Chapter 73: Please Not This...
Chapter 73: Please Not This...
Ebony Winters POV:
I didn't know what to expect or what could possibly happen once they carried me off into the other room. What was going to happen in there? I couldn't help but wonder to myself. Both Dylan and Clay looked at each other before they tightened the grips they held to my upper arms, and they both started walking off, following the tall, slender man into the other dark room.
I continued to blink as they made their way back through the open doorway into the other room where the strange and unexpected noise originated. I was thankful, in a sense. It may have been a brief sense of appreciation, but in a way, I was thankful they didn't bother dragging me this time.
Then again, I'm not sure if 'thankful' was the proper word to use in this instance, given that they didn't let my feet touch the ground this entire time. I took in slow, deep breaths, trying not to make a sound, as they made their way into the next room, which was darker than the last one I found myself in. I don't see how anyone could see in the dark rooms.
It was nearly pure black in here. The best I could do was blink and hope for a shiver of light to give me a sense of how big the next room was. I was trying not to panic as I couldn't see anything around me. All I could do was keep blinking and hope that I could focus on something, and soon, for the sanity of my own mind.
There in the silence of the next room, they finally stopped walking. It's like the further and deeper we went into this old cavern, the thicker the air got, and that made it even harder to breathe. How deep underground were we at this point? What else would make sense for having to breathe in air like this?
I tried to think, but my mind wasn't dwelling on anything but my current situation. I didn't know what to do. I couldn't help as they held their tight grips to both of my arms, leaving me hovering in the dark of this new room. Suddenly, I heard what I could only describe as the sound of a heavy chain, and I feared the worst.
Right then, I knew it was the one slender man. He walked over and stood directly in front of me in the dark. "Raise her arms up in the air," I heard him say.
The fact that my body was shaking now didn't change the reality. I was trembling with fear as both Dylan and Clay raised both of my arms high up into the air. If it weren't so dark, I could see how high up off the ground I was hanging. I felt someone high grab both of my wrists and wrap a cold piece of leather around each wrist, rather tightly, I might add.
"Is she secure?" I heard the tall, slender man ask.
Suddenly, there was a small gust of stale wind coming from above my head. What caused that? That was the first breeze I felt, but I wouldn't exactly call that a welcoming breeze. "Good. Now, you may release her."
Without any warning, the two men let go of both of my arms as I fell down until I was caught by the chain I was now bound to at the point of both of my wrists. The sudden jerk nearly knocked the breath right out of my lungs as my head fell back when I started coughing, attempting to catch my breath.
"Get the lights," I heard the raspy older man say.
As I forced my arms apart so that I could look more in front of me, and up into the dark ceiling, I could feel the hair all over my body stand on end, as I knew it was more than just the five of us in here. There in the dark, I heard a match strike against something as the light started to penetrate this one room.
The chain I was hanging from allowed me to spin slightly, just as you could hear hissing sounds coming from all around the room. That's when I thought I saw several sets of beady eyes staring back in my direction. I swallowed hard, seeing what looked like black winged creatures in the dark. Am I seeing this right?!
"Pl-please..." I tried to say.
"What's this?" The one slender man walked up to me and placed his hand around my throat. Then, in the dim light, he turned to look at the older man. "You didn't say she couldn't speak clearly."
The older man raised his hands towards me when he stuttered, saying, "Well, you see... I didn't exactly..."
"No matter," the slender man said as he loosened his grip on me. "I want to get a better look at her anyway. You there?" he said, calling out to Clay, who was standing off to the side. "Go and retrieve me a knife from the table over there."
I couldn't see it, but the slender man did point in the direction behind me. I turned my gaze over to Clay as he looked at me and then walked behind me out of sight. What was he going to get a knife for? My mind started to race when my eyes focused back on the slender man as he acted as if he were about to reach right through the middle of my abdomen.
As I tried to look around the arm of the slender man, as his hand was still around my throat, I saw the shine of a piece of metal come within inches of my right side. This caused me to jerk, despite his hand being around my throat. I didn't care at that point. I was just trying to put distance between the blade and myself.
He tightened his grasp when he said, holding the knife up in front of my face, "Easy now. You wouldn't want me to cut something that doesn't need to be filleted just yet, now would you?" I tried to swallow as I shook my head when he finally loosened his grasp. "Good, now hold still. Or you might get cut in an unfriendly manner."
The slender man walked around to stand behind me. I could feel the tension loosen in the top of this dress as I knew what he was doing. Instead of untying me, he was cutting the strands that held my dress up and in its proper place. The more he cut, the more the straps loosened on the top of my shoulders.
"Oh man, she's wearing one of those, those things..." Dylan called out in frustration.
I sighed a sigh of relief, thinking that would help, but that was short-lived. "No matter, that will soon come off as well. I didn't have this blade sharpened for nothing."
Why was I here? I wondered to myself. No sooner had he finished cutting the strands at the back of the dress than he pulled it apart, revealing the garment I wore underneath.