I crash into the next one, eyes scanning all four corners. It’s the same as mine. Grey walls, no windows, no lights.
This is a trap.
He’s setting me up for failure.
He wants me frantically running through this place to use up my energy.
Jogging through the corridors, I count sixteen doors I open that give me the same results.
Grey walls, no windows, no fucking lights.
Grabbing the watch, I learn I’ve already burned over ten minutes. Each time I feel like I’ve discovered a new pathway, I’m met with the same conclusion.
There is no way out.
This place was built for mental torture.
I end up back at my cell. The reason I know it’s mine is because it’s the only one with the light on inside.
I turn behind me to stare down at the door Conrad left, running towards it as I slam into it, yanking on the handle to confirm it’s still locked. “God dammit!” I roar, my hands fisting through my blood-knotted hair. My heart flutters so wildly in my chest, it feels like the rhythm might give out at any second.
Focus.
Ineedto focus.
That door isn’t the only way out of here, I know it.
Taking another lap of the pathway I ran through, I scan every cell until I end up in the wider open space, all the doors I’ve checked open. My back hits against the slabbed wall, sliding tothe ground with trembling limbs. Heart screaming at me not to give up, mind already knowing the end game.
Conrad is going to win, he’s going to bring all my worst nightmares to life, and this time no one’s going to be able to stop him. Not even me.
All those years I fought, all the times I imagined the moment he and I met again, it was nothing like that.
A vengeful fantasy that I’ll never get.
I thump my head back against the wall. My mouth is so dry, I can’t even swallow.
He’s going to make me regret everything I’ve done.
Digging the heels of my palms into my eyes, I furiously wipe the tears away from them, my gaze travelling along the ceiling before it lands on two pipes running from it to the floor.
Glancing around the entire space, I don’t see any more pipes, nor do they run across the ceiling above me. It’s the only wall I can see that has them, and I didn’t notice this in any of the corridors.
I bolt to my feet, my hands palming frantically between the small gap of the iron bars, feeling a faint indent on my fingertip. Looking at it, you’d never see it, so well blended with its surroundings.
No one would think their only chance out of here would be staring you so blatantly in the fucking face.
My blood-stained hands grip the pipe, tugging it towards me, putting everything I’ve got into it, but it doesn’t move.
“Fuck!” I whimper, running my sweaty palms down my thighs before trying it again. Instead of pulling towards me, I try to push. The wall retracts an inch until I’m met with the same resistance, but the surface shudders slightly.
Itisa fucking door.
I’m not losing my mind.
Every muscle screams and burns, my teeth clenching together as I move to the side, hauling the long pipe sideways. A waft of freezing cold air bites my skin and sends my hair gusting over my shoulder as it blasts through the gap.
Stone and steel grates against the concrete as it opens up for me. I don’t even open it all the way; as soon as it widens enough, I ram my body through, tugging and then pushing it closed until the hidden door slides right back into place.
