𝙎𝘼𝙏𝙐𝙍𝙉 ✮ 𝘯. 𝘳𝘰𝘮𝘢𝘯𝘰𝘧𝘧

{𝟎𝟓} - 𝐖𝐚𝐧𝐝𝐞𝐫𝐢𝐧𝐠

She missed Natalia so much her stomach ached. Semna had thoughts about her at every waking moment, wondering where she was now, if she was alright, if the commanders were treating her well. She would constantly replay their last conversation, picking apart each of her own words and meticulously trying to replace what she should have said to make it all better. Fights with Natalia always stung, but never for this long. She did not get angry with Semna very easily and Semna knew this, which could have been why her reactions had loomed around her, through her veins and pierced her heart, for days on end since that night. Natalia and Semna knew just how to pick the other apart to gain the offensive, so the context of their argument was not unnatural. What bothered Semna so much about this one was that they had never not apologized before. And now, those words may have been the last things they ever said to each other.

She supposed the only thing keeping her head on straight, after a month and a half, was the window in her cell.

Semna found herself thanking the gods for that measly piece of glass. It was only a sliver however, partially blocked by the steel bars engineered to keep her locked up. She thought it mindless of them to have installed the bars in the first place. They had scared her out of her mind so much since the day they took her, she hadn't really though much about escaping. Still, the window was more than she could have hoped for there to be in this hellish place.

Through all this time, she had only been able to spot the moon on a few occasions, always while it was rising. Ever in all its glory, it shone upon the facility with a duller, yet still fitting light. It was as if the moon itself could sense the change in one of its children and matched Semna's perception of her world as it now was, and she looked to it every night for comfort whenever possible. Right now, it was her only constant.

She just hoped Natalia was looking at it too.

The loud clinking of metal on metal startled Semna off of her mattress, immediately up and alert in the center of her cell. Having been so lost in her reverie, she hadn't noticed the changing light. The sky outside was now almost pitch black, with little stars to be seen tonight. The absence of light translated into the cell and the hallway outside of it, casting a shadow so insufficient Semna could barely see her own. And, with a stunning remembrance in her mind, she realized that there had been no screaming from the mystery man.

Something was wrong.

Wherever the source of the noise, Semna could not see it from the corner she was situated in. She could still hear the sound chiming out through the halls, but could not tell whether it was getting closer, or moving away from her. She hoped desperately it was coming towards her; she couldn't remember the last time she spoke to, or even saw, a real person. She imagined what her voice must sound like after over a month without use—croaky, brittle, gravelly—and cringed at the thought. Alas, she tried anyway.

"H...hello? Who's th-there?" If it were at all possible, she would think that her voice had gotten softer.

The response she received was futile. A mouse skittered across the hallway, weaseling its way between the rusted bars of her cell. Cautiously, Semna bent down, holding out her hands in a calm manner. The tiny creature scurried into her open palms.

"Hi," she whispered, gently stroking its fur. The mouse left minuscule bits of dirt across her hands as it trekked around in them, but she shrugged it off. Semna had always had a soft spot for animals. Something about their worry-free energy lightened her moods even in the darkest of times; even now, as she sat criss-crossed on the floor in the same clothes she had been wearing for almost two months. As far as she was concerned, animals had the most freedom over their own lives than anything else in nature. They could move about as they pleased, accomplishing task after task with little blocking their way. The only thing they really had to think about was surviving.