The Orb And The Onslaught {COMPLETE}

Mindless, Timeless, Hopeless

     Feeding times were the only times she saw a glimpse of anything. The flicker of the candles was almost blinding and the sound of gruff voices almost deafening after the silence. Their captors didn't say a word to the prisoners, only to each other. They spoke of people and places she didn't know, as though it was a casual chat between friends, not the feeding of their hostages.

    They did this each time they came with food, as though the prisoners were nothing and what they were doing was an ordinary situation. It should have annoyed her but she didn't care, once they pushed the crusts of food through the bars, she didn't focus on anything else. The food always appeared to be leftovers, just enough to keep them all alive. She didn't mind that, she ate in tiny bites, savouring every morsel she could. 

    There was no way of knowing how long it was between feeding times, but to her it felt like an eternity. She kept what she could for as long as she could, and she'd gotten pretty good at it. The others scoffed greedily, she could hear them chewing loudly once their captors had slammed the iron door behind them. The only noise the sound of chewing or licking of fingers, it had made her sad at first.

   But they each had their own ways of coping, if eating like animals worked for them then who was she to judge. She had tried not to learn things about the other prisoners, even those that had come after her and still had their hope. They would try to escape or rouse the other prisoners, much like she had in the beginning. But, it was all for nought and some of them had learned that the hard way.

    The beatings they received were superficial, they weren't to be harmed in any permanent way so as not to taint the sacrifice. Sometimes they were for a reason, other times it was because they could. But she tried not to think about the reality of their situation, it was pointless to do so; if they were going to be saved it would have happened by now. Years must have passed, and the way the captors had begun to speak during feeding, the end was very near.

     They would all be freed, in a less desirable way than any of them may have wanted but still free from this existence. They were ready, they had been conditioned to be so. Men, women and children all subdued by the darkness and the silence. Mindless and numb, awaiting the ritual that would end it all. 

     She had listened to their captors talking throughout her time there, she knew the details about them, about their lives, but especially what was going to happen and why. She couldn't do anything with the information apart from accept it, there was no hope of stopping it. She was ready to die. Death was the only thing that mattered more than food, more than what they wanted, she was ready to find peace.