Caged

Chapter Four

The lethargy that I felt was becoming worse.  It had been over A WEEK NOW AND I  was still stuck in my cage.  Yesterday, I had lost a feather.  The desolation I felt as I cradled it in my arms was more than it should have been.  Where my once safe feather had helped me to soar the skies, it now lay broken.  My plumage was drooping, deflated and brittle, which matched the great gaping hole I felt in the middle of my stomach.  I lay on my side, facing away from the door.  The hatred I felt that it had come to this ate at me, but I knew needed the freedom of the air soon.   I never realized how much I would miss it until it was gone.

Knox had only come by occasionally, and he hadn’t seemed the slightest bit interested in the fact that his slave was in a morbid decline, or if he was, he hid it well.  He had treated me better than I heard the others had been.  Trouble was I didn’t know what to believe.  It was a reflection of how demoralized I was, when I could only scrounge up the slightest concern for my best friend.

One good thing had happened though. 

At least I had had no more visits from Drake.  I wouldn’t have been able to stomach them on top of everything else. 

The sound of footsteps approaching made me freeze slightly.  It wasn’t enough to make me turn around to see who was coming though.  I continued to stare ahead at the brick wall obscured slightly by my cage. 

“Well, aren’t you looking pitiful, then?” Knox said bemusedly.  “Funny.  I had thought you would have shown more fire than this.  I wonder if I purchased the wrong person.  Maybe I would have been better if I had purchased Glory.  She, at least, has a lot of life left in her… even if she has had her wings clipped.”

A burning sensation forming in the pit of my stomach became larger.  The spark turned into flame until it had consumed me.  The anger I felt at his words made me turn to stare hostilely at him.  I wanted to fly at him and tear him to little, tiny pieces.  In a matter of just over a week, he and his cohorts had turned my life into a living hell.  I was glad that it was almost over.

“Why didn’t you then?” I spat at him, knowing perfectly well if he had, he would have been cleaning up shed blood.

Because Drake and I would have killed each other, or would have attempted to.  

Knox unlocked the door and walked further into my cage.  Not wanting to deal with him while I was lying down, I stood up quickly.  My wings rustled and I felt, with a certain amount of detachment,  another feather shake free and turned to watch it float lazily to the ground, to lay nestled against the now flattened straw. 

He smiled caustically at the feather, before turning the gaze on me.  “Brennan, it seems you’re falling apart.”

That was it.  That was the last piece of a very large pile of straw.

The growl that reverberated around the room came from my throat and I quickly changed my position.  My legs were now slightly apart, while I held my arms slightly in front.  My hands had curled themselves automatically into fists. 

Knox gazed at me with an amused look in his eye.  “You’re not thinking about doing what I think you are, are you?” 

The muscles near my eyes tightened, making them narrow and I clenched my teeth together into a snarl.  Then using my wings, I leapt at the man who held me prisoner, the man who had taunted me almost every day.  If I could lay one good punch, I would be happy.  It was kind of hard though when he was a lot stronger than I was and prepared for the onslaught.   He had braced himself and absorbed my initial blow.  His arms had gripped my forearms and he had twisted his body so my knee couldn’t land a low blow.