The Grand Escape
The slow tick made the encounter more unbearable. A putrid stench wafted it’s way into my nose as she sat in the corner. Her breathing was erratic, on a random whim she would spasm, still, she held eye contact. I gazed around the room and stepped in with a leisurely pace. While I felt her eyes burn holes wherever she chose, I found myself getting lost in another world. One I would not want to live.
Roughly cut steel bars jammed into place without care, their edges sharp enough to draw blood. The window placed high enough to see out of the underground tomb but not quite as much for someone to see you. Chips in the stone interior stained an ugly rusted color. I wonder just how many times someone has tried to scrape against the walls until their hands are scraped off. Even as I wear a heavy coat I shudder like a child thrown in the pool on a winter’s Eve.
I turn to her, just not in the way I expected. Her face is gaunt and one glance tells me she’s malnourished. Her arms weakly lay at the side and it seems that she can barely stand. Her breath is shaky and comes out in quick plumes. The stubs of her fingernails are filled with fresh and dried blood, becoming an ugly mashup of mangled flesh. She stared at me. Her eye contact being the only strength she has. Her spirit is strong and I feel fear surface.
She slams the iron door and locks me in this cage. I watch fascinated as she struggles up the stairs. She’s in such a hurry that she slips. Her body flails in the air, it lands with a sickening crack. And I laugh. Hysterically. A wave of crimson liquid reaches my feet and I stamp it like I’m two again. The sensation of it running and dripping off my chin and down my neck tickles. And I scream with laughter.
“MAKE IT UP THE STAIRS RENYA! GO ON!”
It’s been so long I’ve forgotten to count. Hunger. I’m hungry. I’d like one last bit of steak. I look over and see the dried mass of red. Only this time it brings no joy. Had it brought me some before? I look over at her. Renya. That’s what her name was. But why was she here? Why was I here? I forgot such things, maybe yesterday. If I’ve been hear for a day. Why? There was a reason I’d brought her here. I can’t recall though. It’s like a faint memory I have of some meat. Meat. I wonder what that tastes like. I look over at Renya one last time. She’s beautiful, even though I forgot the words to describe it, I can tell she is. There’s just something I despise about her eyes though. They’re so hollow and glassy, as if she’s not sleeping and only dead. Maybe she is dead. Yet, I remember them being dead before hand. Strange.
My eyelids drooped heavily. I grasped Reyna’s hand, there was an odd comfort provided by the chill of it. I squeeze it tightly. “Don’t get caught, alright sis? Dad won’t like it if he finds both of us sleeping down here."
I feel myself start to slip into a deep sleep. Flashes of painful memories playing in my mind. They get more distant with each one finished. By the time I stop feeling the need to take breaths of the rancid air, I remember why I hate her. Why she hates me. Why dad will never find us. And I-