The Story of Midnight

Chapter 21

"Waiting hurts. Forgetting hurts. But not knowing which decision to take can sometimes be the most painful..."

― José N. Harris, MI VIDA: A Story of Faith, Hope, and Love

*****

My senses slowly came to me.

I winced at the throbbing in my head.

Great, another injury to add to my already sore body, I thought.

I let my guard down at the worst possible moment, let my thoughts distract me. How could I've done that knowing the Commander to be unpredictable?

Well, the way he knocked me out proves it.

I opened my eyes and I tried to move but the rattle of chains made me stop. Hearing the sound again brought alertness throughout my body.

The seismic waves told me I was in the same room where the torment began.

"You finally woke up," the Commander said, "I was worried that I'd killed you so easily."

"You did slam my head into a wall," I stated matter-of-factly. And possibly gave me brain damage, I added silently as the throbbing continued to pound in the back of my skull. Hopefully, he didn't make my head bleed.

He gave a low laugh as if he read my mind.

There was a short silence.

"Your wound's healed..." He said, making it sound like he was murmuring to himself. "So that demon of yours can heal." His voice was filled with sick delight.

He walked closer to me and lightly touched the place where he cut my jacket and shirt, where my wound used to be. I couldn't help but flinch at his touch, my stomach muscles jumping at the contact. My heartbeat and breathing started to speed up, making me dizzy.

"So that's your weakness. Just a simple touch and it can paralyze you completely."

I hated that he knew that now.

"The demon did a good job keeping you alive," He said and walked over to a wooden table in the left corner of the room. "That means I get to try again."

"You sure you want to do that one more time?"

"It doesn't matter if I lose or not, what matters is that you're still breathing afterward."

"Bastard..."

He just laughed.

"So, what should I do to you?" He asked himself thoughtfully.

His outline picked up a small knife. He examined it carefully then moved on to another blade.

He turned to me and asked, "What do you suggest?"

"I suggest that you go straight to-"

"What about this one?" He interrupted and held up a medium-sized blade that had jagged edges. "This knife is coated with poison," he explained, "the plant is called black nightshade. I'm not going to tell you what it does to the body; you'll find that out soon."

He started to come towards me with the knife in hand. I clenched my teeth; readying myself for the agony to spread through me. Then I started to wonder, what happens when someone poisons you? It's not the same as being forced to die for a short time. But it could possibly cause some permanent damage...

The Commander was about six feet away from me, the small space between us growing smaller, and smaller with each step he took.

An unnatural, animalistic growl unexpectedly resonated in my throat. I blinked as my eyes shifted to Zephyr's "snake-like" eyes as shadowed colors came to view; the only light was coming from a candle located on the left corner of the claustrophobic room and a couple torches on the back wall.