Alone in a Busy World

Chapter Nineteen

Nutty almost falls asleep during our short break as I stroke her hair. She keeps whimpering but not as much now, she seems a little happier after me giving her some walnuts. As I rise to continue I notice a small hatch in the corner of the room. I suppose I've not really been bothered to take in my surroundings much just to sit down and rest.

Storm seems to have noticed it too, so we make an unspoken agreement to see where it goes, hopefully it will lead us closer to where we need to go. I go first and I can sense a dark gloom about the place but once we're all down we close the hatch and keep foraging for a door or some sign to show where we are.

What I find strange is that our iWatches aren't really working here. Maybe this area has been blocked of signal. Mark just shrugs it off and takes the lead, he's a natural leader but he's quiet which is nice because he doesn't like to make his authority known. I think Mark has night vision abilities or something because I can hear him moving fairly quickly whilst the rest of us are groping around trying to find a wall or something.

We soon give up trying to find a light or something so I just give a little light with my fire. I can see a door but the lights in the corridor are suspiciously turned off. Spirit seems keen to get going and sniffs at the door impatiently. Nutty opens it and we're soon running through corridors again. Maybe one of our earlier captives decided to rat on us, I don't know what's going on.

I feel at home right now, despite the fact that I hate this place. These friends are my family and I'm going to struggle to let go of Mark, Nutty and Jewel when we leave. We seem to be on track at the minute and I think the room we need to get to is just below us but it's gonna be worse down there. I'm not even sure if we'll all get out alive.

Getting off the morbid thoughts I get my weapons ready. Through a door I notice some men from the camp that I found a week or two ago now. I lose track of days and weeks because I don't have to be anywhere like school. I don't think my message worked properly but oh well. Nothing can be done about that now. We run on and down ten flights of stairs and we're finally where we need to be.

The room contains loads of shelving so we split up to find what we need to. We have to find my father. I was hoping I'd never have to meet him again but that's life. I have to save others. I can't see anything so I move to go back to where we came through. I notice an eerie silence and my heart beat jumps to my throat.

I begin to run, the aisles are long and I didn't realise how big this room actually was until now. My head throbs with my heartbeat and it feels like it's about to burst. I skid round a corner and rush back and forth, frantically looking down each aisle.

I can't see any of them, but as I turn to run down the other end of the aisles, I see what we're looking for. My heart skips a beat and the seconds seem to stretch into an eternity as I stare at his cold eyes and stern expression. His fists clench and he looks like I remember him. He's still that vicious and unloving father that I always knew.

My scar seems to throb a little in the memory of him punching me and I can feel the anger rising again from when I lost Al. I launch up mind barriers and thrust flame balls at him in quick succession but he just stands there with a malicious grin upon his face. Each of my shots just hit numbly into a wall between us and his smile widens.

At that moment I realise I've never had enough hatred for the man. Thing is, he may be the cruellest person I know but I don't want to kill him. He's still a person, I've heard of many people who hate others enough to kill them, but I can't do that. My thoughts flicker to a quote from Lord of the Rings when Gandalf is talking to Frodo: "Many who live deserve death and many who die deserve life, can you give that to them?" I know it's weird to think of that right now but my anger cools and I suddenly feel subjective again.

My father doesn't need to control my mind or hit me or even open his mouth; he knows he can break me with guilt. He knows that I can't bring myself to do what he does without thinking.

I spot some movement and I notice armoured men rushing at me. With a flash of movement I've created a ring of fire around me, halting them in their tracks. I also realise this is how it's meant to go though. I shoot a warning look to my father and lock eyes whilst the cage above drops at lightning speed, trapping me in my own protective circle of fire.

I can now see my friends with their mouths and limbs bound. All of them in separate cages hanging from the ceiling. With that thought, my cage rises back to the roof and my emotional dam breaks a little more. Tears trickle down my face and I kick out. I feel my toe break and I can hear that deep and menacing laugh once again as my father watches on with glee.