The Lores of Lyra - Rising Star [Book I]

Chapter 2 - Orphan

Chapter 2 - Orphan

Breathing heavily, Annabell opened her eyes and raised her head slowly. Her whole body ached even though the worst pain had stopped. A numbness replaced the pain from the many cuts. There was no blood flow to her arms at all—they’d been tied to a pipe above her head. Every time she moved, she could hear the rusty pipes screech. But no matter how hard she pulled, she couldn’t break away.

Looking down at her body, she winced at the shape she was in: placed in an awkward position on the dirty concrete floor with blood staining the rest of her clothes. Relief flooded through her as she saw that the cuts had stopped bleeding.

Annabell looked around for her captors, but the small basement window, didn’t give much light. She couldn’t be sure that they weren’t hiding somewhere in the shadows. Cautiously, she dared to relax her muscles.

The people of Hydra considered Annabell Forrester to be a bad sport. Wherever she went, whispers followed. Sometimes her classmates were the cause of the whispers. Other times, it was the mothers, shaking their head in shame whenever Annabell passed by them on the streets.

Although, what she hated the most was when her townspeople looked at her with sympathy, not for her, but for the orphanage. The only people who had ever taken care of her. The rumors and the threats didn’t bother her. However, when the topic regarded her home—she got angry.

She was rude and obnoxious. Annabell would never back down from a fight. She chose to be so, being tough was how she coped with her life. Anger treatment had proven to be pointless. 

Sometimes Annabell envied the lovely people in Hydra that could be sweet all the time. It wasn’t their lives and the popularity she envied. It was also their ability to act social and be pleasant towards others.

A sound shook her out of her mindset, and she tried to change position because her legs were falling asleep. After a few useless attempts at pulling herself up, she settled back down, resuming her earlier train of thought.

Of course, it was when she started demanding answers on her own that she got in trouble. The saying, ’curiosity killed the cat’ came to mind.

In all honesty, Annabell hadn’t guessed that her own nosiness would lead to this. Snorting at the thought, she looked at the floor. If only she had thought about it some more, she might not have been in this place.

The darkness grew outside, and it became harder for her to make out her surroundings. The only light source in here was the small ray of sunshine that still shimmered through the broken window. Dust covered everything in this place. Annabell coughed when she realized that she was inhaling it. Her chest heaved from her troubled breath. She tried to swallow, but her throat and mouth was dry as sand. Arching her neck, she tried to look around the room. If she were lucky enough to get free, she would need a weapon. But so far, only the rope—that currently prevented her from escaping—seemed to be of any use.

Her thoughts tried to recall the room from her memory. Unfortunately, the only images she could muster up were blurry and indefinite. Looking up she watched as the last strays of sunlight faded out, leaving her in complete darkness.

With a deep sigh, she gave up on looking around, and while trying to rest her head against her right arm, she thought back. Remembering what lead to the guards capturing her. Her laugh was bitter as she thought of the irony of this. The one time she’d cared enough to be cautious, was the time she’d be captured.

It had all started with a fight. Some stupid sixth grader was dared to run straight into her, causing her drop all her books right down into a pool of mud. A sudden anger had taken over her body, and she had demanded an apology. The boy had refused, trying to show his friends that he wasn’t afraid of the older—and slightly insane—girl.