Chocolate Cupcake|A Zane~Chan Story

The Other

I dug my finger into the earth and dragged it along. Three other marks lay behind it. Day four in the dimension. The third day in our cell.

I sighed and stepped away from the corner of the cell that we were using as a calendar. I slumped onto the bed, moving the rock-weapon under the frame. It was almost finished, but it left me with blisters and tired hands. Maybe I should have used the rock for scratching out the days, but honestly, I don't have enough courage to pick it up again right now.

"Hyria, " I called to my companion on the other bed, "Any luck? "

"No," She breathed, "I'm afraid not."

The bags under her eyes had gotten darker. She's been falling asleep while trying to communicate. And yet, she keeps on going. She needs a solid break.

"Hyria. Rest for a bit. The food's about to come anyhow. As you said, an exhausted witch would do us no good."

She paused for a second."I suppose your right, " She said grudgingly, slowly dropping her hands into her lap.

Just then the guards came into view carrying trays. Jerky, water, and more toast. So much toast.

They opened the door a crack and passed the food in.

"You got ten minutes, " And with that, they left.

I hesitantly picked up a jerky strip. My tongue barely touched it and I already felt like throwing up. That's it. I'm now officially on a toast diet.

Hyria, being so energy-drained, quickly ate everything on her tray. But she wasn't stuffing her face. How can someone eat so fast but so daintily? Is it a witch thing?

We knew the ten minutes were over when the guards came back. One set the trays down on the ground while the other started to open the cell door. We get two restroom breaks during the day. Or as they call it, 'rest breaks'. Because really, that's the only time we get at least a little bit of freedom. Even if we are cuffed when we exit. Although we've only been here a few days, it felt like an eternity.

They led us down the hallway and into the storage space. There was a room to the side of it. We went one at a time into the bathroom. When I walked in the first time I was surprised. It was actually clean. The only weird thing about it was all the little baby rubbers they put on all of the semi-sharp objects.

On our way back to our cell I started to think. This jail is so different than the ones in our land. We don't get "rest breaks" and they certainly check the rooms before new prisoners came. I guess they didn't have time to check them though because of how urgently they wanted us behind bars. Plus our cell doesn't look like it's been used very often.

I plopped back onto the mattress. They switched out the day guards for the night ones. I started to work on the rock while Hyria started on communication.

It was dark except for the lit lanterns and the only noise was from the scraping of rocks and scuttle of guards in their heavy armor.

That was until Hyria crinkled her nose and opened her eyes

"What is it? " I asked, confused that she stopped trying to communicate.

"There is a strange smell. I'm embarrassed to say that it is distracting me. "

I lowered my mask, "It smells kind of like lavender and some other kind of flower. But it also smells weirdly rotten or something. "

"You didn't tell me you were so good with scents, " She seemed surprised.

"I used to live with Garroth. Do you know how many products he uses on that hair? And he has ten different types of cologne. "

Just then there was a series of loud clangs. We stood up, I had the sharpened rock in hand. The light that we could see from the storage area flicked off. Something was moving. The hallway was pitch black. We couldn't see anything coming. I gripped the rock harder, ready to sink it into anyone who came close enough to the bars.