The sound came back. Had I lost consciousness again? How many times am I going to get knocked out today?

I opened my eyes and looked around. It was dim, but I could still see from the faint light that came through the walls that I was in a wagon. From my knowledge in history class, I could tell that it was the type of covered wagon that the pioneers had used during the westward expansion in the United States. The wagon was moving slowly down a rough road. The wooden floor shook violently every now and then when we hit a large rock.

But that was not the important part. I shuddered. I was still shirtless. I moved my hands and realized there were chains bound to my hands and feet. I reached out and felt a cold metal bar. I started to panic as I felt more metal bars around me. I was in a cage.

“Hey!” I called out, “Is anybody there? Why am I here? Where are we going?”

I must have been kidnapped by that “traveling merchant” I had met. If that was the case, Angel must have been kidnapped too. I had to get out of this cage as soon as possible to save Angel. But when I realized that, I cursed at myself. If I wanted to get out of this situation, then the last thing I should have done was to call out for the man to come.

The wagon slowed to a stop, and a moment later, curtains on one side of the wagon opened, letting the light of the evening sunset filter in. I turned towards the exit and saw the mysterious man standing out in the light.

He started walking towards me. My eyes bore into his, and my expression turned serious as he started talking. “You awake, brat?” he spat, “I was initially thinking to wake you up myself, but that would have been a waste of time. We’re almost at our destination, which is the place I’m living at right now, and then you’ll have to tell me everything you know.”

He was standing right in front of my cage cell now. “Any questions?” he said with a more demanding tone than the formal tone I was more accustomed to in school by my teachers.

“Where are we going?” I asked pleadingly, then quickly added, “Where are you staying?”

He narrowed his eyes. “Are you serious? There’s only one town around here, and we’re going there.”

He started walking away, but I didn’t want him to go. I reached out my hand and silently whispered, “This is all just a misunderstanding.” It wasn’t loud enough for him to hear. I opened my mouth again, wanting to ask him more, to ask him why I was in this cage, to ask him which year it was. But I closed my mouth and lowered my hand, afraid to be talked down on again by him.

When the man got to the exit, he turned around to face me again. This time his face was expressionless, with not even a drop of the hatred he had had towards me a few seconds ago. He paused for a second, and I could have sworn that I saw a flash of pity go across his face. But a moment later, he turned back and grabbed the reigns to the two horses in front of him. Once again, we were back to moving on the bumpy gravel path.

The man had forgotten to close the curtains, so now the faint light from the sunlight made the inside of the wagon a tiny bit brighter. It was enough for me, with my eyes adjusted, to see everything clearly now.

I scanned the room. Other than my cage, there was a pile of large, plump bags, a large wooden box, and a few barrels. There was also some hunting gear lying around. A few bows, crossbows, and many arrows populated one corner, while hunting traps, ranging from small ones, possibly for catching squirrels, to large ones, large enough to even stop a bear, were piled in another corner.

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But my eyes settled on something else. In the corner to my left, opposite side to where the light was coming from, there was a straw bed. In the faint light, I saw a girl lying on the bed. I immediately stood up, and stepped to the edge of my cage, closer to the bed, to get a better look. That must be Angel!

She was in a new outfit now, and the old blood-stained clothing was nowhere in sight. Her new set of clothes was, well, not even an actual set of clothes. It was more like a white blanket made into a dress quickly. Even so, it looked much more warm and comfortable than my outfit of just a single pair of thin shorts.

I took a few moments to look closely at Angel and was relieved to find that she was still breathing. In addition, her breathing was much more smooth and stable now compared to before.

I wanted to get out of the cell to see her closer, but I stopped myself from banging on the bars. I didn’t want to get the driver’s attention. Instead, I just sat down, still looking towards the bed, and waited for us to arrive at wherever we were going.

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We arrived about thirty minutes later. Although the sun had already set, I heard many people outside in the town. I could not see it, but I knew from the sound that we passed by a few stores still selling tools or food and a loud tavern with a couple of partying people.

We had only passed a few of those buildings before the wagon stopped. There weren’t as many people here, making it quieter, but you could still hear the sound of people conversing in the distance. My captor hopped off the wagon, took an oil lamp he had lit a while ago, released the horses tied to the wagon, and led them away. When he came back, he headed straight for me. He was holding a set of large keys in his hands, and after finding the right key, he unlocked the lock on my cage.

“You better not think of running away,” he told me. I didn’t respond. I was still looking towards Angel, or at least in her general direction in the darkness.

He walked in and used a different key to take off the chains binding my hands and feet, keeping the cuffs on. But even after that, I didn’t feel free. After pulling me up to my feet, he pushed me towards the exit. I kept my eyes toward Angel. That aggravated the man, and he struck me hard on my face. I obediently turned to face forward and was led to the dark shadow of a building looming in front of us. After the man grabbed the bright oil lamp from under the wagon and lit the way, I could finally see the structure much better.

It was a building crudely built out of large logs, making it seem like it was hastily constructed. It had a low roof, making me wonder how such a large man could live in it. There were also a few windows and a door cut into the walls. The windows were barred with metal rods, and a wooden door was placed in the doorway. But we didn’t go inside. Instead, we turned to the left before we got to the door, going around the house and to the back. There was a large trapdoor hidden by heaps of hay over it. It seemed to lead downwards to a basement. My captor opened the trapdoor, and with the light from the oil lamp, I could see stairs leading down into unknown darkness.

We walked down on the solid stone stairs, the sound of our footsteps echoing through the narrow stairwell. As we climbed down, the light followed us, revealing walls of natural stone and dirt, with large wooden poles holding the low ceiling up. The wood and stone were riddled with cobwebs, adding to the mysterious and frightening atmosphere the darkness gave.

At the bottom was a room. It was carefully carved out from the earth to form a square floor, but there were some imperfections in the walls and edges. The room was small enough for the weak light to shine through the entire room, reflecting off some small shards of rock in the walls. However, it was just large enough for both me and the large man to fit inside, with a decent amount of space around and above us.

The man stopped me here and locked my cuffs to metal chains coming from the back wall. I stood there, scanning the room, but the man went back to the stairs, taking the lamp with him. The room went dark again.

“I’m going to lock this door, so don’t try to escape,” I heard him say from the exit, and a moment later, the trapdoor slammed shut, and there was the tiny sound of chains clinking, ending with a click and a thump.

I didn’t say anything. I had no plan to escape. I just sat down.

I was hungry, but I didn’t notice that. In one single day, I had died, went back in time, and now I was a prisoner. I didn’t want to think about this, but in the darkness, I had nothing else to think about. I was scared, worried, and angry, but in the end, I was sure that I had cried so much that I had lost all my emotions along with those tears.