Chapter Thirty Three

                ‘Coral Blackwell?’ a voice shatters the silence I've become accustomed to. It crackles over speaker, and echoes off the concrete walls to my cell. The air is cold and dry, thick coats of dust have settled all around me. The smell of blood and vomit hangs thick in the air. Panic claws at my throat and stomach as I curl into a ball in the corner farthest from the giant metal door. My eyes are fixed on the door. What's behind it? Is it heaven? Hell? Could it be worse than hell out there? I don't have any answers, all I know is that I have to get out of here somehow. Even if it means death. My head is pounding, I've never felt so much pain all at once, I've never been so hopeless. Every inch of my body is screaming in pain, the memories of my last few moments in the sun have been replying in my mind like a broken record.

 

                I remember clawing at the ground as she pulled me by my ankles, the jolting pain of them twisting into a definite sprain. I remember the searing pain of my hands and arms being torn and sliced open by the rubble coating the ground. Nails and glass cut the palms of my hands, as I desperately clung onto anything I could. Smoke filled my lungs as I gasped for air. I kicked and twisted, wanting nothing more than to get away.

 

                ‘Coral Blackwell?’ the voice sounded over the speaker again. ‘Is that your name?’

                That voice. It’s the same b*****d that did this to me.

                I remember the fallen kicking me in the head, killing whatever miniscule amount of strength I had left. I stopped kicking, I stopped struggling, breathing. My vision blurred, and all of the cuts, all of the pain faded away. But I was in a state much worse than any physical pain. I feel pure hopelessness.

                I’m not going to survive this.

 

                ‘Coral, your name is coral. Please, respond to me.’ I open my mouth to reply, but my throat is dry, my tongue feels like sandpaper. All I can taste is the dried blood and dirt that covers my face.

                I can almost see Fabian leave after I saved him. I watched him disappear, waiting for him to come back, my wide eyes searching every direction while I had the s**t kicked out of me.

                But he never did.

                Maybe that was for the best. I just hope to whatever god is out there that he’s still alive.

 

                I hear a mutter over the speaker, but I'm not sure what she said. I hear the heavy metal locks on the door screech open, and cover my eyes as the door cracks open, and a cold white light floods in, blinding the grey eyes that have adjusted to the dark too well. For the first time, I saw the markings on the wall.

                We were forgotten. We were forgotten.

                It says these words over and over, and nothing else. The woman steps into the cell and looks at me. her wings lay folded on her back, and she wears a long grey hooded cloak. I look up at the monster as walks towards me. She crouches down in front of me until were sitting at eye level.

                ‘What’s your name?’

 

                Is it a memory, or is it a dream? I got away from her. I remember the blood on my feet becoming so thick I slipped out of her grasp. I stumbled while getting up, slicing my knee open. I ran as fast as I could bear. She somehow caught me again, but it all ends there. There’s nothing between running, and awaking here.

                ‘Coral Blackwell,’ I choke out, instantly thrown into a coughing fit. She offers a glass of water in my direction. The glass is cool against my burning skin and feels smooth as I drink it. I look up at her. Her hair is long, black, and sickly thin. Her seems to be a pale grey, wrapping around her slender face.

                ‘Well,’ she speaks in a low voice, ‘I would like to ask you some questions.’ Silence hangs in the air. ‘About the band of half demons you traveled with.’ Her eyes are black, lifeless pits.

                ‘I don’t know anything,’ my voice is no more than a whisper.

                She sighs. ‘Don’t you want us to help you find your brother again?’

                My brother? Fabian? How does she know that? ‘No, I don’t know where he is.’

                ‘I understand that you don’t want to talk, but please, you have useful information. And in return, we can give you the revenge you want.’ I watch in shock as the corner of her mouth curls into a grin.

                ‘Revenge?’

                She places a hand on my shoulder, ‘let’s not play stupid. We both know you want revenge on your brother for what he did to you. For leaving you to die. Fabian was it?’ her voice cuts deep as a blade, ‘and right after you risked your life for him. You’re an idiot for doing that, but half demons?’ she pauses, pulling her hand away, her expression turns foul, disgusted, ‘half demons are pathetic. They have no place in this world.’

                ‘I-I don’t want revenge,’ my voice is shaking as much as my hands and knees, ‘I wanted him to get away.’

                ‘He abandoned you, he could have saved you, yet he didn’t,’ she hisses, ‘you idiot kid they left you for dead!’

                Her yelling echoes throughout the cell. And she stands up, looking down at me.

                ‘Just like you’re father did.’