+ marks the grave {Completed}

Chapter 51

•~••~•~•~•*change in POV*•~•~•~••~•
"Favorite colour?"
"Maroon,"
"Lilac,"
"Hey don't you think Roberto's been gone awhile?"
I raised my eyebrows.
"Missing him are we?"
She waved me off but behind her hand I could see her pink cheeks.
Fun and games aside, he has been gone for a while.
"Yeah, he's been awhile. I haven't seen him since he brought us pizza..."
Silence hung in the air as thoughts consumed us both.
There was a high chance that I was to blame for his disappearance.
Maybe he was punished for heeding my request.
Maybe he was punished for giving us pizza.
Maybe he was feeling guilty because I fainted.
Maybe he felt sad that I didn't acknowledge his feelings.
But in any case, I was wrong.
I took advantage of his kindness.
I had to make a mends.
Maybe, just maybe, I could be kind to him and get the information I need to escape.
I needed to do what needed to be done, even if that meant manipulating his feelings a bit.
Perhaps it was to get revenge for how Luke made me feel.
But somehow I felt as if I was ready to leave here. I would make Roberto my captive, and he would be shackled with his unreciprocated love.
I wasn't sure how Maggie would play into all of this. Hopefully I could escape with her in tow. But things don't always go as planned. So for now, I'd focus on gathering information.
"Maggie how long have you been here for?"
She pondered.
"It should be about two weeks now..."
I knew how sensitive this topic was for her but I needed to know how long we had until a visit.
"Do they.....do they visit you often?"
She visibly stuttered.
"Only when the wretch brings them, usually every two days or so..."
She seemed to had have a visit yesterday so we should have about 48 hours before we're visited again.
"Do yo-"
Promptly, keys rattled and the door flew open.
"Sorry I'm late! I had to make a grocery trip for chef, but I made sure to get y'all some snacks!"
He dropped the snacks down on the bed shortly before dropping himself down right next to them.
I couldn't help but think of the chef at Ben's diner who was introduced as 'chef' as well.
Coincidences.
"Lets dig in shall we?"
Maggie grabbed a packet of some kind of oven baked cheese snack while Roberto took a tube of BBQ flavored Pringles.
I settled for a dark chocolate, four bar KitKat. Heaven in an aluminium package.
Maggie spoke up.
"Roberto, can you tell us about your childhood?"
Brilliant really. He was bound to accidentally share some valuable information.
"Oh you know, nothing really interesting happened... it'll be bor-"
"Pleaseeeee,"
No way I was letting him back out of this.
He sighed.
"Fine."
We clapped.
"I was born on Purdy, or what everyone calls, the south pole...
The structure of Purdy differs from that of the mainland.
The Vipers boss lives in the centre of the island surrounded by trees.
The other inhabitants live along the outer ring of the island and are forced to work at the port.
Purdy's port opens a channel straight to the mainland.
No vessels are allowed to dock anywhere else.
If your family wasnt working at the port, it would be provided materials to enter into trade and manufacturing.
Except, all the profit goes straight to the V. Family's pocket.
My familys house was the one of the unfortunate few that had to be broken down for the construction of the port.
Prior to the port, my family thrived.
My father was a fisherman and my mother was a nurse at heart.
But after ghr construction, food grew scarce and my mother quickly died of starvation.
My father died working to construct the port and as a boy I was recruited into the Vipers and sent to the mainland to scout for members and monitor the trade here.
Mr V. took me in after my parents deaths, but he also caused their deaths.
There is nothing I can do about that fact.
I must simply work my way up the ladder of leadership and poison this bad tree from the roots come up.
That's about it."
Well that was anything but boring.
Maggie gasped.
"You didn't go to school?"
Roberto shook his head.
"There were no schools. Purdy is the lesser developed islands of the three P's."
He sounded a bit sad before he spoke again.
"But chef has been teaching me the basics,"
Maggie nodded.
Suddenly Roberto clapped.
"Thats enough of that. Let's play cards,"
He pulled out a deck of cards from in his pocket. But Maggie interrupted his action.
"Actually, I wanted to take a bath..."
"Oh! Yeah sure sure, I'll show you guys to the bathroom,"
"Where is it?"
He didn't even contemplate on telling us the truth.
"Its directly between the basement and the chamber."
"So we're on the last floor?"
"Yeah, I sleep in the bunkers directly above."
That meant that we were at least two floors underneath the surface of the earth.
No wonder we couldn't hear the party or any noises.
No birds chirping, no chairs scrapping against the floor, not even the sound of toilets flushing could be heard.
He unshackled our feet.
"I suppose you'd want to use the towels I brought,"
Then nodded towards the duffle bag.
I swiftly collected it in my arms.
"For authorities sake, I'm gonna put loose shackles on your arms, I'll let you bathe yourself but I can't take off the shackles until we come back in here, okay?"
We answered in unison.
"Yeah,"
"Also, you can carry the dog to the bath if you want,"
"Sure,"
I'd rather bathe myself in shackles than have someone else, a strange boy bathe me against my will. Plus Ly was looking a bit dirty anyways.
Maggie then took the duffle bag from me so I could hold the now unchained Ly.
After shackling our arms, he guided us out the the room.
The room I was not even conscious when I was first brought into.
The same probably went for Maggie.
Outside the basement had a narrow hallway.
To the left had what seemed to be a stair case. I could only assume that the indentation I could see on the opposite side of the hallway was another stair case.
He led us right.
Abruptly he stopped in front a doorway, painted in the same pale cream that the hallway was coloured in.
"I'm gonna lock the door after you guys go in, not to keep you in but to keep the other guys out. I'll wait out the time in the bunkers until it's time to come get you."
I appreciated the fact that he didn't try to pressure us into anything.
He genuinely put us first.
Both Maggie and I nodded as he unlocked the door.
Once we entered he waved us and locked the door.
I took that time to exam the room.
It was decievingly spacious.
Two showers lined the far corners while two toilets were positioned a bit away.
There was also two bath tubs that were centered some distance from the showers and two faucets with accompanying mirrors and cabinets along the walls near the door.
But closest to the door were the lounge chairs.
With closer inspection I could see a thin veil hanging to the ceiling. There was a string and a ring attached, probably to pull down to provide division of the two sides.
The most fascinating part was the window, or lack of window. There were none.
Just like in the basement.
However there were airvents. Thankfully.
But sadly, there was no way Ly could fit in it, far less for me. Escape route #1= blocked.
Maggie turned to me.
"Lets have ourselves a bath shall we?"
Shackled prisoners soaking in a tub.
I'd never see this coming.