Silva

Chapter Nineteen

• Irisa •

—

"Nostalgic, yeah?"

Officer Norine sneers at me from across the room, chained to the wall that seems to be recently installed. The steely color glimmers against the dusty wall as bricks sit by her legs, reminding me how old this place has been abandoned.

It also has been remodeled.

She tugs her arms, rattling the chains and wrenching until her wrists tear small wounds. Blood drips to her elbow and onto the edge of the brick, but it only makes her yank harder to try and dislodge the fortified nail.

"Someone went through all this trouble to make it for us," I note wittily, "Be gentle with them."

Officer Norine stares, deadpan with a hint of fatigue.

"That someone totaled my car, kidnapped me, and is holding me as a hostage," she lists crossly, "So, no, I will not be gentle!"

"If they wanted to kill us, there wouldn't be an abduction." I shrug as my heart gives another pinched jerk.

I'm unnerved by the deliberate placement. The people who know about this place are those who've been placed in Sunflower Home or are the adults who were running this place.

They weren't caretakers; they were greedy humans.

"Does torture not ring a bell?" Officer Norine barks.

"You're a police officer; someone will know you've been kidnapped when you don't show up for work."

She rolls her eyes and flips her red hair away from her face. "It's my day off."

"Oh," I quip, "That's worrying."

She yanks the chains again, gaining the attention of our kidnapper when a squealing of wheels echoes through the hall.

"Think of something!" she whispers, hushed.

I'm not sure if she realizes that I'm also chained and physically much weaker than her. My muscles are nonexistent.

A man opens the creaking door, and something about him is just off. I try to pinpoint what is upsetting my stomach as my eyes dissect every inch of his body.

He doesn't stand out much other than his abnormally slow pace. He walks with confidence, but he's slow as if he's waiting for us to break out of the chain and lunge at him.

If he can see, then he'll know that—

Oh, I realize quickly.

Those are not eyes. The lights from the shattered window go inside his eyes, something that's impossible for real eyes. He turns to me, and I hold my breath at the bottomless gaze.

I can see the disturbing details. The lights hit harder at this angle as the pink muscles in his eye sockets sicken me.

"Which one first?" he asks as he extends his arm out to touch the wheeled tray filled with rusted tools.

I don't know why I'm not scared or even the slightest bit worried about what's going to happen to me. Part of me knows that Silva will come and take me away from this horrible place.

He's not my Prince Charming who will whisk me off to the sunset or my knight in shining armor to cut down my enemies. Silva is the monster that will pick me up into his strong arms and eat my insecurities away.

I haven't had a nightmare since I met him.

He's a temporary fix, not a cure. A permanent fix might not be possible for someone like me.