How bad it is
Liyah’s POV
My entire body racked with sobs as I huddled against the wall still shaken from my encounter with my captor. I had had a pretty bad fall when he dropped me, and now I was unable to move my right leg. A tear dropped from my eyes as I tried to twist my foot to the left to see how bad it was. I realized that my ankle had taken the brunt of it.
I still didn’t get a good look at my kidnapper’s face. The dungeon was just too dark. I had hoped to see his face, to enable me find out if I knew him from anywhere. If he was someone I knew then I would try to recollect why he would kidnap me. But I knew I had no enemies, well unless my pack counts. But apart from them, I hadn’t had any encounter with anyone else that would make them want to punish me like this. The only thing I had made out so far was that he was obviously the Alpha of the pack. I could tell from the way they addressed him. But that wasn’t good news either. It was rare to find a kindhearted Alpha. And I had enough experience to know that. For the hundredth time, I wondered what he was planning.
Fresh tears making their way onto my face, I thought about how worried Nanny Maria would be. She was the only one who would notice my absence, of course. I had never missed anyone this much. Being in this dungeon and in my Father’s house was quite similar as I felt the same way about it; caged. But at least back home I could go outside, and I had my Nanny to talk to. Here I was no better than the cobwebs that loomed over the ceilings. I wasn’t getting light, or enough air either. I felt like I was dying slowly. Which was why I was a little grateful when he had told me I would be working upstairs. I silently prayed to the Goddess that ‘upstairs’ was actually outside in the sun or wind, and not just another dungeon.
I leaned against the wall exhausted just as the the two guards appeared back in the dungeon. They had been keeping an eye on me for a few days now. I still wasn’t sure why. It’s not like I was going to bolt and run off in a house filled with werewolves. I wouldn’t even make it to the door.
“Why haven’t you been eating?” One of the guards asked, staring at me intently. “Do you plan to die off sooner than later?”
I looked away from him, sighing. Over the last few days I had learned a few things about them. I didn’t know their names, but I knew that one of then was cold, quiet and passive. He usually dished out the threats of biting my head clean off whenever I started to sob while feeling sorry for myself.
The other was more relaxed. He seemed smart and goofy, which was a strange but not unpleasant vibe I had gotten in this place. But he didn’t particularly care either. In that way he managed to remind me of Christy every single time.
“I’m not hungry,” I lied. The real reason was because I feared that it was poisoned. That was obviously the fastest way to take care of everything. Sometimes I was tempted to actually have a bite or two. Maybe it would be best to die of poisoning, everything would end quickly and I wouldn’t have to go through all this pain anymore. But I didn’t want to die like that. What about Maria? What about everything else I wanted to achieve? I had only known pain my entire life, o deserved to experience happiness at least for a while. So I left the trays of food until they began to rot. The smell of rotting food made me retch, but my stomach was so empty that nothing came out.
The friendly guard laughed. “You should be grateful, at least you were getting food. Now you’ve gone and ruined it.”
I kept silent, not knowing what to say to that. Was the food really not poisoned?
“Why would he feed me when he kidnapped me? You don’t think that’s strange?”
He burst out laughing. “You’re cute if you think he would use poisoned food to get rid of you.”
“What do you mean?” I asked, hoping to get more information from him. I needed to know more about who this person was.
I saw the other guard give his colleague a stern glare. I could tell that he was warning him to keep his mouth shut.
The friendly guard shrugged at me. “All I can tell you is if he ever decides to feed you again, toss your ego aside and eat. You look like you’re gonna break into two if the wind blows too hard.
For the first time since I had been here, I felt insecure. I knew I was shedding weight, but the fact that he pointed it out made me more aware of it. And it didn’t feel great. My arms had definitely gotten skinnier. I was glad there wasn’t a mirror anywhere. I was sure I would look like death. I felt tired and frail, and it pretty much showed physically.
“Okay,” I murmured. But I knew that was unlikely. I couldn’t see what my kidnapper looked like, but I could feel the anger oozing off him when he had seen the rotten trays of food lying untouched. He was only going to put me to work to tire me out until there was nothing left of me.
“You okay?” The friendly guard asked me.Nôvel/Dr(a)ma.Org - Content owner.
“Don’t ask her that, she’s not your responsibility,” The other one complained.
I shrunk more into the wall.
“It doesn’t matter,” He waved his colleague off. ”
I didn’t know what to say so I just stared at them.
“Just try to get some sleep. You’re gonna have a horrible day tomorrow.”
I wondered how he could sound concerned and unfeeling all at once. But I took his advice. Using my folded arms as a pillow, I shut my eyes tightly, trying not to think of what was in store for me.