A Nightmare in Paris
Chapter 10
She did see Julia again – just once.
They had been driving for a while – though none of the girls had any concept of time and no one dared to make a sound. They sat in the back of the truck bracing themselves on whatever they could when the vehicle turned sharp corners. Once the doors had been slammed shut they had been plunged back into the darkness, darkness that Ariadne was beginning to resent. For a while the young architect attempted to remember their journey
Left, left, right, left, right, right
The order was soon jumbled and she shook her head in frustration. Details – details were her thing right? It wasn't long before her muscles began to ache as she attempted to brace herself as the vehicle swung around sharp corners. Once they'd finally come to an abrupt stop the doors were pulled back open, the horrible sound of metal sliding along metal made Ariadne wonder if her ears were bleeding. Anita's hand was once more safely enclosed within her own and Ariadne sent a weak smile to a younger girl who scrambled out of the van just before her, hoping it would provide some sort of relief – even if only for a second. Immediately the architects eyes found the identical van already parked, already emptied and her heart began to race. She could hear noise behind her and spun around to see the other group of girls being roughly pushed into the building. Red. Her eyes found the red of her jacket that remained safely around Julia's shoulders. The young girl only had a moment to meet her eyes before she was pushed through doors that Ariadne noted were an almost identical colour to her jacket.
Her heart sunk as Julia was removed from her vision but hoped they would be following the first group. Her eyes found a smirk and she felt nauseous as Peter waved his fingers towards her before heading inside after the first group. Ariadne felt a tug on her arm and looked down to see the girl from before wrapping her arm around Ariadne's wrist. She smiled gently before sliding her arm around the smaller girls' waist pulling her in line with herself and Anita. Quickly they were directed through the same red doors as Julia had passed. There were more stairs to climb and even more men within the building than there had been before, all with guns, all watching them closely. When a horrid scream ran through the walls her blood turned to ice and she quickly pulled the young girl closer as she felt her nails dig into her skin.
They were separated once more, split, divided however the girl she discovered to be Alice remained with her, clutching to her desperately. They were pushed through a smaller door into another room and Ariadne's eyes widened as she took in the mattresses that lined the floor. The carpet was stained and the room had a foul stench that made her eyes water and bile to burn her throat. One of the men yelled towards them raising his gun slightly before he began pushing girls to different beds. Quickly Ariadne, Anita and Alice sat down on the closest bed but it wasn't long before both Ariadne and Anita were roughly pulled and pushed onto separate beds, all next to one another. Ariadne folded her arms around her knees as she watched, wide eyed, waiting to see what was to come. Alice was shaking, visibly, and Ariadne wondered how many years younger than her she was, too young, of that she was certain.
The worst had been, of course, yet to come though and while Ariadne had been almost convinced that what was happening had no relation to dreaming as several more men and women entered the room she became less and less certain.
"What is that?" she heard one of the girls in the corner bed ask through tears as a woman knelt beside her bed and pulled her wrist towards her. Her attention however was called by a scream at the opposite end of the room and she heard Anita gasp as two men held down a screaming girl and Ariadne's heart began to race as she caught the flash of silver before it was pushed beneath the girls' skin and into her vein. Thick ropes were wrapped around her legs and arms restricting her movements.
"Please, what is it?" the first girl asked once more and again the woman ignored her as she slapped the terrified girls wrist several times to raise the vein, an action Ariadne knew only because Arthur had done it to her once before – albeit with a lot more care and gentleness than the girl was receiving.
They moved through the room hooking each girl up to a bag of fluid, fluid of god knows what although Ariadne was prepared to bet it wasn't to rehydrate them. She met Anita's wide eyes as yet another girl was tied down,
"Don't fight them" Ariadne whispered, and Anita nodded before she glanced at her other side, Alice held her gaze for a long minute and Ariadne knew the girl was unlikely to be aware of the tears streaming down her face or that her head was shaking fast.
"Just let them Alice and it'll all be over okay" the young girl nodded and soon enough they'd arrived at her. Ariadne heard the gasp as the needle pierced her skin and her eyes snapped shut. Then it was her turn. It was the same woman who she had watched. A thinner rope was wrapped around her upper arm, being used a tourniquet, and Ariadne received a much greater appreciation of how good Arthur, Cobb, Eames and Yusuf all were at administering the drugs for dreaming. She too quizzed the woman as to what it was that was beginning to pump into her veins and received no answer minus a sharp pinch to inner arm that hurt almost more than the needle that had been roughly shoved into her arm. Ariadne arched her neck to inspect the bag that was placed on a hook in the wall and sighed as she realized there was no writing on it whatsoever, simply clear liquid. She met Alice's gaze who had curled on the bed and was staring intently at her nodding to her that it was okay before she turned to Anita. Her eyes held her friends as she received the same treatment.
It wasn't long before all the girls in the room had been hooked up to bags and were not permitted to speak. Several men roamed the room holding larger guns than she'd seen before – apart from in films of course. It wasn't long after that when Ariadne realised that Alice had stopped shaking. Stopped shaking, stopped moving, stopped. It was as if she had reclined back on the bed yet she was too still. Ariadne squinted through the light and as she felt a rush of warmth roll over her body. Her arm itched and she frowned looking down but blinked furiously as she tried to focus on her own arm. Bright large spots flickered through her vision as she looked around the room hoping it would clear without success.
"Ari…Ari?" there was a whisper from somewhere on her other side and Ariadne's head snapped towards the sound. It was familiar... she knew it, but she just couldn't figure out who it was. She squinted seeing a blurry outline of someone to her left, on another bed. Her head span, the room with it, faster and faster forcing her to grip the mattress beneath her with one hand and clutch her head with the other.
"Ari what's happening?" the voice filled with fear was the last thing she heard before the spots in her eyes faded, before everything faded – only being replaced by darkness.
The night was dark. At least she thought it was – maybe she simply couldn't see anymore. She blinked. Darkness? The young girl shook her head as fear raced through her veins, poisoning her blood. She knew there was much to fear. What was it?
It was cold beneath her feet, which were bare. She couldn't remember where her shoes had gone. The ground was cold. Hard. They'd taken her somewhere in the van again. She hated vans. She hated them. She bumped into someone beside her but the things around her arms seemed to tighten and keep her upright. They hurt. It was painful. She blinked again but everything around her spun in and out of focus too fast for her to see.
She stumbled up stairs her arms pulsing from where it was too tight. Her head lolled sideways as she seemed to fall but not hit the ground. Where was she? What was going on? What was she afraid of? Suddenly a smell so overpowering slammed into her senses and she gagged feeling the bile rear up into her throat. She was roughly pushed forwards and her entire body fell this time only coming to land on something softer. She lay on her side – uncomfortable but her arms and her legs, her head, it was all too heavy to move. Her thick, long hair lay across her face but she was too tired to move it. Her wrist was bleeding, and itchy and she sluggishly drew her knees up to her chest folding her arms around them. She paused only to tug the sleeves of the red jacket that still remained around her shoulders tighter around her body before she felt liquid running down her face and she clamped her eyes shut trying to remember what she was so afraid of.
Hey guys I'm baaaaack : ) at least I hope so! Doing stacks of uni catch up which is really kicking my butt at the moment but hopefully can get some writing squeezed in too! Hope you're all well and that you like this chapter – not much happens but we're back with the guys next chapter promise!