Beloved Evil

FOUR

A flash of bright light overtook Tara's vision as the door at the top of the staircase opened. Batibat and Bram quickly walked through it, followed by the row of bloody people who grunted in pain at the sudden illumination.

Tara was the last one to enter, and even though her eyes were adjusting to the light, she could still see enough to be surprised. She had expected more wet walls and darkness, disgusting scents and rows of cells. But what she looked at now was beautiful. It looked like the inside of an old castle; walls and floor made of strong stone, with a colourful painted high ceiling. Torches were hanging on each side of them, casting a warm glow throughout the wide hall that seemed to go on forever.

The alluring illusion shattered as Tara almost slipped on the bloody floor, that was caused by the multiple injured people in front of her. She looked down and saw that her jeans were painted red up to her ankles, the rest of them so muddy and dirty that they had turned brown.

She looked up again and noticed the young woman in front of her. Her eyes were finally back to normal, so she was able to see that the woman didn't seem too hurt. She was walking without a limp, her head down, no blood.

"Hey" Tara said, trying to be as quiet as possible

The woman didn't say anything.

"Are you alright?" she tried again, but the woman still didn't respond.

Tara cursed under her breath, looking around to try and find something useful. A window perhaps, maybe some kind of weapon. But of course, she came up empty handed.

She suddenly stumbled into the woman in front of her, that she hadn't noticed had stopped walking. The woman turned her head and sneered at Tara, making her take a step back. The whole row of people had stopped walking and Batiba had turned around to face them all. She lifted her arms towards them as if getting ready to give them a warm embrace.

"It's an honour," she said loud enough for all of them to hear, "to meet each and every one of you."

She was still rather far away, so Tara couldn't make out any features other than pale skin and high cheekbones, and her shiny, black hair that fell to her waist in big, unnatural curls.

"On the other side of this door," she continued and gestured to the big double doors by her side, "someone will tend to you wounds and then you will be shown to your new home."

Some of the people cheered, but most of them swayed dangerously on their feet, like they were mere seconds away from dropping dead.

But Batiba ignored them. "Welcome," she shouted, flashing yet another grand smile, "to your very new Heaven under Earth: Hell."

And then she turned around, Bram following behind her like a neglected child.

The double doors opened and a man in a suit exited, untying some of the people up front before leading them inside. But the man didn't follow. He stood his ground outside the now closed doors, overlooking the row of almost dead people.

Tara looked down at her handcuffs, trying to twist her wrists to get out of the rope, but to no avail. More people were lead inside, and as the row kept shrinking, the more panicked Tara got. She yanked her hands back, but it only made the scary woman in front of her sneer again.

There were only four people left now, including herself, and a horrible realization slowly dawned upon her. There was no escape, at least not right now. She thought back to the man. Bartholomew. He had told her that she may have a chance at escaping, she just had to figure it out. So she kept twisting her wrists while trying to go unnoticed by the creepy woman and the suited man.