Chapter 36 The Present
THE PRESENT
AMELIA
The blackness was comforting.
When my senses began to come back to me, I wanted to reverse time so I could fall back into sweet oblivion.
Silence had fallen, and the sound of rain that I had been hearing was gone.
The biting cold wind that had previously enveloped my body was gone.
Everything seemed to have evaporated, except me.
Am I dead?
The thought hit me like a ton of bricks. Did I want to be dead? I enjoyed the quiet of being unconscious, but when reality settled in, I had a moment of hesitation within my mind.
I don’t want to be dead.
It was a shocking revelation.
Through the groggy awakening, I could feel my heart beating. I could feel the rising and falling of my chest as I breathed.
The thing that I did not feel was the texture of dirt and rock that I had become accustomed to since Caiden and I became lost in the wilderness. My eyes popped open.
Where the hell was I?
The darkness was thick and suffocating, wrapping around me like a cloak. My head throbbed, and the last memory I had was of Caiden’s alarmed face rushing toward me.
I blinked, trying to adjust to the dim moonlight filtering through a small window. How long were we unconscious?
Panic surged through me as I realized I was not outside anymore.
“Caiden?” I croaked, my voice hoarse and weak.
I strangely hoped for his presence here with me. If he were here, it meant companionship, and a better chance of survival. Although I hate to admit it, his stubborn refusal to give up motivates me to keep going.
“Caiden!” I called out again, a bit louder this time as I began to find my voice.
After a few moments of deadly silence, I heard a faint groan. I squinted, my eyes straining to see through the surrounding darkness. The small, dusty window let in only a small speck of clarity, and my eyes strained to focus through the dizziness.
Finally, he spoke. “Amelia? Where are we?”
I almost laughed. As if I would know why we were in a dark, cold room. Instead of shooting him a sarcastic comment, I only shrugged. “I don’t know. But, I have a bad feeling about this.”
“The last thing I remember is you getting hit with some sort of dart, then you collapsed.” Caiden spoke groggily, with confusion dancing in his tone.
A dart? The air cold, an eerie chill seeped into my bones. My fear was confirmed. We were brought here and trapped. I imagine they would have put us in a clean, comfortable bedroom if they had meant to save us. Not a mysterious dungeon.
“Who the hell could have been out in the middle of nowhere shooting darts in people?” The question hung in the air.
“I don’t know. When they show their face, they are going to regret trapping us in here.” His tone was cold, and I knew he meant his threat. Something deep in me knew that in the right circumstance, Caiden could seriously hurt somebody.
“I’m scared.” I confessed, my essence etched with weary dread.
“I’m not. I’ll fucking kill whoever did this. Fuck!” His voice went from conflicted to angry, and I shrunk backwards from his eruption.
“Maybe this is a misunderstanding.” My voice squeaked, and I fell into hopeless delusion.
“A misunderstanding? Are you fucking stupid? Obviously, whoever did this knew what they were doing. Must have been strong as hell to move us into this shitty chamber,” Caiden hissed, continuing to explode with fury.
“No need to snap at me. I’m just trying to make sense of this. Or find a little hope in the situation. I need something.”
Even in the darkness, I could feel Caiden’s intense gaze.
I welcomed the darkness because I don’t think I could look him in the eyes. I remember what he had said to me before I got shot with the dart, and his words still stung.
“Sorry. I’m frustrated. I hate feeling helpless.”
Surprisingly, he apologized.
“I know the feeling.”
Suddenly, a floorboard creaked nearby. We held our breaths, listening. Silence descended again.
Then, a low chuckle echoed through the confined space, sending shivers down my spine. It was a chilling sound, devoid of humor, laced with a predatory satisfaction. "Well, well," a voice, smooth as polished obsidian, slithered into the darkness. "Awake, are we?"
The voice belonged to a man; I was sure of it. Panic surged through me when the realization hit that we weren’t alone. How long had the mystery man been there? I wondered.
Caiden shifted near me, I could envision him looking alert and analyzing our surroundings, trying to spot the man.
The darkness felt less like a refuge now, more like a cage. The chuckle, that chilling echo, was the key turning in the lock.
“Who are you? Come out of the shadows and face us, fucking coward.”
Caiden yelled, showing no signs of fear. It was rare for me to witness Caiden being afraid. I wanted him to feel afraid; it would make me feel less like a wimp.
I watched the shadows and waited for an appearance. A pair of eyes, gleaming like embers in the gloom, emerged from the corner.
The man stepped fully into the meager light, his silhouette bleak against the dusty window. There was a barrier in between us and the man. It appeared we were confined to a cage-like section of the room.
The man was tall, imposing, and his face was obscured by a wide-brimmed hat, casting his features into further mystery. He carried himself as a presence of terror. He took a slow, deliberate step towards us, and the air crackled with menace.
"Such a lovely couple," he purred, his voice dangerously low, like a beast's growl. He paused, letting the weight of his words settle before continuing, his tone shifting to a sharper edge. "Let's just say, you two are about to become participants in a very special game."
My blood ran cold.
Caiden, however, remained calm. A sudden change from his explosiveness. "A game, you say?" he challenged, his voice tight with barely contained rage. "I suggest you tell us the rules, before this 'game' becomes permanently unwinnable for you."
The man chuckled again, a sound that scraped against my nerves like nails on a chalkboard. He seemed to relish the tension he'd created, his eyes dancing with perverse amusement. "Oh, the rules are simple enough," he drawled, his voice dripping with sinister tunes. "Survive."
I swallowed hard, the weight of his words suffocating. “Survive?” I echoed, suspicion creeping into my voice. “What do you mean by that?”
He straightened; I imagined a cruel smile playing on his lips. “You’ll see. I have plans for you both. But first, let’s make sure you’re well-fed and hydrated. You’ll need your strength for what’s to come.”
As he turned to retrieve something from the shadows, I caught a glimpse of the room. A small basement cluttered with forgotten relics of a bygone era. Old furniture stood against the walls, draped in dust, and the air was thick with the smell of decay.
A flickering bulb overhead cast unsettling shadows that danced around us, increasing the sense of entrapment and danger.
“Caiden,” I whispered, my voice trembling. “What do we do?”
I could see his shape now, still as a statue. “We wait for an opportunity. We can’t let him get the upper hand.”
The man returned, holding two cups of murky water and a bowl of what looked like rotten stew. “Eat up,” he said cheerfully, the twisted smile never leaving his face. “You’ll need your energy. The fun starts soon.”
“I’m not eating anything you give us,” I shot back, my voice sharper than I intended.
“Ah, feisty, aren’t we?” He chuckled, opening the barred door to set the food down. “I admire your spirit. But you’ll find that hunger is a powerful motivator.”
Caiden’s jaw clenched as he stared at the food, then at the man. “What do you want from us?”
The man leaned closer, his expression shifting from amusement to something darker. “I want to see how you both handle a little pressure. You’ve been through a lot, haven’t you? Let’s see how much further you can be pushed.”
My stomach churned at his words, and I felt a rush of panic. “Are you insane? You can’t do this!”
“I can and I will,” he replied, his voice low and chilling. “You’re in my world now, and I have all the time in the world to play with my little toys.”
“Stop this!” Caiden shouted, his anger spilling over. “We’re not your playthings! Let us go! I’ll rip your throat out.”
The man’s eyes glinted with sadistic delight. “You’re not going anywhere. It’s been a while since I’ve had wanderers in these woods to keep for myself.”
He stepped back, allowing us a moment of relief, yet the sense of dread settled heavily in the air. I could feel Caiden’s tension beside me, and the reality of our situation clawed at my insides.
“Amelia,” he said, urgency creeping into his voice, “we need to find a way out of this.”
“I know,” I replied, anxiety tightening my chest. “But how? We’re trapped down here.”
“Not for long,” he said. “I’ll figure out something.”
As the man’s laughter echoed in the shadows, I could feel the darkness closing in around us, threatening to engulf us in a nightmare from which there was no escape.
The storm outside was over. We were now trapped in a different kind of storm, where the predator lurked just beyond our reach. Watching, waiting.