Colourless Skies

35. Freedom At A Price

Frustration, Leah's first feeling as she opened her eyes and sat up on her bed. Had he really revealed his family background and his life to her? 

Had she really asked Alex all that last night? 

Had her heart really threatened to burst out of her chest at their close proximity?

She pulled on her hair and beat her pillow, as if those ac

The sun was about to crack the dawn, but sleep wouldn't come to her anymore, not that it would matter anyway; fear and introduction to fresh bits and pieces of information had made her too jittery to go back to dream world.

Her mind had been on a constant search of memories and clues from her past since he left, just so she could assess the situation she was in right now, but this was turning out to be harder than she had thought.

School passed painfully slow, especially for someone who was being consumed by never ending curiosity, coupled with anxiousness that surrounded her like thick, suffocating fog. It drove her mad. Her agony finally came to an end when the bell rang, dismissing the tedious daily routine.

After bidding Zach a hearty goodbye Leah strolled home, in a way, ecstatic. She absentmindedly started to skip, as if nothing in the world could further dull today for her. Any day, but not today.

Maybe it was the euphoria of victory that she achieved for squeezing datum out of Alex, or maybe it was just the enchanting scenery of the sunny day that had uplifted her mood to a considerable level; Leah was just happy to be living in the moment.

Maybe, just maybe if she had paid a little more mind to her outermost surroundings, she could've noticed the two men dressed in all black advancing towards her. How was she to know, that her temporary freedom would also cost her more than she was willing to spend?

Before a scream could have risen from her chest and erupted from her mouth, a cloth was already tightly pressed on it. As the anaesthetic continued to take over numbing her senses, all her eyes begin to see was fogginess, and all her mind could think about was Alex.

She slipped from consciousness and landed on the burning hot sidewalk with a thud.

"We have a couple of minutes, get her on the extraction machine. Now!" 

A few footsteps followed in unison, and then she could feel herself being heaved from wherever she was laying, to a slab of cold metal, making her shiver. 

The only senses of her that were working, owing to the tight blindfold on her eyes, which almost felt like someone had sewn her eyes shut.  As her hand reached behind her head to take off the scarring blindfold, she realised of another bitter detail she had neglected before; her limbs had now been handcuffed to the slab she laid on, robbing her of her ability to move.

Leah was trapped.

She almost immediately recognised the voice when it spoke to her. But something was off; though she could not observe Sebastian's features, she could sense a tint of sadness and pity in his next words, as if he really regretted what he was doing.

It's all for the show they say.

"I am sorry Leah, I wish there was an easier way, but you left me with no other choice.", he said as held a carving knife in one hand, and a syringe in the other which was attached to a small pipe that lead to a moderate sized container at one corner of the slab.

The next moment was awful, the next moment made her wish she could travel back in time to have paid enough attention to sprint home rather than stroll, or Alex to have been there to save her instead of an empty, abandoned sidewalk.

Because the next moment was when torturous pain bloomed in her abdomen, and she screamed, louder than ever before. Tears rapidly poured down her cheeks, blood spurting out of the side of her abdomen also picking up speed. The pain as Sebastian slashed the knife in Leah's skin was enough to keep her crying out until it was sure to rupture her vocal cords. 

Nothing could describe what agony she felt at that point, nothing would ever be able to.

Because Sebastian had done the unthinkable, and had performed the most inhumane act she could ever imagine.

But to her short relief, her pain was soon to reside. Her blood dripped down her broken, fragile skin and lost contact with it, flowing into the syringe Sebastian held.

 Her screams quietened, and her mind shut down.

She had blacked out, and her body went limp as it ceased functioning.

It wasn't long before Sebastian noticed Leah had lost consciousness, she had been screaming so loud, and now it was so quiet he could hear his own breathing, but he had been driven so much by lust for power and ambition for her blood, he didn't even spare her a second glance.

As he continued draining her.

Not my best :|