War of Peace

Chapter Twenty Two

Maddie

I hear a cell door in the distance opening loudly with the dangling of keys echoing down the corridor. I'm not certain of how long I've been in here for because it feels like it's been a week. I've only had to use the bucket three times so far. Once for emptying my bowels and twice for emptying my bladder. Maybe I've slept through the whole night. I remember laying down at one point to try and get some sleep, but couldn't. This might've been the longest night I've ever had.

I couldn't stop thinking about Silas, and Emma kept appearing at times, but the whole night is a blur. I must've been really tired since I don't remember everything that happened. I probably passed out on the floor once I was tired enough because it's where I am waking up with the sound of a cell door opening. It's hard to tell what time of day it is because there's nothing but darkness and I want to throw up at the smell of my waste. I suppose depending on how long I'm kept in here, my nose will go blind to the horrendous smell.

I rub my eyes, which are swollen–at least they feel swollen, but there's no way I'd know. It's still just as cold in here as it was the previous day and all I'm wearing is a sheet over my shoulders. Why hadn't I realized before that I was stripped away of my clothes? I guess I was just so concerned with the fact that I'd be living in a cell until I die. Or worse, until I'm taken up to be experimented on and then turned into a creature far worse than Emma's. I still have nightmares about her sickly transformation taking the shape of that grimy monster.

I hear the cell door closing and keys dangling again. There's footsteps approaching my cell. They're loud and the clacks echo, giving me a headache, or maybe I already had one.

I remember Emma's body turning again and I feel like I'm going to get sick. That's what they're here for. I'm going to be taken away for the same sick experiment or maybe an altered one, but either way it's going to backfire and I'll die just like her. Is that what they've really come here for?

I hear the keys dangling noisily outside my cell door and I scurry to the back of my cell. The door opens with a loud squeak, and a man's figure stands evenly just outside the cell. He's tall and buff and he has hair stubble on his chin. I can tell this because he's holding a wooden torch in his right hand. A notepad and pen in the other. It's still dark outside my cell, but there's several wooden torches lighting up the dungeon or whatever you would call this. Where am I? Some medieval castle? I didn't even know people still used wooden torches.

His face is stern and his mouth is set in a hard line. The torch allows his features to be present with an orange luminescent.

"Step forward," he says in an intimidating, deep voice.

I don't move. He steps inside the cell, and I feel myself begin to shake. He places the torch in a sconce that I hadn't even realized was there. How could I when it's this dark?

"I'll ask you again to step forward please," he denotes more gently this time.

I slowly step forward, into the light and he scans me up and down. I feel so uncomfortable and vulnerable.

"I'm going to ask you a few questions. I'm not here to hurt you," he speaks gently again.

What is this? I'm here for questioning? Why do I need to be locked up for this?

"Why am I locked up?" I quickly blurt out.

"I'm not here to answer your questions Ms. Summers. I'm here to get answers from you, General's orders," he says, a little less gently this time.

"General's orders" yeah, that does ring some sort of bell. My friend's father locked me up in a cell. Sounds familiar doesn't it? But what kind of questions would he want from me?

"If you comply and answer these questions honestly, we will bring out a big meal. If you fail to accomplish this you will not be fed until later tonight with something unappetizing. I'm not sure what they serve, I've never tried it," he implores in his deep voice.

I can't help but think this man is ripped! That's also what's scary, he could beat me up. I can't try to escape because he's blocking the door and I would never make it.

"We are fully aware that you are Madison Summers and you escaped with one of our experimentees, Emma Summers. Now when you left with this patient, did anything happen to her? If so, could you explain in full detail what exactly happened?" he prods.

All of this is so overwhelming. I thought Dylan told us he was leaving to remove the security tapes and destroy them. Is he working against us, it's the only thing that explains why they showed up at the house two days later and knew that I was the one who broke in. That or something could've happened to him. That's not even the only thing that's making my head spin. This man has the decency to lock me in a cell just to ask me what happened to my sister that was murdered?

I don't want to give them answers. Anything that would help them cannot and will not leave my mouth. I remain silent, as it is also my right.

"Very well, if you refuse to speak we will try again later. If you refuse once again, well, then we will bring General Brown into the matter," he says gruffly after a few minutes of silence.

He takes the torch from the sconce and slowly closes the cell door with a squeak and then a thud. I hear the keys dangling once again as he locks the cell. I sit back down on the cold, hard ground and begin weeping as his footsteps become distant.

I take a few deep breaths and close my eyes. My cheeks are still wet from tears, but I'm at the table in the dark space again. Emma and Ali are seated across from me.

"Maddie, we are here for you but there's a point where you're going to have to let us go. We're not asking you to forget us but you need to move on," Ali whispers delicately.

Move on? How can I move on from death?

"We want to have a place in your heart but we don't want to haunt you forever. You have to make a decision," Emma's voice is quieter and calmer than I've ever heard before.

It's obviously not her. I want to believe that my best friend and sister are here in front of me, but it's all in my head. Even though they aren't real, Ali is right. I have to let go. I can't keep this up. Ali starts walking away and Emma's expressions become disturbing. She looks angry and her hands start becoming thin, bony and long.

I open my eyes immediately. Now all I see is the darkness of this cell swallowing me whole. I couldn't watch Emma turn into the creature again.

The next thing for me to do is impatiently wait for the man with the torch to show up at my cell door again, waiting for questions to be answered. Questions I don't want to answer. Questions I'm not even ready to answer.

I used to think there was no such thing as infinite darkness, but this cold, damp, shit smelling cell taught me otherwise.