Veran: The Claim

Chapter 4

Chapter 4

I really hated everything about the dark.

I hated how you couldn’t see anything. I hated how you didn’t know what’s inside it.

I hated how you felt alone. And I especially hated how you felt when you’re not.

So, I could safely say that I hated not being able to open my eyes because the lids were too heavy. In fact, I couldn’t move anything. However, I sure felt everything, including the cold hardness beneath me and around my wrists, ankles, and even neck. I had no idea where I was. At that moment I didn’t even know who I was because I was mindlessly floating in mid air.

Soon, when I tried to gather my wits, I didn’t have time to ponder my current predicament as I blacked out and my mind followed my body into a sea of senselessness.

∞ 

“Hey,” Someone whispered to me, the voice scratchy liked it hasn’t been used in over two centuries, give or take a few.

I stirred slightly, my tongue coating my dry mouth and chapped lips. I moved my hand, this time being able to open and close it with just a bit of strain. As I blinked my eyes open, I swallowed the lump in my throat and tried to speak out to the voice but all that came out was a puff of air and tons of hacking and coughing, making me wish I kept my mouth shut.

As I tried to get a grasp on reality, my mind muddled into mush, I jolted up as it all came coming back.

But, I immediately got pulled back and my head bounced against the ground, shattering into tiny little aching pieces that still hurt like a son of a bitch as I tried to catch my breath and move through the pain. I groaned as the throbbing dulled down after two months, ten years, a millennia (I didn’t know how long) and I tried to get a grip of my surroundings. Which was kind of hard because I managed to pull a muscle just by breathing.

 First thing I realized was that my wrists, ankles, and neck all had something in common and it wasn’t that they were all part of my body, even though they were. It was that they now were glued to the ground with cold-as-hell bands surrounding them, keeping me in place.

The next thing I realized was that I couldn’t see for shit. All there was was a thick vat of darkness with no light in sight; not that I could see anything anyway.

The third thing I realized was I couldn’t pinpoint that voice anywhere. Maybe I dreamed it?

The fourth I realized was that I was definitely trapped in a place I knew nothing about while someone out there put me in here.

And the last was that I was not only alone- which was bad enough- but also defenseless.

I stared into nothingness, making sure my eyes were actually open because I couldn’t exactly tell the difference if they were closed or not.

As I tried to speak, thoughts flitted throughout my head; memories and wild stories ran around like it’s their job and they’ll die if they didn’t.

I pictured Milito and Milan’s worried gazes, Lynn’s soft but assertive voice making speeches, glass shattering as the car crashed into the tree, and wild things running around, preying on my cousins, the only thing decipherable about them being their red eye while everything else was just a part of the darkness in the Outland’s forest. And finally I pictured myself, chained down, weak and unable to protect myself against whatever brought me here.

Time passed- I didn’t exactly know how long-and eventually I was able to move my arms and legs, my head’s thumping dulled down, and I could talk without hacking every time I tried.