Once the floodgates opened, Jade just couldn't close them again. She cried endlessly. Everything she had bottled up inside her was released as she curled up, head in her hands, and cried. She felt a firm hand patting her on the back and every so often rubbing gently in a circular motion.
"What's wrong, Jade?" she heard a voice, John, say quietly.
That just made her cry harder. Why did he even care? It would all end the same, but maybe it would be her this time. Maybe she would be the one to get ill, maybe starve, maybe she would get shot for crying too loudly. She didn't fear death, she didn't care anymore, but she couldn't stop the tears streaming down her face.
"It'll be okay," John said again.
Jade looked up at his face and could see the pity in his eyes, the sympathy as he watched her with concern and continued gently patting her on the back.
"I want to go home," she whispered. She could see his face fall.
"I know," he said sadly. "I know."
After the tears exhausted her body and she had none left to shed, Jade lay down and drifted off to sleep.
***
She sat, leaning against the wall. The darkness oppressing and crushing. The dripping was relentless.
Drip.
Drip.
Over and over again.
She wanted it to stop. Needed it to stop.
She clutched at her head and opened her mouth as if to scream, but she couldn't.
She stood and paced the room as far as her chains would let her, her mind racing and the dripping continuing. She felt dizzy, but she walked around in circles through the darkness, her eyes tightly shut.
When she opened her eyes again, she saw a dazzling light float through the air before falling swiftly to the ground. As it landed, it's glow began to fade, but Jade ran to it. She reached a hand down to grab it as the light faded. What she grabbed however, was a solid object.
A key.
She looked over to the root of her chains and fumbled to try the key.
It turned and she was free.
She looked up and the ceiling seemed to have lowered to allow her exit. She could reach the metal hatch. She stood on tip toes, pushing at it and she felt it budge. She jumped, hitting it hard and it broke into a million tiny pieces that fluttered about her. She cheered loudly as the sunlight poured over her body. She saw sapphire skies and fluffy clouds, more vivid and beautiful than ever before.
She grabbed at the side of the now open hatch and pulled herself up.
"Jade?"
She stood bathing in the golden light for the first time in months.
"Jade? Can you hear me?"
She turned around and saw Blue. She saw her parents and she smiled.
"Jade!"
YOU ARE READING
Black Cloaks
Short Story'In a room with no windows or doors the girl sat, leaning against the wall. She had been there so long that the sound of dripping water, or maybe blood, became all she knew...' Jade was taken captive on her 16th birthday by what the kidnapped all ca...
