Saved in Darkness

Chapter 9

ELENORA

"Shoot me down, but I get up I'm bulletproof, nothing to lose

Fire away, fire away

Ricochet, you take your aim

Fire away, fire away You shoot me down, but I won't fall"

I jump at the loud banging at the door. "Cállate!" The guard pounds on the door again as if that will make me want to follow his order more. (Shut up!)

His footsteps begin to retreat and I look up through the small window of the door.

"Idiota." (idiot)

"Psst! Psst!"

I sit up at the sound and lean away from the wall.

"Who's there?" I whisper, wondering if I'm hearing things.

"Hey, what's your name?" I don't say anything, contemplating if I should give my real name or not. "I'm down here."

I glance down at the hole cut out at the bottom of the wall with a metal-looking grate covering it. I dig my fingers around the edges and pry it open, certain I'm going to break a nail, but it finally pops off.

I set the cover aside and crouch down, peering through the hole. When I don't see anything, I start thinking I made up the voice in my head.

Curiosity takes over as I reach inside, but scream when a hand grabs mine.

"Shhh! Holy Hell! Cover the hole! They're going to come check on you now!" The voice whisper-yells at me. Running footsteps thunder from the hallway along with sound of keys jangling. The cover fumbles in my shaking hands but I push it in place, sitting in front of it as the door opens.

"Ques pasa? Ok?" (what's going on?)

"Eh...uh spider." I use hand gestures to make a spider, attempting to make it run along the floor.

The guards' bushy eyebrows come together. "Araña?" (spider)

"Si."

He rolls his eyes and waves me off before shutting the door, locking it up again.

"I should have known you have a set of lungs on you with all the singing you've been doing." The unknown voice tells me. "But it's better than hearing you talk to yourself nonstop. I thought it would end when you finally fell asleep but you do it then, too."

"I've been told."

"I'm Sandra, what's your name?"

"Nora."

"Are you a singer? Did you get picked up at a club?" The girl's voice sounds young and I'm too afraid to ask her age, not wanting to face the reality of the situation I find myself in now.

"No, I was picked up outside the reception hall on my wedding day...after I shot my fake husband, after we had a fake marriage. The whole thing was fake. Everything was fake. He wasn't real."

"Rico?"

"You know him?" I swear his reputation has no limits.

"No, but you say his name while you're crying yourself to sleep."

I clear my throat. "Oh. Do you know where we are?"

"If I had to guess, somewhere in Brooklyn, you can hear the train at night. I was picked up at the subway station, two weeks ago, I think? It's hard to keep track of time."

"Two weeks ago?" I repeat in shock. "I think I've only been here four days but it feels like a lifetime."

"You've been here six days actually. They must have dosed you with something to knock you out," She tells me. "I'd hear you mumbling and assumed you were a tweeker, but now that I know how much you talk to yourself, you were definitely unconscious the first couple of days."