La Rosa Del Sur (The Rose of the south)

Chapter 21

Chapter 21
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The man with green eyes brought me into a wide dark room, with the only light source being a grimy skylight with the moon shining through. In the center of the room there was a large wooden table with several leather straps along the sides. The green-eyed man laid me gently down on the table and proceeded to fasten my arms and legs with the leather straps. I watched his hands work, trying to keep my breathing steady.

"Why are you doing this?" I asked as he tightened the final strap. "I'm almost certain that I'm going to be tortured, so why heal me? What's the point?"

"I just follow orders, I don't question them," The man said, straightening up and walking over to stand next to my head. I looked up into slightly sad eyes. "What the boss says goes." He began to walk away.

"Where are you going?" I said, slightly frantic. I tried to turn my head and watched his figure begin to disappear.

"He'll be with you shortly," The man's voice said faintly. I heard a door slam and silence fell.

I began to writhe within my bonds, trying to break free. They only seemed to grow tighter the more I squirmed. A sharp pain lanced through my injured leg and I felt hot tears beginning to pool in my eyes and spilling down my cheeks. I stopped moving, breathing heavily, fear beginning to boil inside my stomach. I'd never felt so helpless, pinned to a table like a frog waiting to be dissected in a tenth grade science lab. I was just waiting for a giant scalpel to slice my stomach open, and a large hand to reach in and swirl my guts like spaghetti. I closed my eyes, only solidifying the darkness around me, shuddering as a chill settled in the air.

How did I end up here? It was only supposed to be a quick, fun trip. Zoella and I'd had plans to go hiking, shopping, and sightseeing. Now I was a frog in a dissection lab. I was only nineteen, I didn't want to die. There was so much I wanted to do, so much I hadn't accomplished yet. I couldn't die now.

There was a soft creak of a door opening. My eyes flew open. I held my breath. There was a patter of soft footsteps making their way towards the table. The footsteps stopped. I twisted my head to try and see my captor, but was instantly blinded by a headlamp. I squinted my eyes and looked away, blinking rapidly. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw the figure with the headlamp move away from my face and towards my feet. I felt a cold hand suddenly grasp my injured leg. I jerked my leg away instinctively, but the hand held on tighter.

"If you move, it will only make this process more difficult," A voice hissed. It was as deep and cold as the hand on my leg. I stopped moving and the hand relaxed it's grip. A second icy hand placed itself on my leg, the fingers circling the still-open bullet wound from the day before. I tried to repress a shudder and let the frigid hands do their work.

I couldn't take the silence. "Who are you?" I asked, trying to keep still. I felt the cold fingers release my leg and I heard a shuffling. I looked down and saw the figure moving back to my leg with a small table, topped with, what looked like, small medical instruments.

"You'll know soon enough," The figure said. I watched him begin to thread a needle with a thick black strand. He turned his head and I caught a glimpse of his face. Pale, with sunken cheeks and eyes. The eyes were blue, and shone with a light that didn't look quite sane. "How sensitive are you to pain?" He asked, now looking directly at me.

I stared back at him, terror coiling it's way up through my throat. I kept my mouth shut, not daring to answer. He stared at me for a moment longer before setting his thread and needle down, and picking up a brown bottle. He dabbed the top of the bottle against a small cloth and began making his way back towards my head.

"Might as well," The man shrugged, a menacing smirk on his face. He waited one more second, then pressed the cloth to my face.

A sickly sweet smell filled my nose and mouth. I gave a muffled scream as I felt myself fading into blackness. I tried to move, but my limbs wouldn't move. I looked at the man above me, and watched as his sinister grin blurred and fizzled out.