Winter Went | #2 Winter Series

Chapter 9

|| Amelia ||

The coffee stain swims before my eyes. It blurs, trying to wriggle away with the tide. Eventually I let it since what else am I to do? The tears that come every night have seemed to set camp early.

I squeeze my eyes shut before the first tear can escape because I know that once it starts, it won't stop until every drop has left me shaking and heaving with effort.

Deep breath in, I tell myself. Don't cry. There's no use.

The salty water teeters perilously and I dig my teeth into my bottom lip, blinking furiously. They begin to fade, which welcomes a sense of relief. But that disappears as soon as I hear the sound beyond my small cell.

Footsteps coming down the hallway. Not just one. A few, I think.

I roll over, so I have a view of the guards as they walk past. I don't know why I do this; maybe there's a part of me that deliberately wants to make them uncomfortable or maybe it's just an act of curiosity.

I train my eyes on the gate and watch as they pass. Expect that they don't keep walking, their hurrying footsteps don't continue. Instead, they stop and it's all I can do to stare at their feet.

Two pairs of large shoes and one pair of small, pink ones.

For a minute I wonder why there's a guard with such tiny feet. But then the memory hits me so hard it causes me to collapse into myself. The blood rushes to my ears.

Those shoes. They're my sister's shoes. They're Maisie's shoes.

I force my eyes from the feet to the small, hunched shoulders, the dark, wild hair, the bottomless, lifeless eyes. And there she stands, staring at me from the other side of the door.

A figure moves beside her. I know instantly who it is, but I try to hide it away, telling myself that it can't be possible. He can't be here. Because if he is, there's nothing I'll be able to do to stop myself from flinging myself at him and trying to hurt him.

"Here she is," says the guard. "All yours."

I ignore the guard. He's a little buzz in the back of my mind. My eyes have risen to the other pair that haunt my dreams. The eyes that stare at me from every corner, every crook and cranny.

It's those chocolate eyes. But instead of being warm and friendly like before, they're ice-cold.