5. Ghost of what once was.

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That night Adelina was restless

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That night Adelina was restless. She woke up in a dark haze and fell back asleep a few minutes later, on a constant cycle. In the haze of sleep, her sister would appear. Tessa would be standing over the bed and a frightening scream would escape her beautiful angelic face. Adelina jerked straight up in bed, her heart racing in fear.

Every time she woke up she realized that she wasn't in her room, this wasn't her bed, and it wasn't her house. And each time the realization shredded at her heat a little bit more. Sometimes she woke up and saw her mother in the room with her, but when Adelina blinked she would be gone. The reality of being alone made her heart tug in her chest. She missed her family and she felt empty without them.

Being trapped down within this concrete room made her lose all  sense of time. Without the sun rising and setting it was impossible to tell when the day had changed. The room was continuously cold, damp and dark.

Adelina let violent shivers rack her body. She had herself wrapped with fuzzy blankets she found around and had layered her clothes. She smelled each layer of  clothes she put on, taking in the scent. They smelled like the soap her mom used to clean all of the families clothes.

When Adelina realized she wasn't going to sleep peaceful, she decided to get up.The first thing she decided to do was go to that big metal door she first entered and see if she could hear anything above. She climbed up the small stairs that creaked with every step. This noise echoed through the narrow space.

She held her ear up to the door and prayed to hear some sign from her parents. All she had heard was silence, though.

With a long drawn out sigh, Adelina made her way through the big metal door and back into the small cold room. She shut the door and leaned against it, slowly letting her body sink to the ground. She couldn't understand what had happened or where her family was.

Adelina's growling stomach began to echo off the walls in the room. She picked herself up and began to rummage through the cabinets. She stumbled upon some canned vegetables and bottled water.

Adelina had not been used to canned foods. Most of the food their family ate was fresh and farm grown. Even during the winter they would store their food in glass containers or freeze the contents.

She focused again on the task at hand and found a microwave hidden in one of the cupboards. She warmed up the food and placed it on some paper plates. Sitting herself down on the bed, she scarfed down the food quickly, she hadn't realized how hungry she was.

"Now what am I supposed to do with myself'

She hadn't been down here a full twenty-four hours and already the walls  were creeping up on her, making her feel trapped. She felt enclosed and claustrophobic. Her mind wouldn't turn off and these awful thoughts kept drifting in, unrelenting. 

Soon she got up and began to explore some more. She stumbled on some old books, she assumed her dad had put down here. As she scanned them she soon came across one of her all time favorites, The Dark Tower. She sat down and begun to read.

The silence continued to toy with her mind.

"Adelina..." a voice whispered.

"I'm losing it..." she grumbled to herself.

Reading probably wasn't her best option right now, she decided. After looking around more, she stumbled across an old record player and some records.

"Curious..."

Who had stocked this stuff up? Her brow furrowed and she sighed.

She scanned through the records and found a few of her favorites. She decided on David Bowie, oh how she loved Bowie.

She laid on the warm bed and soon the music lulled her into a dreamless sleep.

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She wasn't quite sure how long it had been, but she knew that at least a week had passed. She took up talking to herself as much as she could and continuously playing music. She raced back and forth between the room and the door, each time more disappointed than the last.

Silence. Each. Time.

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More days had passed and she wasn't sure how much more she could take of the silence. She had started to lose control and felt herself going crazy. She had read the entire Dark Tower series and a few other books as well. She had listened to every record multiple times and knew every song by heart.

Maybe she had been down here a lot longer, she thought to herself.

She walked to the bathroom and looked into the mirror. She didn't recognize who she saw. The girl that stood before her was ghostly white and had deep black bags under her eyes. Her pale blue eyes didn't shine with hope like they used to. She let out a gasp and touched her face trying to figure out if it was her mind playing tricks on her. She turned to the side and looked at her body. She had lost weight, as her bones stuck out on her hips.

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A few more weeks passed and Adelina was losing herself to this horrible room. She wanted so badly to keep her promise to her mother, but she was afraid she would die down here if she didn't take action.

No more!

It was time to leave.

She got up from the bed and hopped into the shower. She made sure to enjoy the hot water, as she wasn't sure when she would have her next shower. She picked out the warmest clothes she could find and some tall heavy boots.

As she tied her laces of her boots up, she started to think about her family. She had to go find them. She grabbed her scarf, gloves, and hat.

"Time to find my family. Time to grow up Adelina. After all, I am an adult now..." the sudden realization hit her. She had missed her and Tessa's birthday.

The door lifted open with one last pull and the sunlight streamed into the dark space. Adelina held her hands over her eyes, to keep the sun from blinding her. As she stepped out with her arms held up over her eyes, the cold air hit her face. She looked around and noticed most of the trees were barren and the landscape looked dull.

How long was she actually in there? Cloves and pine were prominent in the air and she could tell winter had set in. Surely she hadn't lost track of the time.

She pushed those thoughts down and out of her mind. She realized she needed to act now. She grabbed her scarf and wrapped it around her face.

And with that she took off running towards the forest.

Had she known what she was about to face, she would have stayed in that room forever.









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