Filthy Cloaks / H.S.

Chapter Nine.

I can't move. Why can't I move?

My head was pounding. It felt as if several punches were being brutally thrown at different parts of my brain, and all I could do was allow the unbearable headache to continue its assault.

What happened?

As I pulled my eyelids apart, I found myself laying on the back of my head on the concrete floor. I could feel my tangled hair scatter slovenly across the floor from underneath the sweat on my neck.

Uncontrollably, my eyes rolled back a few times due to the state of my weak and dazed body. I squinted my eyes, squeezing them shut only to abruptly pull them apart in an attempt to adjust my vision. But even with the effort, I was only feeling more transfixed at the sight of my surroundings.

I was in a blank chilly room that occasionally flickered with the dim fluorescent lights, giving the room an overlay of green hue. There was also a horrid smoky smell that lingered in the air. I glanced to the floor I was on and realized the room was scattered with many cup-sized holes filling the concrete ground.

I could feel a slight swing in my movements. I didn't pay any mind to it until I realized I was not strong enough to sway my body back and forth... So how was I swinging?

At that moment, I glanced down and my eyes met the many ropes tied all over my body, connected from the ceiling.

What?!

I began to heavily pant, searching my body with panicked worry. I was being restrained by the ropes intertwining the spaces between my limbs, keeping me tight and obedient to its resistance. The ropes hung from the ceiling, firmly locking my arms behind my back, twisting a secure knot around my waist, and taking a couple of ties over my legs — With my right leg being held midair as my waist hovered slightly off the ground.

I struggled against them, but it only made the knots and ties tighter on my airway and cluttered body. Every time I sought to fight against them, I had to endure the rough material breaking my skin, causing me to let out a strained groan.

However, I was not the only one here, restrained by the ropes.

My eyes wandered off to a man in the room with me. The confined position he was tied up in looked extremely uncomfortable as he was wrapped around with ropes holding his ankles to his thighs, his arms straightened behind his back with knots tying his wrists together, and his entire body hung up midair... upside down.

I couldn't fathom how poor his blood circulation could be due to his head being below his feet. He was literally floating in the air, immobilized by the durable ropes, which were the only secluded object holding him from falling to the ground.

My eyes dragged from his stomach, which was exposed peeking through the opening of his shirt, down to his disheveled dirty blonde hair. The more I looked at his features, the more I realized who it was.

"Ace?" I furrowed my eyebrows, questioning my ability to perceive correctly. "Ace!"

His eyes fluttered for a split second before his livid blue eyes were revealed to mine. He glanced at me with fatigue laced in his expression before he groaned, "Oh good, you're awake."

"Wait, what happened? How did you get here?" I asked, watching as he attempted to stretch his tired limbs but barely moved an inch due to the restriction of the ropes.

Ace, drunk in his actions, started adding a little swing to his motion, clearly trying to entertain himself as he looked bored and drowsy. "I made a mistake and tried to cross Harry. Now I'm in the same predicament as you."

I noticed his swaying movements only increased, which made me fret with anxiety. "Stop with that! You might fall!"

With how he looked hovering in the air, if the ropes broke and he were to drop, his head would crack open the minute he collided with the ground.