Daughter of Bill Cypher

A Memory part 2

Ford woke up sometime later. His pain had faded to a dullness, still there and vivid, but he could look past it. His chain clinked as he shifted his position, wincing as a bit of the pain flared briefly. His memories from before came back, and he looked in the direction of the corner.

The girl was curled up on her side, her eyes on her hands as they fiddled with something he couldn't see. But when he shifted, she noticed and looked up at him, tucking whatever she held in her lap. Ford briefly wondered if she slept at all.

He straightened up before his thoughts turned to his leg. If he wanted to have any hope of getting out of here, he had to heal first. So he carefully rolled up his pant leg and felt for the bone. Thankfully it wasn't broken, just heavily sprained. As long as he didn't put any use on it, it should heal up in a week at the least.

The child was still staring at him, shifting from lying down to resting against the wall.

"I don't suppose you have anything to dull the pain?" Ford asked, really just wanting to fill in the silence instead of expecting an answer.

Both suddenly looked up when the door opened and Bill stepped in, now in a clean suit again and his signature smirk on his face.

"Hello. Did I miss anything?"

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By the time a week passed, Ford could barely function. His leg had healed and he could know walk if he could, but lack of nourishment and torture almost every day took its toll.

He offered to be tortured every day in place of the girl. He couldn't stand watching a child cry as she was cut into or terrified. Bill took it with a grin, but sometimes after torturing him, he would torture the girl anyway despite Ford's protests.

Three days into his imprisonment, Ford started thinking of a way out. If he got the chain off, he noticed there was a window on the far side of the room near the ceiling the led to outside. Why Bill seemed content with keeping such an easy way of escape, he didn't know, but it would be perfect. The possibility of it being a trap had crossed his mind, but he also knew things couldn't get much worse. He might as well make a bid for freedom.

He wanted to take the child with him too. She clearly suffered every day at the hands of Bill and his henchmaniacs (some had visited to beat her up), and he would get her out of here if he could.

It wasn't until a week had passed that he heard a small metal against metal noise. Turning, he saw the girl fiddling with something. She stopped when she saw him looking, but he could see what she was doing.

She had a paper clip in her small hand, the thin metal bent out of shape to a certain degree. The tip was in the cuff's keyhole on her left wrist, and she had been fiddling with it for who knows how long.

Ford than remembered seeing her go through his pockets the first night he spent there. She must've found it in one of them. He didn't even know it was in there.

But now that paper clip could be their ticket to freedom! Slowly getting to his feet, resting out his leg, Ford slowly walked closer to the girl. She immediately tensed and curled up into the corner. Clutching the paper clip to her chest, she curled into a fetal position as he stepped closer.

"It's okay." Ford said, putting his hands up to show he was unarmed. "I want to help get you out of here. I can help get these off."

He pointed to his own cuff and made the motion of unlocking it. The girl watched him and glanced at the paper clip in her hands. She slowly held it out to him, trust crossing her eyes for a moment.