We Loved

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IT IS a heartbeat. A dull drum in my chest, getting louder with every second. Echoing in the hollow. It gets stronger, till it is a screech in my ears, shooting right at my head, drilling holes into it.

The metals clashing noise leave their sharp echoes meandering into my ears.

CLASH

CLASH

CLASH

They vibrate in my body, like an earthquake shaking its mountains, frightening and destructive.

They stop short and now I can only hear the sound of heavy breaths. My eyelids are heavy, all too heavy to open, but fighting the deceiving sense of warm comfort, I force my eyes open, slowly raising my head. No matter how many times I blink, my vision is going in and out of focus. I can only tell through the blur that it is dark. A nagging itch burns my skull, but I can not move to touch it, instead, I feel tight pain around my arms and stomach. Frowning, I try moving again, but the pain gets worse.

My heart starts racing and I slowly panel my eyes down to my body, dreading whatever I am about to find. I am seated on a wooden chair, my vision still too blurry to make out anything. If only my head could stop throbbing. I blink and try to focus, forcing my vision to get clearer, if only by a bit. The moment I see it my heart sinks and I stop breathing.

Rope.

Someone tied me up to a chair.

Rather than breathing, I am now gasping for air, oxygen refusing to get into my system. My blood boils as sweat and tears drip down my face in a salty mix. I aggressively move in an attempt to loosen the rope, but with no avail.

No. This can't be happening. I try to shake off the ropes again, but end up wincing in pain as the rough tight rope digs into my body. I scan the room searching for anything.

A threat.

A way out.

Anything.

Shooting pain from the back of my head interrupts my futile attempt. The pain is so agonizing it numbs me and leaves my head pounding worse. The sounds of metals slamming together returns, with enough intensity to break my bones. I cry out shutting my eyes and gritting my teeth, though it hardly does anything to relieve the pain. Deafening ringing noise pierces through my ears for what seems like forever.

The noise finally starts to quiet and my breathing slows down with it. I scan my mind for any clue as to when or how I got taken, but I can find none. None.

Why can't I remember? I can't even remember what I was doing before I got kidnapped. Running in circles inside my head, I try to focus.

My name?

My expression falls and a heavy feeling sinks in. I can't even remember my own name. Everything is now muted except for the harsh hammering in my chest. The pain in my head screams, my vision blurs, disfigures into a whirl, and my windpipe closes up, oxygen is now a long lost dream. I have absolutely no recollection of who I am. I don't even know if I have someone to look for me. It's possible that no one even knows that I'm kidnapped. I survey the place around me. With thousands of questions still buzzing my head, terrifying unimaginable things prove themselves indeed imaginable. Breathing is hard, unbelievably hard.

Trying to take control, I take multiple deep breaths and look around again. My vision is still not clear yet, but I make out scraps of metal in a corner. Crimson tins collected in another. There are boxes everywhere and a faint smell of wet wood. I can't spot a door within my vision. For all I know it could be behind me. A feeling of helplessness sinks in. I let out a harsh cry as tears fall down my face. It is not the time to cry, I need to focus instead, but there is no hope in trying to stop it. The weakness that is taking over is sickening. I'm a complete mess, but I focus. I have to focus.

Something hits on the ceiling. My eyes shoot up and find a ladder coming through a trap door. My heart sinks, being underground making me feel even more helpless. Bright light blinds and hammers against my head. I look away blinking before squinting back on the door. A man in a crumbled yellow shirt and dirty black pants climbs down. My breath quickens again like it's running a marathon of its own making me light-headed.

Drowning in thousand images of what that man can do to me, my heart stops when I hear a hoarse feminine voice.

"Who-" I am surprised to find out that it is my own. "Who are you?" My voice quivering and cracking, I barely manage to get the words out.

"O' will y'check this out?" The large man approaches swaying his heavy body as he steps in glory. He raises a corner of his lips showing off a golden tooth. "Ain't so strong 'n mighty now 're we?" He slams his hands on my tied arms and leans closer. I barely hold myself from wincing.

His touch is spreading vomit through my veins and the smell of cigarettes triggers my lungs. His golden tooth is horrifyingly disgusting, decaying away with smoke and age.

"L-look just-" my voice inaudible, I almost cough from his smoky breath. "Please let me go, I beg you just-"

"Boss wants y'here 'n what Boss wants, Boss gets." The man walks to the end of the room leans down and grabs a piece of cloth laying on the ground. He turns on his heels. "It ain't no fun if y'leave an'way, ey?"

"Just what do you want from me? Please just-" I plead eager, but terrified of his answer, I almost ask a different question. In all cases, nothing can be in my favor.

"Me? Oh, I wan' a lot of things from ya. Thank y'for asking, dearie." He laughs as he pulls the cloth. "But Boss, well, y'know that already, ey?" He walks back to me and trails his heavy rough fingers down my cheek.

I turn my head away and mumble a threat under my breath. I can taste the vomit in my mouth. His hand reaches my neck, he presses on it making me choke gasping for air. He smiles watching. The few breaths of air I'm getting is mixed with the shit of cigarettes.

"He wants y'dead."