Chapter 14
Have I always had a choice? Is free will just an illusion? Am I free now? Have I ever been free? Will I ever be free? Will I get to feel freedom again? Will I have a chance to choose once more? Will I want to make a choice?
I opened my eyes and saw the lamp hanging outside my cell was no longer working. Pale-yellow lights by the other cells kept blinking, throwing light only at my barred cell door. My body was freezing, but I wasn’t trembling anymore.
I closed my eyes and heard footsteps. I thought I was imagining it, but now I knew they were real.
The footsteps were getting louder and louder. I got to my feet, gripped the bars of my cage and waited.
I saw a man walk with Cass on his arm as her legs stumbled. Her body looked like it was ready to slump over and spill onto the floor in a puddle.
Her face didn’t show horror, fear or pain. It looked blank. She was still alive, but her face said otherwise.
It didn’t take them a long time to get her back to the cell, but I used it to look her over, searching for any obvious signs of torture on her body. Thinking about it made me sick, but I had to get real. I had to know what to expect.
I was expecting a beat-up face, stab wounds, clothes torn apart, anything that would help me get ready for my turn. But she looked the same as before.
Panic was rising from the pit of my stomach, growing like a balloon .
This damn uncertainty was eating me alive like sizzling acid.
I sat on the floor and began to rub every finger on my left hand.
It was quiet today. No one was screaming or crying. Cass didn’t make a sound. Who was next?
My heartbeat was so heavy, I felt like a marathon runner.
All these thoughts weren’t helping. They were bullies poking my wounded body with sticks.
I had to calm down and stop overthinking.
Monotonous footsteps rang through the basement walls, letting me know they’re coming. My heart was rumbling in my chest like a little engine.
The footsteps were coming closer, getting louder. Next thing I knew, two men stopped in front of my cell.
One opened the door with an old-looking key while the other man looked at him with a bored expression.
The door opened and I stood up.
One of them entered my cell and grabbed my arm without a word, like I was a product, not a human being.
I didn’t resist. I followed meekly, waiting for what’s to come.
They had me in a painful iron grip that felt like someone wrapped the iron bars of my cell door around my arms.
They urged me up the stairs.
Walking up the steps felt like going up a hill. I expected bright sunlight to daze me, but there was none. It was nighttime.
Thick black curtains on the windows were drawn. There was a suit of rooms up ahead, I passed one of them on my way here.
The exit was so close, yet so terribly far.
They turned left and led me to a set of large doors. I could see light seeping from beneath them. One of them unhanded me, opened the door and pushed me in, like he was throwing a lamb into the lion’s den .
I snapped my eyes shut, but it didn’t help. The light was bright enough to make my eyes water. I wanted to run back to my cell to never have to look at it again.
I heard the door closing. I tried to open my eyes slowly, but it hurt too much. Was light the first torture?
I managed to keep my eyes open after a while. My vision was blurry. I could only see his outline, so I tried blinkingrapidly, staring down at my feet.
Once my vision went back to normal, I looked up and saw the reaper standing just a few feet away, watching me silently. The shock made my breath hitch as I took a few steps back.
He was dressed in all black: black shoes, black pants, black shirt. Everything looked neat and smooth. Not a wrinkle or spot in sight. He looked flawless, like he just stepped off of a boutique display window.
His raven black hair was combed back neatly, falling in a dark wave of locks. He had a somewhat tanned complexion. As for his eyes, they looked just as grim and cold as before.
The color of his eyes practically blended with the ebony color of his pupils even in the bright light of the lamps.
He slowly raised his arms and folded them over his chest. His shirt stretched and hugged his body like second skin. Nature clearly was playing a cruel joke on us. I wanted to look at him. Watch him closely. It wasn’t every day that I met a man of such toxic magnetism.
He kept staring me down silently.
For a moment I thought he wasn’t real. That he was a mannequin.
His eyes weren’t looking me over like they would, had he been human. He wasn’t observing me. His eyes stared intently into mine. His gaze pulled me in like a black hole, and I did my best to avoid it .
I noticed a double door at the other end of the room. I tilted my head to the side and saw a similar door to my right.
This was the door they took me here through. I knew where the exit was. It’s in the next room over.
Were his goons still standing outside the door, were they gone? If they were, I might have some time to run out and dash to the forest, right? They might shoot me down. What if they’re standing outside? Then they would just drag me back. But what if there’s a punishment? Did he want me alive?
He’s searching. Looking for a special girl. Who was he looking for? Whom did he want? What if he wasn’t really looking for anyone? If this was all just a game, I was as good as dead.
Adrenaline was pumping through my veins, reminding me I was still alive and kicking.
My right thumb began fiddling with the ring.
I slowly turned my head to face him. He was still in the same spot, his gaze as eerie as before, piercing right through me.
Was he armed?
Silence was his weapon.
He’s watching me. Waiting. Was this a test?
The corner of his lips twitched a bit. Just a miniscule disturbance in his form, yet it couldn’t go unnoticed.
“Looking for a way out?”
“Yes,” I sighed.
“Why aren’t you running then?”
I sneered, looking down. I had no reason to smile, but my anxiety got the best of me.
“What do I have to do for a chance to escape?”
I looked up, meeting his gaze.
Now was his turn to smirk.
“You still think you can escape, don’t you?”
Dread bound my body with invisible threads .
The air in the room was heavy with tension. I could feel my pulse, my ears were ringing.
“You don’t get to choose. There’s only one option. And believe me, you’ll want it. It’d seem like paradise to you.”
“If this is paradise, what will hell look like?”
I immediately regretted saying it out loud. A wide grin appeared on his face.
I tried to swallow the lump in my throat, but it was pointless.
He turned his back to me and went to his desk. On it was a glass decanter with a tumbler, as well as a large blue box.
My heartbeat quickened with renewed vigor. The crimson liquid inside the decanter looked like blood. He calmly poured himself half a glass, drank it and turned back to me.
“Do you want to know what I have in store for you, Zoe?”
“No.”
I whispered this under my breath, looking at the floor.
He slammed the glass on the table and I jumped.
“Do you like animals?”
“Yes.”
“What about dogs?”
Was he going to kill a dog before me? Or did he want me to kill one?
“What is the most important trait of a dog?”
“Loyalty.”
“Louder.”
“Loyalty,” I spoke up.
“I want you to become a dog.”
“What?”
“I want your loyalty, diligence and selflessness. I need you to be as loyal as a dog to me. You will follow my orders without question. If I tell you to steal, you steal. If I tell you to kill, you kill. If I tell you to die, you drop dead.”
I should’ve tried to run while I still had the chance .
There’s no paradise, only hell.
“If I refuse, are you going to kill me?”
“I knew curiosity will get the best of you.”
His smile was alluringly ominous.
He took a phone out of his pocket, made a few clicks and put it on speakerphone.
I heard the dial tone.
“Hello.”
The voice on the other end sounded raspy and tired.
My jaw dropped, eyes opening wide in shock. I felt like a dirty boot pressed on my throat, cutting off all oxygen.
I could tell this voice from thousands of others.
This was my dad’s voice.