Caged

Chapter 4

All I hear is the beating of my heart and the breath that escapes my lips. What if he's hurt, no what if he's dead? I can't just hide down here while he's risking his life to save me. There's a part of me screaming to stay, telling me that this is my chance to be free again. I'm not that scared little girl anymore, I'm hell-bent on burning this shit to the ground, with that man locked in that damned cage I was locked inside for ten years. I want him to feel all the pain that I went through all at once.

With a heavy heart and a determined mind, I stepped out of hiding, tiptoeing up the creaky, wooden stairs. I popped open the latch to the door and pushed it open. I don't know if what I was seeing was a sunrise or a sunset, but the joy that welled up inside me was something new. The colors were the most vibrant that I had ever seen and the trees danced in the wind. I stepped outside, letting the grass tickle my feet and songs of birds calm my nerves. The state of my body caused me to wince back. Scars covered my body some white as they had faded and others were red and irritated. Before I knew it, a hand cupped my mouth and my whole body went into overdrive, I thrashed and kicked, determined not to get caught again.

"Hey, calm down, it's just me."

"Why would you scare me like that!" He put a finger to his lips signaling for me to be silent, something was going on and I had no clue what it was. We stood like this for a good five minutes, just staring into the forest ahead, the sky was getting darker and I now know that what I saw was a sunset.

"We're just going to stand here?" He rolled his eyes and pointed to the bushes, where something was moving around.

"There's a lot you don't know Athena, and I'll tell you when we're not in deaths grasp." In what wasn't even a millisecond, I stood face to face with the tallest, most built man I had ever seen, he looked identical to Max except for his brown hair, length, and his muscles. It's not possible for a human to move that fast, what the hell are they.

"Man, you almost gave me a heart attack! What took you so long?" As they made conversation about some cops and a K-9 unit, my heart was still recovering from the jump scare.

"Athena, you remember Alexander, my brother."

"Of course, he's your identical twin, how could I not remember him." I tried to laugh it off as if I actually did remember this stuff, but they could obviously tell that I was lying.

"It's okay if you don't remember, we could never imagine the emotional trauma that you've been put through, it most likely made you suppress your old memories." What else could I have forgotten? Alexander made his way over to the edge of the forest, waving for me and Max to follow, but something was holding me back and I knew exactly what it was.

"Max, go to Alexander, I'll be over there soon." I spun around, my mind wasn't with me anymore, it was stuck in that storm shelter, as I once was. I felt a warmth on my shoulder and Max was looking down at me with sadness creasing his beautiful eyes.

"I just got you back, I don't want to lose you again," I smile weakly.

"You won't lose me, trust me. This is just something I have to do on my own." He nodded slowly and backed away. It was now slightly darker outside, a few stars twinkle softly in the sky and I descend the stairs. I took in the surroundings I absolutely hated for half of my life and my eyes landed on the heap on the floor. It was him, the man that put me through the pain that will stay with me for the rest of my life. I nudged him with my foot, seeing as he was still out cold, this was my chance. I tried searching for his pistol and to my surprise it wasn't strapped to his thigh, he always had it on him. I broke the chain holding up the light-bulb and tied his hands behind his back, then threw him in the cage. Due to my heightened sight in the dark, I could see perfectly but I knew he couldn't. His eyes fluttered open, what a perfect moment huh?

"What are you doing!" I popped the lock, watching the horror in his eyes, man did it feel good to put this monster where he belongs, in a cage. His head snapped back and forth as he was trying to understand the event that was unfolding before his very eyes.

"Have fun getting those chains off, oh and have fun surviving without any water or food. But here's a newspaper, knock yourself out." I tossed the newspaper at his face and smiled, I wish I could torture him as he did to me, but we have to get going. I squat down to his level reaching my bony fingers into the cage and grasping the collar of his shirt. I pulled him toward me so his face slams against the metal rods. I bring my face closer to his, whispering.

"Either you'll die of starvation, dehydration or those wounds you'll get around your wrists from trying to get them off, maybe toxic shock." Pushing him back so he hit the concrete wall I stand up, determined to leave him for dead I spin around to walk away. I hear his panicked screams as I close the door and latch it behind me. Max and Alexander waved at me while telling me to hurry.

"I'm coming, I'm coming." I could finally feel the freedom, I burst into a sprint, flying past the two men with confused looks on their faces. It felt as if I suddenly had all the energy of earth light a spark in my soul, and I could feel the breeze in my hair. Max came up beside me challenging me to a race with his famous smirk, we were just about to speed up, but I heard Alexanders faint voice behind me.

"You don't want to waste any energy, we have a long hike ahead of us, and you never know what could happen." I began walking instead of running, he's right, I'm wasting the little energy spurt that I have left. I just now realized the two of them were having a harder time to get around which is normal. They can't see what I can see when it's dark. We walked in a comfortable silence for half an hour, I enjoyed the sounds the forest made when I wasn't running for my life. Alexander broke the silence, with good news this time.

"We're setting up camp just ahead, by the water stream." finally, I'm five minutes away from dying of dehydration. When the stream came into view, I couldn't help but jog over to the water cupping my hands and putting them to my lips, before a certain someone stopped me.

"Why are you dragging me away from the water Alexander?"

"Call me Alex, like you use to and you could get sick if you drink that water. We can't risk that with the condition you're in, it has to be boiled first." He sat me down next to him and unpacked his backpack, grabbing a fire striker. Max was occupied finding some dry wood that we could use, and in the meantime, I'm just sitting here.

Just as I had gotten my boiled water, it got knocked out of my hands. I didn't see Max or Alex within arm's length. I knew something was wrong. I reached for more water and yet again it was knocked out of my grasp. I quickly drank a cup before it could be knocked out of my hands and I immediately felt the urge to throw up.

"You need to pace yourself, or you'll get sick." I could hear faint voices in the distance, I turned to Alexander to ask if he knew who they were. Moving what couldn't have been an inch I felt an excruciating pain in my left shoulder. Angry demonic voices surrounded us, whispering yet they sounded so loud and clear. I saw Max shuffle over to me and touch my leg reassuringly. When I looked over at my shoulder all I saw was red liquid oozing from the wound created by an arrow. Panic blazed within me, as the voices got louder, I wasn't ready to die, not now and not today.