As I fell to the ground, everything went silent and dark, and it felt as if all of my perceptions had ceased.
THE PRESENT
AMELIA
The blackness was comforting.
When my senses began to come back to me, I wanted to reverse time so I could fall back into sweet oblivion. Silence had fallen, and the sound of rain that I had been hearing was gone. The biting cold wind that had previously enveloped my body was gone. Everything seemed to have evaporated, except me.
Am I dead?
The thought hit me like a ton of bricks. Did I want to be dead? I enjoyed the quiet of being unconscious, but when reality settled in, I had a moment of hesitation within my mind.
I don’t want to be dead.
It was a shocking revelation.
Through the groggy awakening, I could feel my heart beating. I could feel the rising and falling of my chest as I breathed.
The thing that I did not feel was the texture of dirt and rock that I had become accustomed to since Caiden and I became lost in the wilderness. My eyes popped open.
Where the hell was I?
The darkness was thick and suffocating, wrapping around me like a cloak. My head throbbed, and the last memory I had was of Caiden’s alarmed face rushing toward me.
I blinked, trying to adjust to the dim moonlight filtering through a small window. How long were we unconscious?
Panic surged through me as I realized I was not outside anymore.
“Caiden?” I croaked, my voice hoarse and weak.
I strangely hoped for his presence here with me. If he were here, it meant companionship, and a better chance of survival. Although I hate to admit it, his stubborn refusal to give up motivates me to keep going.
“Caiden!” I called out again, a bit louder this time as I began to find my voice.
After a few moments of deadly silence, I heard a faint groan. I squinted, my eyes straining to see through the surrounding darkness. The small, dusty window let in only a small speck of clarity, and my eyes strained to focus through the dizziness.
Finally, he spoke. “Amelia? Where are we?”
I almost laughed. As if I would know why we were in a dark, cold room. Instead of shooting him a sarcastic comment, I only shrugged. “I don’t know. But, I have a bad feeling about this.”
“The last thing I remember is you getting hit with some sort of dart, then you collapsed.” Caiden spoke groggily, with confusion dancing in his tone.
A dart? The air cold, an eerie chill seeped into my bones. My fear was confirmed. We were brought here and trapped. I imagine they would have put us in a clean, comfortable bedroom if they had meant to save us. Not a mysterious dungeon.
“Who the hell could have been out in the middle of nowhere shooting darts in people?” The question hung in the air.
“I don’t know. When they show their face, they are going to regret trapping us in here.” His tone was cold, and I knew he meant his threat. Something deep in me knew that in the right circumstance, Caiden could seriously hurt somebody.
“I’m scared.” I confessed, my essence etched with weary dread.
“I’m not. I’ll fucking kill whoever did this. Fuck!” His voice went from conflicted to angry, and I shrunk backwards from his eruption.
“Maybe this is a misunderstanding.” My voice squeaked, and I fell into hopeless delusion.
“A misunderstanding? Are you fucking stupid? Obviously, whoever did this knew what they were doing. Must have beenstrong as hell to move us into this shitty chamber,” Caiden hissed, continuing to explode with fury.
“No need to snap at me. I’m just trying to make sense of this. Or find a little hope in the situation. I need something.”
