Past Tense [h.s.]

The Beginning

'If you prick us, do we not bleed?'

I heard the sound of the footsteps down the hall. The hall that I had never walked down. I managed to recognise one voice but not the other. My knees were brought to my chest and I hugged onto them tightly. Darkness surrounded me and sweat dripped down my face. I rocked back and forth, waiting for something to happen. The voices grew louder and my heart started beating faster. But they weren't walking towards my room. They were arguing with each other. Some relief washed over me. A pungent aroma attacked my nose and I knew it was the smell of urine. My clothes dampened but I didn't have any to change into. 

'If you tickle us, do we not laugh?'

My chin rested in between my knees as I tried to listen to the two men in the hall. I couldn't make out a single word. The only sound I was used to was the sound of my heavy breathing and his footsteps. The one that kept in here. The one that showed care one day and hatred another. The one that sometimes left food for me while I was sleeping. He filled me with hope last night but shattered it all this morning. I was his doll. But he never showed his face. I wanted to know what he looked like but he wasn't ready to show me. He was all I had ever believed in. He fully owned me and I was okay with it. 

'If you poison us, do we not die?'

I had spent 18 years of my life there and I still didn't know who the two men were that I was listening to, arguing outside my room. I still didn't know where I was being kept and if I ever did, I wouldn't be allowed anywhere near it. Every time I close my eyes, I'm brought back to that room. My room. I wanted to go back but this time, with the lights on. I wanted to go back and stay there with him. He was the only thing in my life that had ever mattered and now he was gone. And I still didn't know what he looked like. Where was he? How could he leave me like this? He had always been there and now, he had left. I was angry.

'If you wrong us, shall we not revenge?'