The Garden (Discontinued)

Passage 8

A/N Omg, I'm so sorry!! I haven't posted another passage of this story in like, a month D: we (the authors) just haven't had much inspiration for it lately and we've kinda migrated to other stories xD But now I'll be working on this more! I hope you enjoy!

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  Meisha finally came to, her vision blurry as if her eyes had watered. She blinked repeatedly until her vision returned. The room around her was almost pitch black except for the candle that was burning brightly beside her. Meisha tried to move but her limbs were restricted by the paracord rope around her entire body. She growled quietly, but really, fear had begun to gather quickly, hearing the sounds of people talking. She registered the voices as Eva's and March's. She couldn't understand anything they said, although it sounded like intent discussion. As she looked around, she heard quiet crying.

  "Meisha?" a pitiful voice asked, which Meisha quickly recognized to be Sean.

   "Sean! Are you okay?!" Meisha questioned fearfully, but in reality was very relieved. She had originally feared the worst, that the adults had taken him to Monster... She heard Sean's quiet voice say, "Anna and Thomas are in trouble! Eva found them, but they ran away from her. She got me, though..."

   "It'll be okay, Sean. We'll be okay..." Meisha muttered, trying to sound confident. She could only hide the fact that she shaking out of fear because of how dark the room was. "Where did Eva take us?"

   "I-I don't know, she blindfolded me."

   "Are you still blindfolded?"

   "Yeah... What do we do? I'm really scared..."

Mei bit her tongue at Sean's timid behavior. She knew he had to be frightened out of his mind right about now. It was Meisha's responsibility to save him now. She wouldn't let anything stop her this time. She twisted around, feeling the paracord bite into her revealed stomach. She'd forgotten to change out of yesterday's clothing. She moved slightly, the paracord seemingly not budging. She groaned, but shut her mouth as she heard Eva and March's voices again, but closer.

  "Okay, so to do that we'll need to keep her out of here, you know she wouldn't be happy with this. She never was," March's stern voice bounced off of the jagged walls around them.

  "You go and occupy her. I'll get that stowaway brat fed to the Garden." The high heeled footsteps of Eva and March traveled farther away from where Mei and Sean were.

  "Meisha? Who were they talking about? They said 'she' didn't want this to happen to us..," Sean's shaky voice made Mei turn her head and look sympathetically at the poor boy.

  "I don't know..." Meisha trailed off, and began to think of a way to escape. Mei shoved her feet under her hands, untangling herself from her pretzel like twist. They couldn't have thought of a more comfortable position to tie me in? Meisha thought as she bent her arms, reaching for her knife that was strapped to her shoulder. Mei awkwardly moved the knife in her hands, finally getting a good grip on the handle. She reached behind her hands, cutting uncomfortably at the rope biting at her wrists. Scratching away at the hard shell that covered the rope of the paracord, Meisha started her attempt at freedom. The irregular breathing from Sean forced her to accept the reality of the current situation. They had, in essence, been kidnapped. It was Mei's responsibility to free them now.

  After a few minutes she finally broke open the first tube. She began unraveling the cord, freeing her hands at last. Meisha unknotted her tied up feet, then picked up the candle that was by her side and moved it around until she found Sean in the corner of the room, shivering. A handkerchief hid Sean's eyes and paracords bound him the same way they'd bound Mei. She crawled over to him as quietly as she could.

   "I'm going to take off your blindfold and cut your ropes, alright?" Sean nodded feebly. Mei untied the cloth, revealing Sean's scared look. His eyes were so full of fear...

Meisha looked down, biting her lip as she began to saw off the paracord binding Sean. She tried to ignore the sounds of his uneven breath and shaking limbs. After slicing in half the rope binding his feet, Mei started cutting the paracord tied to his wrists, when she paused.

   "Meisha...?" Sean questioned slowly. Meisha had her head bent down, staring at the floor, quivering slightly.

Mei was using all of her willpower to not break down and cry. It took so much effort, all she could do was just crouch there, staring. She never wanted this. Not for her, not for her sister, not for anyone. How long would it take for Meisha for finally crack? To let all of the pressure she's hidden for so many years just release, but she knew once she let that happen, that moment when she'd given up on herself, she'd be gone. Mei as herself wouldn't exist anymore. What could she do then? She still wanted to live, right?

  Meisha gasped quietly when Sean suddenly started humming. She felt a few tears escape, instantly recognizing the song. It was a lullaby her mum used to sing to her, when she couldn't sleep. More importantly, it was a song she'd hummed to Lin. So many years of mental solitude had made her forget the blissful lullaby; it was enough to make Mei remember everything she'd regretted ever since arrived in the Garden, 11 years ago. She closed her eyes, humming along to the tune in sync while her eyes stung.

   "I'm okay now." Mei said, quickly her eyes with her hands. She looked back up at Sean to see him smiling a little. "We'll be able to escape, right?" Sean asked, his voice full of hope. I nodded, forcing a smile back.

  "Yeah. Yeah we will."