For the Hate of God

In the white room

Aralyn’s POV

I woke up in that bloody white room again.

Luckily, no one is around. But f**k my luck. I am strapped with silver shackles again. I looked at my hands, and apart from a few almost-healed bruises, I looked as if nothing had happened. Oh God, don’t tell me I was out for a few weeks again? I tried to move my jaw, and it worked amazingly, as though it wasn’t broken two times in the past few weeks. Is this the Lycan healing at work? I know I was a mushed mess of meat and broken bones when I was awake last time. I was lashed, scalding “soup” was poured down my throat, my whipped body was dipped in wolfsbane, and then I was beaten to the pulp when I was conscious last time. Now, my body looks as though I was on a spa holiday. Whatever, as long as I am alive and healthy, and as long as I can find a way to get myself lost from this f*****g mess. I remember hearing Sentaya’s voice when I was out, but I can’t remember what she said. If I manage to get myself out of here, I will go and ask her for refuge. It is far from being in Camelot, but at least I am safe from these bloody predators who want me dead. Yes, that could be my temporary solution until I find something safer. Now, the step one is to get the f**k out of here. But how? As if on cue, I heard the sound of a keycode being entered and doors opening. The same elderly guy who pierced me with a needle during my last conscious time here appeared. He looked surprised to see me awake. When I think for a second, he reminds me of Norgarth but has more delicate and civil facial features than that beast.

“Aralyn, if I am not wrong, is that correct?” he asked me. I nodded my head.

“Well, Aralyn, I am Naevres, a healer in here.”-I could feel that he was a demon, not sure what kind of demon though, but definitely not a human.

“Aralyn, you were brought in here in a critical state. It seems that you are better now. The next step to full recovery is resting and eating properly. I will bring you a meal now.” He said. I shook my head.

“You don’t want to eat?” he said.

I shook my head again. “Why?” he asked. Is this guy thick, or what?

I cleared my throat to catch my breath and form a sound.

“You are asking me why? Why, I am asking you, too? Why would I eat? To end up poisoned with food, which is the better option, at least I’d die somewhat quickly. If my food is not poisoned, I will recover and then what? I will just be better prepared for a new round of torture. Is this the reason why I need to eat and recover? To prolong my pain, suffering and agony? Thank you, but no thank you.” I said with a raspy voice. God, my mouth was so dry. Water would be so good right now.

“I understand your point of view, but I believe you remember what happened last time when you hadn’t eaten,” he said. A shudder flared through my entire body as I remembered my last conscious meal. He was about to leave, and I asked him: “How long am I in here?”.

“Three weeks. You were in a comma when we resolved your fractures, burns and dislocations, the same as last time you ended up here. You were fed by a tube called PEG, and infusions were given to you daily. I will come with the meal soon. I can have a meal with you so that you are assured that there is no poison. But I would warmly recommend that you eat, or I will have to report to Marcellus, and I am not in the mood to patch you up for the third time,” he said and left.

“I think he is not lying, and you should listen to him and eat, and then we will figure the way to get out of this shithole”, that weirdo voice again. Well, I actually missed that quirky voice. It’s like a consolation in this solitude and pain. Talking to the voice in my head is the only relatively normal conversation I have had for ages. Oh, for f**k sake, I am delirious. Speaking to the voices in my head. I scoffed. The Naevres demon-doctor-healer-guy came in with a tray with two bowls of soup. Yeah, right, the apple scene from Snow White comes to mind. He left a tray next to the bedside table and asked if I would have lunch with him. Oh wow, now we are playing on a touchy-feely-goody-two-shoes guy card. No way, Jose, not buying that crap.

“I will eat if you try the food from both bowls in front of me,” I said. And he did so.

“Aralyn, I will take off your handcuffs now to enable you to eat. Trust is a two-way road. Can I trust you?“. I nodded my head, and he did as promised. I sat upright and finished the meal with lord-knows-what-kind of the demon in silence. The silence was pleasant, unlike the plans that unfolded in my head. I almost felt sorry for demon-doctor-shaman-healer whatsoever, guy. Speaking of which, why do all of them look so hot, goddammit? Shouldn’t demons look like humpbacks with ulcers and horns and, I don’t know, that kind of crap? Apart from their shitty personalities, all of them were well-built and muscled with faces like they were deities and not evil-to-the-core-demons. This shaman-demon guy, for instance, was the silver-haired, tall, mature bloke with a couple of wrinkles on his face that gave him that experienced George Clooney vibe, spiced up with sage green eyes and some profound bad boy aura.

Given that he generally did not have a brute attitude towards me, I almost felt sorry that he would be a collateral victim of Marcellus’ wrath once I put my escape plan into action. Yeah, but…well…sorry, I am not sorry. It’s either him or me.

And I choose me.

“Uhm, sorry, Naevres, right? I would need to loo, please.” I said. He paused his meal for a second and looked at me hesitantly.

He looked like he was seriously debating with himself on what to do.

He sighed and said: “ok, but don’t even think of anything funny. If I even doubt for a second that you are trying to mess around, you will see that I am not just good at patching up and damage control but am also able to be your worst nightmare. If you f**k this up, you will beg for a round of Marcellus’ torture when I get a hold of you. Are we clear?” He said.

I gulped and nodded silently.

I made my way to the toilet. It looked like a public toilet from the early communist era.

Guilt flooded me from what I was going to do. This is the only guy that showed some dose of humanity towards me since being in this shithole, and I am going to betray this trust. Well…it could be worse than that. It crossed my mind: what punishment is waiting for him? Well, I sighed, it is what it is. So, let me figure out how to get out of here.

“Aralyn, I need you to be very focused now, to listen carefully and do exactly what I am saying to you if you want to escape and survive”, that voice again.

“Who are you?” I asked.

“You will find out sooner than you think. Now focus. I want you to calm down and think of the place of safety. Think about it very hard and direct all your emotions and energy to make it real,” the voice said.

I did what I was told to do, and in mid of this pigsty toilet, the translucent portal with oval edges that shimmered in thousands of lilac pixels transpired. And I entered. Before I left, I turned around, raised my middle finger and said with a smirk: “f**k you, Marcellus, f**k you, Wengarthria. See you never again.” and the portal shut off.