Fear

Chapter 5

After being escorted down the mountain by two soldiers, none including Mitch, one of them went a separate way. One stayed to deal with me. I lay on the rough cold ground, facing the sky as the soldier tied my ankles together with rope. He didn't tie my wrists; Mitch assured the soldier that I didn't have anything that I could use.

The sky had a gloomy feel to it as I gazed at it. It didn't seem as pretty as it did an hour ago. I wondered why.

"Alright, get up and get in the back," the soldier ordered, pointing to...well...a box on wheels? It was attached to a strange looking bike, which I assumed the soldier would ride. I scoffed.

"How? How exactly do you want me to get up?" The soldier rolled his eyes, reluctantly dragging me on the ground and then throwing me into the box. I coughed at the amount of dust inside of the box, trying to sweep it out with my hands, but it was too late. The soldier had already slammed the door shut.

I brought my knees to my chest, resting my head on my knees. My eyes seemed to not be focused on anything, just staring into space. I was getting lost in my own thoughts, my own questions and feelings and regrets. I started to think about Mitch.

Looking back, I didn't know how I could be naïve. I was too trusting, especially today. He told me not to bring my sword, so I wouldn't be able to fight back. I didn't even think of bringing a knife!

I was stupid. If I had brought it, then I might've stood a chance against the Medaeno and his soldiers. I might've even been able to get out of this small dusty box.

He also never really told me anything about himself, but I never thought much about it. All of those times when I would ask about his family, he wouldn't talk about it. Things finally started to make sense to me. Of course Mitch was the Medaeno's son. After all, he knew a lot about the king and his personality traits.

A part of me also wondered, what was the point of this? What was the point of saving me, gaining my trust, and being my friend? I was going to die in that closet anyways. Everyone would've been saved a lot of trouble if this plan never existed. Including me.

I started to clench my fists, feeling my nails dig into my palms. I was mad. I was angry. I was mad at myself, Mitch, and the Medaeno. Especially at Mitch. Beads of sweat started to form on my forehead, as I was covered in coats. I took them off rather violently, throwing them against the wood. I fought the urge to start punching the floor and have a full on childlike tantrum. Trust me, I really wanted to.

Suddenly, I remembered something. My bag!

I dug through my coat pockets, finally finding the small bag I had brought with me to the mountains. I emptied it on the wood, trying to see if I had anything useful. All I saw was a plastic bag of the food I had brought, some extra gloves, and...a knife? It was mostly covered by the food, but I could see its steel blade peeking out from underneath. After taking the bag off, I was relieved to see that it really was a knife.

I was pretty sure, absolutely sure actually that I hadn't brought one. But maybe Mitch put it in my bag for some reason. For now, I wasn't going to worry about it. It was time to cut the rope on my ankles.

The blade sawed through the ropes, slowly but surely cutting them. I sighed out of relief, a small smile forming on my face. On two sides of the box, there was a small square of wooden bars. I guessed it was there so anyone being transported in here could breathe. Luckily for me, it would also be the way I would get out of here.

I tried to get a glance at the soldier on the bike from the small square but couldn't see anything. Carefully, I started to cut at the tops of the bars, disconnecting the rope that ran through the bars to connect them to the rest of the wooden box.