smoke and flames | l.s [2]

one

Drip. Drip. Drip. 

The leak in the roof was driving me insane, it was the only sound I heard for hours at a time. The bucket that was placed under the leak was overflown now, it's trail flooding into my cell. As the thin trail reached my hand, I dragged my fingertips lightly through the cool liquid and dotted small dots on the concrete floor. The ends of my fingers grew numb to the cold, sending shivers down my spine. 

My stomach rumbled heavily, the sound seemed to echo throughout the dimly lit basement. Standing up from my seated position on the cold floor, I wrapped my fingers around the metal bars of my cell and pulled at them. I know that that would never work but it was an effective way to let out my anger plus, Clancy had weaseled himself into my mind and blocked any type of urge I had to use my powers. 

Drip. Drip. Drip. 

A loud groan escaped my lips as kicked the bottom of my boot against the bars, a loud ringing sound echoing through the basement as the bars rattled wildly. That dripping sound was going to be the death of me. I ran a shaky hand through my mattered, dirty, red hair and walked back over to the tattered old mattress they called a bed. God knows how many nights I've slept on that stupid piece of shit. 

I dug my face into the pillow, inhaling its familiar musty scent. Pulling the thin peice of fabric up to my chin, trying to preserve body heat, I tried to close my eyes and fall asleep. Slowly, I muttered their names to myself. Liam. Ruby. Suzume. Charles. Even if I drove myself mad down here, I wouldn't forget their names and what they did for me. And why I did this for them. My fists clenched tightly as I fought the urge to cry. I hadn't cried since the day I had arrived down here, in the damp, smelly, cell where I was used as a bargaining chip, a toy. Even when they had used me for their own benefit for research and experimentation purposes, I didn't even shed a single tear. I promised myself I wouldn't cry. I was done with crying. 

A deafening screeching noise sounded out through the room, the lights fully flickering on. Turning my head, I watched as Caroline entered the room from the old, metal door holding my daily meal. I placed a finger over one of my eyes, rubbing circles into the closed eyelid in an attempt to adjust to the sudden white light. Her lips turned into a small smile as she walked closer to the cell, noticing the frustrated state I was in. 

 "Good morning, Ms. Estrada," she greeted, sliding the plate under the metal bars of the cell. 

Ignoring her greeting, I peeled away from the lumpy mattress and sat in front of the ceramic plate that held my meal. A plain piece of bread with a can of baked beans slathered sloppily on top. Grabbing the knife and fork that she had slid under just a few seconds later, I started to devour and savor the plain meal. 

"I have good news," Caroline said as she leaned against the brick wall across from where I was eating. She waited for a response but I never gave her one, so she continued, "Your price went up. You're now worth a big whopping one mill."

My head snapped up at hear, my eyes practically bulging out of my head. Caroline sniggered, flicking her blonde hair behind her shoulders, her blue eyes raking over my face and taking in my surprised expression. 

"You expect me to be happy about that?" I snap, dropping my cutlery onto the already empty plate. 

"No," Caroline shook her head and pushed herself up from the wall and strutted towards me until her face was a few inches away from the bars of my cell, "But this might." She paused for a moment before she spoke again, "We've got a call from one of the camps. Another orange was detected and he was messing with the minds of the psfs working there. They need a way to deal with him and they're willing to pay a lot of money to hire you. Meaning, you get to leave the cell for a little while and maybe we'll upgrade that little bed of yours."

"You're fucking insane if you think I'm going to do that," I growled, stepping up from my position on the floor, ready to pull her through the bars and strangle her. 

She backed away, a smile on her lips and laugh passing through, "Sweetie, do you not understand? Clancy can make you do whatever he pleases. You're going to do it whether you like it or not." 

"You're fucking sick. Both of you," I muttered, my hands gripping the bars tightly, "Let me talk to Clancy." 

Caroline only nodded, wearing a teasing yet satisfied smile on her face as she walked away. Her boots clicked loudly, drowning out the dripping sound and some of my thoughts. As the door was pulled shut I kicked the sole of my boot against the metal bars again, a scream ripping from my lungs.

My legs carried me around in circles, my mind racing in every single direction it could find. Even if this kid wasn't innocent if this kid had done some messed up stuff, I wouldn't want to hurt him, let alone kill him. There had to be other ways to punish him, cheaper ways. I hadn't used my powers in a long time either, I didn't even know if I was capable of killing this kid. Why couldn't they use another red, there were plenty of them from what I've heard. 

I brought my thumbnail to the flesh of my left forearm and dragged it across, letting a welcoming burning sensation take over that portion of my arm. Blood oozed from the fresh cut and dripped onto the already blood-stained floor. A breath of relief fell silently from my lips as I let the pain remind me I was still a human. Not some pawn in Clancy's mind games. Still breathing and living. It wasn't a good coping mechanism and it left a lot of nasty scars along my arms but it was a coping mechanism nonetheless. 

The door clicked open once again, causing me to snap my attention away from my arm and over to the door. Clancy stepped through, his fingers laced together in front of him. He stood for a moment in silence before finally taking a few steps towards me. 

"It's useless to put up a fight Amelia," Clancy started as he circled the cage that held me hostage. 

"You promised you wouldn't make me do anything like this!" I yelled, "I let you use me as a personal science experiment, a source of income and you go ahead and spring this shit on me."

"My oh my, how you've changed, Lia," Clancy sang, his fingers grazing the bottom of my chin through the metal bars.

"Don't you fucking call me that," I growled, reaching up to grab his hand but he retracted it before I could take any action.

"Still hung up on that boyfriend of yours? He's probably forgotten all about you, it's time to give up," Clancy teased.

"I'm not giving up on Liam," I reassured, "He wouldn't give up on me." 

There was a short silence before Clancy's eyes turned an amber colour and my mind was being forced into seeing an image. This was Clancy's favorite game, making me see something that wasn't really there. Tormenting me. Liam and Ruby were holding hands, walking through some type of field. They were smiling, laughing and talking. Something I hadn't done in a long time. They stopped in the middle of the field, Liam caressing her cheek and bringing her face close enough for their lips to touch. 

I dug my nail back into my skin, trying to break myself away from his mind tricks. The burning sensation brought me back to the reality of my small, cold and damp cell. Clancy was smiling widely, clearly satisfied with what he'd done.  

The door swung open once again, two older men piling through. I've never had this many visitors in the same room before. My eyes followed the two men as they walked over to the gate of my cell, one of them pushing a key into the lock. Clancy watched as the pair entered my cell and grabbed me by the wrist. One of them slammed me into the brick wall, causing me to unexpectantly bite my lip, bursting it open. I let out a groan of agony as the man twisted my arms around my back, wrapping a piece of thick rope tightly around my two wrists. 

The other male who had been watching the whole thing pulled me from the wall and kicked me forward, causing me to stumble into the puddle of water. The three men laughed as I tried to push myself up but failed miserably. 

"Get her all cleaned up boys, she's going to need it."