afflicted

5

AN: Chapters will become longer as she begins to remember things. I hope you enjoy, cutie! LMK your theories ;)

"There has to be some other way, something else I can offer you-" her throat was raw from begging. The tears that had been streaming down her face began to dry, making her cheeks feel stiff.

"What could you possibly have to offer me?" The voice was distorted somehow, she couldn't make out the source of it. Her vision was blurry. She knew she was in a metal chair, hands and ankles bound in rough ropes, sliding and burning her skin as she struggled.

"Anything you want, just please," she whimpered. "Please, please, please. Don't make me do this. Anything but this." The air was heavy with the tinge of copper and salt.

"I think I've been clear on my terms. Perhaps you need a little motivation?"

She heard a feral sound and realized it had come from her own aching body. Everything was still so blurred, her head throbbing with the intense pressure built up from behind her eyes.

"You mistake me for someone who was asking to negotiate, dear," the voice laughed. "Let me assure you. I'm not." A sharp pain in her side sent her eyes scrunching closed, trying to steady her breathing. Her nostrils flared with the effort it took.

"Please don't hurt them," she pleaded, hot tears once again rolling down her cheeks. She still hadn't been able to reopen her eyes. She breathed through the shocks of pain still radiating from her ribs.

"Oh, I won't, Calina. I won't have to," the voice was flat, bored even. "You'll do it for me."

Calina gasped herself awake, head spinning as she sat up, hugging her knees to her chest and wrapping the heavy wool blanket tighter around her frail shoulders. Her teeth clacked together, and her body spasmed desperately to increase her body temperature.

Her nose had begun to run, having to constantly sniff harshly to be able to breathe. A slight rattle had begun in her chest, getting louder with each passing day. Her ears felt numb with the suffocating silence. She had taken to rolling the plastic cup around lazily, just to even remind herself that she was able to hear anything other than the sounds of her own body.

She had no idea how long she'd been here now. She hadn't seen Azriel again but had woken up to food and water just inside the bars of her cell a few times. He'd been there, but she must have slept through his arrival. She swallowed the panic that flooded her at the idea of leaving herself so open, so vulnerable.

But she had remembered her name. Calina. It felt foreign on her tongue. She'd expected it to click immediately or feel right somehow, but it hadn't. The name had no more meaning to her than any other name. She'd grow accustomed to it, she supposed. Eventually.

Her dream- memory? Had it been a memory? Or was she just stress-dreaming? She couldn't place the scene. Had no clue where it had taken place or who she'd been talking to. Had they been truthful? Had she hurt someone? Was that why she was here?

Bile rose in her throat, and she swallowed hard to shove it back down. Her stomach was in knots, and she suddenly felt overwhelmingly hot. Her vision began to flash, her head spinning. Behind her eyes began to ache in the way they had in the memory. She squeezed her eyes shut in the same way and began to focus on her breathing. Even with her eyes closed, she was seeing spots behind her eyelids.

She lay her head against the cold concrete with a hitched sigh, throwing the blanket off of her body as she lays against the cold floor. Her skin is covered in a sheen of sweat and her skin feels like it's being set on fire.

The door creaked open and she cursed under her breath. Her hair was stuck to her neck and face, suffocating her. Her eyes were clenched shut, head turned so her eyes were covered by her arm to block out as much light as possible. She couldn't lift her head, couldn't open her eyes, could barely keep her breath going in and out of her nasal passages.

She felt like she was dying. Really and truly dying.

Her body was wrenched upwards, her limbs hanging limp and her head lolling backward, mouth open as she desperately fought to remain conscious. She was so dizzy, her head rolling and stretching her neck at a horrible angle. She couldn't correct it, though.

Large strong hands held her to the hard surface of a male's planed and toned chest. The smell of night-chilled mist and cedar filled her nose. Another sharp pain in her ocular sockets sent her body clenching together in the stranger's arms, pulling herself as tightly together as possible. She was crying, horrible sobs shaking her body. Her face was buried in his neck, hot tears transferring from her cheeks to his skin.

"Please breathe, Callie. Fuck- ... Okay, come on, Cal, stay awake for me, would you?" His voice was a rumble in his chest, vibrating against her ear. The words didn't register, couldn't register.

Her eyes rolled back in her head, and everything went dark.