Haet; Belligerent

Chapter Five

Harvey and Floyd got Cascadia settled into her 'new home' and then promptly left her. The dungeon cell that replaced the comfortable room she had lived in mere hours ago was dark, dull, and dreary.

The dungeon cell contained a cot, a toilet - which was more like a hole in the ground - and a small stool in a corner. The room back at the school seemed luxurious compared to this. Cascadia realized that she took that room for granted. She couldn't regret that more now that she was in this cell.

There were two cell keepers that Cascadia noticed took shifts. The first one was grouchy and quiet, the other one was simply frightened. She had tried to make conversation with both of them. Their conversations went two very different ways.

"Hi there!" Cascadia addressed the first cell keeper. The cell keeper didn't even look in her direction, he simply went stone faced and refused to respond.

"Um, what's your name?" Cascadia had already been in the cell for close to five hours. She was already sick of it - even though she knew that she didn't have a choice of whether to be there. At this point, she was desperate to have a conversation with someone.

The cell keeper remained stone faced. "Quiet."

"E- excuse me?"

The cell keeper's face contorted into an angry expression as he turned to face Cascadia. She had been standing right next to the bars of the cell. When the cell keeper turned to her, she promptly backed away from the bars.

He walked over to her in a very startling fashion - still glaring as he did. "I said, quiet." He stopped by the bars of the cell, grabbing them and snarling at her. "I am not interested in having any interaction with your kind."

Cascadia was hurt by that statement, but refused to show it. Instead, her face turned neutral. The cell keeper walked away from her cell and back to his place on the wall. She later learned - not through asking - that his name was Kai.

She later addressed the other cell keeper as he was taking a shift. She was a little scared to talk to this cell keeper after her interaction with Kai. She wondered if this cell keeper would be as rude.

"H- hi?" Cascadia said. The cell keeper jumped about three feet away from her cell. "Whoa! It's okay. I didn't mean to scare you." Cascadia gave him a smile. "What's your name?"

"T- Trevor." He stuttered. "I'm n- not allowed to- to t- talk to you."

"Oh." Cascadia sighed. She wondered if he really wasn't allowed to talk to her, or if he was just scared of her. He seemed very scared of her. After their interaction, she noticed he stayed further away from her cell.

Cascadia knew that there were four other cells in this dungeon, all of them were filled. She learned to recognize each prisoner by their voices. One of them was a lady who cried a lot. Kai didn't take any of it, and she was very frequently reprimanded by him. Cascadia felt bad for her, but then there was nothing she could do.

That lady was at the far end of the cells to the left. Right next to her own stall, on her left, was a guy who was constantly sleeping and he snored very loudly. Kai often got visibly upset by his noises, but he didn't say anything. Cascadia lost a lot of sleep to this guy.

The last person who was on the last stall on her right was a younger guy who was much quieter than the others. Sometimes, however, he would sing. His voice was beautiful, and whenever he sang the lady stopped crying at the other end of the stalls. This was the only prisoner that was reprimanded by Kai more than once a day.

There was always one point during the night, for about an hour, that no cell keeper was on duty. Cascadia didn't know why that was, but she took advantage of it. Whenever this time would come around, she would start studying her cell. Even though it was very dark, when her eyes adjusted she could see good enough.