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PART THREE
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CHAPTER ONE
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Caliko awoke to find herself in a dark, cold room. At least she thought it was a room. She could hear water dripping somewhere nearby. "Hello?" She called out and then silently scolded herself for making such a foolish mistake. She felt around and soon found what to her felt like icy metal bars.
She grabbed them and shook them, finding them inmovable, she tried to stand up, but found her right leg useless. Caliko instead leaned up against the bars and tried to remember how she had come to be here. She fought through the pain in her head and vaguely remembered riding her horse to the top of the hill and watching the Gypsy's caravan, but after that, it only became an empty void of lost time.
How long had she been here? She wondered. Had it been hours? Days? Weeks? Suddenly, panic tore through her as she recalled the last time she felt lost in time, back to the Casino and Top Hat. Her body started to shake and the darkness spin around her. She couldn't contain the screams as the hurdled from her lungs and barreled out her throat. She desperatley shook the bars, dug into the ground beneath her, mangling her fingernails, leaving them sore and bloody. She wasn't going to be a prisoner again, she wasn't going to have that happen again. Over and over she screamed. Wordless, blood curdling screams.
The sound of footsteps could be heard between Caliko's screams. And a light filled the room, but Caliko did not notice it through her tear-clouded eyes. It wasn't until a heavy boot kicked the bars to Caliko's cell, did Caliko realize she was no longer alone. But it didn't stop her. No, Caliko stood herself up and fell quickly after her body failed to hold her weight on her injured ankle, and she tried to stand again, but only managed to drag herself away from the bars.
"Stop it! Shut up! HELLO? Don't make me come in there!" The owner of the boots, opened the door to the cell and entered. He reached down and grabbed Caliko by the front of her shirt with his left hand and with all his strength shook her. It didn't stop her.
The guard knelt down in front of Caliko and looked at her.
Caliko continued to scream and cry, tears and spit coursing down her chin.
He slapped her hard across the face.
Caliko quieted and covered her face, fearful of another strike.
"About bloody time." The guard stood up and walked out the door, closing it behind him. He placed his torch in a bracket on the wall, thinking it was the dark Caliko was afraid of, and left.
Caliko sat there, blood from a lip bitten during the slap, filling her mouth with a metallic taste, and waited. She was too fearful of another slap to remove her hands. She didn't understand why she could not control her body from shaking so violently or why she could not stop her own screams, all she knew was that she was exhausted. Tired, worn-out. Slowly, she laid herself down and fell asleep.
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She awoke a few hours later, a little more in control of herself, to someone being thrown into the cell with her. She did not see who it was, as the torch was taken back out with the guards and she had chosen to pretend to be asleep when the guards were around.
She sat there in silence, listening for her cellmate, debating if she should talk or remain quite. She could hear who ever it was moving around, feeling the walls and doors, trying to find a way out in the darkness. Caliko heard them creeping closer and closer, she didn't want to be touched, so she finally spoke. "Hello?"
Caliko heard the sharp intake of breathe, followed by, "Who's there?"
And there was something familiar in that voice.
