Daughter of Death

XXIII

Hey, at least she didn't have any visions or weird dreams. That was a relief.

    When Hal woke up, her first impression was that it was bright. Cold, artificial white light bore into her eyelids. She sat up abruptly, her eyes opened, and she nearly passed out again at the brightness. She felt herself sitting in something soft—a bed perhaps—and heavy metal cuffs weighed on her wrists, attached to the sides of the bed, holding her down. She looked around when her vision returned, and saw that she was in a bright white room, with only the one bed she was in, and a door. Lights attached to the ceiling shined brilliantly.

    Were they trying to make her go blind before they did anything?

    Hal looked at her cuffs. They weren't handcuffs, she could tell. They were both an inch wide, and half an inch thick all around. No chain connected them to the bed; they were either connected to the bed by design, or glued on or something. Her wristband was still there, thank goodness, and because of that the cuff on her right arm was higher up on her forearm. Who knows, the info might come in handy.

    There wasn't anything else in the room to look at, so Hal tackled the big question:

    Why was she here?

    She knew where she was (well, I think I do), in the building she had originally tried to sneak into, or in its basement. It worked in her favor, somewhat, having found an easy way in. Now she just had to get out of these cuffs.

    But why was she here specifically? It may be paranoia talking, sure, but she had a feeling that there was a reason she was in that room specifically. Also because it looked a whole lot like an interrogation room. With the walls blank, any of them could be a one-way glass or wall or something of the sort.

    There didn't seem to be any cameras, speakers, or anything in the plain room—not a single dent in the wall. Her Ancile copy was also nowhere to be seen. She looked at herself, but her dagger and pocketknife were gone.

    She laid back in the bed, and focused. Escaping should be simple, since all she needed to do was go in her state, and float out of the room. She could try to look for the Ancile copy, and the Sword and Shield in the meanwhile.

    In theory, anyway.

    When she tried to go into her state, it was as if she was blocked. It felt like she'd been blocked—like she'd run headfirst into a brick wall.

    Hal snapped her body up to sitting again, confused and slightly panicked. She hadn't even been aware how much she'd started to rely on her state to get her out of difficult situations. Now that she couldn't, she was...not in the best of situations, that's for sure.

    She was stuck. For now.

    There wasn't much she could do. She laid down most of the time while she waited, because sitting up proved to be an awkward and slightly painful position. A couple of times she tried to go into the state again, all in vain.

    Hallez thought she heard commotion outside once. When she strained her ears to listen, however, it was gone. As if she'd imagined it. She very easily might have. In the silent, blank room, her biggest fear at the moment was going insane. You know how your ears ring when you're in total silence for too long? Like if you're laying in bed at night, unable to sleep, and everything's just completely quiet? Yeah, that. It was driving her crazy. She became aware of her own blood rushing through her ears, her joints creaking ever so slightly when she moved, her heart pounding, her breaths coming in and out.

    After a few hours, she was becoming hyper aware of her own body.

    And her own body was driving her insane.