No Regrets

Chapter 20

     Orion and Anastasia were dropped off at their home by Rhea as a thank you for helping to rescue me. They went home with the clothes Ajax and Rhea gave them to change out from their bandages. Before leaving they thanked my team for rescuing them and also for having enough courage to save the other sixty demons that were trapped in the facility. 

     Ajax and Gaia stayed with me at home helping me with my wounds. Gaia grabbed some warm water and dipped my arm in it as she began picking out the small pebbles. They were deep inside my muscle layers that every time she found one, I prepared myself to scream, moan, and grunt from the pain. Morpheus after hearing me scream in pain, flew over to me and tried comforting me. I smiled to mask the pain and kissed him on his beak. The torture was painful already, but having to remove the things trapped within my flesh made the pain worse. Both of them tried to work fast and kept apologizing for when they went to remove something.

     Ajax undid the wiring that was tied to my wound in my ankle. He removed it after twisting and watched as the wound healed. "Your ankle is all good." He stood up and went to the bathroom to start my bath.

     Gaia squeezed and dug her nails into my arm, and I screamed. "Sorry!" She said as she continued picking away at my muscle. After what felt like an hour of excruciating pain, Gaia had dug out all the pebbles and we both watched as my wound healed. 

     "Thank the gods!" I stood up and went to shower. Grateful that this was officially over, grateful that I was only trapped in the facility for hours and not days and weeks like Orion and Anastasia. There next to the bath was Ajax who was setting up the towels and fresh clothes for me. "Thank you, for everything."

      He nodded, "Of course! Leaving you in the facility would have been the worst thing that we could've done as your family. Gaia especially, would have been heartbroken to have you stay there for a night, for days."

      I smiled weakly, thinking about how I made Gaia suffer with my own unwillingness to fight for escape. I helped her go into the vent and let myself be captured after, weakening my whole body to make it easier for them to pull me apart from her. I didn't fight and for that, my consequences arrived.

       "You should have seen her... Her glow was gone when she jumped into the car and screamed for me to drive. Anxious the whole time, she did not stop thinking about you or how to save you." He grabbed my gauze and threw it away in the bathroom's trash can. 

      I stepped into the bath and sat down, "I'm more upset at the facility stealing my clothes... I really loved that outfit... Oh, and my shoes! They were my favorite." I closed my eyes and fell asleep without notice; I was that tired. 

       Ajax helped bathe me, careful not to wake me.

      After showering I heated up a large pot of oil and Ajax helped me carry it down to the basement. The liquid moved from side to side as we carefully took steps down, hoping it wouldn't spill and burn us. Thankfully, it stayed in the pot, and I was able to set it down on the messy concrete floor. "I need to have someone clean this floor," I exasperated and went back upstairs to grab a kettle and metal shoes.

      When I grabbed my items and went back downstairs, I placed the boots on the person who would be tortured for the day. "Remember when you tried to sell your son to those pedophiles for drugs?" I asked closing the metal boots that had enough space for liquid to be poured in.

     The woman who was a few years older than me looked up at me, "What are you doing? You have it all wrong, I would never hurt him... I love my son!" 

     I ignored her tragic pleading that was used to persuade and manipulate others. I scooped up some hot oil and began pouring it on the woman's. feet. I saw her son, a five-year-old who was holding her hands, terrified of these three men that his mother spoke to. His blonde short hair was dirty, taking up a brown appearance. His face was pale, and his body showed an outline of bone. We could not save this boy before because my father chose others before him, until just a few weeks ago.