Rating: K+
Words: 551
Author's Note: I've been in kind of a dark writing mood as of late, so this little gem is what happened when I got to thinking about this prompt. Enjoy! *Thanks to those who let me know that the coding was screwed up... Ugh, hopefully it's readable now!
Thump-thump. Thump-thump.
The heavy pounding of his heart was excruciatingly loud in the damp, cold darkness of his dungeon cell. The sound made his head hurt terribly and all he wanted was for the noise to stop. For the blessed silence to take him away from the pain that wracked his body every second that he was awake.
Raph wasn't sure how long it had been since he had been dragged, semi-conscious into this cell and chained up like a wild animal. Could have been a week; maybe longer. He really wasn't sure any more. He had barely been fed, hardly given any water, never been exposed to the light, so it was hard to keep track of the time.
He shivered and wrapped his emaciated arms around his legs, hugging them close to his plastron. The chains securing his arm shackles to the wall rattled mournfully at the movement. A bead of sweat trickled down his face and into his eye. With a soft groan of discomfort, he rubbed at his sweat sheened face. The room felt deathly cold, yet his skin felt as hot as the surface of the sun.
The crack in his shell must be getting infected by now. That would explain all of the sweating and the chills. This is really bad… He didn't have to be a doctor to know that. He wished that Donnie were here right now. He would know what to do.
Raph felt so weak… He just wanted to sleep. Pressing his head against his knees, he closed his eyes and felt himself slipping back into unconsciousness. A small part of him wished that Shredder had killed him when he had had the chance. Another cynical part of him pointed out that it wasn't too late for that.
A sharp creak from directly in front of him made him look up sharply. The light from the hall blinded him, and he raised his shackled hand to avert the light. A large shape stood silhouetted against the doorway. It looks a lot like Tiger Claw, but it could have just as well as been the Shredder himself. His eyes stung so much that it was hard to be sure.
Raph's voice was so rusty from disuse that his first attempt at speech was more of a squeak than a formation of words. Then he cleared his throat and tried again.
"What… What do you want?"
He had tried his best to sound defiant, but at best, he sounded scared and small, which he was. The shape didn't respond. It stoically stared at him for a long moment before backing out, pulling the door closed behind it. The sound of the lock being pushed back into place was like a shot from a canon. The light was immediately extinguished and plunged the cell back into pitch darkness.
Raph choked back an involuntary sob and hugged his legs tighter. He wanted to go home. He wanted his family. He wanted to fight his way out, but didn't have the strength. There were so many things that he wanted and in this dark, dank hellhole, it all seemed so far away.
He sat huddled in the infinite darkness; his only companions being the agonizing pain in his shell, and the sound of his own heartbeat.