Amethyst (ON HOLD)

Chapter 11

Chapter 11

Her eyes fluttered open slowly, her breathing loud in her own ears. Her wrists stung every time she tried to move them. Even in the darkness she could tell they were bound by rope and have been so for quite a long time because she had gotten used to the pain that came every time she dared to move her hands.

She didn't like the sensation of her own skin, sweaty and sticky, stuck with grime and dirt. Her throat felt dry and she rasped every time she breathed in. The silhouettes of other children were clear in the dim and cold stone room, the only source of light coming from the barred window and she could barely make out those bare and shivering shoulders, their frightened and hungry expressions, the blood stains on the grey sacks their captors could call clothes.

The metal doors swung open with a loud groan echoing in the chamber. The other kids whimpered, the sound filled with raw fear and pure agony of anticipation. "Now kids..." he said, acid dripping in his voice. "Are you hungry?" he asked with mock worry, unfortunately the others just couldn't distinguish the sarcasm in his voice as they nodded vigorously. 

He chuckled and then snarled like an animal cornering its prey in excitement "Too bad! If you're hungry then eat whatever it is you find in this room filthy rich kids."

Someone in the corner groaned "Let us go you jerk!!" someone else cried in pure momentum and shuffling sounds filled the room as the man walked towards the child, a dangerous flash in his eyes indicating a lust for blood.

Everything happened in a fragment of a second. She heard a gunshot, the spark of something coming out from the barrel of what was a huge sniper. She felt sticky warm liquid flow right between my feet and she struggled to scramble away from that mysteriously liquid.

The man kicked the still scrawny body in the dim light, the sick sound that the body made was like uncooked meat pounded to a tender lump and thrown onto the hard stone floor. She didn't actually know that the sound was from disembodied flesh of dead bodies piled onto each other.

The man laughed, his gun that was slung lazily over his shoulder fell with a loud clang on the ground, and he left the room, the light that shone on his tattoo just before darkness consumed her etched into her memory.

Amethyst awoke with a hard jolt, clutching the sheets with her fists white and shaking. Cyril stood by her bed, his paws resting on the edge as he licked the cold sweat away from her trembling shoulders. 

She took in her surroundings, the soft peach colour of the walls, the rays of the sun shining through her semi-transparent white and hydrangea coloured curtains. The faint smell of grapes and gunpowder slipped through the crack of the open window, the wind blowing at the curtains.

She ran a heavy hand through her hair and closed her eyes, her back meeting the mattress once more and she replayed her dream in her head. No, it was not a dream... it was more of a distant memory. 

"I wonder how old I was back then... How many years was I locked in that chamber before the escape plan... If it weren't for me, do you think those people would still be alive?" she trailed off to no one in particular and turned towards Cyril who gave a whine and cocked his head from side to side as if contemplating for an answer. She almost laughed aloud if it wasn't for the careful knocking at the door that snapped her out of her trance.

She ignored it of course. Instead she made her way to her bathroom and locked it behind her. She stood under the hot shower, imagining the water washing away the realness from her dream.

A few weeks had passed since that incident, the part where Kyle aided her in Cyril's rescue still an unshakable memory that got her thinking what his ulterior motive was but so far she had sensed none whatsoever. The days went by without a hitch, no missions, no extra business, no secret meetings and no declaration of challenges. None whatsoever and that got Amethyst feel unsettled, it was as if the calm before the storm.