It was a very beautiful day. The sun was hiding behind the clouds, just giving off heat enough that we wont shiver with the cold, making the sky blue. A soft breeze would pass by every few minutes, preventing the heat from building up and sweat from breaking out.

Me and my godparents were in the market, buying some ingredients. Earlier, my godmother had asked me if I want to learn how to make a blueberry pie. And me, being the kid who loved sweets, especially anything with blueberries in them, had agreed, jumping up and down like a puppy. She had laughed at me and patted my head and then called on to my godfather and so the three of us went to the market.

And so, it was how we came to this, the three of us walking side by side together with me in the middle while I both held their hands, my godmother on my right and my godfather on my left, both holding my hand while my godfather held our purchases on the other hand.

Since we lived on the edge of the town, we had to walk a lot and use roads where its usually deserted. But since no one had ever been reported to have been attacked in those roads, it never crossed our minds that today it might all change.

That today might not be like the rest.

We were currently walking in a road where it both sides were surrounded with huge trees, making it look like you were in a green tunnel. I have always liked walking under them. Every time I did, it felt magical. Like if I somehow forget where I was supposed to go and just continued walking through the tunnel of leaves, I would end up in another world. In another dimension. In a place where no one has ever been.

So while we were walking, I did what I usually do when I pass there, I looked up on the trees while walking, confident that I wont trip because my godparents were holding each of my hands. The both of them were chuckling while they discussed what we would be cooking for lunch when I tore my gaze away from the leaves and followed the thin branches to its base. That’s when I saw a shadow just beside the tree. Normally, I wouldn’t have paid it any mind. People had said that this place was magical and sometimes beings not from our place would sometimes end up here in the forest. They had said that when you take this path, you would usually see some shadows but that it was normal so you shouldn’t freak out and be polite and just ignore it. So normally, I would have just done exactly the same but the shadow was shaped like a person and I know that it wasn’t enough reason to be freaking out but still, that shadow was giving me the feeling that we should not be here. That something bad would definitely happen if we didn’t hurry up and left.

And the unusual loud crying of the insects also set off the alarm in my head. I have used this road a lot and the insects have never been this loud before. It was like this was done deliberately. It was like the crying of the insects was used to cover other sounds.

To cover people.

I didn’t had a proof but my realization made my eyes wide and my heart race with panic. I might just be too paranoid but my gut instinct has never been wrong and I doubt that it would fail me now.

So without saying anything, I had started walking faster, tugging on my godparents hands while staring straight ahead, refusing to look on the sides.

My sudden movement had slightly surprised my godparents. My godmother asked me what was wrong while my godfather joked that I was just really excited to get started on the pie to which my godmother laughed. Every seconds that passed the alarm in my head got more loud and the panic screamed louder and louder so I turned to look at my godfather, not slowing my fast pace of walking.

I think he was about so say another joke but then he saw the look in my eyes and he had understood right away. Living together for the past two years had made them trust me and my gut instinct and just one look was needed to convey what I felt. And all the times the alarm in my head had gone off in the past two years, I had always been right so they trusted me and I learned not to keep things in and tell them when I felt wrong.

As my godfather was about to turn to my godmother and tell her, I had seen something behind my godfather. Or more like someone.

It was a man. He was wearing a cloak and he looked like he was a traveler. He was about a couple of dozen steps away and he was following us. I know. I know because he was looking at us and his steps was perfectly synchronized with us.

Perfectly timed so that he wont fall behind while keeping the same distance. But what really scared me was the grin on his lips. A manic grin. Like he was insane.

I shivered at the thought.

My godfather had noticed me shiver and followed my line of sight. As soon as he saw the man, he immediately carried me in his arms, dropping the bag filled with the ingredients we bought from the market and started walking faster.

With each step that my godfather took, the vice like grip  that was constricting my heart was slowly loosening until I could breath normally again. But then my godfather halted in his steps so I turned around and looked in front of us.

It was another man and like the one before, he was also wearing a cloak but this one was holding a dagger in his hand, making sure that we see it.

After that, I’m not sure what really happened next. I was sure that I saw everything that happened but when I try to remember what happened that time, I always come up with broken memories and a throbbing head. Maybe my mind, tryng to protect its own sanity, sealed the memories away. All I remember is the sensation of falling and seeing a blueberry not so far away from me on the ground and seconds later, a boot crushing it while a scream filled with pain

accompanied me as my visions turned black.

###

The squeaking of rats woke me up.

I opened my eyes and I realized that I was laying on the floor. In my sleep induced brain, I questioned myself why I was sleeping on the floor when I had a perfectly good  bed. I was thinking that my godmother would surely freak out when she learns that I slept on the floor and then I realized that our house never had rats so why did I heard rats?

Why...?

Then I remembered a blueberry getting crushed by a boot as I heard my godmother scream in pain.

My eyes widened and I scrambled to stand up only for my head to hit something hard. That’s when I realized that there were metal bars around me. I looked around and I realized that I was inside a box or something. Like those boxes in the market where chickens were imprisoned. But it was slightly bigger, big enough that I could sit but not stand up. I looked around me, thankful that there were lit torches around, providing light. As I looked around, I realized that I wasn’t alone.

Cages like the one I was in was all around me, and girls like my age was inside them.

Some girls were sleeping in a fetal position while the others were staring into space. On my left was a girl with short golden  blonde hair and she was sleeping while on my right was a girl with long silver hair and blood red eyes, and she was staring at me like she was studying me. As I looked around, I realized that all of us had some kind of feature that was not common to some people. Like rare eyes or hair color or skin. The word “exotic” came into my mind. I don’t know why but I shuddered at the word.

All of us were different from each other but at the same time, we had something in common. It took me a while to realize what it was but when I did, I wanted to cry.

Despair.

All of us emitted an air of despair.

###

I don’t know how long we all stayed in that dark room. I couldn’t guess base on the light because I couldn’t find any crack on the walls, the room was perfectly covered. I couldn’t even guess base on the time the  food was given to us because it was random. It was like they sometimes forget to bring us food.

In the beginning, a girl with red hair demanded to one of the men that was delivering the food to let her go and kept on protesting until one of them took her out of her cage and started beating her up in front of us.

She tried to fight but the men quickly overpowered her until she lay on the floor,whimpering as kicks and punches were delivered on her small body.

I wanted to protest and beg them to stop but I knew that if I did it, I would also be subjected to the same fate so I shut my mouth. I watched on mutely as bile and guilt rose up in my throat.

I thought that after she was covered in bruises and was puking blood they would stop, but they didn’t. Instead, they kept on doing it. They kept on beating her until the sounds of snapping could be heard and a small pool of blood was forming around her.

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The red haired girls eyes met mine and she was begging me with her eyes to help her. I wanted to but I was afraid for myself. As I avoided my gaze, I saw the pleading in her eyes turn into despair and I felt more sick in my stomach.

I tried closing my eyes but seeing nothing while hearing the horrible sounds that was echoing in the room made it more terrifying so I kept my head turned on the right. I stared at nothing while I tried to tune out the sounds when I noticed that the girl with the silver hair was still staring at me. She was still staring at me like she was studying me, so to distract myself, I stared back at her. Her eyes slightly widened, like she was surprised that I was meeting her gaze head on. I took comfort in her gaze and without noticing it, I had tuned out the sounds and all that remained was me and the silver haired girl as we stared at each other.

###

After I don’t know how long, we were moved to another place again.  Just suddenly, the only door in the room suddenly opened and rough looking men flooded in. The memory of the beating of the red headed girl never faded from everyone’s mind so some of us whimpered at the sight of them, fearing that the same fate would befall us all but that didn't happen.

Instead, we were placed on the back of a big wooden cart. The moment that my cage passed the door, cold air wrapped around me. It was a bit hard to see because it was night but I saw that a lot of trees surrounded us. There were no houses nearby and the road were full with weeds. Like the road was not used often.

Before I could see anything else, I was roughly placed on the cart. The cart was big but there was a lot of us so we were stacked on top of each other. I was placed on the second from the top and I was about to continue looking at the surroundings but then the girl with the silver hair was placed right beside me. I stared at her and she stared right back at me. We stayed like that until all the men finished loading all the girls on the cart. And then we were covered with a big piece of thick cloth. I don’t know what it was called. It was like those travelers used to cover whatever they were carrying on the back of their cart.

As we were about to be covered in darkness, the silver haired girl suddenly went rigid and her breath sped up. Beads of sweat started to form on her forehead as she broke our eye contact and stared on the wood beneath her.

Then it occurred to me that she might be scared. My parents used to say before that people are sometimes scared of the dark though I don’t really understand why. And I don’t know why I did it but I reached out and touched her hand. At the contact, she whipped her head and stared at me with wide eyes. She looked at me like she sees me and then the next she doesn’t. Like she was fighting with something inside her. I don’t know her or anything about her or even her name but I wanted to help her. Maybe it was out of my selfish reason to not lose her and the comforting stares that we gave each other or maybe I just really wanted to help, but whatever the reason was, that made me gave the courage I needed and squeezed her hand, trying to wordlessly tell her that I was there.

Her eyes gazed in and out of focus for a while till she squeezed my hand back and closed her eyes. When her eyes opened again, they were clear again. She was looking at me and there was a small smile on her lips, like she was thanking me. We stared at each other till we were covered in darkness again. I couldn’t see anything but her eyes shined in the dark so I continued staring right in her eyes and somehow, I felt that she did too.

###

For how long we travelled, I didn’t know. I had already lost my sense of time. I also couldn’t tell if it was day or night because the cloth that covered us was very thick that not even the light could pass through it. Sometimes, a voice of someone could be heard. Like we were passing through a market or a house but the thought of shouting out for help never crossed our minds. Maybe some of us did thought about it but the fear was there. Fear of having the same fate as the red haired girl if we tried and made any noise.  Maybe we could’ve been saved but there was a bigger chance that we would not be and none of us were brave enough to risk it.

Fear was our major motivator.

The journey went on and on and so did our suffering. The cart never stopped and we were never given any food or water. I could hear the low growling of stomachs and tiny soft whimpers of the girls around me. I was not faring well myself either. I’ve become more weak than before, I could barely lift my hand or move even just a bit. My lower lip constantly bled because of how I would bite it every time the hunger pains wracked my body. I had started to drink the blood that was seeping out from my bleeding lip in order to relieve myself from the thirst. I didn’t know if I was making things worse for myself but I didn’t care. The thirst was there and there was my blood, and if it could relieve me of my thirst I would take it. No matter what it was.

The smell of urine and feces suffocated me, sometimes knocking me off. And I welcomed it. The bottomless black sea of sleep was comforting for me. It relieved me of my hunger, my thirst and the smells that surrounded us.

And the silver haired girl beside me was also the same. I couldn’t see her but her hand that I constantly held was getting thinner as time passed. Sometimes I would muster my strength and squeeze her hand and after a while, she would squeeze back. I was afraid that she would die and her squeezing back my hand was comforting. I still didn’t know if it was because I cared for her or because of my own selfishness of not wanting to be alone. All I knew is that I didn’t wanted her to die.

###

After a long time of suffering in the darkness, our journey finally came to an end.

I could still remember how my eyes felt like they were burning by the sudden assault of light on my vision when the cloth that was covering us was roughly pulled aside. I yelped in pain as I closed my eyes and curled into myself, hoping that the burning in my eyes would end. As I tried to block out the pain, I could hear the other girls whimpering in pain like me.

Minutes later, I was able to see again although the edges of my vision faded into white. It was like I was staring directly into the sun. Everything was very bright and looking was very painful for my eyes but for some reason, I wanted to see what was happening around me.

The moment everything got clearer, I wished that I didn’t tried to look at all.

A lot of the girls had died. Some of them were in a fetal position while the others were slumped on the bars of their cages. Their mouths hung open while their dead eyes stared into nothing.

Dry and wet feces were scattered all around us while the strong smell of urine clung to us.

As I tried to look around more, I realized that something was dangling in front of me. It took a while for my eyes to focus but when it did, I saw that it was a hand. It was very thin, like the hand didn’t contain any flesh, only bones and skin. Then I realized that the state of my body was also the same.

As the hand became clearer, I noticed that the owner of it, probably the girl in the cage who was on top of mine, never moved. Not even a single twitch. At that moment, I came to recognize the other smell that I could not name before. It was the pungent smell of decay.

I turned to my side as fast as my tired body could and stared hard to look at her, at the silver haired girl. My visions took a while to get clear and it frustrated me but I waited patiently. When it finally became clearer I tried to reach out to touch her hand but I stopped midway. She wasn’t moving. She was slumped on the bars of her cage and her eyes were closed.

Her mouth was open slightly.

She didn’t move.

My head was starting to go numb again like when I realize that something was wrong. My breath was starting to pick up but I tried to hold on and kept myself still to look at her, to look for the subtle rise and fall of her chest, to see if she was still breathing.

But she wasn’t.

I blacked out.

###

Yes. I'm still alive. Ha! XD Anyway, my life is so shitty right now. I've wanted to upload this chapter for so long but life is a fucking dick and he hates me. I'm also very sick right now. Anyway, I'll try to update as often as I can.