Take Courage, My Heart

Chapter Three

The door opened with no warning. It startled me and with delay, I turned to look at the man by the door. His eyes were emotionless as he threw inside clothes, his nose only just slightly scrunching up. I was aware I stunk; I hadn't found the chance to shower in about five days now and I had decided to work out while I was in here. I had nothing to do and an awfully-drafted escape plan to go through with, some exercise would do me good.

My muscles ached as I touched the concrete wall and helped myself stand up. By now, I had gotten used to the pain of hunger, but it still made me wobbly on my feet. Having to bend down to pick up the stuff he had thrown in made me want to memorize his face so I could kill him multiple times in my mind.

The man didn't look away as I got dressed and for a fleeting second, I wondered if he had been one of the two that had brought me down here. I couldn't exactly remember their faces. Looking over them had not been a priority of mine at that time.

"Dinner is in less than an hour," he informed me as I made my way to him with half steps. My stomach protested at the sound of food, but I didn't speak up as he handed me the watch that Kevin had given me.

I made my way up the stairs, feeling close to passing out. My eyes couldn't focus on anything; all I saw were shapes that passed by. I was hungry and nauseous and my mouth felt sticky and like I had eaten sand. I couldn't remember a time when I felt worse physically, much less mentally.

Somehow, I managed to make my way up to the first floor. By the time I was standing underneath a shower, once again exposed, I was sure I was dying. Part of me hoped I was. But reality wasn't so kind, so I reveled in the warmth of the water as much as I could.

Making it back down to the main floor and the dining hall while starving was not something I ever wanted to repeat. My mind was throbbing and I could feel my heart beating in every extremity. If someone asked me to describe what I was feeling; I would have said like Hell had chewed me up and meant it in every aspect. Additionally to the lack of food, the harsh white light back in the solitary cell never went out, making it extremely hard for me to get some sleep. I had no idea how many hours I had slept in the last half week.

If I had been enrolled here on Wednesday and had been put in solitary confinement for three days that meant that it was Saturday now, right?

Whatever they had cooked for dinner smelled like vomit. But I still eagerly moved to the bar and took the tray that was handed to me. Holding that tray and making it to a table had been a completely different ordeal. I didn't have enough strength to make it to one of the six-seat tables so I plopped down at one of the larger ones.

Part of me didn't expect people to sit at the table I had picked but as I was slowly bringing food up to my mouth, rice that tasted as bland as paper, someone pushed a glass in front of me. It was filled with sparkling water and I stared at it for a moment until my gaze moved up to the person that had set it before me. It was a boy I didn't know, with short shaved hair and sad-looking blue eyes. I couldn't focus on his face enough to make out something else about it.

"Don't eat too much. And drink up. It might help with your stomach," he said and sat down before me.

"You're lucky you only got three days," another voice came and I turned my head towards Kevin who came and sat next to me. The movement I made felt slow and hard and brought tears to my eyes. "He hit you, didn't he?"

Darkness filled my eyesight for a moment, but I snapped back to it. When I could focus on my surroundings again, Kevin and the other guy had started eating and weren't looking at me anymore.

"He's married," I managed to say, at once cringing at how foreign my voice sounded. I reached out and lifted the glass with sparkling water to my lips.

"He has a kid too," another voice came through; a guy that had sat opposite of Kevin while I was out of it.