Thank you so much to everybody who reviewed! I really, really appreciate all of the support. Since everybody was so nice I thought I'd post this super short chapter as a thank you. Its just a little interlude before plot advancement, but I hope you enjoy it.
The promise of the Sunrise
Alex woke up when it was still dark – he was soaked in sweat and his breathing rapid. He hadn't woken up despite his nightmares; he had been so exhausted that his nightmares hadn't woken him. The tiled floor was pooled with his blood. His face was pressed against it, cold and damp. His hair was wet with blood and one of his eyes was swollen shut. His whole body was aching; he didn't think he could ever move again. He didn't even have the energy to lift his head. In that moment all he wanted was for it to be over. He was in so much pain, there was so much agony. He just couldn't hold on any more. But there was no way it was happening. Even as he felt himself starting to slip into unconsciousness, he could hear the hospital trolley wheeling down the corridor outside – he knew he would wake up in more pain than he could handle, having undergone medical treatment to make sure that he couldn't just slip away in his sleep. He couldn't do this anymore…
He pushed the memories aside; being in the past was a bad idea. He didn't want to be in the past… In the end he went to the shower and put it at a lukewarm temperature, keeping the water off his face (cold water or water in his mouth or nose made him panic). He sat down with the water running over him and just stared at the wall. He couldn't move because he was tightly strapped to a chair. There was nothing he could do. He couldn't even speak because he was gagged. There was no control at all. And then they brought the pliers towards his hand and there was a sudden ripping burning pain as his first finger nail was ripped out; he scream, though muffled through the gag, made his guard snigger. "One down nine to go," The man said. Alex couldn't do this anymore… but he had no choice. He couldn't do this but he was going to regardless.
A sob ripped through Alex's body as he tried to pull himself back into where he was. He was so alone, here by himself under a fake name. His face was wet but he knew it wasn't from the shower. He scolded himself for that. He didn't cry. He didn't give his tears to anybody. But even so, they kept coming, dripping down his face. He let them mingle with the shower water and pretended they were just summer rain, warm against his body. Or maybe they were the sea splashing against his face at the beach. Perhaps he was just asleep somewhere peaceful and this whole thing was a bizarre dream that would fade away, and the wetness on his cheeks was just somebody trying to wake him up.
He wanted to wake up so badly. He wanted somebody to tell him that those things had happened to somebody else, that he was really just a child at home and safe in the arms of those who loved him. He wanted somebody to tell him that the bogey man wasn't real, that there was no monster under the bed, that good would triumph over evil. He wanted to be safe.
But Alex had never gotten what he wanted. As the sun came up he watched it through the bathroom window, wiping his eyes dry and eventually shutting the shower off. The sun always came up in the end. He would just have to wait for it. The sun always came up in the end… but he didn't know if he could do this anymore.
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