Falling Shadows (The Ellocea chronicles) [#Wattys2016]

Eighteen

 Akillah awoke feeling as if she were hearing everything like she was underwater, her eyes were crusty from dried tears and her back was aching from the odd angle she'd slept at. A strange herbal yet metallic taste lay on her sand dry tongue and she was gasping for a drink of water. Her head swam as she pushed so she could sit up leaning against the leg of her bed, she squeezed her eyes shut waiting for the world to stop spinning. After a few moments when she decided she could shift her body without throwing up, she moved to get up and felt a sharp pain in her ankle. Looking down, her heart stopped.

A thick rusty band sat encircling her ankle attached to a chain coming from the opposite wall. The bit of wall looked foreign and she realised that, under normal circumstances, it would be hidden by her clothes chest.

She stared at the chains with disbelief. Wondering how long the loop had been attached to her wall without her knowing. Thinking about how many years she'd spent unaware that something so ugly and cruel had been right in front of her face. Her thoughts turned to how she had gotten chained up and before she could worry about why, her heart stopped as she realised who had done this. She tried to think that it must have been for her safety, that he was only trying to protect her, but what was he trying to protect her from? Struggling to justify why her Papa had done this and how he could have brought himself to do it, she felt a tear slide down her cheek as she suddenly thought that maybe she didn't know Papa at all.

Her tears began to dry as she felt too tired to cry anymore, her head was starting to hurt from all the questions bouncing around inside and she still couldn't fully convince herself that it had been him, but she also couldn't fully convince herself that it wasn't, because who else could it have been? There was no one else around for miles. As her head lolled back in exhaustion, she looked up out of the window at the night sky, staring at the moon, full and round in its silvery glow until its shape became printed in the back of her eyes. She tried to muster up the strength to move her hands so she could try to remove the manacle but only one of her wrists would move. Looking at her left wrist she saw that it too had been encompassed by an ancient looking cuff attached to the chain that led to the same fitting on the wall. She almost laughed at the hopelessness of the situation even if she could get up she had nowhere to go. Her eyelids began to lower as the room span viciously again, and she was just about to wonder why she was feeling so sleepy when she lost consciousness.

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A/N Hiya hope y'all are liking it please feel free to correct any mistakes you may see and remember to vote and comment. x