You're Mine

31. Alex

11.05.19

Finally, he spoke. His voice sounded strained, and it was clear to me that he didn't use it very much based on the amount of rasp in it. Instead of saying hello or anything kind, all he said was, "You look like hell." His mouth twisted into a scornful scowl as soon as he stopped speaking, and I felt judged.

The only phrase I could force out was a half-hearted duh, and even that hurt. I had to wonder what the heck they could have possibly done to my throat to make it this bad. I tried to get up and crawl to the corner opposite of him, but my limbs gave out before I could get very far. I closed my eyes briefly, preparing to get up and scoot myself once again when a firm pair of arms wrapped themselves around my back and legs. He must be strong to move me like this, but I was very grateful. He lifted me and moved me over towards the corner he had once situated in and set me, lying down, a few feet to the left.

"A few days," he breathed, his scratchy voice making me uncertain that's actually what he said.

I just barely managed to make a quiet noise of confusion in the core of my throat, but he understood and began to elaborate. "The paralysis-inducing food they force fed you to get you asleep and here contains the right toxins to give you temporary Foodborne Botulism. That's why your throat feels extra strange when you first come."

My brain hurt from all of those science words. I had never been taught them in my schooling until recently, so I had no clue what half of them meant. He reached an average sized hand and ran it over the little girl's brunette, long hair. Her shining hazel eyes popped open in response, and she began to smile softly at him which created dimples on her flawless cheeks. She seemed like the kind of person you would find in a magazine, not a creepy ass basement.

I averted my exhausted eyes to the dirty wall directly across from me bored. The upper parts of the walls were covered in mold which created a pungent scent when mixed with the rust on the exposed pipes above our heads. The beams that held the ceiling up were rotting from the wet, muggy feeling down here. The slow, but consistent, dripping from one of the pipes created a loud echo across the completely bare room. Every few seconds a rather large rat crossed the single light beam in the dank area, most likely searching for unfound food.

I felt my eyes slowly close, and my muscles relax into a soft, quiet slumber.

***

I yawned the next morning, my body still completely sore from sleeping against a wall on cold concrete. I sat up without a thought about it before I realized... I couldn't sit up yesterday without falling over. I guess the paralysis wore off overnight. I looked down when I felt movement in my lap and saw Ally snoring softly. He must have migrated there at some point in the night. I ran my hand slowly through his knotted hair before getting lost in thought.

Last night was quite a bit rough for him. The girl he had been holding the first time we met had apparently been down here for over a month. Ally had learnt to trust her; as she did him. They had become as good of friends as they could in a dirty, dark, cold basement. He had told me tales of laughter between the torture. The only time I had ever seen him smile was with her.

However, all good stories must end. Late last night, she had died in his arms. Being down here was too much for her weak body to handle, so it just gave up. He had been awake until insane hours of the morning crying in pure anguish over the dead girl while I tried to calm him to no avail.

I snapped out of my thoughts with my fingers still grazing through his hair. The room was much brighter around me, so I assumed about two hours had passed. I placed my arm by my side just as he began to wake up. His deep blue eyes drifted open and began to slowly drift around the room. Before I could stop him, they landed on the one person he had trusted.

"I thought it was a dream," he thought aloud.

"I-I'm sorry, but it wasn't," I murmured sadly.

He burst into the saddest tears I had ever witnessed, so I began to sympathize with him. The one person he could trust in this cold, dank basement was dead and there was nothing I could do about it.

He got up off of my lap and went back to his old spot. I got a good glimpse of his tattered clothes just before I slipped into an uncomfortable, uneasy sleep. The worst dreams ever danced in my head, and I must have been doing something worrying in my sleep because I awoke with a very frightened Ally shaking my shoulder. "Y-you looked like you were having a terrible dream, so I woke you up."

"Thank you, Ally. It wasn't a bad dream until I got to the end."

"What was it about?"

I told him about it. He smiled in the beginning, but at the end his expression was grim. The dark visions that ran through my head disturbed but also empowered me. I know that Ash is close, and I know that he must be looking for me. However, I have to worry that I'm too hard to find and that no one on the earth would ever be able to... It hurts to think about. "I'm sorry it ended that way. I used to have a good relationship with my family. My mother was sweet, my father was a bit strict, but we all knew he still loved me. I also had a twin brother. We had a relationship better than most before I was taken away. I miss him, and I would do anything to see him again. I used to have dreams like that right after I got taken down here when I was 5 twelve years ago. I guess I finally got over them."

"When was your birthday?" I asked, suddenly hopeful that my suspicions were correct. The way his young life sounds... It seems so similar to mine. I wish that I had a solid way to know that, but for now I just have to settle for asking him. I pray that he answers the way I think or this will be a major embarrassment.

"Uh... September 29th, I believe."

I remember life before the war... It sounded like his. I distantly recall having a brother that I loved more than myself. He looks like the opposite of me, but still a mixture of my parents... "Allystar, I think you're my brother."