Memoirs of Retribution

Chapter 27 - Collecting a Soul

Waking up I was alone. Still seated in the chair I was previously, but no longer strapped to it. What the fuck? Did they get bored and leave? That made no sense. Did they take their obvious sexual tension to another room? Maybe, but I couldn't hear anything, not that I wanted to either.

Releasing an anxious breath I tried to calm my racing mind and heart, I was out of ideas but still needed to get out of here and not be seen. The mountain of a task lay ahead but one thing was clear, my will to survive was greater than anything I had just endured.

The physical and mental pain I was currently suffering from was bearable but still raked my entire body to my very core. Which would hinder my need to get out of here, to find out where I was, and try to get home as quickly as possible. Without any answers to my questions, I was once again filling myself with impossible, toxic hope.

Fighting tears I tentatively moved my arm, testing how much it would hurt. It was numb and heavy rather than painful but at least the bleeding had stopped. The dried crimson trails told me I have been out for longer than I thought. Was that a good thing? It certainly helped gain some much needed energy back but... No there wasn't an ending to that sentence. I just have to get moving, the longer I procrastinate the closer I am to losing my opportunity to escape if I haven't already.

Sliding my ass to the edge of the chair I finally put my feet to the cracked concrete floor, I pushed up with my left hand using the chair as a crutch while favouring my right arm and holding it close to my chest, then took my first cautious step.

Looking down I noticed what was so different between the two steps I had taken, I only had one shoe on. Not stopping to find my other shoe or take the one I had on off I continued as quietly as I could and made my way to the door. On second thoughts, I'm better off removing my footwear in the hope it would hide my escape with silent footsteps.

Listening as best I could for anything that would alert me to someone coming my way, but only silence greeted me. Peeking around the door frame I saw that it was a dead-end to my left. The only way I could go was to the right.

A single strip of light guided my way from the dwindling daylight coming through the collapsed roof of the building I was currently in. Using the wall as a crutch I made my way forward my body screaming at me to stop, but I dug deep and forced myself forward. It was desperate for me to find warmth and somewhere comfortable to rest where I could examine my wounds and hopefully tend to them or even find food and water. But when have I ever been that lucky?

By the time I found my way to the entrance through the labyrinth of hallways that made up this place I was fit for nothing, on the verge of collapse. Just keeping my eyes open was a challenge all in itself.

I reached out to take the door handle as it opened causing me to stagger backward losing my footing. Before my body collided with the hard stone floor arms encircled me pulling me towards the body they were attached to, my eyes raising and staring into a familiar honeyed colour that I thought I knew.

"Dominic?" I whispered, using the precious reserves of my energy to form words. "Well, that's the first time I've ever been mistaken for a man before." Stephanie joked, but her amusement didn't have that fullness to it.

My sluggish eyes try to focus on her, make out her features, but again her eye colour was the only part of her I could process.

She was pretty strong being able to haul my dead weight upright like she did and proceed to prop me up under my arm, while her other arm supported my body as we slowly walked out the main entrance of the asylum.

The overwhelming relief washed over me, as crisp as the fresh breeze blow over my marred and sticky skin. If I had it in me to cry, I think tears would have been streaking down my cheeks with joy, but my current state wouldn't allow it. I was desperate for food, water and to sleep for a week.