The Deceased

Chapter Twenty Six - Illusions

The walls were wet.

Which confused me, because from what I can see - and it isn't much- there is no way for moisture to enter this room. Of course It has, and that means there is. I just need to find it.

Even if its the smallest gap in the wall, it means my room is right next to fresh air. 

My hands blindly touch the rough surface of brick, and I close them, in hopes of a deeper concentration,but my heart wouldn't quit pounding. I could feel it in every part of my body. Oh what I would give just to be at home, to sleep in my own bed instead of this stone floor. Even if I still slept on this floor but only had a thin blanket to keep me warm. I was still in the dress I was kidnapped in and it was beginning to get very cold.  I'm not sure what happened to my coat, since I was sure I was wearing one the other night. He must have taken it.

There are no openings between the bricks. None that I can feel anyway, and with next to no light I will most likely be dead before I find anything . Even if I find it what will I do? Dig my way out of bricks? It's just not realistic, and I'm a realist. I have no idea where I am and how far my house is from here. So if I get out the next thing on my mind will be surviving the journey home. With no water and no food, and already feeling a touch of dehydration, I will last longer in here than out there.

On the last  wall I do find some spaces where the concrete breaks off, and in the process of observing them my fingertips brush along something sharp enough to make me retract my hand. Slowly and cautiously I run my finger over it again, until I know it's exact spot and I'm able to pull it free. The shape, the texture, It's all too familiar. It's a fingernail.

Unable to help myself, I let out a quiet shriek and throw the nail far away from where I stand. What the fuck. It's obvious i'm not the only one that has been in this room. I doubt the person that left that fingernail is still alive, but it opens my mind to the possibility of not being the only one here. Knowing Vlad, I wouldn't have been the only person on his kidnap list. 

A loud bang and a following sliver of light burns my eyes before I'm quickly in darkness again, only not alone. Vlad has walked in, and the tiny bit of light allowed me to see he was dressed in a different attire. By that, I can tell I have been here for two days. 

"Let's not scream," He says, making a hushed sound against his finger. "Don't want to wake the neighbours."

I flatten my back against the wall furthest away from him. "What do you want?"

"I'm afraid it's time we begin." Vlad takes a step towards me, and reaches into his back pocket, pulling out something sharp that glinted at me even in the dark. A needle, full of a dark red liquid. 

"Oh no," I shake my head, having never liked the thought of something unnatural entering my skin. Thinking about it not only makes me queasy, but an overwhelming surge of anger swept over and flushed my cheeks. "Don't you dare come closer."

He laughs. "I'm going to need you to stay still, or it will hurt more than it should. I know you don't like pain."

He herds me into the corner I've ultimately put myself in. His cold hands pin my bare shoulders against the wall. He was going to put that sharp, dirty thing into my skin. 

"No!" I shout, the anger bringing on beads of sweat that drop from my forehead. The kidnapping was something I could live with, but being injected with something unknown by an untrained murderer... It's just going too far and it was starting to get really unacceptable. The strength of my shout actually stunned him, and I was able to catch him off-guard enough to knee him in the stomach. It obviously didn't do much damage, but it was enough to run past him, and out of my prison.

Everything became a blur, and I was focused on my running, my breathing, and not being caught. I was going faster than I ever had before, making sure not to stumble over odd bits of glass scattered across the floor. It felt like forever, and my throat was extremely dry, but I came across a corner and I kept running, catching sight of two large push or pull doors. I threw my whole weight into them, and they opened right before me. 

Except instead of light, I was greeted by darkness and a sharp sting in my neck. Vlad gave me a gentle slap on my cheek and the hall disappeared. Right in front of me, it shaped into that damn cell again. It's like I could never be free from it. 

"Don't try that again," he says with a smirk. Once again I was a prisoner. 

I felt the substance from the syringe  course coldly through the veins in my neck, down to my chest. My vision become blurry and I had the strangest feeling I could only describe as trembling from the inside.

"What did you give me?" I shout behind him. A dark silhouette appears where he once stood, it was the shape of him, had the same posture, only I knew it wasn't real. "What did you do to me?"

I'm met with a deafening silence until the silhouette turns, showing nothing but a malicious set of moldy teeth. I was sent reluctantly into a land I didn't know or recognize, and I was prepared to suffer.