Begging for a second chance

ZEPH

I slowly came to, my head pounding in sync with the depressing awareness that something was terribly wrong. As my eyes adjusted to the dim light, I took in my surroundings. I was in a small, dingy room with peeling walls and a single window, barred and offering a sliver of sunlight. The old bed creaked beneath me as I moved, its worn mattress biting into my back. For a moment, I couldn't understand what was happening, and didn't know why I was in such a room.

Panic set in as memories flooded back. I tried to bolt up on the bed, wincing in pain and falling back as the chains held me back. It was then that I realized I was held. 

I struggled to scream, to ask for help, but my cry was muffled, making me discover they had gagged me. I struggled on the bed. The chains rattled, the sounds deafening in the otherwise silent room.

Help! 

I tried to shout, despite knowing it was futile. Whoever bought me here wouldn't be foolish enough to keep me in a place where I could be helped by others.

I heard footsteps and stopped, waiting for the door to open, for my abductors to show themselves, but nothing happened. For a moment, I assumed I had imagined the sound until I heard a voice outside the door.

“How's she doing?”

Oh, there are two men out there.

“Not good. The dose seemed to have been too much for her."

I lay still on the bed, so the chains wouldn't rattle, to alert them. I wanted to know what they would talk about, and they didn't disappoint at all. 

“Poor lady. What did she do to piss him off like this?”

"Beats me.”

There was a lengthy silence, making me believe they had left. However, one broke the silence.

“Whatever did she do to Mr Lysander to deserve this? I might be a hit man, but that doesn't make me heartless.”

Lysander? A chill ran down my spine as the men's words echoed through the room. The realization that he was behind this, having me taken and chained down like a damned animal, hit me like a train without a break. My lover, the man I was supposed to trust with my life, had orchestrated this. I felt like I'd been living a lie, like everything we'd shared was a facade.

“He wants to sell her off to the new bar he opened. It's such a pity she didn't …”

“And to think he killed her parents. Poor child.”

My face paled. A numbness spread through me, as if I'd been anaesthetized from the inside out. I couldn't believe what I was hearing. It was impossible. No, I must have heard wrong. There was no way…

Lysander had saved me when I was at my lowest. If he hadn't picked me that night after I was auctioned off, I would have gone to someone else. Yes. He helped me.

“I can't be wrong. He had them burnt so he could torment their daughter. What a psycho!” 

No! 

It can't be true. Despite the denial, it felt like their words had shattered me into a million pieces, each one sharp and cutting. My parents had died in a fire. They wouldn't have known if they weren't told. 

The tears I'd thought were dried up, trailed down, like lazy rain after a long winter. Different questions flashed in my mind, but only a few stuck.

How could Lysander? How could he do this to me, torment me, while knowing he was behind every fucked up thing that had been happening to me? How could he be involved in something so heinous? The man I thought I knew, the man I loved, was a stranger to me now. A stranger with blood in his hands. But most importantly, a stranger whose blood I planned to spill with my hands.

….

I was held for a week, only given food once in two days, and water once a day. I wasn't allowed out of the room, treated like a dog. No, not like a dog. Dogs had it better than me. At least they were allowed out of the house, not left to sleep on their faeces and urine. My nails were bloody from the marks I made on the wall while trying to keep count of the days.

I plotted my revenge, despite knowing I had no hope of escaping alive. It didn't deter me. I planned it all until the night I escaped.

Blood trickled from the wounds beneath the chains on my neck and hands as I crawled to the door, desperately trying to get closer. It hurts. Every fibre in my body screamed in protest as I moved closer, my blood staining the floor. I wanted to fight through this, to escape from this hell, a place I would have avoided if I hadn't confronted him. I had loved him, sacrificed all for him, and ignored everything else I had heard about him. However, all that came crashing down when I discovered he had killed my parents. He made me an orphan yet acted like a saviour, bringing me out from the darkness he had pushed me into…

The chain on my neck burned into my skin the nearer I got to the door. I wasn't concerned about the pain; I only had one thing in mind. Revenge. It was all I could think of; the fuel pushing me forward. Surprisingly, another painful tug was all it took for the chain to snap. Looking back at the metal, I mustered the strength to rise to my feet. Limping, I got to the door and tried the knob. Luck was on my side. A twist was all it took for it to open. I stepped out on shaky feet into the deserted corridor and limped my way out of the house.

By the time the guards knew I was gone, I had already closed enough gaps between us. The sound of footsteps echoed behind me as I ran for dear life, growing louder with each passing second. I noticed I couldn't outrun them forever. Lysander's betrayal still felt like a fresh wound, the pain and shock refusing to subside fueled my desperation. As I flew, the scenery blurred around me, and my breath came in ragged gasps. Blood trailed behind me, and my feet hurt from stepping on the concrete. My bones screamed in resistance, but I kept going. I knew I had to escape.

I could hear Lysander's men closing in, their shouts and curses carried on the wind. I realized I had to keep moving, to find a place to hide, but my legs felt as heavy as a rock, and my lungs burned. I needed to get as far away from this place as I could, but I was losing strength. It would only be a matter of time before they caught up to me.

Suddenly, I saw a glimmer of hope in the distance; a narrow alleyway between two buildings. I sprinted towards it, my heart racing with anticipation. But before I could reach the alley, I saw it too late; a car. Coming straight for me. I didn't see it in time and couldn't react. I just stared, like a deer caught in headlights, as the vehicle struck me with a loud thud, sending me flying until I landed on the cold, hard tarred road.

The pain was intense, a slow-building agony that seemed to consume my entire being. I felt my soul slithering away, my body broken and battered. Coughing, I looked up at the moonless sky, wishing for a second chance to rewrite my destiny and avenge my parents' deaths. If only there were a God up there, but I knew it was pointless. I could feel my life slipping through my fingers. And when death came, I didn't fight it. I closed my eyes as the footsteps got louder, giving up. “Just one chance,” I thought…

If only I could get a second chance.