Sally fell to her knees sobbing and grabbed the older woman’s skirts.
“Let her go. Why is she even here?” I shouted while my legs almost gave out under me.
“She had only one job; to make sure you took the whitebane.”
“Please, please, milady. I will do anything.” Sally chanted as if not hearing anything.
The door clanged open, and my breath caught in my chest. With one violent shove, I was launched forward. I tumbled to the stone floor, bruising my knees and scraping the palms of my hands. I got up. The place was cold and damp, as though the windows had never been opened. Anauseating smell of something putrid filled the air, making me want to cover my head to block the scent. Every sense screamed in protest. Slowly, I lifted my head. The room seemed vast, I could not see the walls. There was no furniture – just the bare floor and a throne standing in the center. Almost immediately, my eyes distinguished a figure atop of it. I could hardly recognize the silhouette because the window curtains were drawn, coating the whole space in inky black shadows. My blood ran cold, shallow breaths escaped my lips and I was sure that whoever it was, they could hear the violent beating of my heart.
Somewhere behind me, the metal door closed. Sally scrambled to her feet and started banging on the door. Dull metallic clangs filled the whole room in an instant. They had locked us in.
My head snapped back to the body on the throne. It leaned forward,and something crashed onto the floor. It sounded metallic as it hit the stone.
Something was not right.
Why would they keep this person in complete darkness? With no lights, no furniture?
I lowered myself to the ground, trying to stay as quiet as I could, trying to slow down the savage pounding in my head. The figure moved, taking two unsteady steps toward the door. Slowly, I inched closer to the window, cold, sticky sweat soaked my dress as my hand brushed the thick black curtain.
Behind me Sally screamed. I turned my head just in time to see two shadows by the door. Low, guttural sounds filled the space between us and my heart stopped.
I pulled on the curtain, but the light I hoped to find never came. Under the fabric, I saw the unfinished wood boards that were nailed to the window frame. Strips of unbearably bright light pierced through the narrow cracks without penetrating the darkness around me.
“Help! Help me!” Sally cried out.
With all my strength, I pulled at a wooden board, but it would not budge.
Sally’s pleas turned into wild screeching, and then I heard something else; the sounds of teeth tearing through flesh and bone.
My fingers scraped the wood, breaking my nails and splintering my hands. I placed the ball of my foot on the wall and heaved with everything I had. Suddenly, the board came loose from the window, and I fell to the ground. A thick ribbon of unbearably bright light blinded me for a moment. Around me everything fell silent. I could hear nothing. My head snapped toward the door; the figure was gone. I could barely make out a body on the floor, and nothing else. But then I noticed the clean, milky white bones of different sizes swept to the sides, closer to the walls.They had done this before! They brought people here, and this creature, this thing, fed on them.
I slowly got to my feet. My mouth went dry and my eyes burned from the effort to find the monster. I stilled trying toadjust my eyes to the darkness one more time. I could see nothing without moving away from the beam of light that obstructed my vision.
The figure was gone, it was watching me from somewhere, waiting.
I lowered my eyes, clenching the board with all my strength. In the thread of light from the outside, I could clearly see the metal nails that were sticking out of the board.
My eyes returned to the shadows and I waited. And I waited some more and then waited even longer. Drops of sweat rolled down to my eyebrows as I forced myself to stay frozen to the spot. My face was highlighted by the sunlight, but whatever was trapped in the room, did not make any attempts to get to me. I did not know if it was movement or sound that triggered it.
Suddenly, I spotted movement by the door. It was Sally, she was still alive. I fought the urge to call out to her, and kept watching the dark corners. Then a faint whisper of sound chilled the blood in my veins. The wood I was clenching in the palm of my hand scraped the floor. I looked down for only a moment, but a sudden swoosh of the air made my head snap up. Involuntarily, I staggered backward, and my back struck the wall. What I saw revealing itself in the warm hue of the daylight made me cry out. Moist skin, and a bald head with patches of matted hair; enormous, bulging, crimson eyes with broken blood vessels and licorice-colored skin around them. The artificially twistedmouth with rows of stained, rotten teeth covered in bits of freshly torn flesh; and a strip of flayed skin with hair still attached, curled down to its neck.
It was my turn to scream. With all my strength, I lifted the board up from the floor and pushed one foot forward. The creature roared, taking a step closer.
“Stay back!” I shouted, but the monster took another step forward.
I grabbed the wooden plank with both hands and when the figure got closer, I swung with all the force I had. Its head snapped back, but the beast did not fall to the floor, only its head sat at an odd angle.
“Stay back or I will hit you again!” I screamed.
As if it could not hear me, the wasted body leaped forward, and I struck the side of its head one more time. The blow landed, and I would have sworn that the skull inside of that distorted head, cracked. But the figure still remained conscious and made another attempt to close the distance between us.
“Die!” I swung again.
I screamed, until my lungs had no more air, but the monster would not stop. My arms were burning, but I still could not harm the creature. It was as if it could not understand that it was getting hurt.
As if it could not feel pain!
With the last ounce of my energy, I rotated the board and aimed it at the head of the beast, making sure to hit it with the side that still had nails attached to it.
