Deck of Cards

Day 18- Scarlett

Five of spades- isolation all day

Scarlett's POV

They hadn't broken me with their words, in fact it had only made me stronger. The only thing I had done the day before was fall asleep to the boring voice of my guard, it made for quite a nice lullaby. Turning over my card, I was excited to see a new number. I knew that I would end up hating it but the prospect of something new was very appealing- I was bored doing the same activities.

"Five of spades," grumbled my guard, "isolation all day." What? I thought we had already had isolation- it was a seven.

"We already have isolation," I piped up and he gave me a look that could have killed. He looked at me like I was an imbecile. Slowly, I crawled back into the cell, trying to avoid him lashing out physically at me.

"No you get 'left alone' that's not the same. Isolation is different," he said with a smirk. I didn't understand, I thought that we had already been isolated. Apparently not. Was being left alone in our cells not isolation enough?

He was a bit rougher with me that morning,pushing me around with a bit more force. I grumbled under my breath like I always did. He didn't seem to notice or care. I couldn't help wishing that I hadn't said anything, maybe my guard would have been more sympathetic.

We went round corridors that looked the same as each other until we faced a door. It was metal just like every other one of the doors in the stupid house/ warehouse. My guard chuckled a bit, this obviously wasn't a nice one.

Opening the door, he pushed me in without another word. The room was smaller than I thought, it was only just wide enough to stand up in. You couldn't sit in it or even lie down. The pitch blackness and eerie silence didn't help either. Claustrophobia was beginning to build in the pit of my stomach- I would have to stand in the tiny space all day. I couldn't sit down, I couldn't sleep. I didn't even have enough space to turn around so I was left with my back to the door and a wall in my face. I didn't want to lean against the cold metal anyway.

Hyperventilating, I began to worry if there was enough oxygen to breathe. I could have died if I kept using it up panicking but thankfully I was able to calm myself down. I closed my eyes although I couldn't really be sure because everything was black to me.

My eyes couldn't adjust to the darkness, it was too intense. My legs were already hurting from standing up, I didn't know how I was going to cope with a whole day of standing. It seemed impossible.

I then understood why this was such a difficult activity- it was both physically and mentally draining. A real test of strength.

I tried to think happy thoughts, tried to think of other things. Beaches. Chocolate. Home. Nothing worked and I still felt as though the walls were closing in on me and could crush me. It was going to be a long day.

Trying to sit down was impossible, but somehow I made it down with my legs pressed up against a wall and my bum sitting on the uncomfortable stone. When I was settled, I noticed that something was uneven where I was sitting. I realised why when I felt underneath me and my hand grasped a key. The breath was knocked out of me as this new revelation occurred and I wondered why or how this key had ended up in my activity.

Was it part of the game? Or help from an ally in here? I hoped the latter, purely because it meant that someone was acknowledging how wrong the game was.

Knowing that cameras were watching, I slid the key in my jean pocket and acted like I was stretching. I didn't know what the key was for but I knew that I could use it for other things. I could shape it to be a dagger, a nail, something to break down the stone. Smiling smugly, I thought how I now had a slightly upper hand. I knew something they didn't have a clue about.

The alarm called and I was escorted out by a blond guard, the one that had given me the potato before.

"Where's my normal guard?" I asked curiously, wondering why my normal guard wasn't taking me back.

"The second door on the left in corridor B, second shelf, hide it in your jeans," he mumbled in my ear, leaving me very confused.

"How am I supposed to get there?" I asked, now angry that he hadn't thought it through properly.

"Oh yeah," he said guiltily, "I'll get the key in your pocket in one sec. Okay I'll get it then and give it to you when I see you."

Before I could protest I was back in my cell, back in jail. He walked off throwing the key up in the air and catching it. I didn't know how I could trust him but I would have to. I would have to stick it out. For escape. For survival. For a chance.

Whatever was on that shelf would help me escape and I would just have to believe this blonde haired guard. Even though he was working for the people who were set on killing me.