Chapter 100: A Cage: Hannah
The first thing I noticed when I began to wake up was the smell. It was like the stench of death itself had died. I tried not to gag as it sat at the back of my throat.
The smell was pungent, and I thought at that moment I may never smell a pleasant thing ever again. It certainly seemed that way from the way the horrible odor seemed to make its home in my nose and my throat.
The second thing I noticed was that it was dark. It was pitch-black and quiet, so quiet that I could hear the faint dripping sound of a faraway water source. Maybe it was a busted pipe, or maybe someone had left a tap running.
Whimpering sounded out next to me, but I could hardly see who it came from. My mind however, had a pretty good idea.
There were very few people and organizations who would dare sneak onto the property of Roman Thaddeus, never mind kidnap one of the inhabitants.
If the people who kidnapped me knew who I was—and I had no doubt that they did—I was sure there was a reason why I was here.
Not wanting to accept my fate just yet, I felt around the small space I was placed in. To my utter horror, I felt the cold steel bars of a cage. The bars were somewhat slimy, whether from being down here for so long or not being cleaned I didn’t know.
But there was no mistaking it. I was in a cage. Clanking sounded as I had suffled around the small space, and a realization hit me.
My arms rattled the more I used them, and my feet were constricted as well. I realized that not only had I been placed in a cage, but I was also tied up with chains and shackles to the wall furthest from the other end of the cage that I could not reach.
I tried to draw a picture of my position in my mind. I was chained to a wall nearest to what I assumed was the opening of the cage. On either side of me were either more cages directly attached to my own, given the close whimpers, or completely separate.
Either way, I wasn’t the only one being held down here. I tried to listen to the sounds of the women around me in order to count exactly how many there were. But it was useless. Some of them might have been more vocal than others, while some may not have opened their mouths at all while I was down here.
Trying to figure out how many of us were down here was useless, so I moved to using my time and deduction skills on something else instead.
The image of Kirsten shot through my mind at that moment. I realized this was the exact type of situation she had described to me. If this was at all like that, then there were no guards or men placed here with us in the room.
But I had no doubt they weren’t far away from us. Whether they were monitoring us from the cameras Kirsten had told me were placed in the rooms, or just outside the door walking the hallways and watching for suspicious movement, they were definitely here.
Taking a deep breath, I tried to collect all the information I had gathered so far. I didn’t know how long I had been here, exactly, and I quickly turned around to feel my wrist. My watch had remained intact.
I pushed the button on the side of it and watched as it lit up to tell me the time. It was still night.
The whimpers of the other women trapped here, the foul stench of God knows what, and the pitch dark of the void staring back. It was so dark that not even opening and closing my eyes shut made a difference to my sight.
Suddenly, a bright light burst through my vision. I shut my eyes to the onslaught of light. It was so bright that I thought my eyes might burn from the sudden change of lighting from pitch black to a sharp bright glare.
I began screaming immediately. "Help!" My voice was weak, and my throat was scratchy, but I continued. "Help me! Someone help me, please!"
Shushing sounded out from all around me immediately. It was then that I noted the room and what exactly it contained. Seven large cases were placed in the almost circular room around a table at the center.
Directly opposite from my cage was an empty space where a staircase was situated, leading up to a silver steel door. The floor was cement and covered in water and blood—blood from who or where, I didn’t know.
I finally made my eyes look to the side of me when my chain was yanked. I noted it was being pulled by another woman. When I called out to her, she only shushed me harshly.
She, like the rest of the women in the cages around us, looked dirty and underfed. Her bones stuck out in all the places they shouldn’t, and her hair was dry and matted. A chill ran down my spine at the look of them.
How long had they been down here? How long had they been captured to look like that?
I tried to ask her questions as I moved toward her. The closer I got to her, the further she scooted away from me. It was almost like it was me she was afraid of. Then again, I wondered, how long had it been that these girls were shown a glimpse of kindness.
Just then, the heavy silver door from on top of the staircase creaked open loudly. All our attention was turned to it.
The girls on either side of my cage moved to the back of their cages and sat in a corner furthest from the door. They hid their faces in their knees as their bodies began shaking.
I moved toward the opening of my cage to get a better look at the guards who came in. The people who had entered were not guards. They were familiar faces.
I nearly felt sick looking at them again.
"Well, well, well," the man said with a high smirk as he walked toward my cage and looked down at me. "Look what the cat dragged in." He purred as he spoke. I had to do everything in my power to control the look of disgust that began creeping onto my features.
"Bernard." I greeted him through gritted teeth as I gripped the steel bars in front of me.
The woman beside him let out a shrill laugh as she clapped her hands in delight. "Oh! Doesn’t she just look so lovely there in that cage? It’s where a b*tch like her belongs."
Dragging my eyes slowly from the proud-looking face of Bernard, I turned to look at the woman and pretended not to recognize her.
"Sorry... Who are you?" I squinted my eyes at her for the effect. To my delight, her gleeful expression turned murderous and sour.
I knew it was probably not the best idea to get her angry. I didn’t know what she was fully capable of, but getting her angry would get her to spout any sort of nonsense and truths. She talked a lot. I had to use that to my advantage.
"Jessica, no." Bernard held the woman back by her arm. "She’s just trying to rile you up. She’s a smart one. That’s why she’s my favorite."
Much to my dislike, Bernard walked forward. Through the bars in the cage, he gripped my face in his hands. I tried to pull away, but I didn’t want to further injure myself. My eyes looked quickly over his shoulder to a fuming Jessica being left out and then to him again.
"What is it you want with me?" I asked Bernard. "Ever the mastermind behind it all but always so quick to have your plans foiled." I smirked at him this time and watched as his face fell for a moment before smiling again.
"Don’t you worry about my plans, darling. Your precious white knight won’t be able to save you now. A bullet wound is a damn awful thing to recover from."
I blinked at him once. He knew about Roman being shot. He just didn’t know that he was on his way to recovery. That was good.
For now, Roman wasn’t a threat to them, so they would leave him be—for now. Although, it seemed like they knew where he was.
I glared at him. "I’m going to make you pay for what you did to him," I said as I fed into his perception of a weakened Roman.
Bernard only laughed loudly and let go of my chin in a harsh push. "We’ll see about that one, darling. You should be quiet though." Bernard waved at me as he and Jessica began to leave. "We don’t want to miss out on all the fun."
