ᴄᴏꜱᴀ ɴᴏꜱᴛʀᴀ

Prologue

𝓑𝓮𝓵𝓵𝓪

White hot pain sears thorough my cheek. The impact of the blunt force jerks my face to the side, ears ringing. I can barely make out where I am.
Everything aches.
Screams. People.
The back of my head throbs.
The stench of rusted metal is heavy in the air. My wrists feel broken and paralyzed.
My eyelids feel too heavy to pry open. I can't see.
It's dark. Really dark in here. I'm here. I'm in the dark.
Where am I? I'm scared.
It is my own voice screaming at me, but I can not make out the words no matter how much I strain to listen closely. The words jumble up before they reach my ear.
Move. Run.
My mind is playing tricks on me. I can hear laughter.

I do not feel great.

It's rude to laugh when others are in discomfort.
The rumbling sound pricks- not pleasant.
It makes my skin crawl. It is sinister. One moment I feel numb, the next I am pain personified. All coherent thoughts abandon me and it feels as though I am falling into a crater that has conjured up beneath me from seemingly nothing.
I am not safe.
Seconds pass, moments fleet by, a heavy sense of foreboding settles like lead in my gut before I am able to gather my bearings enough that it hits me.

Men covering their faces rushing towards me, I was beaten. A black van. My brother and sister. Iron bars. Blindfolds.
Someone, please help us... I'm stuck.
Get out of here. Fight. Or maybe flee. Protect.
My eyes shoot wide open. I can almost feel every nerve impulse being fired in my brain. I'm hyper aware of my surroundings. It is a dingy room. No paint on the brick walls, no wallpaper. Instead there are patches of black mold decorating certain parts. Scattered wooden chairs on concrete floor. On a table tucked away in a corner illuminated by a single yellow bulb, are lines of weapons. Multiple weapons I could not name or fathom the use of even if I tried to.
Two pillars in the middle of the room connect the ceiling to the ground. Iron chains wrap around both the pillers and broken glass litters the floor near both the pillars.
I am left to wonder what horrors were unfolded here, if I am the next person who gets the same fate thrusted upon them.
In my peripheral vision I watch as my brother is shoved down to the ground when he attempts to make a run for me. He is in the farthest corner of the room, away from me, held by three burley looking men covered in obnoxious tattoos. The ink is not quiet as dark as the void threatening to consume my soul. Goosebumps break out all over my body. As soon as Coel makes contact with the cold ground, his breath goes whoosing out of him. He winches.
Please don't hurt him.
Leather jackets, bass knuckles, guns and boots that were probably designed to walk over shards of glass.

One of the men has his their foot directly over my brother's cheek as he helplessly thrashes on the blood stained floor. The man digs the heel of his boot clad feet into Coel's cheek. His bottom lips is coated in blood. Blood trickling down the side of his face. I gag when the man grinds the heel of his boot into the gaping laceration on Coel's cheek bone. He cries out in pain.

So much blood. Too much blood. I can't look. I think I will go insane. I am going insane.
I am not insane. Help my brother. Please.

Another of the three men, kicks Coel in side of his rib cage. Coel turns on back to shield himself from the blow. The same man rears his leg back and brings it down with grutal force, enough to fracture a bone.
Please don't do it. Don't hurt him. Why are you doing this to us?!
Words don't come out of my mouth but Coel grunts when the foot hits him right in his stomach. He instantly doubles over into a violent fit of coughing, he chokes on his breath and saliva drips from his mouth.
More blood. His mouth- it's bloody.
I'm insane. Blood all over. Please, tell me everything is fine. Please.

The men laugh.

Help him.They will kill him, my brother. Stop them.
I'm useless. I should kill myself.
I can't.