It was dark and cold. I looked around the celler, inspecting the cold walls. I shivered in the damp air, then fell to my knees quickly. A small broken sob escaped my throat, then another. I felt tears streak down my cheeks, then follow down my chin.
"Hello?" I turn and stand straight up, peering into the darkness. A boy, about my age maybe a little older, walked out into my line of vision. His brown hair fell to his shoulders. He had dark green eyes that stood out from his pale skin. From what I could tell, he has been down here a great deal longer that I. "I, I saw you fall and.... Are you o-okay?"
I stood still as marble, waiting for anything else. "Ye-yes, I'm... okay." I nodded and turned to lean against a tall pillar.
The boy nodded and leaned against the pillar across from me. "What's your name?"
I looked up, then back at him. "Laina," I say, brushing dark blonde strands of hair from my eyes. "Yours?" I ask him.
He smiles. "Johnathon."
"Nice to meet you Johnathon." I hold out my hand and he shakes it. His hand is warm, but not moist. I smile back at him, waiting for a return. Finally, he does.
* * *
It has been months. We are alone, one meal a day. They haven't said why we're here, just told us to shut it whenever we had a question.
One day, it changed. Johnathon and I were talking about the normal things, and then the door burst open. We stood and held hands, waiting for a few seconds.
"The girl." Two guards came in and grabbed my shoulders. I looked to Johnathon for some sense of what was going on. His face was angry and scared.
"No," he said. "No, no no NO!" Johnathon started struggling with the guards, pushing and shoving. More came in and held Johnathon against the wall. "LAINA!" he yelled. I nodded to him, telling him to stop. He shook his head and kept yelling.
They carried me up the stairs, and I didn't struggle. I was hyperaware of what was happening, but it didn't really sink in until I saw the setup: a running skype window, a whipping post, and a man with a shiny black whip in his hand.
"Let's see you picks up the computer, shall we?" He walked over and typed something in. Then, my big brothers' faces show up.
"Laina?" says Sam.
"Oh, I'm sorry for not introducing myself," says the man. "I am Kale. Do you know who I am?"
Riley - the older brother - stared at Kale. "If you even touch her-"
"What? You'll kill me?" He scoffed. "You don't even know where I am, or who I am, really. How are you going to find me?" He paused. "Guess what. My whip hasn't been used yet, and I'm itching to exercise it." He turned to me. "Want to be a voulenteer?"
"No!" Sam yelled.
Kale raised his eyebrows. "Guess what else... It wasn't really a question." The guards push me to the post and force me to my knees. They bind my hands behind the post and step away.
"Let's see how long until you break." I hear footsteps come close, then stop.
A seering pain broke out along my back. I cried out with a high-pitch; I felt the hot stickiness spread over my slash, and I knew that it had broke the skin. I fell forward and the ropes rubbed against my wrists until it burned. Another slash came, and I screamed bloddy murder. I can hear the brothers on the screen yell profanities, and then I can hear Johnathon downstairs yell for them to stop. I can feel water running down my face, falling into my mouth. It's salty, and just as I erase the pain from my mind... another whipping.
The slashing continued on and on, making the fire grow and grow until it stopped all together. The world turned black.
