Day 24:

I thought I heard Katze today. I could've sworn it was his voice outside my hellish prison. I thought I heard Cal too, but of that I was less sure—Katze was doing most of the talking. If Iason was there at all, he stayed completely silent, but I don't think the Blondie was anywhere in the nearby vicinity; not with the open tone Katze was using.

Katze was asking Cal all sorts of questions and the kid was replying with short, one word answers for the majority. The two of them spoke in such quiet tones that I couldn't make out anything they were saying, but it didn't really matter. It was nice just to have some company around at all.

They were talking for about ten minutes before I realised that Katze likely knew I was in here—Cal or Iason would have told him of my "punishment"… if that's what this still was. I wasn't sure if it could still be called "punishment" at this point.

However, I smiled a little bit at this. If Kazte knew I was in here, it probably meant that he'd arranged to talk to Cal outside the door on purpose. Subtly, Kazte was telling me I wasn't alone, he was telling me to have hope. He couldn't directly say it to my face, but he was making sure that I knew to stay strong. Though, rarely in this world dominated by fascist, sadistic Blondie's, content to see anything they so desired to burn, could one have or speak their thoughts openly. In the slums one certainly could, but mongrels and slum-rats never really had transcending ideas. Everyone was too busy fighting for the last scrap of bread.

I was sincerely grateful to Katze for this. Telling me to hold on and keep fighting; it was something I needed right now. Though, I didn't know if it would make a difference at this point. I was cold and starving and always so tired. I didn't really have anything left to give or anything I could keep fighting with. I was so close to the end of my tether—I was straining to keep myself from completely throwing the towel in and letting my mind take a permanent vacation from my body. Yet Kazte was, through his actions, silently pushing me on from the side and I was going to cling on to whatever I could until someone came to rescue me… or until my time ran out.

Sighing softly, I slowly closed my eyes and simply listened to the murmurings of Katze and Cal from outside until the voices faded away.