Ch. 5- Victims

Days Missing: 5      11:42:16 AM

 

Alexandria

I try to move. A whimper escapes my lips from the pain that shoots through my body with each movement. There’s a new gash on my arm. The ground is hard and wet. I sit up, dazed, and look around. I’m not in the room I was in before. It’s cold and wet. It’s bigger. There are pillars around the room. No, not room. Dungeon.

There's a tray of food in the corner, and without thinking I lurch for it, suddenly forgetting about my aching body. I clutch the small sandwich, eating it greedily. I don't know how long it's been since I ate.  I don’t even know how long I’ve been gone.

"Are you gonna share some?"

I nearly jump out of my skin at the small voice floating out from nowhere. I spin my head from side to side, trying to locate where it came from. There's a movement in the shadows in front of me. I back up slowly, my back pressing into the wall.

From the shadows emerges a boy. Eyes as big and curious as a fawn’s stare back at me. A hint of innocence dances around in them. He has dark blonde hair that falls lightly around his soft, child-like features. His jawline curves gently around his porcelain face, meeting in a small curve that was his chin. He has puffy cheeks that remind me of a young boy. His lips are small and thin, curling softly at the edges. His body is practically skin and bones, looking like if you hit him too hard, he might break. He smiles, a kind smile.

"Don't worry, I'm not going to hurt you." he says softly, raising his hands up in front of his small chest, palms pointed outward. I stare at him, not moving a muscle. From what I just went through, I don't believe him, and I just stand there blinking at him.

"Stop trying to make friends, Aiden." Another voice suddenly leaks out from nowhere.

The boy named Aiden turns his back to me, and faces the shadows from which he appeared. "It doesn't hurt to have someone to talk to Lex." he retorts.

He turns back to me. "Come over here." he says, motioning towards the darkness with a small hand. I hesitate, eyes darting from his outstretched hand back to his eyes, and he laughs. "I promise, we won't hurt you." Something in his voice makes me believe him, and I take his outstretched hand. His fingers curl gently around mine, and I instantly feel safer.

He leads me into the shadows, the darkness swallowing us. He guides me to a dark corner where another boy sits. Lex. He looks at me, with dark circles settled under his eyes. The glare that masks his face is cold, almost unforgiving.  Dark hair falls in his eyes, and he doesn’t bother to flick it away. He looks like he hasn’t slept in days. Aiden’s hand never leaves mine as he lowers me to the floor, and I sit across from Lex, studying him, with Aiden settling at my side, fingers sliding out from mine. My eyes roam his body. His muscles are toned despite the conditions they’re both in, his dirty shirt gathered around his waist. He seems very agile. Both of them look like they’ve been here much longer than I have. There's a sense of innocence to both of them, and I realize that they aren't going to hurt me. My tense shoulders finally relax.

Lex gazes up and down my body, taking in the bruises.  "He raped her." he says nonchalantly, looking away to the floor, dark eyes showing no emotion.  Ashamed, my eyes falls to the floor and I pull my knees into my chest, resting my chin on my knees.

"Shut up, Lex" Aiden scolds. He reaches out a small finger, nudging my shoulder gently. I look up at him as he gives me another kind smile, trying to blink back the tears threatening to spill. "I don't know why you’re acting like everything’s ok," Lex says, eyes still locked onto the ground. "He did it to you too."   

My gaze steadies on Aiden, eyes widening slightly. Now it's his turn to look at the floor. "You don't know when to keep your mouth shut."   

Silence falls over the room, settling around us like the shadows that swallowed us whole. Aiden’s fingers wrap around his wrist, rubbing at a bruise lacing around it. I look at my wrist. Both of our bruises are the same shapes. I don't dare ask what he means. Aiden tears his eyes from the floor and looks up at me and smiles kindly.

"We're going to protect you." he promises, eyes locking on mine.

I tear free from his gaze, looking at Lex, who’s set his back against the wall, stretching out his legs. He studies me, his eyes roaming my body, staring at the finger-like bruises around my neck. He doesn't look away, eyes locked on mine, unblinking, unwavering. The next words out of his mouth frighten me.

"Don't make promises you can't keep."

Reviews

[Alleyway Rover]

Pretty good. The hard, fast pace that started the novel is slowing now. Maybe not a bad thing, it remains to be seen how the rest of the story plays out. A few notes on this chapter:

“From the shadows emerges a boy.”

Watch out for passive sentences like this. ‘A boy emerges from the shadows’ sounds better and is more active.

“A hint of innocence dances around in them.”

I notice a phrases like this in your writing quite a lot. I see what you’re trying to say, I think but it’s purple prose and it doesn’t really convey any information. You’d probably be better off saying ‘the boy looked innocent.’

Or even better describe the boy, what about him makes him look innocent? In fact I noticed that you did that fairly well right after that sentence.

It’s going to sound weird, but whatever happened to the sandwich? She hasn’t eaten in five days and, I’m assuming, the two boys aren’t getting their three squares every day (the little boy asked if she was going to share afterall), it seems they would be at very least concerned about the small bit of food available to them.

Cheers!

[JordanIsaacSmith]

Fantastic chapter again, it's nice to have a growing cast of characters that give us a little more insight into the antagonist as well. Very well written.

[RainDancer1997]

Wow, not only is the man a rapist he's also gay??? Wow, actually that doesn't surprise me-_- I hope the 3 of them develop a bond, but I really do wish you keep Zane her lover and all:) Great job!

[JordanIsaacSmith]

"Wow, not only is the man a rapist he's also gay??? Wow, actually that doesn't surprise me-_- "
read more"Wow, not only is the man a rapist he's also gay??? Wow, actually that doesn't surprise me-_- "

That sounds just a tiny bit dodgy... in what way weren't you surprised? I was pretty surprised.