and body disconnected from each other.

At last, she pried open the seam of her eyelids. She blinked several times, to adjust to the darkness, but no light seeped in. She turned her head side to side, trying to see anything of where she was, but...nothing. She could only rely on her sense of touch, and anything else she could discern. She knew that there was something right next to her nose, she could feel it when she turned her head, in the way she felt her breath bounce back at her, off of something. It was like a wall. The same happened when she turned to the other side.

Where am I? she thought, a growing discomfort and fear warring in her stomach.

She stretched her arms on either side of her, as far as she could, tensing her fingers. A second later, she came up against solid cement. She wriggled and shimmied her body down until her bare feet touched yet another wall. The chains jingled as she shuffled around.

She was in some sort of narrow enclosure. She raised her hands slowly, until her forearms hit another slab of stone; this time it was right above her.

Her heart swelled, kicking into overdrive. Fear closed her throat, stifling her, as if an iron hand was strangling the breath out of her. Her hands shook in violent tremors running up and down over her arms, from her shoulders to the tips of her fingers. It was so much that she couldn't tell if it was only her hands shaking, or if her whole body was trembling.

No, she thought, blind panic blanketing her mind. No, please, not this, not – please, what the hell is this, please.