Through The Ascension Room***Book One COMPLETE***

CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO ~PART FOUR~

CHAPTER

Twenty-two

The throbbing pain in my hand doesn't subside at all and I toss and turn in the stiff, rancid bed. Stains cover the sheets in a gross, vomit inducing tie-die pattern. As the pain of my hand fades in and out of intensity, I sit up against the wall in the bed trying to salvage some of my powers hoping that Valde was wrong and there was still some chance that I could just warp out of this cell.

I can feel my hope dwindling inside as the cell walls become familiar in my mind and I begin to grow accustomed to the place I'm in. Complacency sets in where the will to live use to be. I feel dead inside.

There is no way out of this? We've lost... we've failed... I've failed...

Who am I kidding. I was never meant to do this. I'm just not strong enough to take on the Sumus Exitium. Why did Dr. Finley choose me? I'm just one against countless others. Having Tristis and Cynthia helped but it was no use against their power. We are and always were in way over our head. We weren't ready for this. Not yet. If only we had more time... But we don't. We've failed...

I slide my back down the wall and slip into the indented grove of the bed where the shape of a body has been formed into the mattress from years of inmates lying in the same position for long periods of time. I am no different from the others that rested in this bed. Useless. Spent. Caged.

I settle into the position on my back. Raise my arms placing my one good hand behind my head to give it some lift where a pillow would have been if this was at least hotel quality and I gently lay my injured hand on my rising and falling chest. I think back to the "star ust ote " and re-imagine that after eating at the diner and saying goodbye to Aubri I headed back to my hotel room and fell into bed. I lay there for a bit and plan my date with Aubri for a little bit then drowsiness sets in and I drift off to sleep, hopeful for the next day and what it has to offer.

The images I create in my mind make me smile a bit as I lay in this death hole cell room, but just like as if on cue my hand sends a throbbing pain with such intensity to my brain, as if to remind me that none of what I'm thinking is actually true, and I'm immediately brought back to the cold, dark, lonely cell room.

I begin to drift off to sleep as I think about the countless people who have laid in this very spot only to be killed, manipulated, or enslaved. I let the thought sink in and what should horrify me and fill me with a new desire to fight and to live only feeds my complacency. I accept my fate.

I've failed...

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"Alex..." a hushed, whisper breaks through my dream state and pulls me from my slumber. My eyelids struggle to lift fighting against my bodies desire to stay asleep longer. They finally raise letting in the dim light of the night. My eyes start to focus as the hushed, whisper grows a little bit louder.

"Alex. Alex..." I realize that it wasn't a part of my dream and my body is quickly pumped with adrenaline. I rise to my feet using my hands to push up from the bed. A sharp pain is sent rising from my injured hand. I had forgotten all about it. I pull it in close to my body and fight back the desire to scream from the pain.

"Alex..." the voice continues to grow in proximity when another voice begins to call my name as well.

"Alex. Alex..."

The voices are clear to me now but I am still hesitant to respond. Tristis and Cynthia were locked up just like me. How did they escape? Unless Valde lied. Either way, I remain silent as I wait for them to reach my cell.

As they grow closer and closer it becomes unmistakable that it's their voices. My heart races as I wait in anticipation for them to make it to me.