Immortal Tales #Wattys2020

Chapter Eleven

Eva

The girl called herself Eva.

She had no last name, she didn't need on this time.

Eva washed her face with the cold water from the sink in her room and watched her reflex staring at her with empty brown eyes. She moved to her bed, the only other feature in her small cell and sat patiently. The iron chains on her legs did not allow her to do much more.

She kept herself busy by exercising with their weight and planning her impossible escape. She slowly lifted one leg and remembered the guards cycle.

Two every hour, three in case of disturbances. They knocked on every cell, making sure the prisoners replied. Going in if they didn't.

Eva scowled. She did not want another unnecessary beating.

The girl lifted her other leg.

She was located in the souther part of the Nice penitentiary, where they kept highly dangerous and mentally unstable criminals. Least of the fact that she was a criminal, she probably belonged there. The exit was only a couple of kilometres away from the entrance of her cell. If the guards hadn't been there, she could have run though the tunnels and be outside in a couple of minutes.

She longed for a breath of fresh air.

Eva stretched her arms and cracked her stiff junctures.

In order to escape, she would first need the keys to her chain. Iron was her real enemy.

A hard bang on her cell bars made her notice the tray with food that had just arrived. Today like others, they would feed her only the necessary calories to keep her alive. Surviving barely, but not really living.

She wasn't mortal, and yet struggled with hunger. She wondered if it was the iron that was gonna kill her first, or the next guard who found her in an attempted escape.

The one who had hold her right after the trial was not the kind type. The judge had to say very little before they dragged her to Nice, as there was barely anything known about her and she refused to answer any questions.

Her former husband and sister did not show up to the trial, and for good reason. Had they done so, they would have been imprisoned for fraud and collaboration with a murderer. The polizia didn't have any proof that she had killed the man, but she had no alibi and given her violent attitude towards the wife ... that was enough. They would have imprisoned her in Rome, but they managed to find information about one of her previous alias in France, during a brief stop they did before reaching Italy from England. The judge had claimed she must have been French and sent her there.

The guard had pulled her dark hair to push her into the van and she had told him where he could put his baguette. That costed her a further slap.

The cruel man would have done much more, his hand travelling down his pants exited for what was coming next. She growled baring her sharp teeth and he stopped instantly. Magic or non magic, she remained an immortal soul.

If the man had gotten any closer, she would have happily tore his throat open.

-Crazy chienne! - he had cursed, but he left her alone. -You and your kind should all be in chains! -

She imagined he meant woman in general, not immortals.

So she called herself Eva, the first of the women.

They left her isolated from her other prisoners. She could only see the other women at lunch and during the brief visits in the outside court.

Initially she thought it a blessing, but now... she barely remembered the sound of her own voice.