Water's Edge

Chapter 9

I wake up shivering, my mind exhausted. Having a bad night of sleep will do that to you. I scramble to my feet when I hear a clank of metal. I look over to the cell bars and feel nausea creep into my stomach.
"Ready, Darya?" David smiles and looks like he is waiting for a response. I shake my head and look at the floor. I hear a sound of laughter. I hope he is underestimating me. If he underestimates me I might get a chance at escape and I want to get out of this hell-hole.
     "I brought an instructor to oversee your training," David says. What training? "He has watched you before so he knows your abilities."
     "That's not creepy at all," I reply sarcastically. David rolls his eyes, clearly annoyed. He snaps at the two guards behind him. They open the cell and slowly walk over to me. I try to back away from them but I hit a wall. I go to reach for my necklace but I only find empty space.
"Oh yeah, your necklace. I took it. We don't want anything to remind you of your brother now do we?" I snarl at him as his guards grab my arms. He gives me a knowing smile. I shrink away from the guards trying to act scared.
      It works because I hear the guard on my right say with a low rumble, "Aw, is the little blondie scared? Do you need a bottle?" I bite my tongue. I have to keep up the illusion that I am scared. Before I would have been, but now I'm not. I have no one to live for. My brother is dead and my friends are gone.
As the guards drag me down the hallway, I look at my surroundings. The walls are made of stone, with torches lighting the way. This must not be the Barrens top priority if there isn't electricity.
      We pass by different wooden doors and passageways until we get to an iron door. When David opens it, the first thing I notice is sunlight. When they pull me out into the sun, my eyes hurt. I haven't seen sunlight in at least five days. When my eyes adjust I notice that I am in a sort of courtyard. Walls surround me except for straight ahead. At the end of the two walls that extend outward is a watch tower.
      The ground is surprisingly covered in dirt, not sand, like I would have thought. In the center of the courtyard is a metal basin filled with water. Behind it is a figure facing toward the opening in the walls.
David, who has been silent for the entire walk, raises his voice to be heard, "Instructor, would you please come meet your student."
"Certainly," my instructor replies. The voice is male and familiar. The guards release me and I turn to David.
"Why do you want to train me? Why don't you just kill me?" I scream at him. I am tired of this crap.
"If you corporate, you will find out. If you don't follow your instructor's order well...." he nods at the watch towers, "they have guns and a good aim. I wouldn't recommend running away." As I listen to David, I don't realize that my instructor is standing behind me. When he puts his hand in my shoulder I jump and quickly turn around. What I see makes my heart stop.
      "Apollyon?" I manage to gasp out. It's him, in the flesh.
"Yeah it's me, Twig." This cannot be happening.
      "I thought we were good." I have to get out of this. Whatever he has planned will be painful for me. "Why are you here?"
      "They offered me something I couldn't resist. Power. To put it simply, I was tired of being pushed around by you. When they offered me a chance to get power and revenge I jumped in."
       "It was boxing class. You really want to torture me for that?" I'm dealing with a psychopath.
      "It might have been just 'boxing class' to you, but to me it was embarrassing. Getting beat up by a girl half my size isn't exactly impressive." Before Apollyon can say more, David cuts him off with a hand.
      "Apollyon, why don't you get started with Darya." The way my name rolls off his tongue makes my body go cold. Apollyon grabs my arm and pulls me toward the basin. He runs his hand through the water before turning to me.
      "Move the water," he commands me. He gives me a hard look and I hesitate. I am about to use my powers when I think about the consequences. If I continue to show them what I can do, I will not have an advantage and they will find out about the Rowes, whoever they are. I bite my tongue as Apollyon gives me a look that could slice through concrete.
"Do it or I will get a guard," he threatens. To bad, I have already decided not talking or using my powers. "Fine," he says when I shake my head, "just so you know, I will enjoy this a lot more then you will." I watch as he calls out for a guard and grabs a baton from the one that answered his call. I turn to run but my path is blocked. I am grabbed and thrown on the ground and held down. I watch in slow motion as Apollyon slowly approaches, tossing the baton back and forth between his hands.
"I told you," he says, his voice rough. I should have thought about my first plan of being weak before I refused to comply. I am helpless to defend myself as Apollyon raises the baton and strikes me over and over all over my body. I groan in pain. I don't scream. I don't know how, but I don't.
Again and again I am hit. Nowhere on my body is safe. I am hit in the legs, the back the arms, the stomach, the chest, and even the head. I stop fighting and I accept I am going to die. I close my eyes and let myself sink further from life, until I hear a gunshot.