Selected of Illèa-A Selection Fanfiction

9

Julie's POV

I am always watched. I keep count of time by the guard switches. Every hour they switch, giving me a rough outline of what time it is. Another way to tell time is meals. At 7:00 in the morning, they bring me a piece of fruit and a small granola bar. At 12:00, they bring either half of a peanut butter sandwich or leftovers from salads. For dinner, I'm presented with a slice of whatever meat they ate. A routine is forming.

After a couple of days, I assume, they dress me in another dress and take me to the command center. I am blindfolded and bound. As soon as I get there, they remove the blindfold, but keep the binds on my hands. The woman, Laryn, is once again sitting in the chair. I stand off to the side and keep to myself. The camera's start rolling and Laryn speaks, "Hello again. I'm disappointed you haven't found a way to contact us. It's so very heartbreaking. No reply is the same as a toe out of line. I'm afraid you know what that means. Hopefully this will be a bit of motivation." One of the rebels hands her a knife, another grabs me and puts me in front of the camera. I struggle to get away and fail. Three of the rebels hold me in place as I try to escape this brutal knife. They are too strong.

Laryn drags the blade down my arm. Pain erupts over it and I scream in agony. She smiles wickedly and does it to the other arm. I feel the blood pumping out of my arms and want to put stop it, but as my hands are bound, I can't. I trip as she pushes me and it hurts even worse. Black spots cloud my vision and I see Laryn turn to the camera. "If this isn't enough motivation, we have no problem continuing." I turn my head to the ground and see blood. Lots of blood. I black out.

♢♢♢

I wake on, what I've come to call, my bed. There are small bandages on my arm to stop the bleeding. They probably just want to keep me alive as an advantage. With every movement, my arms hurt worse and worse until I just sat perfectly still.

The girl from the first day comes in and takes me to the room again to shower. "No one will take shifts because you stink to much. I'll give you five minutes to get back here or I'm going to get you. I will take you back, whether or not you're fully clothed." She undid my binds and pushed me to the bathroom (which hurt my arms, because she did it rather roughly).

I showered quickly and thoroughly, checking my stitches and arms to see how they were healing. My stitches had healed, my arms...well let's just say they didn't.

I hurried to dress and made it out within five minutes. She rebound my hands, grabbed my arm and pulled me to the 'concrete room'. I bit my lip to stop from yelling in pain. Tears started to form and I blinked them back. Dang, this hurts!

I go down to the bed where she takes off the binds. I rub my wrists. She sure ties those things tight! I lay down and close my eyes, hoping, for the hundredth time, that this will all end soon.

♢♢♢

One thing I've noticed during the past two months, is when you're staying in one place for a long time, time really blends together. I noticed this first right after my surgery when I sat in bed for for weeks straight. I noticed this again as I sat in this room for a couple of days, which might not sound like that long, but if you try it, you will see.

The pain of my arms lessened slightly, but not much. Everyday, someone changed the bandages, but it didn't take long for blood to soak through. The wounds aren't closing very quickly.

The guards changed shifts. I turn to the new one. "What day is it?" I ask. "December 5th," he replies quickly. I quickly do a count in my head. I got kidnapped on December 1st, so this is my fifth day, and happy birthday to me, I'm nineteen. Lucky me, I had my birthday the day after I was kidnapped. December 2nd.

My thinking is interrupted by someone coming in. The rebel came and bound me, once again, and blindfolded me. He led me up the steps and to the command center, where instead of cameras, stood a television.

Lucas showed on the screen and my breath momentarily stopped. His blue eyes gazed through the screen to me. Underneath them were dark shadows from lack of sleep. his voice came out slightly hoarse. "We have agreed to pay the ransom, but we need to know where the exchange will be. We also must ask for no harm to come to Julie. We would appreciate to see her alive and well. And tell her happy late birthday for me."

The first thought I had was: he remembered my birthday. After that I realized that he was willing to pay a ransom for me. I wasn't sure he would. I mean, that's practically handing them weapons to attack the Palace or anywhere else in the country. It's pretty risky.

After that I was dragged back to the room. Surprise, surprise. I just slept. There is nothing better to do these days.

It was a long, dreamless sleep that ended with being pulled into the ground out of bed. A quick slap across my face woke me. "That prince of yours shouldn't have tracked or location," someone said.
I was kicked, punched, slapped and cut. I saw so many knifes pointed at me. They best I could do was cover my face. They beat me until I was limp and then they laughed.

I lay on the ground in a fetal position for days with only water to sustain me. I pray with all my heart for Lucas to come. Then, I black out.