Hidden In The Shadows

5. The Fire Within

The next few moments had to come in the top 10 worst parts of my life. And I had a lot of bad moments believe me.

I was sat in a dismal darkened room, the atmosphere around me thick with cigarette smoke which seemed to be intertwined with the smell of rotting corpses and faeces. The only light that seemed to be present in this mysterious place was coming from outside the barred door. Wait a minute.. Barred? Panicking, I looked down at my situation only to find my hands locked together in handcuffs; my feet were also shackled to the dingy brick wall behind me in cuffs. Jail? No this was a kidnapping.

I had always heard about kidnappers. On the T.V of course. My parents would never let me venture out of the house unaccompanied, therefore the danger of kidnappers was not a threat to me. But now, my forehead began to drip, and the drips turned to rain and the rain drowned my face which seemed to send spasms of shivers down my body. Maybe my parents were right. Maybe this world is more evil than I thought. An unbelivable sense of naivity filled my veins as I vowed to myself that when I get out of here- yes when- I will find out who did this and punish them. I will also stay at home hiding under my blankets for the rest of my life.

Preoccupied with my own thoughts, I did not seem to notice the other figures begin to stir around me. I caught sight of a leg move and another's head turn abruptly, but it was all too dark and misty to make out the faces of how many people I was sharing this room with.

"Oh so she's finally awake!" One commented
"Yeah so what shall we do with her?" Another replied "or shall we leave it to the experts."
"Nah she's too precious to have her insides carved out with a sharpened butter knife." The first one said with a slight laugh.

My ribs tightened, eyes widened, mind frightened at the thought of my heart being carved out and ripped out of me. I shivered at the thought of my life hanging on the edge. The two figures I guessed were males by their voices approched me and stared at me wide-eyed.

"You got a name girl?"
"Emi" I breathed out nervously
"Emi.." he breathes out quietly whilst inspecting me with a piercing stare "I see that fire in your eyes."
"Huh?" I looked at him so confused. My eyes are fine I would hope so.

"That torch of desire, of hope, of something worth living for burning bright within you" he began "it's evident that you need to be saved from this ditch or you'll be a goner like all of the others we have watched pass through here."
"Wait sorry where is here exactly?"
"Here is a prison cell, deep within the sewers of the city."
"How can you tell?"

He stood up and walked towards the wall behind me. He wiped his fingers across the wall and showed them to me. It's not like I could see anything anyway, I was blinded by the lack of light.

"This is the kind of dirt you would only find in the sewers, believe me I worked in the sewers round here for quite a while. Plus, it does really smell in here."
"Okay but why do I need saving?" I answered reluctant to believe that these men wanted to save me because of their own selflessness.

"You see Emi people come and go in here. We have seen that first hand. But the torturers over there make their victims wait in this cell until the tension is unbearable for them and they crack on their own. Less work for them I suppose." He answered, but I suspected he wasn't done. "However people with fire in their eyes take longer to crack, they are constantly craving escape to get back to fulfill their purpose and make their mark in this messed-up world, therefore spending more time in here to think of a plan. A normal person wouldn't be able to do that beause of being paralysed with fear."

This was all too much to take in, but my mind urged me to question further to find out more about the person I was dealing with to beat them later on.
"Why do people even get kidnapped and end up here?"
"Well we have managed to find out a few things while we have been here for quite a while." One of them started.
"These are professional kidnappers who get orders to kill whoever their client wants them to. And in return they get a hell load of money." The other finished.
Money. Of course this was all for money. But wait who would want me dead? And why?

I could feel the fire in my eyes burn within me now powering me to lift my chin up in hope. "Now how do we get out of here?"

I couldn't make out their reactions, but I knew it was close to a smile.
"There's only one person who has ever escaped."
One? Oh well might as well try.
"Can it be done again?" I questioned.
"Highly unlikely. We are going to have to rethink of a plan because they will have upped their security after that last one."
"Which way is the way out?"
"To the right of this door is a corridor. At the end of the corridor, turn left and there climb up the ladder and you are out into the big wide world. However..." He carried on "it is heavily guarded by at least 5 henchmen."
"Wait. How do you know?"
"I have my ways." He smirked.

The plan is: at precisely midnight every day the 'surgeons' as they are known come in here and take us to a chamber left of this cell and torture us. At that time, the guards also swap shifts. Today at midnight it is my turn for torturing." He stopped and sighed a heavy sigh. "It may be my last time here."
"Wait why don't you come with me?"
"I can't." He cleared his throat "They broke me. Extinguished the fire within me and now I have no hope in living. They must not be allowed to do that to you. You have to go."
The other carried on "okay at midnight the guard with the keys will come in here. You have to act as well as you can and drag him towards you with your words. We will take him out, take the keys, unlock your handcuffs and run down that corridor and up those stairs before the guards return to their positions."
I gasped. It was almost too unbelievable to believe.

"A little bit unrealistic don't you think?"
"I don't. It's our only plan."
"Okay but how do I get the guard inside here?"
"Best way?"
"Yeah sure"
"Show some skin" He winked
"WHAT?" I stood dumbfounded.

I have never even thought about anything like that before. I was always protected, shoved in the dark, never be allowed to be my own person. So obviously I was protected from this. However a little devil in the back on my mind reminded me that desperate times called for desperate measures. And this was most defintely desperate.
"Okay" I sighed "I'll do it."
"See what'd I tell ya" One of them says to the other "fire."