Risk

Chapter 2: Julian

The room was pitch black. The darkness made me lose my bearings, not knowing where the door was. This was intentional, no doubt. My head was spinning, and my wrists were chafed and bleeding. A door opened, letting in the smallest sliver of light, before it disappeared as the door slammed shut. I could potentially use the sound of the door to know where the entrance was, but every day, the door opened from a different direction.

Footsteps clicked against the cold floor and voice came out of the darkness, startling me out of my stupor.

"Nice to see you again, Prince," the voice said, hatred dripping off the word 'prince.'

"I honestly can't say the same to you," I said, my voice dry from disuse. The voice laughed.

"Even now, your attitude doesn't fail," the voice travelled around me. "Maybe you could turn your attitude-filled words into information-filled words." The person leaned down toward me until he was so close to me, too close. "I believe we asked you some questions."

I said nothing.

"Do you have some answers for me?"

Nothing.

"Are you sure?" the person stood up, moving away from me. I heard the sound of steal on leather; a knife drawing out of its sheath. I didn't move, not wanting to let the person know that my heart was beating faster and faster and that I was sweating.

"It's your choice whether or not you get hurt, really it is," the voice started walking around me once more. I felt the cool steel press against the back of my neck, but not hard enough to draw blood.

"Let me ask you again," the voice continued. The person kept walking around it, dragging the blade across my neck and around to my bare shoulder.

"How do we get past the security around the castle?"

I said nothing.

"No?"

Silence.

Another soft laugh sounded, a laugh that chilled my bones.

"Your Majesty, I have been nice to you so far," the voice said. I restrained from laughing myself. If by nice, he meant at least making small talk before beating the shit out of me, then yeah, he was being nice.

"But at any given moment, I could bite." At the last word, the person pushed the knife deep into my right shoulder. I bit my lip, trying not to give the person the satisfaction of hearing my pain.

"It's really a simple question," the person continued, twisting the blade and dragging it diagonally down my chest, all the way to my left hip, making me bite my lip even harder, hard enough that I tasted blood.

"Nothing to say now?" The person wrenched the knife out of my skin and I stifled a grunt of pain. "Alright then, let's see how you feel after another session with Rebecca."

I flinched, ever so slightly, but the person caught it. He laughed again. "There's the reaction I was waiting for." Footsteps walked to the door, and another sliver of light appeared as the person exited and Rebecca entered. Before the door shut, I heard the person say to her, "He's all yours."

I woke with a scream in my throat.

My bedroom was a mess. I was I the stages of packing my bags for travel and I guess I'd fallen asleep in the process. There were clothes strewn across the bed and I was tangled in both my sheets and the clothes. My heart still pounded from the remnants of the nightmare and I tried to steady my breathing, not wanting to wake anyone else up.

I untangled myself from the mix of sheets and clothes, sliding off my bed and getting up. I tripped over a bag, before making my way to my mirror. At times like this, I felt the need to just stare at my reflection, to prove to myself that I was okay, that I wasn't there anymore.

My hair was disheveled and all over the place and my head was pounding, making it hard to stay on my feet. My shirt was sticking to my chest with sweat, and a white scar peeked out of the top of my shirt on my right shoulder. A scar that ran all the way down my chest to my left hip.

I was the only one of the four Holt children that had ever been taken by the Risk. Taken and tortured by the Risk. I had been taken around winter last year when we had gone out to the nearby beach for Zacharias' birthday and the Risk had attacked. Our guards were on them at once and everyone had gotten out relatively unscathed. Everyone except me. I had spent two years in their captivity. Two years. 730 days that were filled with words trying to get in my head and knives that actually did get in my skin. I was rescued from the Risk about six months ago, but the mental and physical scars still ran deep.

There was a soft creak as my door opened just the slightest amount. I guess I did wake someone up. I already knew who was at the door, even before the voice called out.

"Julian?" I heard the soft voice of Ceanne from near the door. She came inside, shutting the door quietly behind her. I relaxed slightly. Ceanne always made me calmer and I was grateful that she always came to find me at the times that I needed to be with someone the most.

"Julian? Are you okay?" she walked over to me and slipped her fingers through mine, squeezing my hand tightly. I smiled at her.

"No, no I'm not, Ceanne."

"You want to talk about it?" she asked, very seriously. I couldn't help but laugh. Not everyone could say that their 7 year old sister was their therapist. I nodded, and Ceanne led me over to the bed. I picked her up and set her down on top of the sheets, before climbing on to the bed myself. She sat down cross legged in front of me and I mirrored her. She looked at me with her head tilted towards one side, as if she was analyzing me. Seeming to come to a conclusion, she asked,

"Did you have another nightmare?"

I nodded. "Yes."

"Why do you have them?

I shrugged. "I just have them."

"But why? Did someone hurt you?"

There was a moment of silence, then, "Yes. Someone hurt me."

"Who?"

Another pause. "Someone. You don't know him."

"But if you tell me, then I will know. Then I can find them and kill them for hurting you." I smiled.

"I really don't think that will be necessary, Ce."

"It is necessary!" Ceanne said, angry. I shushed her, not wanting anyone to hear out late night conversation. She continued in a lower voice. "He hurt you. He hurt you. Nobody can do that and get away with it."

"Ce, really, it okay."

"No, it is not!"

"Ce..."

"Fine, but I just want to know, what is his name?"

"I can't tell you that, because I don't know." Ceanne was silent for a few minutes, absentmindedly worrying at her bottom lip. Finally, she spoke again.

"Mm... well, if you ever want to talk, you can talk to me." My heart was touched. Ceanne was like my older sister, in so many ways.

"I will, don't worry." Ceanne threw her arms around my neck and buried her face in my chest. I hugged her back, really grateful that I had someone like Ceanne in my life.

"It'll be alright. One day, you won't have any more nightmares. You'll be alright." I sighed, twirling the ends of Ceanne's hair between my fingers.

"I hope you're right." 

Hey! Hope you enjoyed, and sorry for updating so late at night. I kinda forgot that I wanted to update today... oops? But at least it's up now, and I hope you liked this chapter. If you did, make sure you comment something pretty and don't forget to vote!

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