Imaginary Pip

8

Once the captors had finished grilling Piper, they came to me, clearly dissatisfied. I groaned inwardly; this was not going to be pleasant.

One of them ripped the tape off my mouth, and I squealed in pain.

"Who is Pip?" One of the men asked, all up in my face in an attempt to look intimidating. In his defense, it did work a bit.

I was very confused. "She's my imaginary friend." I said. Why did they want to know about Pip, she literally didn't exist.

They seemed kinda satisfied with my answer, as if I was confirming something they had already guessed. Then, they continued.

"How did you bring her to life?" One of them asked.

"I didn't!" I said firmly. How would I even do that?

He slapped me across the cheek, hard. I tasted a bit of blood in my mouth, and it stung like crazy.

"Don't lie to us! How did you do it?" He said. His palm was red from the slap, and he looked furious.

"I told you, I didn't. What are you on about?" I cried, praying that they didn't hit me again.

"She really doesn't know. Her powers are much stronger than we thought." The one who slapped me said.

What powers? Were these people crazy or something? Powers don't exist; magic doesn't exist.

I snorted at their words, and I think they heard me because when they stopped talking amongst themselves, they turned to me and punched me straight in the mouth. That was aching a lot more than the slap, although I shouldn't really call it an ache. More of a sharp pain, running through my jaw like fire. I spat out a mouthful of blood and a tooth, and watched them carefully.

After having another short discussion, the men placed the tape back onto our mouths, turned off the lights and left us in the dark. I knew I had to escape before dawn came, as I had a feeling these men were going to do more than just interrogate us.

First, I looked around the room to see if there was anything the men had left here. That was pretty difficult as I couldn't see well in the dark, but I was farely certain that there was nothing. Then, I checked my bonds. I tried the ones around my wrists but they were far too solid, and there was no way I could get rid of them with my wrists in an awkward position behind the back of the chair. Just then, I had an idea. My legs were a lot stronger than my arms, so if I struggled hard enough, the bond might come loose and let me escape. I tried that now.

Unfortunately, these restraints were quite resistant. I could barely move them, let alone break free. This wouldn't work. All I could do now was pray.

I closed my eyes and sent a plea to God in my head.

"If you're really there,  please can you help me out here. I really need to get out of here."

Once that was done, there wasn't really anything else I could do. I decided to try and sleep. I would probably need it for the next day.

It wasn't easy trying to sleep in such an awkward position, but I managed since I was that tired.

^.^

I was in a white abyss. There was nothing around, no floor, no walls. I was floating in the middle of this bright place. There was a woman in front of me. She was wearing a flowing dark blue dress, and her jet black hair was silky and ran down her back like water. I felt a sense of warmth and comfort around her, and I felt an odd sense of nostalgia, as if I had known her as a small child.

She smiled at me, and then gestured to my arms. I felt them relax and fall. She did the same to the rest of my body too. I didn't think much of it; it was really refreshing. Then, she pulled her finger sharply across her lips.

>~<

I woke up suddenly. The basement was just as dark as before, but something had changed. I no longer felt the restraints on my body and I could move my mouth freely. I was free.

I ran over to Piper as fast as I could. Hopefully, she would also be freed and we would be able to escape this hellhole. She was sleeping peacefully in her chair; her bounds had vanished. I quickly shook her awake.

"Wazzup?" She said groggily.

"Get up! We're going to escape." I said.

This got her moving. We went over to the door and pushed it cautiously. Thankfully, it was unlocked. This "power" those men were talking about must have made this happen, and I was grateful for it. We crept up the staircase, making sure not to make a sound in case there was someone keeping watch.

We were mostly good at keeping silent, and the stairs weren't creaky. They must have been oiled or something. Unfortunately, the floorboards weren't, and one of them creaked under Piper just as we were about to leave.

I heard shouts from upstairs. Abandoning all attempts to be quiet, we ran out as fast as we could. I could hear their footsteps tailing us, but I didn't dare look back. This was my one and only chance to escape. One of them grabbed Piper and took out a test tube. She screamed before yanking her arm away and running towards the big gates. I could see them closing, as it it was in slow motion. We ran as fast as we could towards them and barely slipped past.