Betrayal

Chapter 2

  The gate before me was just sitting there, taunting me as I sat with my arms wrapped around my knees. It's only lock, which was a single chain held together by a lock that required a key to remove, was winking at me mockingly in the LED light that flooded across from the desk on the other side of the room. I felt like I was watching the bars of the cell door rust and crumble with my bare eyes. It was almost as if I was going insane down here. I had felt every wall, nook and cranny. I tried pulling out every single stone on the wall to find a hidden passage to the outside world. I just wanted to get out, and this stupid cell door was sneering at me, just rubbing my captivity in my face. So, I did the only thing I hadn't done yet. I gripped the bars and shook the door, hoping it would break off.

The stranger in the bed stirred as I rattled the gates. I wanted out, this was driving me crazy and I had actually begun to panic. They couldn't keep us in here, whoever they were. We weren't animals, we weren't meant to be caged. Come to think of it, not even animals deserve to be caged, especially in conditions like this. It had been at least two days since I woke up in this cell, or at least I thought it was. There were no windows down here or any source of light to tell me if it was day or night, to tell me when to wake up or when to go to sleep. There wasn't a clock or a calendar to tell me how many days had gone by. My body was completely thrown off by this, especially since I had been passing out due to sheer exhaustion. I knew that restlessly searching the cell was a bad idea from the start, but it was worth a shot.

The air was thick and hard to breath, making me wonder how long this woman had been here for. From behind me, I could hear the gentle taps of shoes touching the ground. The woman must have finally awoken. I remained seated seeing as I wouldn't want to startle her. She must have been down here for a long time seeing as her body was covered in dark mud. I didn't observe her up close while she slept, that would have been creepy.

"Wha-who are you?" Her voice was soft yet had this uneasy sound to it as she spoke. It was clear that she was scared. I turned around, wrapping my arms around my legs, bringing them to my chest and resting my head on my bare knees. The tights I wore had ripped when I woke up, luckily the scabs had formed by now and the stinging had gone. My cheeks were red, my eyes as well. She furrowed her eyebrows at my appearance, slowly gliding off of the bedside and sitting on the floor across from me.

"How did you get here?" She asked, this time a bit louder and less frantic.

"I don't know how I got in here, but I do know how I got to this estate. I drove." I drawled. She looked down at the ground, grabbing her upper arm.

"Why would you come here?" She inquired, she sounded frantic once again. I sat there, contemplating her question. Why would I go there? Did I even remember why I was coming here? I didn't spend much time dwelling on this question before shrugging. Whatever reason it was that dragged me here, it must have been really important.

"My name's Jolene." I told her in a voice softer than silk. Her expression changed slightly, it was subtle enough so anyone who wasn't focusing on her directly wouldn't notice, but she smiled. It was quite faint and I could barely tell he was smiling, but she was.

"Mia."

"So, Mia, when did you get here?" I asked her. Maybe she had arrived shortly before I did and we might have a chance at getting out.

"I-I don't remember. I-It's been so long." She explained. I felt my body go numb at this. Maybe she was like me and lost track of time and it felt like forever. I was panicking again, what if she was right? What if she has been here for a while? I had to get out of here.

"Are you okay?" She asked looking me in the eye with worry. My breathing became ragged and the tears started up again.

"Will you help me?"