It's dark in here, only the moon illuminates the space around me. I lie on my side, my knees curled up towards my chest to warm me up. My legs are covered in dirt from the floor.
I'm hungry, so much that my stomach stopped growling. My body stopped trying to tell me to eat hours ago, it gave up.
I told myself I would come up with a plan to escape, but I'm too tired to think, yet too scared to sleep. It has to be about four in the morning, it feels like I have been isolated with my thoughts for weeks.
I spend most of my time thinking about Nick, hoping he will be saved and that the fate of our journey will have a happy ending. Although I'm rotting in my cell, suffering in the dirt and lack of food, I bet Nick has it worse. With the trauma of his death as well as the trauma of being in the Underworld, it would be hard for him to recover.
"Shall we take the girl now?" A voice echoes off of the walls, causing my eyes to pop open. I don't even realize they're closed.
"No, it's too risky. We take her once we have more goods to sell. That way we don't waste money on transportation." Another replies in a sharp voice. It's a woman.
"Yes boss. What do we do with her for now?" The man returns, but I miss a few words after that. It sounds like they're walking away, and I can't understand her response.
So I am being trafficked. This is just fantastic.
I never imagined that being kidnapped was going to be an obstacle when I was up in the Afterworld. Nor did I know that I only had two weeks to be "alive" again or else I would be stuck on earth forever.
It does kind of satisfy me knowing that ghosts are actually real, but not for the reasons I expected. No wonder they like to haunt people, I don't blame them for being irritable and petty. They can't live up in endless paradise like everyone else.
A slight ray of sun fills the room, and I have the urge to wake up and be productive. There's no way to be productive in a cell with no way to escape.
I didn't get a single hour of sleep last night, I feared somebody coming into my cell and killing me or taking me elsewhere.
For all I know I'm in Greece or something. There were several hours where I wasn't conscious and anything could have happened in that time. Colton could be dead right now and I would have no idea.
I force my eyes shut at that thought. I want him to be alive. I need him to be alive, not just for Nick or the emeralds or his guidance, but for me too.
I don't know if it's better that I leave this rotten room to go wherever the traffickers want to take me now or later. Leaving now would give me an opportunity to escape, but it would also move me further from any gate. If I leave today, it would bring my chances of ever seeing Colton again down to zero.
The door handle tilts downward and I scoot away from the door, but the handcuffs are restraining my movement.
"Eat." A voice says as a bowl is pushed into the cell. It's in a styrofoam dish instead of a ceramic one.
The door shuts, and I bring myself to my knees and crawl towards the bowl. I devour the food like a dog, unable to use my hands. The texture is gruesome, it can hardly slide down my throat.
It tastes like dirt, and I wouldn't be surprised if it is. I need something to make me stronger, because the lack of food makes me feel nauseous and dizzy.
The handle turns once again and I squirm away out of fear, but I can't move very quickly.
It was a man that I don't recognize, and he looks much stronger than the others. His muscles basically tear through his black shirt and he holds a whip in his hand. I gulp.
"You impale one of my men and you think you can get away with it?" He prompts, looking over my weak body. I don't say anything, just pray that the whip is only to scare me.
This is it, this was where I'm killed. Where I forget everything I've experienced for the past nineteen years and who I have met in the Afterworld.
I turn my head towards the concrete, preparing for what is to come. The man steps in front of me and kicks me in the stomach.
I roll over, groaning in pain. My body is shaking as I struggle to get a breath.
"How does that feel? Huh? This'll teach you to behave." The man growled. I hear the whip slide across the ground, then it stops.
A violent force tears against my thigh, shaking me to the core. I yelp in pain and shut my eyes tight. Hopelessness makes its way to the front of my mind.
I try to control my breathing, but the pain is more prevalent than it had ever been before. I'd rather walk for an entire day straight than experience another stinging pain like the one in my leg.
He hits me again. And again. Tears pool in the corner of my eye as my body lies on the floor, trembling. There's no doubt that everybody here can hear my shrieks.
I try not to make sound, but I let out a few grunts as I try to cope with the stinging feeling in my leg.
"Pull a little stunt like that again and you'll get it much worse." The man barks and walks towards the door.
I continue to gasp for air long after he left, hoping that the pain will go away.
I find the strength to sit against the wall, pushing my back flat against it. I'm breathing hard and my body is beginning to sweat. I look down and examine my leg.
There are three long wounds across my thigh, and they're all bleeding. I can't take my eyes off of them, but it also pains me to look at it. My entire leg aches, which would practically demobilize me.
I lean my head back against the wall and take long, deep breaths to calm myself down again. I'm sweating all over, my neck is basically dripping in sweat.
I just want to get out, I wish Colton was here with me, he would probably know how to get out of here. Now that I probably can't walk, it's going to basically be impossible to get out.
I wake up in a pool of sweat and blood. My entire leg is covered in it now, and the back of my neck feels humid.
It's dark outside, and I'm not quite sure what woke me up nor do I remember the few moments before I slept. I'm still tired, like I've been sleeping for a really long time. For all I know, I could've slept for days.
I feel well rested, I can tell my face is plump, but something must've scared me because I'm wide awake all of a sudden, very conscious of my surroundings.
A crashing sound comes from outside my door, followed by a few whispers. That must've been what it was. I shut my eyes again, too exhausted to care about what it was.
It makes a few more sounds, but I'm ready to sleep, ready to just die in here.
Those men have no idea that I'm already dead, that I'm useless to them because in a few days I am going to become a ghost.
"Juliet?" A quiet voice fills the air. My eyes break open and my body sits straight up. I'm definitely hearing something. "Juliet?" The same voice asks, but louder. It's Colton.
Now I know what you're thinking.
Of course Colton is here to save the day, of course Juliet wasn't good enough to get out by herself.
Realistically, she couldn't get out of here by herself. Let's be real.