The Great Chase

Prologue

Thump. Thump.

Silence.

Breath.

My eyes searched the room frantically, desperately trying to focus in the darkness that was slowly engulfing my body. The silence was eerily deafening, the sound of a pin dropping could slice through the air sharply. My mouth, dry as the desert, was screaming for water.  I strained against the ropes, the thick material beginning to cut through my wrist from the friction as I let out the tiniest of whimpers. I mentally cursed at myself, my display of weakness bringing a feeling of disgust to my mind. The air, musty and thick, filled my nostrils with the stench of rust. Although I couldn’t see, I sensed the dust floating in the air, making it difficult to breathe. I coughed a few times, giving up and settling for the contaminated oxygen.

As my eyes finally shifted into focus, I watched as the black bricks which the walls were made of slowly made themselves known, a fairly tiny window above the opposite wall also coming into view as the moon shone through, casting an ominous glow across the paved, cold floor. The room was tiny, barely the size of an average bedroom. But I didn’t have much time to dwell on the not so spacious cell, before footsteps sounded outside of the metal door and my heartbeat quickened, blood pumping loudly in my ears. I began to sweat in anxiety, my long hair sticking to my head. My clothes, rumpled and slightly ripped clung to my body as well, my feet bare of the boots they once wore.

I desperately wanted to use my hands to cover my ears and scream in the hope of someone, anyone, hearing my cries. In this moment, I was once again five years old, thinking that superman was real and would come to my rescue. That no matter what, everything would be okay.

Oh how naïve I was.

The footsteps grew louder and louder, multiplying the closer they got. He wasn’t alone. Soon they became drums, solemn drums banging to the rhythm of their sinister thoughts. It didn’t take me long to realize I was crying. After so many years of holding an outer exterior of steel, I had broken.

“Which room?”

A throat was cleared before his voice rang through my ears, muffled by the door.

“That one.”

His voice, the only sound in the world that would make me melt on command, so soft and delicate yet deep and husky. Never in my life had I heard a more beautiful sound. Never in my life had I longed for that sound to call my name and tell me everything would be alright.

Until now.

I heard keys jingling and then the click of the lock, nausea coming over me as soon as the door swung open and I saw three tall shadows step into the room, the tallest shutting the door behind him. Their hands were shoved into the pockets of their dress pants, shiny dress shoes covering all three pairs of feet.  The same damned shoes I could hear from the hallway. Even in the dark I could tell which one he was.  Standing there, in the middle of the other two, slightly hunched over, he stood out. The silhouette of his perfectly styled hair never faltered, like he was a statue built before me. But then a light was flicked on and his features came into view, every beautiful detail of his face meeting my eyes for what I knew would be the final time.