The Shadow door. By: Sam Hyvarinen

The Shadow door. (Prologue)

"They don't know where I am." She whispered to herself. The lump in her throat grew in size, making it hard for her to swallow.

"There was no way they could have tracked me down." A tear trickled down her pale cheek.

The feeling of helplessness consumed her. Elith hugged her knees to her chest. She examined all of the cuts and bruises that now took the place of her once flawless legs. The harder she pulled her legs into herself, the more the shackle around her ankle dug into her skin. The blisters she once had began to open, spilling small amounts of liquid all around the rusty metal. She sobbed with her head against her knees. But she did not cry from the pain of the fresh cut skin around her ankle. She sobbed from the fear of never seeing her brother again.

She would never see the face she loved and hated at the same time. She would never hear the sound of his voice when he would scold her for walking too far ahead of him in the market; Or when she would spill her morning juice on his work shirt. The feeling of his callused hands cupping her face when she cried would cease to exist from her memory.

She heard a creek come from the hinges on the iron door. A beam of light flooded the small room from which she sat. She knew what was going to happen, she just needed to stop it before it was too late.