A loud, horrific noise startled all three of us. Every cell’s door in the block screeched open, signaling dinner time. When inmates started to emerge out of their cells, I released both of them and scrambled to my feet. It was one thing doing them both at the same time, but it was entirely another being seen doing it by over a thousand inmates.
“Damn.” Schneider cursed, clearly disappointed for being interrupted.
Like I’d suspected, inmates started passing in front of our cells and ‘peaking’ inside as they made their way to the cafeteria. By now, both twins had zipped up their uniforms, thank God.
“Coming?” It was Schneider who spoke, already standing by the door. “All this sexy time has made me hungry. I might as well satisfy one itch.”
I ignored Schneider’s wolfish grin. “You head on. I’ll... I’ll wash up.” I resisted the blush that started permeating my cheeks to no avail. I gave Schneizel a pointed look; mentally telling him that I needed some ‘alone time’.
It was apparent that Schneizel was reluctant to leave me for even a moment, but Schneider pulled him along. Both Schneizel and Schneider left the cell.
I went to the small sink and washed my face, mouth and hands. A shower would’ve been awesome but I’d been traumatized since my attack and carefully visited the shower room with an ‘escort’ or when it was crowded. For now, this would do.
“Hello, Aiden.”
I froze. I raised my head to see a grinning Raven staring back at me in the stained, broken mirror.
“Oh, no.”
****
Something wet struck my eyelids. My eyes fluttered open. I blinked a few times. Suddenly, a wave of nausea assaulted me. My guts felt scrambled and my mind was paper-blank. I groaned and started to stir. At the sound of something clinking and rattling, I stopped moving. There was a weight on both my wrists that made me slowly look up. I lay on a concrete floor somewhere dark, dank and dripping. It was a room with lots of piping and I was chained down to the ground by my hands with metal chains.
Drawings hung over every empty surface.
They were drawings of me.
A potent mixture of fear and panic pierced through me like a spear. Alarmed, I shot up into a sitting position, ignoring when my head swam, and scrambled to my feet. I wobbled but caught myself, then carefully straightened up. I stared down at the cuffs wrapped around my wrists with horror-stricken eyes, speechless and terrified. They looked new and sturdy.
Gulping, I inched toward the closest drawing and blanched.
Someone had sketched my face to perfection –then ran a black pen all over my features scribbling one word: MINE. My eyes scanned every drawing and saw that they all depicted me as the focus, all with ‘MINE’ scrawled savagely across.
My heart plummeted.
Where was I? How did I come to be—
It all came back to me in one go.
“Oh shit!”
“Oh shit, indeed.”
I whirled around so fast that the chains lashed at my ankles like whips and I jumped. The breath hitched at my throat at the sight of him. “You.” I squeezed out, frozen to the spot.
What did Raven want from me exactly? Really, there had to be other ‘cute boys’ for him to go after. What was it about me that drove half this prison mad?
Raven made no effort to conceal the malice and contempt as he moved toward me. His eyes glowed with it. I saw it in his smirk, or rather sneer. Instinctively, I backed away, trying to remain a good distance from him and almost tripping on the damned chains in the process. My back collided with the piped wall. Damn it. A pipe right next to me hissed out a cloud, and I jumped.
Raven grinned, “Scared, are we? You damn well should be.”
“Fuck you.” I hissed, bearing my teeth at him once he came to stand directly before me. It proved an unwise move on my part.
His hand lashed out in a blur. He struck me in the side of the face with a fist, splitting my bottom lip wide open like a cherry. I dropped to the ground, but I didn’t allow for the pain and shock to settle in. I came to my feet and took off in the direction of the door, forgetting the chains attached to me. I didn’t get very far, naturally.
The chains tugged me back two paces before I reached the door –so far and yet so close. I went flying back and sprawled onto the floor in a heap of chains and limbs. My arms –especially my recently-healed one—felt as if the muscles had separated. Agonizing pain launched down my sides. I groaned loudly, the chains digging into my back. I felt blood trail down one side of my mouth and start to cover my chin. Unshed tears pricked at the corners of my eyes.
Dammit.
“You sonofabitch!” A foot came down on my chest so hard that it forced the air out of my lungs. I gasped for air as my hands wrapped around his smelly boot; Raven was pressing down on my lungs, restricting my breathing. I couldn’t pry his foot away for the life of me; I was too beaten up already and still reeling from being drugged unconscious. “I’ll be happy to teach you some manners.” A hideous grin marred his featured. Madness glistened in his eyes. Immediately, a feeling of intense dread nearly paralyzed me. I was genuinely afraid for myself.
He reached for me. I opened my mouth to scream.
Someone ferociously pounded on the metal door. The sound reverberated in my skull.
“Hey, Raven. You need to come right now.” A rough male voice came from outside. It wasn’t someone I recognized.
“Goddammit.” Raven cursed. Staring me in the eye, he slowly eased his foot off my chest. I swallowed a deep breath of air, immensely relieved. But the danger wasn’t clear just yet. Having learned my lesson, I made no move to rile him –the man was clearly unhinged. Raven slowly backed away from me until he was by the door. Only when he was out of reaching range did her turn his back on me.
Raven opened the door to reveal a dark tunnel. Even if I screamed, I doubted anyone would hear me. All my hopes were shattered in one fell swoop. I felt like the tiny room’s walls were slowly closing in on me. I started hyperventilating.
Schneizel’s face materialized in my mind. From the bottom of my heart, I wished that he valued and cared for me enough to look for me. More than anything, I found myself wanting to see his unreadable, handsome face again.
