Disclaimer: Not mine.
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ABC.
Taking a deep breath, she winced as the air rose into her mouth and crashed into her lungs; forcing them to expand against her already battered ribcage. Her gaze moved over the dusty room, taking in every aspect. Every breath smelt stale, every exhale proved torturous against her wounds. It was cold. It was dark. It was empty – just the way she liked it.
She exhaled again, and let out a short groan of pain. This quickly changed into anger at her kidnappers, and anger at herself. She was stupid: how else would she have been taken so easily? The feeling flowed down into the pit of her stomach, where it joined the bubbling and frothing feeling of fury. Her throat tightened, and she knew it was time. Summoning all her remaining strength, she closed her hands to tightly form fists, and wrenched them away from the wall. She was allowing the anger to overtake her, and summon raw power from deep inside.
However, her suspicions were proved correct when her wrists whipped back and collided with the wall. She yelled out hoarsely: a mixture of pain and frustration. This quickly dissolved when she heard a sound that flowed like angelic music into her ears. A creak. It may not have sounded like much, but to the wistful captive, it rekindled the vague flame of hope that dwelled in her chest. She threw her wrists as hard as she could so as to free them from their metal encasings. A slight glitter of glee became pronounced in her dull brown eyes as she exhaled yet again, eliciting a cry from her abused body. She put her hands to the stone floor, relishing in her ability to once again touch matter. She absentmindedly dragged her fingers back and forth; a half-smile painted on her face as the numbness slowly left the aching joints.
Bracing herself; she slowly stood up, legs shaking. Resting her hands against the wall, she leant heavily on them. She needed to get used to this again. Her muscles protested painfully, yet she continued, knowing that her muscles would seize up fully, and she may be paralysed from the waist down.
She froze, heart pounding in her ears. The door creaked open. The rusty red iron was moving fractionally towards her. She desperately wished that they wouldn't see her free; she would be moved, and the process would start again. She clenched her fist, straining not to relish in her anger once more. She finally goaded her body into sashaying quickly to the door.
Wrenching it open, she fell with the force of somebody crashing into her chest. Staggering backwards, her mouth formed a single letter as she recognised the other person. She thrust her hands out to balance herself, and cried out in surprise: she was now aware that the flesh on her wrist had been torn open. Feeling the coppery river mingle with the dark bruises and welts; she crossed the room, and helped her friend up. Ginny. Her red-haired brown eyed friend. Who had consequently been watching a dog before being captured. She glanced at her friend's face. Something was wrong. Her ears twitched as they vaguely heard a terrifying noise. Footsteps. Grabbing Ginny's hand, she groped her way to the sliver of light that graced her cell via the marginally opened door, and crept out.
She smiled at her first thought: fresh air. She welcomed the coolness: the smell of clean, pure air. The girl behind her was tugging insistently on her wrist, which reminded her of her mission. They ran silently around the house. If they heard footsteps, they would seek shelter until the noise had ebbed away. Just as they were ready to step down the fragile staircase, the murmurs of security guards in the next room caught her attention. She signalled to Ginny, who followed without hesitation. The other frowned slightly. Ginny would normally query such rash decisions. This wasn't like her. The first seeds of doubt planted in her subconscious mind. Planting her ear to the wall, she listened as the so-called guards talked.
"You know, if those girls don't break soon, Boss said we could use more… forceful methods." The other chuckled darkly.
"I can't wait to get my hands on that Ginny girl." She looked over at Ginny, who had a devious smirk on her face. Yet when Ginny glanced and saw her looking she hastily rearranged her features into an unconvincing panicked expression. The seeds of doubt grew.
Suddenly, without warning, she launched herself at the barricaded door. The only thing standing between her and revenge. One thirst that would take a while to be quenched. What happened next was stored as a warped memory.
She slightly remembered the door crashing down, and the look of sheer horror on their faces. She vaguely recalled herself wrenching out of Ginny's iron-like grip, and launching a bone-shattering war cry. She may be smaller than them; outnumbered and malnourished, but there was one thing she was: powerful. Relinquishing her hold on the restrained anger, she felt it searing sharply through her veins. Fingertips buzzing: legs becoming restless, she drew out all her extra feelings and allowed them to take hold. Her brain was pumping adrenalin to course through her body, and she did the only thing she could think of: she charged.
Thrusting one guard backwards, he collided painfully against the wall, and slumped heavily. The other guard wasted no time in drawing his knife (for she was too close to him for the use of a gun) and slashed her. Releasing a cry of anguish, at her blood being spilt yet again, she grabbed the knife, spun it around and jammed it into his side. He gave a low moan of pain, he grabbed onto Ginny as he fell. She shrieked as her clothing was soon stained red. His painful cries soon drifted off to nothingness as he drew his last breath. Ginny began sobbing as the light faded from his eyes. Ginny looked up with resolve clearly marked in her blue eyes. She grabbed her friend's hand and sprinted down the hallway; weaving through the complex and intricate pattern of rooms. The seedlings of doubt grew further. Ginny shouldn't know the way out. Something dwelled inside her.
Fear: the twisted emotion that was unveiling itself in her throat; uncoiling like a slippery serpent that has spotted it's prey, and is rearing up to strike. The fear that made her hands shake; her throat to seize up. The fear that ignited her eyes, and caused tears to spring up. She would become entangled in its poisonous web. And the darkness consume her.
She soon became aware of her surroundings, and was nearly spun into a distant recollection. Yet she swiftly created a blockade, and willed herself to focus. Her gaze was soaring higher and higher until it came to rest on the stone arch. High above the bay window. At the last minute she realised what Ginny was doing. She attempted valiantly to stop her, but Ginny charged straight at the window with a cherry-wood chair, running straight through it with a thundering CRASH! Shielding her eyes (so the glass wouldn't become embedded in her) she leapt out the window after Ginny, landing clumsily on her feet. She stumbled, and went to collapse on the floor, but suddenly found herself being suspended in the air.
Opening her eyes, the faint flame of hope was extinguished. For immediately in front of her stood a beefy guard, and a smirking Ginny. With horror, she realised her fatal trusting nature.
She had betrayed.
She felt her mind being torn apart in internal agony. Ginny was supposed to be her friend. The sound of Ginny laughing darkly reached her ears, and she clenched her fists so hard she had crescent moons in her palms. Twisting her arms back and forth constantly, blood pounding in her head, her mantra became bloodthirsty.
Twist, turn, twist, turn. She thought, repeating herself until the guard had established the pattern she was creating, and followed it.
Twist, turn, twist, turn. Biding her time.
Twist, turn, twist, turn. Almost.
Twist, turn, twist, turn. At last she felt the strong grip loosen.
Twist, turn, twist, twist! She screamed mentally and yanked her arms away, surprising the guard. He doubled over as she smoothly brought her leg up to catch him between the thighs. She paced herself, following Ginny's retreating shadow.
Through the shattered window, a left turn. At the end of the corridor she saw a white bloodstained top whip around the corner. She followed hungrily, feeling anger bubble in her throat.
How dare she? How DARE she! She thought rhetorically. Stupid, annoying, pretty, little piece of… ARG! She violently let out a string of words. Reaching a door, she stopped in slight surprise before opening it and walking briskly in. Seeing Ginny standing there shaking was nearly too much for her. She attempted to reign in her anger, and started an inner battle for dominance. But she was too far gone.
Her fate was sealed.
Ginny looked between her fingers at her, before moving, so she was standing about three feet away. She watched Ginny, fingers itching to wring her scrawny little neck. Yet she had to know the circumstances. Moving one foot to the left, she noticed that Ginny did the same. Soon they were circling each other like vultures. She realised that she had to make the first move.
"Why?" A simple question. Yet so complex.
"Because" Ginny's eyes shifted.
"You and I both know that's not the answer." She was amazed at the steadiness of her voice.
"So? It doesn't matter."
"It does to me."
"Why?"
"Because you betrayed me Ginny. Therefore, I want to know why!" she snarled. Ginny flinched.
"Because if I hadn't, they'd have killed me!" she paused. "Plus, there was always the miniscule fact that you killed my boyfriend." She frowned slightly. Now that was an interesting twist. Then she remembered.
"The security guard?"
"Quite." There was an awkward silence. "You do realise how corrupt this whole system is don't you." Her gaze flicked up to meet Ginny's. It was not a statement. Yet she answered it anyway.
"Quite." She smirked, mirroring Ginny, who frowned lightly. Ginny opened her mouth to retort; yet she got there first. "Yes, I do Ginny. More so than you do. How betrayal rules. How your so-called boyfriend told his superiors that you were going to escape. Did you know that?" Judging by Ginny's rapidly whitening face, it was clear that she hadn't. She continued maliciously; taunting Ginny until she could take it no more. "He was going to turn you in. I bet he never truly cared for you. You were just another notch in the bedpost." Ginny's gaze filled with hatred.
"STOP!" she screamed.
"But why? We're having so much fun. And besides, I haven't even told you yet what happens to betrayers."
Ginny blinked before she felt blinding pain. Colliding with a shelf; she screamed. She stood on a table, avoiding the shards of glass that were flying everywhere. She took in the scene: acid pouring everywhere, Ginny's helplessness, and her thirst being quenched. She stood there, aghast, as Ginny's hair had vanished. Layers upon layers of flesh were slowly peeling off one by one. Flake by flake. Blood dribbling down to stain her top even more, acid still seeping into her pores. The other continued to watch from her place on the table – unable to tear her eyes away. Ginny flew a glass vial as the liquid dripped casually into her eyes, burning away. The other froze. The vial had smashed into her chest! Ginny gave another agonising shriek as muscle began shedding, nerve by nerve, acid still continuing on its journey. Her screams of terror gradually subsided as flesh gave way to bone. Ginny fell.
She was… horrified. There was no other word for it. She thought of three words to describe the twisted situation.
Anger.
Betrayal.
Corruption.
Hey look. She grimaced painfully. I can do my ABCs. With that fleeting thought she stumbled and fell to the worktop, clutching her abdomen. She extruded from it a piece of glass. It was bloody and sharp. She closed her eyes; laid down by her friend; willing the darkness to flood her like a stormy sea.
It was over.
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30/06/08