Merciless

CHAPTER 12

Aria

Waking up with my heart beating out of my chest, the hope that it was all a nightmare crumbles into dust when all I can see is cement and cinder block walls.

I have to close my eyes and cover my face to keep from losing it. “This can’t be happening.” The trembling words leave my lips unbidden.

Wrapping my arms around my knees, I try to tell myself that it’s all a dream. I rock back and forth, and as I do, the sounds of the mattress creaking beneath me and the feel of my heels digging into the comforter
makes my body freeze.

I try to remember last night, and I know full well I slept on the ground only a few feet away. I know I did. My hands fly over my body. As if they could check to see if I was
touched.
I feel the sharp edges of a scratchy throat but swallow thickly, trying to suppress the terror of what he could have done to me.
I must have crept into the bed and not remember it. I know I haven’t been touched. I would know, wouldn’t I? “I would,” I say the words aloud as if I was speaking to someone else. Maybe I just needed the reassurance. I don’t remember a thing after falling asleep. I wish I could have just stayed awake.The whispered words echo in the hollow room as I glance up at the door.

And then to the camera as it moves. Carter Cross, I almost speak his name aloud. I’ve heard his name before, always spoken with anger. I know he’s one of a number of brothers and the head of a drug cartel. That’s where the information ends. My father never liked me knowing anything and the only bits I learned were slivers of the truth from Nikolai. And he only told me what I needed to know. They said it was to protect me, but I would give anything to know what I’m up against.
I’d give anything to know what Cross is capable of. Is he just going to leave me here to die? My throat pains in a way I didn’t think was possible.

“Let me out,” my raspy voice begs and the words themselves are like knives raking up my throat. I haven’t eaten or had a drink of water since I’ve been here, and I don’t even know how long that’s been.

I stand a little too quickly, and nearly fall as I try to make my way to the door. I’m dizzy, lightheaded, and I think I may throw up.
Still, I head straight for the door, pulling at the doorknob and desperately trying to open it. My fist slams against it, over and over.

There’s no use, stupid girl.
Again, I slam my fist and scream out, “Let me go!” but I’m only met with an unmovable door in an empty room, with no way out and no idea of what will happen to me.

The pain from the next slam of my fist makes me wince and cradle my hand to my chest. My back presses against the door as I fall down slowly onto my ass, resting my head against the door.
So many slow moments pass. Moments where I just try to breathe. Moments where my fingers brush along the cuts at my wrists. Moments where I stand and stretch and pretend like it’s not odd to stretch when you’re caged like an animal.

What’s the point if there’s no escape?
It takes me longer than it should to see the foam tray with a grilled cheese sandwich and the cup of water next to it.
And a bucket of water with a sponge behind it. I spent so much time staring at the door, I didn’t see it.
He came in here.
He was here.
My chest heaves and again my fingers travel to my thighs. He didn’t.

I would know. I can barely contain the fear of knowing he came in here whileI slept. It’s hard to swallow and I stay far away from the tray of food.
Time slips by again. And then more time. There is no change in my predicament, save my sanity.
Although my stomach grumbles and the delicious scents of butter and cheese are all I can smell, I leave the tray where it sits.
I don’t eat, and I don’t undress to bathe myself. Not with him watching.

The anger boils and rises to such an extreme that I almost slam the bucket across the room, straight at the camera. I’m not his pet or his test subject. He can take that foam tray and go fuck himself with it. At least that’s what I think when I first move closer to see it; the thought even gives me joy. Hours pass and then more. How much time, I don’t know. There’s nothing in this room and loneliness and boredom are only two of the emotions I’m not sure I’ll be able to handle if this is how my new life will proceed.

My mind starts playing tricks on me and I find myself etching small things into the cinder blocks with a button on my shirt. The shirt’s already ripped so it doesn’t matter. The top two buttons have been pulled off, the. first one long lost and the second now a writing tool. A small and poor one, but there’s nothing else to do but pace and let my mind wander.

And that leads me to awful places. I’m busy carving a pattern, a useless, meaningless pattern of birds and vines into a block that’s not even deep enough to be seen clearly when the door opens behind me.

My heart lurches and I swing my body around so violently that the back of my head collides with the wall, the button slips from my hand and the sound of it pinging to a stop on the ground fills the room.
The flood of light is lost quickly as Cross steps inside my cell and closes the door behind him.

His figure is like a shadow of darkness as he walks toward me.
“What do you want?” I ask instinctually, barely able to breathe, let alone swallow the pathetic words before I can speak them. I’m glad I didn’t eat because if I had I would have lost it all in this moment. Panic rages inside of me.

He’s quiet as he takes one step forward and then another. He only takes his eyes from me once, and that’s to look at the chair in the corner of the room.

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