Crimson Lace

Chapter 28

I know that I said I wasn't going to post the next chapter until the weekend, but chapter 28 ended up being sort of short so here it is! Chapter 29 won't be up until Saturday, though. Enjoy the rest of your week, everyone, and I hope you are enjoying Crimson Lace!

JOSEPHINE
CHAPTER TWENTY-EIGHT

Carder has been letting me out more frequently. Once in a while I get a breath of fresh air when he heads out for whatever it is he does in the day and I catch a whiff of the outside world as he opens and closes the door.

I've grown accustomed to our little routine. 

I am awoken each morning by Carder's loud footsteps and the door slamming shut as he locks the house back up. Some days he comes to get me for breakfast and others I am left to starve. I think it depends on his mood. Which seems to change quite frequently.

He takes me out of the closet around noon to show me the photographs of the different birds and nests he saw that day, while I tune out and stare at the window. I'm still waiting for my brothers to arrive at the doorstep. I'm still waiting for an army to show up at the window and break the glass that keeps me from touching nature. I'm being patient for the day that my parents will hold me in their arms again. But I am getting tired of waiting and having patience. It's been too long without any signs of hope. Five months of this torment.

I sit on the ragged couch, eyeing a maple tree just outside the window and the way its leaves have turned a golden yellow. A large raven stares back at me. I glare at the creature, hating how its very existence mocks me. I am Carder's little raven. Yet, this real raven gets to fly free, while I am the one in the birdcage.

The raven lets out a low caw and I snap, lunging at the window and smacking my fist against it repeatedly until my knuckles bleed.

"Get out of here!" I scream, my voice cracking dryly. "Leave! Fly away! Get out of here!" I'm sobbing now, tears streaming down the curve of my cheek. My chest contracts painfully and my throat throbs.

I hear Carder coming up the basement steps to check on me, but no emotion fills me with dread. I only detest the thought of seeing his face.

The raven doesn't budge, staring right back at me with an equal fury in its eyes.

"You can fly away. I can't. I can't leave," I bite out through gritted teeth, but my voice is barely a whisper. "Not until the day I learn how to fly." Carder's words are bitter in my mouth, painful as I know there is no escape for me. There is no getting out of this.

Something like pitty flickers in the bird's eyes, but I don't even attempt to feel its emotions. Not when I can barely feel my own anymore. I smack my hand against the glass once again.

The bird spreads its wings and flies forward so fast that I nearly jump out of my skin as it hits the glass with a brutal force. I feel as though my bones have been broken as I watch the raven fall to the ground. I double over in pain.

The sound that rips out of me is shrill as an empty void plows through my chest. I feel the raven's spirit leaving the Earth. I feel it leave me. I feel the whisper of its last thought, caressing my mind like a phantom hand. It was trying to get to me. To save me. And as Carder comes barreling through the basement door and halts behind me, I know I'm so done with being his pet.

*********

"What are they feeding you?" I huff to the sack of muscle who is leaning heavily on me as we slip through the chaotic streets of ruin and flame.

Alec simply grumbles in response, still upset that we left Elle behind. I know the feeling.
What it's like to be apart from someone you love. I spent months without my family, without knowing if I'd ever see them again.