ELBINA 2

Chapter 28

THUD
THUD
THUD
THUD
THUD
"Elbina!"
THUD
THUD
THUD
"ELBINA!"
Then there's a slew of curse words, before shouting of my name again.
THUD
THUD-THUD-THUD-THUD
I clench my hands, tightening them into fists, it's the only part of my body that doesn't burn.
I can't even remember when he stopped hitting me.
"Come on, just show me you're okay."
My heart-beat knocks so hard it's difficult to hear anything past that, to hear Fallen begging me from the corner.
The chair still digs painfully into my arms, my shoulders aching from being twisted funny behind my back. I should say something, I'm not sure I can.
I'm not sure I can speak anymore.
I manage to open my eyes, staring off at the table still in the corner and the bare room. It's all the same, except they're not here. My eyes roll down, so I can see the damage, broken skin on multiple parts of my leg and abdomen, blood clotting at the surface now. It doesn't mean I can't feel it, it doesn't mean I don't remember the sting.
It was a new type of pain when he inched in the tip of the blade, over and over again.
The more my eyes look, the more cuts I can see. It's overwhelming, and there's so much of it that I almost a little numb.
"Elbina. Please, look at me."
With my breaths rattling against my chest, I manage to turn my head, falling against the other side of the chair behind me. So my eyes can see Fallen, blood clotted on his own face and swellings that deformed his expression. His expression that was a mix of relief and pain. He tried to adjust himself, to get onto his knees but it's not a second later until his elbow cinches back into his abdomen with a strangled breath.
"How long?" I mutter and I applaud myself for even having done that.
"Not long, it's just you were so quiet and - "
I didn't need to him say it, that he thought I was dead; it wasn't like I was far off it. "Where are they?"
"You passed out, some women came in and said that they found something." I gulp, thinking too much about what that could be.
He see's me struggling. "Something, not someone." He nods at me and I nod slowly back in understanding.
"I don't want to die here." I say, partly to myself and it sets heavy in the cold silence. Like the air clasped hold of it, wrapping it so tight and freezing the words till they fell through the floor, disappearing forever.
"You won't. I'm not going to let that happen, I promise." I can't respond to that, cause it's a lie. He doesn't know, he's looking at me and just hoping that's the truth, he doesn't know.
"I'm so sorry, I'm sorry you're taking the brunt of it... but I need you to just keep holding in there."
"What does it look like I'm doing?" I grit through my teeth, managing to cinch out some form of humour in my words.
"I know. And you're doing it so well"
I don't feel like I am.
"Fallen - "
Anything more that I wanted to say is abruptly stopped when the door opens again, and my knees shake in fear.
The same man walking in, moving to the same corner again as he catches my eye with a glint. His heavy-set shoulders adjusting themselves so he can rest them on the wall behind, the bulky set of arms clamped over his chest as he continues to match my stare. I watch his lip twitch at the corner, a glimmer of a crease as he lets out a part smile. It's a smile I want to forget, just like all the other unwanted smiles I've received in my life.
"Finally awake I see." Nathanial pats my cheek, shaking my shoulder and I squeeze my eyes shut with the ache.
"You lasted longer than I thought you would though." He hums.
He tilts his head behind him, a quirk to his lips in a smirk."Much longer than that girl of yours Fallen."
"Don't." Fallen hisses from the corner, my eyes focus more to him breathing heavily and glaring right at Nathanial as he paces around me.
"God. That was years ago Fallen! Are you seriously still bitter about it?" There's a laugh intermingled with his words, taunting Fallen.
"Leave him alone." I sound tired, even when I wanted to be strong and defiant.
My eyes drag up when he rounds me again, crouching down with a hand balancing on my thigh that makes my eyebrows tighten in anger.
"Happily. If you answer me a few things about what my team found." His other hand crinkles something out of the back of his pocket, putting more pressure on my thigh as he adjusts himself to reach it.
But then he brings it in front of him, so I can see.
"Do you recognise this?"
My head shakes.
He taps a hand on that thigh again, bringing himself onto his knees and moving between my legs. Elbows now digging into my thighs as he brings it up closer to my face.
"I think someone's lying."
"Stop fucking with her, we don't know." He ignores Fallen shouting from the side, focusing all his attention on my reaction.
I try not to look too much at it, dropping my head away from it but he grabs my braids till I'm staring right at it again. Even with my blurred vision, I can see the blue and green patternings.
I knew we should have burned it, I knew it.
Lucas might not have had enough time to get there and what if they don't even want to help us?
"It's nothing you dumb fuck!"
It sets out a ticking motion in Nathanial's jaw, his eyes never leaving mine.
"Do you really want to piss me off Fallen?"
"Frankly, I don't give a shit what I do to you. But I can tell you, you're barking up the wrong tree with that." Stop talking Fallen, I want to say. I want to say it because I can feel Nathanial's fist tighten it's hold on my braids, snapping hair from my scalp one by one.
He doesn't say anything, only tilting a head to the man in the corner who sighs. Rolling his shoulders as he picks up the bat again and marches across the room to Fallen.
"leave him alone." It's enough to make the steps slow, but it doesn't really do anything.
I'm left wincing from the shear force of the bat hitting Fallen.
Just leave us alone, please.
Nathaniel tugs on my braids again, so my eyes fall back to his and I can see he's speaking to me but I don't want to listen anymore.
Instead, I do what Fallen told me and I don't say anything, not a word to Nathanial and it only enrages him more.
His fist comes into play between each unanswered question.
Finally, he groans in frustration, roughly standing to his feet as he starts to think. Think of a way around my silence and a way to get his answers.
My head fell again, Fallen's head pressed to the floor and even from here, I can see the dark red liquid dribbling from his mouth. It's pooling onto the concrete floor beneath him as the man stands above him waiting for orders.
"Fallen." I say urgently, looking for an okay from him too.
It takes a few seconds, his chest heaving up and down before he inches slowly, dragging his cuffed hands below him and pushing himself up. So he can lean his back against the wall again and look at me. So, he can smile and reassure me.
It doesn't last long.
"Reed. Take her to Nero."
"What? You don't want to hurt me? Fucking leave her alone and come at me!" Fallen shouts between his coughs, more droplets of red slewing from the corners.
"I think you've mistaken me for an idiot. Do you think I don't know how to get answers? Do you think I don't know what a person will go through to keep a secret?" He shakes his head, everyone quiet. "You're the stupid one here Fallen. Because getting answers, it's not about torturing that person. As I said, some people will die with their secrets... No, the important thing is that most people can decide how much they'll go through to stay quiet but it's a whole other ballgame, for them to decide how much another will go through."
Then he gestures to Reed, grabbing the bat from him.
"DON'T TOUCH HER!" Fallen's voice comes out scratchy, coughing repeatedly after as the panic sets in. Smacking his head back against the wall when he can't move a muscle, Reed gaining on me.
It doesn't take long, I don't have the energy to do anything. I don't worry when he takes the three steps to me, unlocking the cuffs and changing my wrists from behind me to in front of me. It feels like he tightens them even more than before, the metal cutting into the skin. I hitch a breath from the sting, feeling every bruise and cut on my body when he drags me up onto my feet. Yanking on my arm even when I struggle to get my legs under me.
You know when you get up too quick, and the world just spins and your vision goes dark. It's like that but worse, because now my legs are dead too and he's digging his nails into my skin.
I have to close my eyes just to keep myself from vomiting everywhere.
"Just stop hurting her!" I can hear his voice cracking all over again.
It makes me feel worse.
We both know he thinks Fallen's the one with all the knowledge and that he'll do a lot to stop me being hurt.
I want to tell him it's okay, that I'm okay.
I can barely feel anything anymore... or at least that's what I'm going to tell myself.
I'm helping, this is my way of helping, he doesn't need to worry.
I'm fine.
Fingertips trail along by arm, my shoulder, my neck. Leaving a cooling wisp of air along with it, until they roughly grab my jaw. Digging into my skin again and forcing me to open my eyes up to Nathanial's flicking between Fallen and I.
"GET YOUR HANDS OFF HER!"
He doesn't though, I can feel his nails clenching into my skin harder, leaving a mark I'm sure.
"Come on Fallen. I'm giving you every opportunity here."
I thank him in my head when he doesn't say anything, because I know it's hard for him. I know because it was hard for me when he was being hurt too.
I don't think he'd do anything, not really because if he did what I think he's threatening, then what motivation will Fallen have to speak up?
I don't think he'd do it.
So, I just bite my inner cheek against the discomfort of him touching my skin, it's only temporary.
But after a few tense moments, his nails dig in tighter till they sting even more. Then he sighs in annoyance, releasing his hand from me.
"Take her to him. I'm sure he'd love her."
"What!? No!" His chain's rattle loudly in the room and my ears perk up having heard it. My head rolling trying to get a grasp on reality. Reed's moving me, dragging me to the door.
I can't leave this room!
"You won't get a fucking word out of me if you do this!" Nathanial just laughs.
Reed stops too, I try kicking at him and pulling as hard as I can until he slams me into the wall head first, pushing my cheek into the wall so I can see the gun he's taken from under his jacket and is now pressing directly into my temple.
"Try that one more time and see how far you get!" Reed hissed, digging the metal into my skull even more.
A tension settles even heavier in the room, a silence that seems to go on too long until I hear Nathanial speak again.
"What's the difference? At least this way, Nero lets off a little steam and Elbina learns a lesson about bad mouthing me."
"She can't take any more. You'll kill her!"
"It's up to her isn't it? If she's smart, she'll make it easy for him." Reed drags me off the wall, gun still aimed at my head so I can only glare at Nathanial as he pats my cheek, smiling down at me.
His head tilts back up to Reed holding me, quirking his head to the door as a signal and then he's dragging me the rest of the way.
Fallen shouting, no screaming, at him to stop.
It doesn't do anything, it's still happening and before I can even question if this is really going ahead, I'm through the door. Fallen's shouts get cut off when the door slams shut behind us.
I lied before.
I'm not okay, being away from Fallen only confirms it. I'm terrified, I don't know where they're taking me, and I can only hope they're bluffing to scare him.
I don't want to die on my own, in this way.
If I'm going to die then I'd want to know they were okay, that they'd survive. That I didn't die for no reason, that I'm not just the stepping-stone to Fallen's death.
"Why is she in here?" Someone speaks with distaste when I'm brought into another room. It's plain black coloured walls only lit by a singular LED strip on the ceiling, I'm certainly sobering up now.
Now that he's actually sent me out; now that I've entered a different unknown room.
"Nate says you can have her."
He chuckles a little suddenly, it feels weird in the room and my insides turn uncomfortably.
"Alright then, chain her to the radiator." He sounds pleased, excited even. My stomach churns horribly so I feel like I might throw up. He drops me ungracefully to the ground; my head knocks against the metal which only somehow sharpens my senses.
My adrenaline is high, I resist as much as I can against Reed pulling my wrists closer to the pipe until he backhands me across the mouth. I don't have a chance to stop him when he clicks me into place.
Shit.
I can't get out. I can't move.
I lift my head to see Nero, he's staring down at me. Leant back on his chair just watching me, running one hand through his dirty blonde stubble and the other still resting on the mouse behind him.
Waiting for my move, but what move could I possibly make chained to a fucking radiator?
I'm so very awake now, eyes flitting to Reed as he leaves.
"Have fun." His words hang heavy in the air and I fidget on the floor, testing the restraint but it's as strong as ever.
"Thanks." It drawls out of his lips as he still watches me with scrutinising eyes even when the door fully shuts. Where was the temper? Why does this feel like the calm before the storm?
When is this horrible nightmare going to end?
I can't answer any of my own questions, all I can do is sit here, watching him as he watches me.
Where are you Lucas?
Suddenly Nero stands, his chair scraping backwards when he does and letting out a sigh from his lips. Running a hand through his messy dirty blonde hair, taking steps towards me until he's right in front of me.
I tell him to back off. He doesn't listen.
"I swear if you take one more fucking step." I warn.
He laughs, shaking his head at me. He takes the final step to me, squatting down in front of me with those eyes that seem ready to cause unimaginable pain. Pain that I'll never recover from.
Nero shifts until he's on his knees, still keeping a steady eye on me. Every single one of his movements seems planned and calculated, aiming for maximum fear factor and I hate to admit it but he terrifies me.
"Get the fuck away from me!" I shout at him, grabbing the pipe within my hands and using it as an anchor to kick my legs out. Successfully kicking him in the stomach hard, I get another right into his throat that leaves him coughing.
I want to smile but he comes back quick, punching me across the face. I taste the metallic in my mouth and I spit it out when it becomes too much to contain, the last dribbling from my lip slowly.
He grabs a fistful of my hair, yanking it hard, I will my head to move as much with him as possible to ease the pressure. It doesn't do much.
"Fuck sake, I'm not going to do anything to you!" He hisses at me, right in my ear.
I don't believe him for a second.
"Any part of you that touches me. That's going to be the first thing I break once I'm out of here." I hiss right back at him and I hope I sound convincing; I hope it instils some sort of fear in him. I don't hold out much hope for either.
He's between my legs, his hand in my hair, he could do anything, and I wouldn't be able to put up a fight. My breathing is so fast and shallow that I'm not really taking any oxygen in at all, I feel like a small bird whose heart is about to burst from their chest by the way it beats too fast.
The blood isn't getting to my extremities which only makes me cold and my feet numb.
"I don't doubt you'd do that, but just because Nathanial says I'll do something. Doesn't mean I will. I'm not his puppet."
"Besides." He turns his head, gesturing to the table behind him where the monitors sit. "It's had the desired effect on him." He points to the screen directly in front of us in the centre of the desk, and even from my position I can see Fallen's hands pressed against his face. Nero releases me, I sit limp, watching him as he stands up and moves to the desk again, flicking on the sound. I can hear him crying, it's such a guttural sound that I want to cry with him. Nathanial's there, taunting him about what Nero is doing to me. How I can't stop it and how it's all Fallen's fault, that he could have prevented it.
I'm shaking my head, water building in my own eyes seeing how messed up this whole situation is. I'm not sure Fallen's going to hold it in much longer.
"I'd start making some screaming noises if I were you. Otherwise they might send someone in that'll actually do it." He sits himself down on the chair again, gesturing to the door as a reminder that anyone could come through it. Not that I need the reminder.
I sneer at him, venom laced in my voice. "Don't think that this makes you any better than the rest of them." If I thought that might make him feel guilty then I had another thing coming. He only scoffs at me, rolling his eyes at me and turning back to watching the screen.
"I don't give a shit what you think. Take my advice or don't, it's up to you. I'm not the one that'll suffer."
What the fuck is this?
Why isn't he doing it, after how Nathanial described him. Saying how ruthless he was and how much of a temper he had. How was I supposed to take this?
I don't listen to his advice, I sit quiet, taking my chances that the door would remain shut and they could just assume that what was supposed to be happening, was.
I lay my head back, trying not to look at the screen, so I can't see Fallen sobbing relentlessly. Thinking something horrible is happening, when really, I'm sat here, watching him.
I feel like I'm here for forever, just watching the monitor. Flitting my eyes over the room and over at Nero who ignores me the entire time. As if I'm not here.
It's so eerily quiet, Nero's feet are up on the desk, just watching Fallen on the screen. An occasional movement of the mouse and some clicking but nothing apart from that.
Then suddenly, through the silence, he starts humming something.
It's so weird, almost scary the way he does. It's quiet, to himself but I can hear it as clear as day.
It sends shivers down my spine, a cold fear dropping into my gut because he starts singing the words.
They barely make sense to me, I pull at my handcuffs to bring myself up into more of a sitting position, he mumbles the words from his lips.
"What the fuck is that!?" He turns his head, showing me his smile. His eyes light up when he sees me glaring at him with everything I have.
He continues to look at me, pronouncing the words clearer now as he sings quietly. Only for me to hear. He stands up, picking out something from the desk and I can see the glint of the metal against the light. I momentarily freeze seeing it until he does something I really wasn't expecting and that's swipe the knife across his hand, blood pooling into his palm.
He quickly walks up to me, holding his hand in a way to keep the blood there before he kneels down before me, I veer backwards but there really isn't anywhere else more for me to go.
I scream when he places one hand over my mouth, muffling the sounds, then smears the hand with the blood on my inner thighs. I wriggle in his hold but he just pushes down harder on my mouth to stop me doing anything more, he switches from my inner thighs to wrapping it around my arm.
Each time leaving a trail of blood across my skin.
"Can't let my reputation take a hit, can I?" He talks lowly, pressing a bloody hand to my throat and everywhere else you can imagine. He has to let it sit for a minute, digging his nails into his palm to release some more before continuing.
I struggle against him, but it doesn't really do anything but make him grumble in annoyance at me, like I'm just some big inconvenience.
I know my wrists are bleeding now, just from the sheer pulling I've done through that ordeal. But it's over and he releases his hand from my mouth, stepping back up and leaving me catching my breath. Except now I'm frozen, unable to move with his blood covering my body like some form of disgusting and vile art show.
The message clear of what he wanted to portray.
Then he sits back on his chair, wiping his hand clean of any further blood and curling it into a fist as he rests it on the desk. Acting as if it never happened.
And that's when he starts up that song again, he keeps doing it, over and over again. Running through the entire song and I start shouting at him, he's playing with me.
The door slams open but Nero barely looks, just quirks an eyebrow at me. Reverting back to that quiet humming.
Reed undoes the handcuffs from the wall and pulls me up, half dragging me out of the room whilst I stare wide-eyed at Nero.
Who only smiles back, still humming that same tune over and over again.