A Covenant Of Ashes

Chapter 2

Everything was blur, as it would be after a few bottles with the squad members. She could hear voices; a vague conversation between two individuals, one male and one female. She struggled to see who they were. She lifted her gaze, slowly, unsteadily. A pair of high heels, brown leather shoes and matching trousers, slender legs and a pink flowery dress, all appeared in sight.

 Who were these people?

She lifted her gaze again in the same fashion, and the woman – at least – came in full sight. A slender figure in the gown, dark brown hair with blonde highlights. Alas, the woman’s voice became clear. The woman was her. The man however, was still a bit taller than her field of vision. A white polo shirt was all she saw. His voice, his voice remained vague. 

It was a dream, she realized. 

Her eyes faltered open once again, and she saw an image of children playing in a street covered in snow, singing and counting in French. She turned around to see what stood behind her. A castle-like building, three floors high appeared. It was the orphanage. She was in Montreal again. 

She watched the children play with a cold yearning in her heart. She wanted to play with the children, she wanted to be a part of them. But her feet were planted in the snow, and she remained.  The children ran and skipped away from her until they slowly began to disappear with their high pitched voices. Soon, she was alone. 

It did not matter to her at first. It did not matter until the winds howled, and the silence grew louder and louder. Her beat sped up, and her stomach churned. Fear crawled up her skin. Alone outside, in a growing storm, she yearned for someone, anyone to take her away from the terror. So she called, the first name that came to the tip of her tongue. “Johnny.” 

The walls returned her call to her and she understood. Nobody was there, no one was coming for her. Her eyes glistened with tears and she began to cry. Her voice echoed as though the walls were announcing the presence of a gloomy child in the middle of the street. It wasn’t safe, but she kept crying.

Suddenly, while she wiped the tears away with the back of her hands, someone or something grabbed her by one wrist. Something grabbed the other in quick succession. The grip was as rough as it was strong, enough to leave a permanent mark. She kicked her and struggled and screamed at them to let her go, but they dragged her nonetheless. 

Johnny. She had to know where he was. She called his name and cried and called his name and cried again. Her heart raced, her breath stopped, and the world went dark.

Beth  opened her eyes once again, kicking and struggling as hard as her energy could take her. Her heart still raced, but her breath was more or less under control. There was a grip around her wrist, not as rough as before and neither was it as strong. She wasn’t in a dream this time, she could tell from the smell of sewage and wet concrete pervading the air. There was hardly any lighting in the quiet area so she could barely tell what was near or not. All she could identify – besides the pungent smell – was the sound of water droplets forming a puddle from behind, and the ropes which held her hands firmly to the arms of the chair. 

Her head throbbed repeatedly and the encounter with the capo instantly flashed through her mind. The last she remembered was staring at the nozzle of an assault rifle. For whatever happened afterwards, she could only say that she was experiencing one of the best case scenarios – she could have easily had a hole in her head. She didn’t seem to have acquired any injuries, save for the one on her head, which meant she was in a good position to escape. All she had to do was free her hands, which would be possible if she could steady her breathing and slip her hands through.

Okay Beth. Breathe.

She started slowly, pulling her left hand backwards as she kept it in a fluid form. Slowly, gently, her hand broke free. She set loose the other quickly and took to her feet. A deep sigh of relief she made, trying to stay calm in that situation almost drove insane. All that was left was to devise an escape plan to find Johnny and leave the pit she found herself. First, she needed her coat.