Rising From The Ashes

Chapter 23

Chapter 23

Four days had passed. Four, fear-filled, freezing, never-ending days. At least that’s how many I thought it had been. It was so hard to tell without any way to track the time. It was always dark and I was always alone. My sleeping patterns were the best clock I had, but honestly what did time matter in a place like this? Four seconds or four years could have passed and I wouldn’t know the difference.

The only stimulation whatsoever in this godforsaken place was the brief moment each day when a single meal of some unknown substance would be pushed through a metal slot in the door. At first, I’d refused to eat it or drink from the small tin cup of water for fear that it was poisoned or drugged. Yet after awhile I couldn’t fight my grumbling stomach and parched throat any longer. The food didn’t seem to be laced with anything, but that could change at any time.

My system was going through a complete shock thanks to my change in diet and exercise and the like. I was hardly consuming a quarter of the food I might have back home and there was hardly any space for me to even walk around. My body grew stiff and cramped and even attempting stretches and any activity I could manage wasn’t helping very much. I hardly even had the energy to move most of the time. I was growing weaker by the second and I couldn’t help wondering if this was their plan. Give me enough food to survive, but not enough to keep me healthy and strong.

The worst part, though, wasn’t the lack of food or light or space, but the never-ending quiet. I’d never been so lonely in my life than in the days I spent in that cell. I couldn’t help thinking that if I had just had someone to talk to it might have been somewhat bearable, but it was the quiet that made it hell. The only sound to hear was the noises I myself would make. At times I would make nonsensical sounds just to break the silence. It didn’t help much. No matter how much noise I made, I was still alone. For all I knew I had always been alone.

Days without human interaction of any sort left me wondering if I had dreamed it all. Maybe I’d always been in this cell. Maybe I’d only dreamed up a world outside to comfort myself. Maybe there were no other people. I didn’t believe these things yet, but it was only a matter of time before my frantic musings turned into definite facts in my muddled mind. And this was after only four days.

The longer I was here the more sure I was that they weren’t planning to kill me. If that was their intention then they would have done it when I first got here instead of waiting so long. I didn’t know that this was necessarily a good thing. It wasn’t like they were just going to let me go any time soon. I’d broken almost every one of their laws and then some. No, they wouldn’t let me get away with that. But if they weren’t going to kill me, then what were they going to do? This thought almost terrified me more then them killing me.

They wouldn’t leave me locked up here forever, I was sure of that. They would want to talk to me, tell me all the things I’d done wrong, rub it in that they’d won and I had lost. Before they did this, though, it seemed like they wanted to play mind games. Lock me away until I was weak and near crazy and then take me out and screw with my mind some more. At least that’s what I thought would happen. Only time would tell.

And it did. I can’t say for sure how many more days it was before they came, maybe three, but then all the sudden it happened. I was hunched over on the rough floor, attempting to sleep, when all the sudden the lights clicked on. After living in the dark for what felt like forever, I was immediately blinded. The intensity was painful and extremely disorienting to the point that I didn’t even notice when the door opened and the Officials came in. There were two and they both came over and grabbed me, forcing me on my stomach so that they could handcuff me. I was weak and non-resistant and yet they handled me roughly anyway, pressing me into the hard ground until I was scrapped and bleeding. Then they yanked me to my unsteady feet and took me from my cell.