Just The Way You Like It - Under Construction

Chapter Sixty

Chapter Sixty

Alice awoke to the familiar feel of cold, hard wood against her back. Slowly, she lifted her fingers to the boards above her head, gently tracing the gouged out wood. It was years ago that she had used her finger nails to etch her name into the boards, and to no surprise, the letters were still there. Alice stayed eerily calm as she finished tracing the E, letting her hand fall back to her chest. Naked and cold, she tried desperately to hold onto what she knew would be the only thing to keep her sane. The first time Alice had been placed into this box, she had held onto her own name. Never would she let them take it from her, even to the death she vowed to keep her name. Now however, it was Blake's name that kept the tears from running down her face. His name would be Alice's light in this dark, horrid place of hell. Subconsciously, she ran her finger nails across her ribs, testing their length. Again, her hand drifted back up to the wood above her head, and slowly Alice began to feel for a good place to begin. She knew it would take weeks to accomplish, but for now she had nothing else better to do than begin.

By the time she had finished the B, the tips of her fingers were raw and bleeding. Slivers of wood were in Alice's hair and on her face and neck. She didn't care though, and she quickly started out the letter L. Time had no meaning in this place, giving Alice the feeling that she had already been in there for days. Maybe she had been, she really wasn't sure, but again, it really didn't matter. Alice had to stop after only being half-way done with the L. Her nails were now only stubs and she would have to wait until they grew back to finish what she had started.

The box was just tall enough for Alice to sit part way up and only wide enough for her to turn around. Doing so, she again felt around and found what she was looking for. Another set of scratch marks, that in the beginning of her time here she had desperately tried to keep track of the days. There were only eleven marks, and Alice remembered the day when she had lost track. That was the day she had started spelling out her own name. Worried she had already lost her sense of time, she had become frightened that eventually she would lose her entire self to this place.

Alice's leg was already feeling better, but she could tell it was still mending. She could only guess that she had been here already a few days at least. The insane feeling of hunger only helped confirm her suspicions. Alice let her hand drift over to her other arm, feeling the rough area that had not long ago been covered in road rash. It was almost gone, still tender, but bearable.

Thoughts of Blake began drifting back as Alice crawled back to his two letters. She would stay strong for him. Maybe now that she was stuck down here forever, The Chairman had let Blake go. Free to live his own life. Free to get back to Holly. Free to be away from the horrors that would come all too easily if he were here. It was only a hope, but hope was all Alice had. That and the two letters that hung above her head.

With nothing more to be done, except wait, so she closed her eyes. Really there had been no point in opening them in the first place, but she had done it out of habit. Just as Alice thought sleep would finally find her, she felt the hatch door to her box being opened. A whoosh of stale air and the creaking of wood against wood was the only sign Alice had that it was apparently time to get back to work. She let out a silent sigh as she was roughly pulled out and dropped onto the cold, hard floor.

The man collecting Alice apparently knew she couldn't walk, because he gave her no sign of anger as she stayed on her hands and knees. He harshly kicked her thigh, giving her the silent direction he wanted her to travel. Alice spun around and tried to hurry as quickly as possible, groping her way through the darkness. The man's footsteps remained behind her, and he only kicked her twice more as he had her turn in one direction and then another. The third kick was harder, sending a jolt of pain down to the fracture in her leg. Alice stopped abruptly as her fingers made contact with a crack that could only be the bottom of a door. She felt the door swing open, and other kick to her rear.