“It’s a long way down, Miss,” she said.
Garvin removed a torch from the wall outside the door, and we began to slowly make our way down the slime covered stairs. I tried to make out what was below me, but all I could see were the few slick, black steps that we were descending. After several minutes, just when I thought I couldn’t hold on any longer, mentally as well as physically, we finally reached the bottom. They lowered me down, sitting me carefully on the bottom second step.
“It’s time,” Garvin said. “We must set your feet before we place you in the hole.”
“You can scream, Miss,” Tanda said sympathetically. “No one will know what we are doing. You can’t hear anything this far down.”
“Will you please answer me one thing before you start?” I pleaded.
Garvin looked to Tanda, then back to me, and reluctantly gave a sharp nod.
“Why are you helping me?”
Garvin took a deep breath, and let it out slowly.
“Enrique hurt my sister the same way he tried to hurt you. I was chained to a wall and forced to watch. There was nothing I could do.”
He lowered his head, as if ashamed, and started to turn away. Tanda reached out and took his hand. Her eyes were filled to the brim with tears, when one slowly ran down her cheek. Garvin looked up, with an apologetic tilt of his head, wiped the tear from her face. It was only then that I realized it was Tanda that he had been talking about.
“You’re brother and sister?” I asked softly.
“Yes, Miss,” Tanda said, squeezing Garvin’s hand gently.
That must have been hell for them, I thought. I couldn’t even start to imagine what I would have done if that had been my sibling. Garvin pulled his hand back from Tanda, and thrust them into his pockets.
“Are you ready? If we are gone too long, Annabel will become suspicious,” he said. I knew he was right, but I think more than that, he wanted to do anything to clear his mind of those horrible memories.
“Yeah, I’m ready,” I said with a sigh. “Let’s get this over with.”
He pulled his hand from his pocket, revealing a small plank of wood. “Put this in your mouth and bite down.” I took and placed it between my teeth. I watched as he positioned himself by my right foot, the less damaged of the two. He looked up at Tanda, and told her to hold me down. “On three,” he said. “One... two... three,” He pulled and twisted my foot simultaneously, realigning the broken bones. I threw my body back in agony, and screamed. The piece of wood that I had been biting down on flew from my mouth, landing in the muck. I covered my eyes with my hand, panting, before I burst out crying. Garvin picked up a piece of debris from the floor, and bound it to my ankle using the cloth from my gag, forming a makeshift splint. He moved next to the left foot, and asked if I was ready.
“No... Please... I can’t take anymore...” I wheezed.
I was getting ready to tell him to leave it, when he yanked it around, setting the bones back into place. The wound opened back up, sending fresh blood down my foot and onto the floor. I screamed and grabbed hold of Tanda, collapsing into her arms, sobbing.
“I’m sorry,” Garvin said sincerely. “I had to do it. If you had let them heal that way, they would have reset them when you came out of the hole, and it would have been much worse.” He splinted my foot using more debris and the leather strap he had removed from me earlier.
“It’s true, Miss,” Tanda said, gently wiping the tears from my face. “I’ve seen it done.”
I nodded in recognition, not yet able to speak. They gave me a moment to compose myself, and then told me we had to proceed. Garvin walked a few feet ahead of where I sat and pulled open another large metal door. He came back over, and he and Tanda lifted me from the step, trying their best not to drag my feet.
“I’ll carry you from here,” Garvin said when we reached the open door. “The hall is too narrow for the three of us to pass at the same time.”
Garvin lifted me up, cradling me in his arms with ease, showing he was very strong, despite his frail slender frame. Tanda walked ahead of us, carrying the torch to light our way. We passed several short doors made of the same type of iron as we moved down the dark humid hall, until Garvin eventually stopped in front of one. Tanda pulled the heavy door down toward herself, after sliding the latch on top of it, and then Garvin walked past her, stepping on the door and having to squat down to carrying me inside. He bent further down, and sat me on the thick covered floor as gentle as possible.
“They’ll come for you about once every two months,” he said. “I beg you, please, do not fight them. It will only result in you being left down here longer.”
“One day I’ll repay you both for being so nice to me.” I let out a small laugh, and said, “That is, if I’m alive to do it.” Garvin nodded his head, never returning the smile, but Tanda gave me a pitiful grin, as they turned to leave.
“Has anyone ever escaped and lived to tell about it?”
“Only one, Miss,” Tanda said looking up at Garvin. “Think on things that made you happy once, not on things that can never be Renee.” Then Garvin reached down and lifted the door back in place, leaving me only with the sound of the latch sliding into place.
With the door closed, I could see absolutely nothing. It was black as coal, and even when I held my hand in front of my face, I couldn’t make out so much as its outline. I began feeling around with my hands on what little floor there was to explore. The ground was wet, but not like in my usual cell. It wasn’t like water at all. It was a thicker substance, almost the consistency of pudding. I kept sliding my hands through the blackness until I touched something hard. Instinctively, I jerked my hand away from the object, but after the initial shock was gone, reached out to feel for whatever it was. The object was round and firm; I rolled it around with my hand, and noticed there was something soft attached. Curious, I picked it up in both of my hands to further investigate. I quickly realized what I was holding; it was a skull, a human head with bits and pieces of the rotting flesh refusing to give up their rightful place. With a guttural moan of disgust, I chunked the skull away from me as hard as I possibly could. It was only then that I understood that the putrid substance, in which I was lying, was the decaying remains of the slaves that never made it out of here.
The thought was too much to handle. I rolled to my side and leaned against my closed fist, and dry-heaved. When my body calmed, I scooted myself back against the wall, mentally and physically exhausted, and the same thought that had entered my mind many times since my capture crossed it once more. How could this madness go on and it not be known? And how could those that know, not do anything to try and stop it?
Chapter 17
I lay there in the dark with no way of knowing how much time had passed, for what seemed to be an eternity. All that I had to keep me sane was my memories of home, and my ever present wish that someone would save me from this unimaginable hell. It didn’t matter what memories I started with, my mind seemed to always travel back to thoughts of little Johnny and my family. What had happened after they found his lifeless body? How was Mother handling it all? How would she handle it if she knew that it was I, her darling Renee that was responsible for her youngest child’s death? The guilt of Johnny’s demise still weighed heavily on my mind. If I had only listened to Martin, none of this would have ever come to pass.
One night, while I lay in the festering matter, I heard the door unlock. Slowly it opened, revealing Garvin standing on the other side. The light from the torch he held was blinding. I held my arm up to shield my eyes from its brilliance.
“How are you, Miss?” Garvin asked. I gave him a look that said 'How do you think?' which made him drop his gaze momentarily. “I have come to take you to feed.”
“I won’t. Please, just leave me alone,” I said, turning my head away from him.
“I’m sorry, but you must. I have been ordered to bring you to Annabel.” He entered the small room on bent legs, squatting beside me. “They
seemed to know you would refuse a regular feeding. You are to be force fed.”
When I didn’t make any attempt to move, Garvin scooted around behind me, and slowly began to lift me up. There was a sickening sound as my body pulled away from the thick grime on the floor. He picked me up under my arms, dragging me from the room backwards.
“Can you stand? How are your feet?”
“I can move them, but I have no idea if I can stand,” I replied.
“Of course, I wasn’t thinking. I'm going to stand you up. Hold on to me.”
He lifted me off the floor like a child then lowered my feet to the floor slowly. The pain was sharp, and I was very wobbly, but I could stand.
“Try to take a few steps,” he said.
I did as he asked, and I was amazed that I was still able to use my feet after the damage they had acquired. “That is very good. They seemed to have healed correctly. We must remove the splints before we go any further. It would be very bad if Annabel, or anyone else, were to find out we gave you aid.” I could tell from his tone that he was worried about what I might say once upstairs. He knelt down, and began to remove the makeshift splints.
“How long have I been down here?” I asked tentatively.
“It has been more than six weeks,” he replied.
“And I guess once they force feed me, I’ll be brought back down, won’t I?”
“Yes, Miss,” he looked down, avoiding my gaze. “They could keep this up for years if the Mistress wished it...” he then paused. “Or until your life has expired.”
“Then why don’t they just kill me and get it over with?” I asked, becoming frustrated. “Why prolong it, what are they waiting for?”
“Because if the Mistress really wanted you dead, she wouldn’t have ordered that you be fed.”
We continued down the hallway, and soon reached the steps that led upstairs. The ascent went slowly. Each step I took shot daggers up my leg, making me weigh heavily on Garvin for support.
“Can I carry you, Miss?” he asked. “Your body is weak, and it is the only way I can think to help.” It took me a few minutes to answer him. I knew of one way he could help me, but I knew getting him to talk would be a hundred times harder than climbing these stairs.
“Thank you, but after lying on my back all this time, I think I need to walk,” I finally concluded, then stopped him as we approached the top of the staircase. “I need to ask you something. Do you know how that person escaped?”
It was obvious he was taken aback. He began to shake his head in denial, but I could tell from the look in his eyes that he knew more than he let on.
“Please? I have to get out of here. Someone has to do something.” He turned as if to move farther up the stairs, so I grabbed him by the shoulders and shook. “Don't you see this has to stop? What about Tanda?”
He looked at me in shock, but I may as well have sprouted a new head, because I clearly wasn’t getting through to him. “Please, you're the only one that can help me. I'm begging you Garvin, help me.”
“This will never stop,” he said desperately. “It has gone on for hundreds of years. It is you who must see that this is what it is, and you must do your best to survive.”
Survive? Is that what he’s calling this form of life?
“Don’t you think there is a better way to survive than to live in this horrid place? You have to want more than this, if not for you, then for your sister.”
I must have struck a nerve, because his eyes shot up to mine angrily.
“Do you think I enjoy knowing and seeing what she has gone through?” he said furiously. “Of course I wish things were different, but this is the hand that we have been dealt.” He reached to open the door, but I grabbed his hand.
“Wait, please,” I said, looking him in the eye. “Just think about it, okay? You and Tanda didn’t choose this anymore than I did.” Even through the anger, I could tell that he was hearing me, that my words were sinking in.
“I will speak to Tanda, but if this were to be discovered, we could all pay with our lives... or worse.” I didn’t have to ask what was worse than death. I had already experienced it firsthand. Before pushing open the door, he whispered to me, “Lean on me as if your feet are much worse than they are. We can’t have Annabel knowing you had any help with your feet.”
“Well, I won’t have to fake much,” I said with a small smile. “They hurt like hell.”
We passed through the door, and walked down the hallway next to my first cell. The two corpses chained to the wall had been joined by a third man, who was still alive. He was completely nude, and I was pretty certain that he had spent time in the company of Annabel. His face was a swollen bloody mess, and his body was covered in seeping welts, as if he had been whipped. As we came closer, the man began to whimper and beg.
“Please, not again. Have mercy, I swear I didn’t know, I didn’t know...” his voice trailed away in to incomprehensible sobs. We walked past without saying a word, making our way toward Annabel’s lair. The door was open, and she was looking as we approached.
“Don’t you dare bring that disgusting thing in here,” she exclaimed. “Spray her down.”
“Yes ma’am. I don’t know what I was thinking,” Garvin stammered.
“Then why are you still standing there? Her appearance alone makes me sick, not to mention the smell.”
She sounded surprised, but I didn’t know what she expected me to be like after coming out of the death-filled hole that she helped create.
Garvin nodded his head in agreement as he turned to take me away.
“Be sure to change those filthy rags, too,” she called after us. “Not that there's anything that would help the foul beast.”
“Yes ma’am,” he said again as he turned me to walk towards the way we came. I heard the door slam behind us, and we both jumped.
“Someone’s going to pay her back for all this, and I for one want to be here to see it,” I said, my voice infused with pure hatred.
“You must be more careful about what you say," Garvin glanced around nervously squeezing my forearm, and then added in a voice that standing inches away, I could barely hear. “Even if one of the slaves down here hears you, they may tell in hopes of leniency.”
When we reached the area where I was to be hosed down, Garvin leaned close to my ear again and whispered, “I have to remove your garment, but you know I will not take pleasure in it. I admire your pride more every time I see your strength.”
“It’s okay. I know you are not like the others. You have a job to do, so let’s just get it over with,” I replied quietly turning my back to him.
“Yes, you’re right.”
I let him take off what rags were left of my gown, and his eyes stayed diverted the entire time.
“I must chain you to the wall before we start,” he said apologetically.
I nodded in agreement, and then he looped the chain around my waist, and then pulled me gently toward the stained stoned wall. Without looking directly at me, he began to spray. At first, the stream of water felt as if it were going to tear the skin from my body, but within seconds, it felt undeniably wonderful. The gore dripped off my body in chunks, and the mess in my hair seemed to fall out in one big clump, causing a wet splat sound as it hit the ground. I turned as far as I could in every direction, trying to wash away every speck of the goop. Without soap, the smell lingered, but just to be cleaner and not clogged with decay was wonderful.
Even when he was through, my skin remained discolored, and it was thin like that of an old woman. Good grief, I don’t even want to think about what my face might look like, I thought to myself. I felt stupid thinking this after everything I had been through, but my young woman’s mind couldn’t rid itself of the thought. I tried to run my fingers through my hair, but it was matted as if someone had poured thick honey from my scalp down.
“I’ll never get this mess out of my hair,” I said as Garvin handed me a semi-clean gown to put on. I noticed a little
smirk cross his face. “Hey, I thought you were a nice guy,” I said, covering myself with the gown.
“No, no, it was your words,” he proclaimed. “It just reminded me of something Tanda would say, that’s all.”
“Speaking of Tanda, where is she, is she okay?” I asked.
He told me that the Mistress had invited some of her colleagues to stay for a few days, and that Tanda was helping prepare their rooms. He added that this was something that occurred every few of months.
“Does everyone that comes here, know about all this?” I asked in disbelief.
“It is why they come,” he said, “To look over the ‘merchandise’. Some of them pay for slaves of their choosing to keep them entertained during their stay.”
I was speechless at how nonchalantly he spoke on the matter. All I could do was shake my head in amazement as I waited for Garvin to take me back to the wicked witch of the universe. Garvin helped me make my way back to Annabel’s special room, and knocked on the door.
“Enter,” Annabel said pompously. As we did, she pinched her nose closed with her finger and thumb. “Place her in the feeding chair and be quick about it! The sooner she’s out of here, the sooner I can breathe.”
“You don’t have to do this,” I told Annabel as Garvin strapped me to the chair. “I will obey you. I’ll drink without any trouble, I promise.”
Living in Darkness (Bloodbreeders) Page 15