/ haunted/
• showing signs of mental anguish or torment
"She was fierce. She was strong, she wasn't simple. She was crazy and sometimes she barely slept. She always had something to say. She had flaws and that was okay. And when she was down she g...
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[PREVIOUSLY: Octavia pleads with Heda for a second chance. She is met with mockery and scorn and cast into a dungeon to await her fate ... a dungeon that holds another prisoner - a familiar prisoner - Murphy].
"M-Murphy?" I gaped at the scrawny lad in front of me. "W-what? How?"
"Easy now, Princess," Murphy smirked. "Don't go blubbering all over me now."
I gritted my teeth and clenched my fists. "You son of a bitch!" I spat out.
Murphy pursed his lips and nodded, pretending to be deep in thought. "You know, one thing's for sure, if I end up escaping ... there's no way in hell I'm taking you with me."
I let out a strangled yell of rage as I strained against the chains holding me back.
"Whoa, calm down, Princess," Murphy held out his hands and gazed pointedly at me. "No need to act so tough."
"Don't ... call ... me ... that!" I snapped furiously.
"Oh. Is that because Finn used to call you that? You know, before Raven arrived?"
I shook my head, tears stinging my eyes. I slumped back against the wall in defeat and heaved a deep breath. "I cannot believe it. I'm stuck in one of a dozen prison cells and I happen, just happen, to land in the same one as John Murphy. Could this day get any worse?"
"Don't say that," Murphy warned. "Because it always gets worse."
"It can't be worse than this," I groaned, burying my head in my hands. "Oh dear God."
I didn't know how long I sat there, ignoring Murphy's idle comments and eventually his deep snores. I didn't know how long I clenched and unclenched my fists, waiting, watching, hoping. I didn't know how long I gazed towards the slim crack of light moving slowly across the earthen floor.
I just knew that it was a very, very long time.
It must've been almost six hours later when I heard the loud scraping of footsteps and the resounding clang of metal. My head snapped upwards and I gazed towards the cell door as it was shoved open. A troupe of grounders bustled inside.
"On your feet now!" one of them brusquely demanded.
Exchanging looks with a now wide-awake Murphy, I staggered to my feet, using the hard-packed wall behind me as a leverage.
"What do you want with us?" Murphy ventured as his chains were removed; the metal bonds being replacing by thick rope.
"Shut it!" came the stern warning.
I shook my head at him, warning him against doing anything stupid.
"Alright, let's go," another of the grounders ordered once both Murphy and I were loosed from the wall. "We have a battle to win."
