Paint it Another Colour

Chapter 46

Raivis turned over on the hard ground and tried to find a comfortable position in which to lie in. It was a hard task in the dark cell in which he and Toris had awoken in, and even after being there the amount of time he had, he hadn't been able to find one at all. He rested his head against a strangely smooth rock, frowning as he did so, and sighed, rolling back over to face where he was fairly certain the roof of the room was.

It was quiet in the cell. Every so often, he heard a sound from the outside world: a clash of something being dropping or falling over; a loud shout from someone especially displeased at something, or in the middle of an argument; sometimes, steps would be heard from outside, but that was only if they went down the corridor right outside, and if they were especially heavy footsteps. Apart from those sounds, few and far between, they were left in silence, broken only by coughs, sneezes, breathing and talk, if either felt like it. Most of the time, neither felt like talking and they stayed in silence.

What would they talk about anyway? There was nothing to talk about. Their throats were dry, cracked and raspy anyway. Talking hurt, they weren't given much water or any such liquid, so neither did it.

So they just sat in the dark, in the quiet, staring at where ever they thought the door could possibly be, or where ever they reckoned anything was. It was so dark, that most of the time they couldn't tell up from down.

Raivis stood up for a moment, then sat down again, put his head in his hands for a second and then got up again and started to pace around the small space they had. He wasn't sure where Toris was - he had been near by, but he wasn't anymore. Silently, Raivis prayed he wouldn't trip over him or anything like that, although, in the darkness, it was inevitable. That was why, he assumed, he wasn't surprised, or didn't shout out when he tripped over something and fell.

"Sorry" he croaked, coughing and rolling over to sit up again.

"'s fine" Toris mumbled.

Raivis watched the space where the voice had come from for a moment before drawing his legs up to his chest and slowly starting to rock back and forth. "How long do you suppose we're going to be in here for?"

There was a slight shifting noise. "I don't know, but at this rate, I'd say we'd be lucky if we get out at all."

Raivis swallowed and stared at the space again before resting his head on his knees. "R... really?"

"... I'm sorry, I didn't mean that" Toris sighed. "It's just all so pointless and dark and... when was the last time we saw anyone? I think they've forgotten that we exist you know. Eduard got the easy way out."

"Easy?" Raivis was half tempted to laugh at the ridiculous proposition. "Getting his guts ripped out was not the easy way out Toris."

"I guess" Toris sighed again. "But seriously though Raivis, look around you. What do you see?"

Raivis glanced around as much as he could.  He'd heard a rumour that the cell that Matthew had been kept in was fairly big. Very dark, but very big, and the bars glowed blue when he brushed against them. The cell that they were in was most definitely not the same as Matthew's had been. It was very small and had walls, not bars that glowed blue. He'd give anything to have something that glowed right now. Anything to give them some light. He was starting to forget what various colours looked like. He couldn't even remember what colour his jacket was.

"Darkness" Raivis replied after a short hesitation. "Although, sometimes, if I bring my hand up to my face, I can see it before it touches my nose. Not actually see it, but see a faint outline of it." He tried it, bringing his hand up to his face. It took a moment of it pressed against his nose before the outline appeared. "See? I can see it now!"

Toris made a sound that sounded like he was laughing, but it dissolved into a coughing fit so quickly that he couldn't tell. "Yeah. Darkness. That's all that there is around here. We can't see anything, do anything. You tried to walk before, and this space is so small that you ended up tripping over my legs quickly. We can't even pace or anything like that. Now take another look at our surroundings that you described as 'darkness', and tell me what chances of escape, survival or rescue you see in that pitch blackness? Coz I don't see anything at all."

Raivis glanced around again. He knew Toris was right. He knew that there was no chance they were getting out of here alive. He knew he would die, possibly staring at the same darkness, or possibly staring at the same faint outline of his hand against his nose, but he'd still die within the premises. He knew there was no hope, and that Toris had given up a while ago. He knew there was no point in trying to get Toris to see the silver lining, even if it was hard to see in the darkness, because once Toris gave up, he gave up, but he still tried.

"What about my hand?" Raivis asked, holding his hand up to his face again, the outline taking longer to show this time. "I can see that sometimes. That means that there's definitely some light in here somewhere. And if there's light, there's a door, and if there's a door, there's a way out." Raivis could feel himself getting excited. He pushed his legs away from his chest and leapt to his feet, hands clutched tightly together. He was sure that he'd managed to pull Toris round to the 'light side', to get him to see that they could escape.

His excitement was short lived.

Toris sighed. "That's just your childish brain trying to give you hope. Give up Raivis. It won't work."

Hello! Just a warning that over the next couple of weeks, updates will be all over the place as I'm in America!!!!!!!!!!!!! So excited!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I'll still try and update over them, but it probably won't be as reliable as normal.
Thank you to everyone who has voted, commented etc, and obviously to everyone who is reading this now!
MiddleEarth4eva