Noctura

six

jinwoo

"GET UP."

I open my eyes and look over my arm to see a man standing there.

I quickly sit up and jump back a bit, my heart rate increasing.

Then I see that it's Arjun and I remember what situation I'm in.

He steps toward the cell, my handcuffs and the chain attached to them in his hands.

"Wh-where are you taking me?" I stutter. My voice is rough with sleep.

How long did I sleep? How was I even able to get to sleep?

Arjun doesn't answer. He opens the cell door and steps inside. "Stand up."

My stomach growls a bit. I'm so hungry.

I swallow and do as Arjun says, standing up. He moves toward me and quickly snaps the handcuffs onto my wrists, pinching my skin as he does it. He does it so quickly and effortlessly that it makes me wonder if he's had to do this before.

I'm sure he has.

He starts leading me out of the cell and up the stairs.

"How long has it been?" I ask. "How long did I sleep?"

Arjun doesn't answer. He pulls me up to the top of the stairs and then we begin moving down the hallway toward the front door.

"Please, just tell me how long it's been since you put me in that cell."

We move through the front door and I glance at the kitchen. It's empty.

I see Ms. Stanley's truck right outside, with the cage in the back, partially covered by the big blanket. The skies are darker than they were yesterday, and small drops of rain are starting to fall from the clouds.

"Please..." I beg. "Where are you taking me?"

Arjun forces me over to the back of the truck. "You know the drill."

I pull myself up onto the back of the truck. Arjun jumps up there with me and then pushes me toward the cage.

I crawl into it and then he feeds the chain through the door of the cage, attaching it to a hook on the side of the truck.

"Do you enjoy doing this?"

Arjun stops for a moment, looking down at the truck bed. Then he looks up at me.

"No," he says. "I'm here just as involuntarily as you. But it's worse for me."

"Worse for you?" I whisper.

He glares at me. "I mean more than you do. I shouldn't be doing this shit, serving that woman. People like you should be the ones doing it."

I stare up at him, shock and confusion probably written all over my face.

After that, Arjun throws the blanket over the cage and I hear him get off the truck.

 I drop my head in defeat.

What is any of this supposed to mean? Why am I here? And why am I being taken somewhere else again?

"Ah, Arjun, you already got him loaded up?" Ms. Stanley's voice.