I thought he’d laugh, but I could understand how he wouldn’t consider this a laughing situation. However, he did surprise me. In a firm voice, laced with empathy, he affirmed, “Evie, I’m not giving up. I’ll try to save you.”
twelve
Jasper
We hung for hours, the blood pooling in the crown of my head created so much pressure it felt as if my forehead would burst. That, combined with the lack of food, dehydration, and exhaustion took its toll, and I drifted in and out of consciousness. At some point, someone tugged on the line, but I was so out of it, not only did I have no fight in me to escape, but I had no real awareness of where I was anymore.
Shadows came and danced around me. Some resembled trees, and some might have been pirates. I also thought I saw some cheeky monkeys, but they were more likely in my dreams. One thing was certain, Evie’s voice never left me. That might have been a hallucination as well, but she talked me through each moment. “Jasper, we’re going to be okay. Jasper, I really don’t think this is that bad. Jasper, in the movie, the hero had gold to pay off the pirates. Do you have gold?”
That one made me smirk.
Or at least I wanted to smile.
I didn’t have the capacity to move my lips anymore, and I was starting to be okay with the idea of going to sleep for good. I never wanted to die before, as I didn’t feel like I ever had a chance to live, but at this point, it seemed like it would be peaceful. Better than waking up again to experience the kind of death those pirates wanted to give us.
Time passed, and I had no idea how long I slept. At some point, my ability to zone out reality became impossible, as my aching body throbbed harder and my insatiable hunger and thirst roared to life, jolting my eyes wide open.
Darkness.
Bone chilling damp air.
Were we back in the cave?
My hopes were immediately deflated as my hands found the floor underneath me. Unfinished wood I didn’t dare run my fingers along as it was so rough, it would surely fill my palm with splitters.
“Jasper.” Evie’s sweet voice called softly, pulling my face to turn the other way. As I waited for my eyes to adjust to the absence of light, relief flooded my body.
She was alive.
“Evie.” My whisper burned my hardened throat, but I was desperate to hear her voice more. “Are you okay?”
“I’m better now that you’re awake.” She must have been lying right next to me, because her tender hand found mine before my eyes un-fogged. A warm inhale came in like a hiccup, and I squeezed her hand so tightly, as if holding hands had the power to save us.
So many questions looped through my mind, but I still didn’t know if it was safe to talk, and I whispered, “Do you know where we are?”
“On their boat in a jail cell,” her voice was quiet, but not secretive. “We went down a flight of stairs and a long hall, so I’m guessing in the back of the boat.”
A lump formed in my throat. That’s the last place I wanted to be. “How bad is it?”
“It’s mostly okay, for jail. The reason why you can’t see anything is because it’s night. During the day, there’s a small amount of light which comes through a window.”
Anxiety thumped to my heart, ramping it up. Evie had been surviving this whole time without me. My guts twisted when I imagined how frightened she must have been. I can’t believe I was passed out this whole time, and they didn’t just kill me to get rid of me. What is their reason for even bothering to keep us alive?
A small round window was at the very top of our cell, far out of reach for me. Now that my eyes had adjusted more, I could register a narrow beam of moon light. It cast a sliver of brightness so small, but it gave my eyes enough contrast to see the shadows, and I started to make out shapes. Evie’s form finally came into focus. “How long have we been here?”
“Just one night and day. They gave me a little food and water twice a day. One time you woke a little—or at least I thought you were awake, because you were making a lot of gurgling noises—and I got you to take a few sips of water. I think that’s the only reason you made it. You were really putting on a show for a while.”
I squeezed her hand again, grateful to have an ally, as I’d never really had one. I’d always done life alone. Tiny shivers quaked through her hand, revealing how cold she was. With it being frigid temps, so was I. I was compelled to hold her closer, and I dropped her hand, extending my arm out, inviting her closer. “I don’t mean to make you uncomfortable,” I explained. “You’reshivering, and I thought maybe if we held each other, we’d both warm up.”
At first, her gaze fell on me with a straight lipped stare, but she slid over and laid her head on my chest. I wrapped my arm around her, pulling her into a tight bear hug. “Does it get warmer in here?” I breathed into the air, surprised I couldn’t see my breath.
“A little during the day, but I wouldn’t say it’s comfortable.” Her breaths were even against my chest, shudders seemly lessoning with each one.
“Did they say why they are bothering to keep us alive?” My voice cracked, as it hurt so badly to force anything out my throat, dried up like clay.
“No.”
I waited for her to tell me what happened in the movie, but she never expounded. Frankly, I was terrified to ask. We laid there, conserving energy in each other’s arms until a small ray of sunlight filtered through our window. I was able to see the cell now. It was small, only about six feet by six feet, with nothing but wood floors and a toilet behind a tattered curtain. The metal door was threaded with thick bars you’d be able to poke a finger through but nothing bigger. It gave me something to focus on as I dreamed of all the possible ways of escaping—not many.
