Alpha Kaelor

It's dark, and still. Being alone with my thoughts is rough, but the sounds are what I fear most. Those sounds mean pain. Daphne is curled up on my left, asleep. I figure she does that so she doesn't feel that crushing despair. It's how she protects herself. I wish I had anything like that. Maybe I do. I don't speak. Not anymore. Not after all I've lived through. There's another girl here, but she's beyond Daphne, and she's stayed here nearly as long as I have. She's sick, terribly sick. I never cared enough to ask her name. Why do names even matter when we're all doomed? Every one of us will be dead before this ends. Slow, drawn-out, torturous deaths with no mercy. It scares me, but it's real. Reality is what keeps me grounded. There's a scratching noise. I jolt upright, scrambling deeper into the corner, trying to stay swallowed by the musty dark. I know what's coming, and my stomach turns. Tears spill down my face, and I pray it ends quickly. "Look at her, she's scared!" The words come out almost like laughter. I whimper as the two men wait outside my cage with eager grins. The barred door creaks open, and I suck in a breath. I fight to drag air into my lungs. It isn't working. I don't plead for mercy. I don't try to fight them. All I can do is hope that somehow, someway, this ends.