The Fall of a Jewel

Chapter Eighteen

"And what was that?" I mumbled, casting my eyes to the floor. My stomach did twists just being around Athena. I had a feeling that this wasn't gonna end well.

"Beating someone down to the dirt," she barked, raising her knife. The tip of the blade cut through my cheek, warm blood warming the outside of my face. I jerked to the side, the pain a little surprising.

"I doubt you'll be able to do worse than I always do," I muttered, glaring up at the woman before me, "But go ahead and try,"

"Oh, I'm sure I'll do just fine," she whispered, standing up and smiling down at me. My stomach did more twists.

"Whatever you're gonna say or do, I've heard a million times over," I mumbled, losing the confidence in myself. One of the only things I took pride in was that not very many things can phase me anymore, unless I've been having a bad day. The feeling in my stomach told me I was going to be proven wrong.

"Have you ever heard that you're worthless and that society and everyone around you would be better off without you," Athena asked, bending down to get closer to my face. I stayed silent as she spoke, refusing to meet her eyes.

"Ever heard of the fact that anyone who's nice to you is merely tolerating you?" she asked, her volume rising, "Or that all the things you think about yourself are true?"

I nodded, tears pricking at the edges of my vision. Adults had always held some kind of power over me that my peers never could, and I could feel my whole world shatter.

"You really should listen to those voices," Athena whispered, standing up and slowly circling the chair I was tied to, "Whenever they whisper that you'll be alone forever, or that your whole world is a black void compared to normal people's,"

She leaned in close, her breath warming up my ear and making me squirm for the first time since I had gotten there. "Did you know that the voices are right when they say to kill yourself?" That was my breaking point.

My mind had been cracking for years, all of the bullies, and teachers, and everyone who ever told me I didn't matter holding a hammer. The only thing that helped were Annabelle's words of comfort, but they were like craft glue trying to hold a giant castle together. When she left me, more cracks formed than ever, nothing to fix them. Athena saying all of these things made it finally shatter.

I bent forwards, my vision going blurry with tears as I sat there, ropes wrapped around my wrists, even though I wasn't even struggling. "I know," I whispered, tears dripping off the end of my nose as I scrunched my face tight, trying to block out anything in my vision.

"Good," was all Athena said. Then, she walked around to the back of me, and stopped, the whole room silent, except for my quiet sobs. I didn't pay her any attention, until I felt a sharp pain in my inner forearm.

I gasped, my eyes flashing open as I sat up. Twisting around, I saw that Athena was holding my arm and cutting something into it, right next to my cuts. The pain hurt, making me squirm and bite the inside of my cheek. I feared that, if I screamed, Athena would just get angier.

Finally, after what felt like hours, the pain stopped and began to numb into a dull burn. I sat bent forwards, my breath ragged and my whole body shaking. I opened my mouth to speak and saw some blood dribbling out, making me aware of the new pain in my mouth. I had bitten right through the skin.

"What did you write?" I croaked out, looking up at the woman as she made her way in front of me. My vision began to blur from the loss of blood and I started to feel a headache coming.

"Just a little something to remember me by," she said sweetly, making me sick to my stomach.

I was too woozy to make any statement about it, but I was able to aim a small glare at her, then my head flopped to my chest, my whole head feeling like it was stuffed with cotton.

A loud banging made me look up slightly, my whole body feeling like lead. Athena looked up, too, her eyes wide as she looked towards the door.

She didn't move for a minute, but began to move me when the banging got louder. Picking me up, still tied to the chair, she hurriedly walked me up the stairs to the last level and shoved me into the room at the very end. This room was a lot darker than the other rooms, the darkness keeping me from seeing anything other than the crack at the bottom of the door.

Once I was inside, the chair flipped to the side, so that I was lying down, Athena locked it, just in time for a loud crash to come from the bottom level.

"Just know that I will always find you, no matter what you do or where you go," she said quietly. Something like that would've chilled me to the bone, if I hadn't been so close to passing out.

The sound of large footsteps could be heard coming up the stairs as loud crashes of the lower doors being thrown open came from below. After a few seconds, the doors on this level could be heard, some of them needing to be knocked down. When however was outside got to the room we were in, I saw the bottoms of large boots making shadows in the crack under the door.

The banging went on again, but longer, since it was a sturdier door. I could barely hear AThena moving throughout the room, the footsteps nearly silent in the noise, but she was definitely moving.

Some time later, the door burst open, bathing me in a blinding light. My eyes scrunched together slightly before opening again in my weak state. Before me stood three heavily armed police officers, all sporting bullet proof vests and guns.

None of us got to say a word before Athena jumped out from her spot. She ran out, waving her knife and screaming. I guess she expected the cops to flinch or be surprised, but the one in the lead merely grabbed her by the wrists and pinned her in place. She struggled as one of the other officers handcuffed her, yanking the knife out of her tight grasp in the process.

"Guys!" the last one yelled, leaning out the door, "They're in here and the girl needs medical help,"

The lead officer pushed Athena to the ground, effectively immobilizing her as the second one came to me. He used Athena's knife to cuts my bonds, letting the chair fall backwards as I limply rolled forwards into his arms. The last thing I saw before I passed out were the shiny, red letters carved into my forearm that said "ALONE".

A/N: I hope you guys enjoyed that piece! Happy reading! Bye!