The Curse

Chapter 1

Chapter 1: Ember's POV

Audrina slumped against the wall with a grunt, closing her eyes right after, and I leaned my head against the bars, lightly throwing my head against it. The empty silence of the prison cage was slowly killing the both of us and I began running my fingers through the bars to create some sort of sound to stop the silence from killing us, too.

“Stop it,” Audrina mumbled tiredly. This imprisonment was getting to her the most, and I knew immediately that it was her father that was worrying her. He probably was worried sick wondering where the hell she had gone; after all, it had almost been a year since he had last saw her. Or maybe it was a year and half; I had long stopped keeping track.

I was tired as well as I responded with, “Stop what,” even though I knew exactly what she wanted me to stop. “I’m just trying to keep us entertained,” I added, my voice filling the dusty air with me humming to a random tune my mother always found beautiful and to her liking.

Audrina sat up straight and glared at me. “Stop that,” She closed her eyes and breathed, as if trying to refrain herself from blowing up in my face. In and out, she seemed to be whispering to herself.

I ignored her and continued my tapping and humming, and just as I thought that the silence was finally broken down, Audrina’s voice rose loudly, and I jumped, because I had never heard her speak in a tone like this.

“Don’t pretend you don’t know what type of mess we’re in!” she screamed. I turned to look at her and found myself staring right back into her dark ocean blue eyes. “You and I both know that we aren’t getting out of here any time soon. What has it been? One year? Two years? Do you even know?” she asked the last question accusingly, but she was right. I didn’t know.

“Well, I’m not the only who’s pretending,” I shot back, angry now. This wasn’t completely all my fault. Most of it was, just not all of it. “You’re the one who decided to be all heroic and save me,”

“I saved your sorry ass!” She threw her hands up in exasperation, because she knew that clearly I wasn’t going to be the first to give in. I was never the one for that. “If it wasn’t for me, you would have died!”

“Maybe you should’ve left me there then!” I screamed right back at her. I quieted down slightly when I heard a pair of feet shuffle down the stairs from the above and knew that it was guard who could come to see if we were going to kill each other and make sure that he prevented us from doing so. We had him exactly where we wanted him.

I smirked and Audrina continued yelling, “Do you even care about what might’ve happened to your family since now and then? What if they’re all dead already and you’re still here thinking that you’re going to be their savior? Ember! Will you wake up? We’re going to die in here,” she made sure she emphasized on the word ‘die.’

The guard was getting even closer now, and for a guard, he was pretty slow for the stairs. I wasn’t sure how long we could keep stalling anymore.

“My family’s dead? What about your father? He’s sick and weak! Have you forgotten the condition you left him in when you decided to be my savior?” My fists clenched and unclenched to play the role because I was getting into it now.

She scoffed and turned her face away from me. “Ember, what’s gotten into you?” she asked, her head slightly shaking at me in disappointment.

“I—”

“What’s going on in here, ladies?” the guard’s voice was right behind my ears, causing me to whip around and come face to face with a tall guard. I glanced at him up and down. He was going to be an easy one. His weapons that he carried were carried disorderly, and the armor he was wearing was all shifted and looked too heavy on and for him.