Number Seven

Chapter 16

It's cold.

My eyes buzz through the thin air before being greeted by large fluorescent lights from above. I nudge my head to the side only to sink into a puddle of water. My body shoots up like a firework as I realize what I'm drifting in. 

Is this...a pool?

My feet find the tile floor as I glance down. The water sits at my chest, rippling back and forth from my movements. Something tugs at my wrists. I try pulling them apart, but no such luck comes my way. They're tied. I jerk at the rope to find it connected to the bottom of the blue water. "What the hell?" I pull as hard as I can but the rope refuses to move. A clank sounds throughout the room and I feel my wrists being towed down. The change in my stance catches me off guard as I split my legs, refusing to let this contraption submerge me any further than I already am.

"I wouldn't fight it if I were you." My eyes fly to Jinx standing on the dry side of the pool as I grunt against the weight. Her arms are crossed over her chest beneath what I call a cocky expression. "Also, if you're planning of escaping, there's going to be a little hiccup in your plan."

Damn it.

"And what's that?" I growl, dropping my act entirely.

"Whether you suffocate or not." She saunters over to a door, revealing a switch in her hand. My expression falters to baffled curiosity as her boots click against the floor. I watch closely as her signature smile stains her lips before her thumb presses down on the remote. The ropes drag me under, twenty times faster than before with eight times the strength. I barely have the chance to take one last breath before entering the unbreathable environment below me.

I reach the floor in seconds, struggling to pry myself out of the restraints. Just when I can barely seem to keep the last of my oxygen from fading away, another clank echoes through the water and the ropes loosen.

I kick myself from the floor, bursting through the water's surface with a sharp intake of air. My head dunks under the water for a short moment to find chains attached to the rope. Water quickly flies up my nose as I drive my head back out. She has total control over whether I live or die and there's nothing I can do. The second I think screaming might be the only way to get me out is when the ropes begin to pull at my wrists again. "No—" Is all I manage to get out before becoming deluged in suffocation.

Water flushes my nose and ears. I choke for the slightest moment, backwashing everything back out to the water. Half of my air gets wasted from the fullness of my stupidity. My feet kick through the water, slipping against the tile floor. My head begins to buzz from the lack of air in my lungs before the chains loosen again, allowing me to kick off and break through the surface. 

Alleviation saturates my body when I realize how thankful I am to gasp for air. How grateful it feels to know my heart is still beating. Knowing that I'm not dead yet. Tireless breaths jump from my lips and into the pool room. All I can think about is how I'm going to kill her after finding a way out of here. I peer forward to discover the large pane of glass she's standing behind. A slight glare momentarily blocks my vision from her figure as I veer my sight. 

Eyes of pleasure and delight capture my essence as another crooked smile cracks her expression. I feel the satisfaction roam her mind from the middle of the pool. How it's curling her smile into something viciously heartless. The way it's making my existence feel like a mouse; diminutive and meager. A stinging sensation runs through my throat before I realize I'm being pulled down again.

After the fifth run of this torture, I feel a more drastic impact take a toll on my body. Blurs turn to casual hazes as I try to steady my mind. My head still has remnants of the pain-splitting headaches from before. Every thought I have is pounding on the walls of my brain begging—pleading—to be let out. But all I can do is endure the pain for a little while longer, hoping this will all be over.