The Cell of Hell
Jordan Mar (everyone can just get over the Jordan-the-Jak-Fan thing...)
Chapter Three (finally)
Okie dokie, so we're friends now. I've decided not to go forward a whole year now. That's erasing over half of what I have planned. So this is like...a day now. Maybe in the next chapter I'll go a whole month...maybe. Depends on my mood...
They're coming again...
Jak and I had fallen asleep just after he had explained power cells and Precursor Orbs. Luckily, the Voice did not sleep. "Jak! Help me! The're coming! They're coming!" The boy rolled over and smiled lazily. "Maybe they're just walking by..."
That idiot! I always knew that they were coming for me. I always knew that it was me that was to sit in that horrible chair next to Hell's Spawn. There was no maybe about it! Voice, tell me, can one live on assumptions?
Yes...but it is dangerous. Warn him. Remember, you're not the only one in this Cell of Hell!
It was right. Any one of us could become the next victim, but he didn't know. He's new to this, just like I was ten years ago...
"Put her in here..."
Where are they taking me?
The tall men kicked me in my behind to make me move faster. It hurt a lot, but they didn't apologize for what they had done. I could already tell that they were VERY bad people...
"Okay, you little wench. You're going to be living in this here cell for the rest of your life, which may not be long if you don't be quiet, do as we say, or even think about escaping..."
Escape? Why would I want to escape? It didn't seem so bad...
Just like I would any other citizen of Haven, I smiled sweetly and said, "Thank you for saying so." To my surprise, the tall man in front of me laughed. "Shut up, bitch!" I covered my mouth in shock. "You said a nasty word!"
"Yeah? What are you going to do about it?" Normally my Daddy would scold anyone who said a bad word, but he wasn't here. Nobody was here. I wonder why?
Without another word I ran into my new "room" and sat down in the middle of the floor where the light of the outside formed a rectangle like shape. The two men chuckled as they saw my innocent face quickly morph to horrified as the slowly shut the door.
Now everything was pitch black.
I whimpered. There were no lights. No warmth. No Mommy or Daddy. Just me, all alone in a little cell.
After a while my eyes became adjusted to the almost complete darkness. I could make out the bed, a water basin, a chair, and a lump on the other end of the cell. Being only three years old, I couldn't help but become curious. Before investigating, I slipped off my tiny shoes and set them near the door, because that's what I always did in an unfamiliar place, so I wouldn't get the floor dirty.
With nothing but my socks on, I tip-toed across the cell until I recognized the lump as a human being. He or she snored loudly as they lie curled into a little ball under a trench coat. All that was visible was their bare feet and the top of their head. Whoever they were had bright and spiky red hair and only half of the normal pointy elvin ears.
I'd never seen anyone with such spiky hair before. Maybe it would prick me if I touched it! Or maybe it just looked sharp, but it was actually squishy. To test my theories, I took my small index finger and touched the tallest spike. The person wiggled just a little bit. I didn't really feel anything that time, so I tried again, this time using my thumb.
The spike moved just a little, but it was kind of sharp, so their hair was actually nothing like I thought it would be. Now completely awake, my roommate lashed out at me with their hand and hit me in the face.
Hard.
I staggered back a few feet and fell on the floor. The person sat straight up to get a good look at his supposed threat. But the only thing he saw was me, holding back tears as I wiped blood away from my nose repititively with the end of my sleeve.
"Why did you do that?" I asked, again touching my upper lip to clean away the blood that now poured from my smarting nose. He didn't answer. Was he deaf? Or was he not listening? "I said, 'Why did you do that?'" He gulped, not knowing how to respond to a crying toddler. I sniffed furiously, nearly choking on my own blood as I did so. Suddenly, the person that I now knew was a man, came over to me and lifted me into his arms and carried me to the bed.
He gently lay me down. It was like sitting on a rock to me, very uncomfortable. The red-headed man lifted the end of his ugly brown shirt and licked the hem. With it he began to clean away the caked blood on my upper lip, and with the other hand holding my chin up to stop my nose from bleeding.
It was difficult to breathe while he did this, but I assumed that he knew what he was doing, since he was a grown-up. "By dose hurtz," I said as he let go of my chin and finished cleaning my face. He just patted my head. "You're just like me," the man said in a raspy voice. I was a bit confused. "Bud yur a boy!"
"True, but we have a lot in common," he told me, lifting me again to go sit in the chair. I sat on his lap, waiting impatiently for him to finish. "You're confused, as was I when I first arrived...I think I was your age...Anyway, and we both want to leave-"
"Why would I want to leave this place? It doesn't seem so bad..." He stared for a long, long time, as if searching for my REAL answer. "Kid..."
A strange gurgling noise erupted from inside of him, like he had a tummy ache. Little did I know that it was much worse. MUCH, much worse.
Horns burst through the top of his head, splattering a bit of blood next to him. I was scared. Scared that he was a monster. Scared of the blood that now stained my skirt and the walls beside me. Backing up against the now crimson wall, he cried out in pure agony as claws ripped through the tips of his fingers, each one measuring at a foot. Tears spilled down his face as he called to me, "Kid, get out of here! Do whatever it takes! GRAAAAAAAAHHHH!" The red-hedded man slammed his fists into the ground, leaving dents in the metal floor.
I absently touched them. The cold, unforgiving mineral sent chills up and down my spine.
They wanted to make me like them, to make me a monster...
"Mister," I pleaded, watching with horror as he grinned evilly, baring long, purple fangs. "I don't want to stay...You're scaring me! Please stop!"
What is it about a little girl...that makes you want to sit down and cry...and wish you were as innocent...as she is right now?
"M-my name," he mumbled as the horns slowly retreated back into hiding beneath his skull, as did the claws back into his fingers and the fangs to regular teeth, "is Sanga. Sanga Gretchins..."
"Sondguh...willoo be bah big bwuhther? Dust forah liddle while?" Sanga raised his hand and whipped a tear away from the edge of his eye and bent down to my level.
"Of course...little sister. If you ever have any doubts or worries...bring them to me. Me and that ol' monster will chase them away..."
For the next five years, Sanga Gretchins was my only chance of survival...he and that 'ol' monster', as we had come to name it. I soon fell under the list of the bastards to be inflicted with pain by the unforgiving substance of Dark Eco. After my first test...
He was gone...
There was no comforting face to greet me when I returned limping and moaning, still fighting the aftershock of the torture device. No Big Brother or Monster to chase away the horrible guards.
No Sanga...
I knew he wasn't dead, from the very minute I realized he wasn't there anymore...he's still alive...somewhere...
Maybe he's free!
Perhaps...
Maybe he's started a new life in the outside world!
And you can, too...
If I get out of here, I can see him again!
All the more reason to trust Jak...
Reality hit me again like a bucket of cold water.
"Jordan! HELP ME!" Jak was being dragged by his arms out of the cell, pushing his feet against the sides of the door to resist. What was I supposed to do? How could I possibly defend the one who was sent to defend me?
Fight them. Rescue your rescuer...
But he's supposed to be rescuing ME!
That's not what I said from the beginning. You've earned his trust and he's earned yours, but that's not enough. Don't let anything happen to the ones you care about...or even love...
I don't LOVE him!
But you care, don't you? Jak needs your help...Save him...like any good friend would do...
"Like any good friend would do," I repeated, just noticing the guard standing over me.
"What was that, wench?" he said in a rough tone as he kicked me sharply in the ribs.
Anger burned inside of me. I'd never felt this before...such...rage...
"I'm...not...a wench."
"WHAT THE HELL DID YOU JUST SAY TO ME?" Another blow was delt to my side, causing me to hit the floor underneath the butt of his gun. "You heard me." I surprised myself by talking back. "I'm not a wench. I'm thirteen years old and TOO GODDAMN PISSED TO SIT HERE AND JUST TAKE THIS SHIT!"
Kill them...
The Voice had changed...it was...huskier...and angrier...
Kill...them...all...
"Y-yes...kill..." The ends of my fingers began to bleed as long, black claws began to sprout. For some odd reason...the blood made me laugh. Not like the joyous type that one issues when excited...but one that only a maniac can master.
I felt...tall...and even...powerfull. And as horns began to erupt from my crown the laughing grew louder. I was almost certain that it wasn't mine at all...it was...the Dark Eco.
The blood on my fingers, I felt, just wasn't enough to satisfy me. I needed more...of someone else's blood...like a pool on the ground.
Retrieve the blood, my child...retrieve it for me...
"What the fuck? Uh, call the Baron!" The guard above me, or below, panicked as I raised my arm to deliver my attack.
"Who's the weakling now?"
A colorful splatter hit the wall as my claws cut through his chest like a hot knife through butter. With almost an instinct, I withdrew the dagger-like nails and licked them clean, enjoying every taste there was left to be tasted. The other guard was gone, and the one before me dead...but there was one...more...left.
"Jordan! Please! What's happened to you? Don't kill me! Don't let that monster overcome you!"
Monster...that's what you've become. You've set aside your friendship just to see his blood? Don't forget, you want to get out of here ALIVE...
"J-Jak...I'm sorry...I didn't mean..."
And just as quickly as they had come, the deformities had disappeared. "Jak, I understand if you hate me-"
"Jordan...what have they done to you?"
I stared in disbelief. "How could you see what I've just done and ask that?" In complete shock, I stood. My cheeks felt hot and wet, and I knew I was crying...for the first time since Sanga left.
Jak abandonned his position on the floor to stand next to me, seemingly oblivious to the fact that I could lose control again. And then...
He hugged me...not like a friendship or love hug...but a comfort hug. I didn't know how to react.
Should I hug him back?
If you wish...
So I did. He let me cry into his shoulder as the night, or day, passed by. Both of us ignored the complaints we got next door or from the guards, they didn't matter now. All that mattered was each other, and the friendship that had to last for now OUR sake...
Heh, sorry for the wait. I had to put a little extra in this one (that and I got carried away writing it...). Anyway, I'm going to start adding more characters next chapter (cough cough Tiffany, Zoe, Caitling cough cough), so be on the lookout!