Heartless?

Chapter 10

"Ugh," I groan sitting up. I look around the small place I'm in. Bars are across the outside and looking outside there are other prisoners in cells. Each room has a toilet and sink. The bunk beds are old and hard.
I stand up off of the bed and walk over to the bars. In the cell across from me a kid sits on their bed. They look up at me and I gasp. Their face is covered in bruises and cuts.
They scoot back to the wall and watch me warily. I wave and smile at them. They flinch and frown. They slowly get up off of the bottom bunk and walk over to the bars of their cell.
"Who are you?" They ask, their voice rough from not being used. They look me over as if to judge my character. I smile at them.
"I'm Ash. Who are you?" I reply quietly. They go to answer but a guard walks through the corridors and they scramble back to the bed. They hide under the covers as the guard walks up to me.
She takes her keys out of her pocket and opens the door. She grabs my arm and take me down the corridor. When I look back the child stands at the cell bars again, watching as she takes me away.
They wave and cross their fingers. I smile and mouth 'thank you'. They smile and retreat back into their cell. I look back at the guard. Her long brown hair is in a ponytail and keeps hitting me, but I stay silent so I don't anger her.
We walk up to a door and she stops. She takes out her keys and unlocks the door. She pushes me in and closes the door behind me. I pound on it but she doesn't open it back up.
I turn back around and see Polly and Tucker sitting at the front of the room. The chairs they sit in resemble thrones. Polly jumps out of her chair and walks over to me.
"It's so great to see you again!" She exclaims. She grabs my arm and pulls me over to the thrones. She sits back down and I stand in front of them. Her gray wings are spread out behind her, almost hitting Tucker's large black wings.
I spread my wings out slightly to seem less afraid. Polly smiles at me. She puts her hand on her chin and thinks.
"So what is your gift?" She asks me. I look at her confused. She laughs and walks up to me.
"You know. The thing you can do that others cant? Like I can summon things," she says. She claps her hands and a plate of food appears in front of them. She picks up a cracker and cheese.
"So what's yours?" She asks waving her cracker around. She shoves it in her mouth waiting for an answer from me. I run my hands through my hair and sigh.
"I don't know," I tell her. She smiles and laughs. She wipes a tear from her eye and sighs.
"Very funny Ash. But I know that's not true. Even just born demons know their gift," she says. I shrug. She loses her patience and claps her hands. The guard from earlier pops up beside her. She bows and looks up at Polly.
"Take this prisoner to the chamber," she tells the guard . The guard nods and walks over to me. She throws me over her shoulder and walks out of the room.
I realize that her gift is strength. That's probably what makes her a guard for them. She seems like she's one of the more important guards compared to the ones that guard the door of this new corridor. They salute her and let her past.
I pound my fists on her back as she walks down the new corridor. She opens a room at the end of the hall and walks over to chains. She chains me to the wall and walks out of the room.
She shuts the door to the room leaving me in complete darkness. My eyes slowly adjust to the light and I look around the room. A table sits in the corner and tools are on top of it. The wall next to me has a shelf with whips on it.
I stare at the shelf in shock. I tug at the chains frantically. I move my wings around but they are tied together. I pull the chains again and again but they don't give.
The chains dig into my wrists and ankles. I stop as blood runs down from my wrists. I sigh and pull my wrists to the middle of the chains. I sigh as I look them over. It's not cut too deep but it will probably need to be wrapped up.
My pants protected me from my ankles getting cut up. I hear someone walking down the hall and I close my eyes. I hear them talking to someone outside of my door.
My door the opens and a light turns on. I try not to let them know I'm awake but they seem to know anyways. Their footsteps get closer and then stop in front of me.
"I know your awake Ash," a male voice says. I open my eyes slowly in defeat. Tucker stands in front of me, a knife in his hand. I flinch back instinctively.
He laughs and moves closer to me. He leans next to my head and I can feel his breath on my neck. I shift in the chains, desperately trying to get away from him.
"Is someone scared?" He whispers in my ear. I jump in surprise and the chains tear at my wrists. I wince as he laughs loudly in my ear. He moves back and I sigh in relief.
He grabs a whip from the shelf and snaps it against the wall. It leaves a small hole where it hit. I look over at Tucker fearfully as he brings the whip up.
He slams the whip across my stomach and I scream in pain as the leather bites into my skin. He brings it up and whips me again, laughing the whole time.
I bite my tongue and keep my screams internalized as he continues to whip me. Occasionally a guard looks in and watches for a while. He stops whipping me and puts the whip back on the shelf.
He knocks on the door and the guard comes in. She walks over to me as Tucker walks out of the room. She grabs the keys out of her pocket and takes the chains off of me.
She grabs my arm and drags me down the hallway. I feel the uneven concrete rip at my wings but I have no strength to get back up. She throws me into a cell and locks me up.
The kid from earlier leans on the bed watching me as the guard walks away. When she's put of sight they walk over to me. They hold their hands above me and heal my whip wounds and the tears in my wings.
They sit back and help me sit up against the bunk bed. They smile at me sadly and look outside the cell door. They then sit down beside me.
"You should get some rest," they tell me. I look at them sadly and sigh. I put the rest of my weight against the bed.
"I should, but what about you? " I ask them. They smile softly and look outside of the cell. A guard walks by and they quickly hide behind me. I hide them the best I can with my wings and the guard doesn't even spare a glance our way.
They come out from behind me, their dark purple wings shaking slightly. Their face slowly regains its color as they sit beside me. They curl up into my right wing and I wrap it around them.
"What's your name?" I ask them curiously. They look up at me fearfully and I smile at them reassuringly. They sigh and play with the sheet on the lower bunk.
"My name is Arsenic. I'm also nonbinary, " they tell me. I ruffle their hair slightly and smile. I pull them into a hug and wrap my wings around them. They sigh and lean into my chest.
They eventually fall asleep and I start to drift off. I hug them closer to me as I fall asleep to the sound of the other prisoners moving about in their cells.