You pressed yourself tighter into your corner, your fingers plugged into your ears trying to tune out the sounds of pain below you. The sun had come up and was now disappearing over the horizon, though it felt more like years than just a day.

You had learned that the new victim was a male, and from the sound of it, he couldn't be much older than you at seventeen or eighteen. It was so odd hearing the pained cries coming from someone other than you, and it terrified you.

Soon the sounds stopped and shadows were cast on the walls and floor of your room. You slowly dropped your hands and deeply breathed, realizing you had been crying. You wipe at your face with trembling hands, feeling just how exhausted you were.

The door slammed open and you flinch. Abraham smiles and wiggles his finger at you, indicating for you to come closer. "I finally have your new room set up. Ready to go?"

You just stare at him and that sweet demeanor melted away into the piercing eyes and sharp scowl you knew all to well. In a heart beat, he was at your side and he grabbed your arm and brought you to your feet.

You barely came up to his shoulders and he dragged you out of the room and into the hallway. You tried clawing at his arm but it did nothing and you watched as the cuts slowly closed up, not leaving a single scar.

He dragged you down a flight of stairs and towards the room that haunted your day dreams and nightmares and you felt yourself beginning to cry and whimper. He dug his nails into your arm and you let out a cry.

"Don't be stupid, crying gets you no where."

He took you to a door near the room you were so familiar with and flung it open. The room was smaller than you were used to, but it was cozier. A real bed was pushed against the wall with a blanket in a pillow, a luxury you once had so long ago it was nothing but a faded memory.

Abraham shoved you in and you fell to your already bruised and cut up knees, a sting shooting up your wrists. You look behind you and he stands at the doorway, smiling.

"Enjoy it while it lasts, I thought it'd be better for you to hear what you're missing in the meantime. Enjoy." He winked at you and closed the door. You heard the familiar twist of the lock and you stood up, legs weak.

You limped over to the bed and stared at it for a long minute before touching it gently and sitting on it. It was soft and you wanted to melt into it and sleep but you also didn't want to give Abraham the satisfaction of knowing he was taking one more sense of comfort from you.

You glanced out the only window and through the bars you could see the last of the sunset dip behind the horizon and the room was bathed in darkness. The cold set in and you gave in and wrapped the blanket around you.

The warmth felt nice, and suddenly you were reminded of your mother who had been dead for so long. It was like being held by her, her warmth welcoming you with love and care that you missed with a burning passion.

A faint moan caught your attention and you snapped out of your memory, remembering that you weren't completely alone anymore. You listened and another came again minutes later and you press your face against the bars to try to see the neighboring window but could only glimpse at it, noticing it wasn't too far away.

Who was this stranger? Was he okay? How badly hurt is he? Why did you care? The more you thought, the more you knew it was a strange fascination with knowing someone else is here with you other than the man who's terrorized your for years. And now more than ever you didn't just want to escape, you wanted to help someone else besides yourself. But how?

You stepped back and looked at the bars. You knew you could do one thing, but you didn't know how well it would work. You placed your hands back on the bars and closed your eyes, concentrating. You imagined the bars gone, the window being a gapping hole in the wall.

The more you concentrated, the more you scrunched your eyes and sweat formed at your brow. Whether it took seconds, minutes, or hours; you didn't know. But when you opened your eyes feeling cold air on your skin, you were delighted to find the bars gone.

You stuck your head through the window and peered down at the ground far, far below you. If you fell, you knew you would die. You gulped back your fear and turned to focus on the neighboring window.

You were pleased to find it closer than it seemed, and you shakily lower your leg out the window and onto the small rock ledge that made up the building. You took a shaky breath and brought the other leg down. You stood there for a moment, the cool air whipping your back and your legs shaking under you.

You took a step towards the window and began to slowly inch your way towards it. You dug your fingers into the stone and willed yourself not to look down, just focus on the window. Soon, you were there and you slipped one arm through the bars to get a good grip on the windowsill, the other on the bars.

Closing your eyes, you focused as strongly as you did last time and the bars were gone. You crawled in and crouched, holding onto the wall for dear life, not believing you had done such a feat on your own.

The adrenaline kicked in more when a cold voice reached out to you from somewhere in the room, weak but not afraid: "Who's there?"

You froze, realizing you hadn't thought that far ahead. Not only did you not know who he os, but if he is even dangerous. This would be the first person you'd interact with in a decade other than Abraham and you didn't even know if you could properly talk or have the courage for this.

"I know someone's there, answer me." He sounded like he was trying to be intimidating, but he only came out sounding weak and tired. You stood up and once your eyes adjusted, you slowly approached the figure you could make out against the wall.

The closer you got, the more the figure became distinct. His hair was dark, like a raven's, with white stripes on one side. His shirt was a button up, fancy top you had never seen before and black pants that looked too nice to be worn just out and about.

His feet were bare, like yours, and you finally noticed the blood soaking his shirt and the smell of horror that came from him and the blood on the floor that you realized you were standing in.

You let out a gasp and placed your hand over your mouth. The man before you opened an eye and you were even more shocked to find the iris the colour of gold. Perhaps it was the moonlight, but his eye seemed to glow.

His eye scanned you up and down and for a moment, he seemed just as surprised as you were to see him before giving you the same blank look as before. You stared back at him, your eyes as wide as they could be.

"Who are you?" His voice was gentler this time. After a moment, you whisper your name and couldn't help but wonder if he heard you. He nodded and closed his eye.

"Are you here to take from me as well?"

"No." Your voice came out stronger and his eye opened sharply. You swallowed the lump in your throat. "I'm here to help."

"...help? How can I trust you? How did you even get in here?"

You pointed to the window. "I climbed in, I live in the room next to yours."

"But how?" He glanced over to the window and his face dropped in shock. "Where are the bars?"

"I made them disappear for now."

"You...what? How?"

You bring your hands up and wiggle your fingers. "I...can do things if I focus hard enough. When you're alone for so long, you tend to figure out how to do things you might not have known you could do to begin with."

"So you're a witch?"

"A what?" You wrinkled your nose up in confusion. His surprise continued to show.

"A witch. You know, magic powers? Potions? Tend to be evil?"

You slowly blinked at him. "I...guess? My mom had powers like me, but she died a long time ago. Abraham hits me if he finds me practicing, so I only do it when I know I'm safe."

You glanced around the room, suddenly realizing just how much you had let your guard down. You looked back at the man and he was staring right back at you, and you shivered slightly feeling as though he was looking right through you into the darkest part of your mind. And you didn't know if you liked it or not.

You stare at each other and the time ticks by. You finally break eye contact and find the courage to step closer, raising your hand to gently brush against the bloodiest part of his shirt.

"What has he done to you?" You whisper. The man doesn't answer, but his eyes narrow and become softer.

You craned to look up at his face and finally notice the deep cut above his left brow, the blood seeping over his closed left eye and down his cheek. You hiss in a mix of understanding his pain and how ugly it looked.

You ripped a part of the bottom of your already torn, stained, and aged gown and dabbed it against his cut. You wipe away the blood and he manages to open his other eye. He gives you a faint smile and you, for the first time in so many years, genuinely smile back.

Down the hallway a door opened and you flinched, stepping away from the stranger. You looked at the door and back at the man, horror on your face. You glanced from the man, to the window, and back to the man again and was at the windowsill in a heartbeat.

Looking over your shoulder, you find him looking after you. You lick your chapped lips, ignoring how afraid and cold you were. "I'll be back, I promise."

Once you were out, you focused hard and the bars were back in their rightful place. You inch your way to your own cell and climb in, focusing hard until the bars were back, and let go of the breath you had been holding.

Outside, the darkness was overwhelmed by the rising son and the black sky became tinted with oranges, reds, and pinks. Down the hall, you could hear the familiar humming of Abraham followed by the opening and closing of the door to the strange man's cell.

You hold in your breath, prepared to find a way to tune out the man's pain and wait until night would come again and you could try to fulfill the promise you had made to him despite not knowing how to keep the promise to yourself to escape you had made so long ago.