Hell and Back

Chapter Two

"Momma! Momma! I love you!" The boy cries as he shouts at the silver bars of our cell. He can't touch it since silver burns werewolves. I walk up to the bars and search our surroundings. "I'm sorry!" The guy sniffles with snot running down his face and surrounded by a puddle of tears — or pee — and it's starting to aggravate me.

"Will you shut up!" I hiss as I turn back to him.

He narrows his eyes and pops off, "this is all your fault! If you hadn't mentioned it we wouldn't be in the situation."

"Alena, Alena, Alena, Alena," I repeat my name over and over again.

"Shut up!" I feel his weight on top of me and I let out a heavy breath.

"Both of you shut up!" Someone from another cell yells. "I'm trying to die, here!"

"Sorry," I grumble with the remaining breath I have. The boy removes himself from me and sits back in the corner sniffling. "How do we get out of here?" I ask. The boy doesn't reply and I turn to him. His shaggy brown hair is covering his face and he cries silently with his knees crouched up to him. He looks pretty young. 16 at best.

"Look," I sigh and crouch down to him. "I'm sorry I took you away from your mom. I'll get us out, I promise."

The boy is silent for a little bit more then grumbles, "okay."

"How do we get out of here?" I repeat.

He looks up and frowns, "we can't."

"Alright, is there any chance Damien will be around?"

"I thought you were going to get us out. If he finds out why we're in here he will have us killed before execution day. He may even kill us himself."

"I won't let that happen. Just answer my questions, alright?"

He sniffs, "Alpha comes and goes. He hasn't been back for 2 months, and execution day is in 3 days."

I nod, "thanks. I'll think of something, I promise. What's your name?"

"J-Jacob. You?"

"Lora," I lie. There's no way he'll believe me if I tell him my actual name. "How old are you, 15?"

He shakes his head, "19."

"And you cry like that? I've seen Titanic and The Notebook in one sitting and I haven't cried that hard."

"Really?"

I rethink what I said, "actually, no. The Notebook gets me every time," I confess.

He chuckles a little and asks, "how old are you?"

"I'm 21," I sit back next to him. He looks a lot younger than he claims to be.

"How do you plan on getting us out?"

I close my eyes, "you'll see. For now, we play the waiting game. What's your mom's name?"

"Ida. I'm all she has right now."

I nod, "I lost my parents a while ago."

"They died?"

I shrug, "to me, yes. What do you do around here?"

"I take care of the wolves. Alpha finds them when he goes out. I was chosen to take care of them."

"Have you ever talked to him?"

"Not one-on-one. I see him. Some of us do, but we're too afraid to approach him. He's just... intimidating."

I laugh, "that's funny to imagine."

"Not be rude, but you're a human... how do you know about us?"

"Long story," I grumble. "I'm surprised you didn't ask how I know Damien."

"Everyone knows Alpha. It's funny you call him that. Only his sister is allowed to." My heart warms at the thought of Lily. The one who still stuck with me through everything.

"His mom?"

"Alpha's parents are dead. They were... killed. Also forbidden to talk about."

I roll my eyes, "execution day is in what, 3 days? If we're due for death why not break some rules?"

"I thought you said we aren't going to die."

I sigh, "We're not, but might as well act like it considering our positions." Jacob scrambles to the corner silently. "What do you know about his mate?"

"Dead? Lost? I don't know. None of us do. The only thing we know is that she rejected him and it really screwed him up. I've been told he's not the same as he used to be. He's like his father now and-and no one really, you know, likes her."

I laugh at the irony, "no one, huh?"

"Yeah," he admits and hangs his head. "There's a lot of rumors about her, though. That she's dead or lost in the woods searching somewhere for him and that's why he goes off so much."

I shake my head. What have I done? Is Damien even the same anymore? Why would he abduct me again only to be a no-show?

"This is giving me a headache." I close my eyes and try to imagine myself at home in my bed warm and cozy. I'd like to be anywhere but in this cell with pee and blood all over the walls, and other dark matter that I wouldn't want to guess what it is.

"Dinner!" The sound of someone dragging a baton across the bars startles both Jacob and I. I also hear the sound of something being dropped on the ground and the dragging continues to get louder and louder.

When the person reaches our cell I can't see his face because he's dressed in heavy armor with huge headgear and a single plastic strip to protect his eyes but I can't see his eyes. He drops a tray on the ground in front of our cells. "Dinn-" he pauses and I can almost recognize his voice. His head is turned to me and I think he's staring at me, but it's hard to tell. I feel uneasy with him standing here, though, and he finally shakes his head and continues.

"Eat up!" He smacks the baton at the cell in front of ours and I reach my hand through the bars and pull the tray inside.

"Sir, we only got one," I tell the guard.

"One per cell," he announces and I scoot back to Jacob. The guard continues to go and I put the tray down in front of us.

"You can have it," I frown at the disgusting food they served. I don't even know if it's okay for human consumption, but I lose my appetite at the sight of it.

"Yeah... I'm not hungry, either," Jacob pushes the tray aside and we both stare at it in disgust.

We both look at each other with the same expressions and explode into laughter. My chest constricts and both of us are laughing so hard we start to cry. I stop laughing when my hand touches the ground on something wet. "Please be your girly tears," I pray.

"Ew," Jacob chuckles a little and I wipe whatever it was on my shirt.

"This is gross," I point, but it's a lot darker than before. The sun must be set. The stench of the prison makes my nose burn and I frown.

"It seems like it's getting late," Jacob notes and I realize that the only light we have is one that the guard turned off on his way out. This place has no windows. "Are you going to sleep?" Jacob asks.

I shake my head, "I don't think so." I feel uncomfortable here, although I did make a friend.

"Yeah, me either," his silhouette looks up in the dark and he sighs. "I've never been in trouble before. Not anywhere. I'm a good student and I'm the 'good boy' around here," he says suddenly.

I frown, "I'm sorry I put you in this position."

He shakes his head, "I mean, it's fine. You said you'll get us out," he hesitates, "right?"