Act One: Falling

Part One: Ashes to Ashes...

There's nothing here... dark, small, there's something dripping in here. It's cold... I hear them above me. They'll be here soon, and it'll all begin again. A never-ending loop of pain. When did I last eat?

When did I last see anything but darkness?

The light comes on, blinding me with light this time... there's no time to see anything before my head is smacked to the side.

There's punches,

I fall,

there's kicks, I spit up blood, hoping I got it on them at least...

I hear the jingling of metal,

there's lashing... my face twists in pain, my back is still raw from the last time.

I didn't think I had a voice strong enough to make it through the blood in my mouth, but I was able to croak out "stop..."

The lashings stopped only for them to pull me up by my hair, I can barely see, but their red eyes shine through the haze as I hear them cackle,

" O L?"

I fall back down, and the snap of leather and metal continues to echo.

Through my bones. In my ears... the anger echos through my soul... the sound raging through me before fading out as I slip into unconsciousness.

When I come back, there is a small bit of moldy bread on the ground and dirty water. The small candle left behind flickered, I haven't been able to look in this room since we came here... There's nothing, a small puddle where the dripping sound is coming from shimmers slightly in the light.

I eat the bread and crawl to the puddle, I dip my hand and lick the dark liquid. It burns and makes the cut on my lip sting. I cough and lean back from it. The burning feeling still lingers, I move back to my corner and sip my water. I spit the first bit out, ridding the bitter taste of the dark liquid and blood from my mouth. It tastes moldy almost as well. I cough, the blood spraying on my hand. I sip again, trying to ignore the aches in my body. The red color mixes in my water and I watch it swirl in the dim light.

I lean against the wall and move my hand to touch the cool surface. The blood smears and I can't help but continue spreading it a bit. I draw another smear before trying to make a little curve underneath. The blood on my hand has dried, I touch along my mouth before finding the cut. Pushing at the flesh I hiss at the sting, but I feel a sense of victory as the slick red substance oozes out. Running my hand back along the wall I finish it. Happy face... I start to make another one and I continue... soon my cut won't bleed anymore and my water's gone... but I have three little happy faces looking at me in the firelight. The darkness is soon brought back when the torch snuffs out... but I can still see my happy faces when my eyes are closed, I lay back down... Happy faces...

I don't know how much time passed before they returned, the light came again and I was blinded again before seeing my happy faces. The thumping noises in the room means they're looking at something else, but it won't be long before they come towards me.

I don't get up, It'll just mean a longer beating...

The kicks come soon after I look at my happy faces again. I curl up as best I can but they stop all to soon, they've always favored the lashings...

There's the jingle of metal, and the stinging of leather and metal soon return to my skin, not just my back, but my legs and arms today. The pain ebbs, it always does, but they grab my hair, dragging me to the puddle. As soon as it touches my cuts it burns, the sting cutting through my wounds. I barely hear them as I hiss.

"S'waste a liquor, but this should warm ya up..."

I see another candle, it drops onto the puddle and flames crawled over the dark liquid before reaching my legs.

At first I was stunned...

I finally screamed.

The burning ran over my body, crawling up my legs and arms, my back, everywhere the liquor touched before... the sting becoming an inferno.

There was a freezing sensation, soothing almost, as the fire had been washed away... I glanced up and saw those red eyes and their grin...

They grabbed my hair, pulling me up and cackling as they always did, "There's yer water."

I passed out before even hitting the floor...

I awoke in the same puddle of water, blood, and the liquor as I was before... I touched my legs and whimpered, they were red, bubbly looking, and hurt more than ever before... I tried to crawl but couldn't... I stayed in the puddle, sitting against the wall and using my hands to cup some of the liquid on my legs to soothe the burn. I hissed again at the sting, my eyes began to water... the tears didn't stop, I let them fall...

I screamed louder than I ever had, even in the begining... It was the one thing I hadn't given them... and they... took away the last thing I had...

So I let my tears fall... for the last bit of my pride had died.

I didn't draw any happy faces that night... I slept after the tears had dried up, the evidence hidden in a pool of blood and water...

I hadn't seen or heard them in a while... but my legs had healed enough that the pain was tolerable. I had managed to crawl out of the puddle back to my corner where I knew my happy faces were despite the darkness. It had taken a while, but I found the bread they brought when they burned me. The taste and musty smell familiar and almost welcome from the ash that clung to me. I finished the bread and curled into a ball again, the pain still pulsing through me.

They came down... I hadn't heard them in my sleep, but they came...

A candle flickered to the side of a small pile of clothes, and food. Real food, and a cup of clear water...

I knew what this meant... we were moving again soon... and strength was required.

I changed into the new clothes, dirty and worn, but warmer than what had survived the fire. I looked at the happy faces and ate the food, I heard a noise and turned, a small mouse was in the corner, eyeing me... I tossed it a piece of the cheese, the mouse scurried over to it after a while. It took the food and ran up the stairs, scampering under the door and disappearing...

It left...

I looked at the door... that was all that was in my way... of freedom...

I clenched my teeth and tried to stand...

I can do this... I have to leave...

I stood up and looked at the room, limping toward the puddle I made my plan.

I had covered the door with as much of the liquor as possible, the liquid stinging my still-cut hands and arms as I had done my best. I drenched the rags I wore in my water, a small sip all I allowed myself. I wrapped my head in the damp cloth and tossed the candle at the soaked door.

The flames eagerly spreading and licking up the wood, the room slowly started to fill with smoke, my eyes stung and my throat burned, but the door was still sturdy. The flames started to catch on the trail of liquid from the door to the puddle. I started to panic, the cloth on my head drying more the longer I stayed in here. I heard the wood groan and a crack split through it. I ran up the stairs at it and slammed my whole body against the frame.

I fell through on top of the still burning wood before scrambling to get up, The wind blew and made the flames shoot out, causing my cloth wrap and hair to catch. I panicked and swatted at my head, the burning embers touching my face before I had snuffed it out. Panting, and wiping the soot away, I opened my eyes and looked.

The place I was trapped in... was burning to the ground... An innocent enough looking house, no one would have expected it to be a living Hell, but now it truely looked the part. The orange and gold sparks trailed in the breeze and I felt myself smile. A chuckle bubbled up from my dry throat before I was laughing, cackling even at the thought of them in the flames.

I heard voices echo through the village, panicked screams as people realized there was a fire. I looked around and found a trail leading to the mountains.

I ran as fast as I could, I didn't stop, I wouldn't go back... making it to the woods I looked back and saw the red haze in the distance, I turned back to the mountain's steep and kept moving forward, I would not go back there to die... I felt this pull making me go towards the mountain. I kept walking, never stopping, until at dawn I found a pit... the feeling of something pulling me... it was practically thrumming... it was warm and alive... there were golden flowers blooming all around it... It seemed to call to me...

I see... this was were I was meant to die... not there.

Here.

I walked to the pitfall, there was nothing at the bottom, just flowers and sun along the edges, fading into black. I stepped forward, before falling.

End of Part One: Ashes to Ashes.