Page 35 of When Sinners Fear
For a moment, I wait, expecting him to do more. To hit me, or worse. But it doesn’t come.
“Still some fight in you. Good to know there’s still something to beat out of you.”
“He needs help. Or do you want him to die now? If that’s the case, what was all this about?” I ask Reed, panicked into speaking up after watching Knox swallow some of the poison. If he dies, there’s no reason for them to keep me alive. I might be naive in this, but I can see what’s happening.
Reed looks down at me with no guilt or remorse in his eyes. The fear that’s been my shadow since this started shifts in my chest to hate. It’s hot and fiery and aimed at Reed. He’s the one that’s been driving all of this – forcing Knox’s every move. I’ve never had any reason to hate before, and now I do. And it’s just as terrifying. “Lock them back up.”
I get up and take myself back to the cage before they can touch me. At least here I know what to expect. I turn and watch Knox dragged back in, and he crumples to the floor. He pulls himself up against the bars and rests his head back.
Before the door is locked, a fresh bottle of soda is put inside the door of Knox’s cage.
They leave, and the room grows darker, the time closing in around us. That’s what it feels like – no torture, no sex, no other punishment. I don’t know what’s worse – enduring whatever they force us to do or knowing that time is running out.
“Knox? Knox?” I try to get his attention.
“Still here.”
“How do you feel?”
“Like shit.”
“Sick, is your heart racing, any burning in your throat?”
“I didn’t drink much.” His voice is strained, and I run through what the initial symptoms of poisoning would look like depending on the type of poison they mixed.
“Stay with me, Knox.” My voice is soft, but I put as much strength as I can behind it. “You still hear me?”
“Yeah.”
The room falls silent, and I listen to the steady beat of my heart. The visit at least distracted me from the dull aches over my body – between my thighs. My eyes start to close, but I need the image again, the one Knox put there.
“Tell me about the beach again.”
The sound of his laboured draw of breath only adds to my worry, but I don’t say anything.
“The crystal-clear waters make you want to dive right in.”
His words are right, but they sound wrong like he’s trying too hard.
“Is there anywhere you’d want to go? That you haven’t been before?” I ask, realising that Knox may not want to fill me with hope anymore. Not considering what they threatened.
“I wanna see my brother again. See all my family under one roof.” The gravel is thick in his voice, and I wonder what that poison has done that he’s not telling me.
“You’re close to your family. I realise I shouldn’t resent mine like I have.”
He coughs and spits up blood, which only increases my worries. “Resent them?”
“I saw them as stopping me from progressing my work. It’s a selfish notion and one that I was ashamed of before all of this. Now I’m worried it will haunt me. But I’m more scared that when we get out of this, things will never be the same.”
“If.”
“Sorry?”
“Sleep.”
I look at him on the other side of the cage. There’s no contact between us, not even if I reached through and stretched my arm. Even though it’s a crazy notion, I want to feel like I’m not in this alone, and any type of contact is better than the cold air. My plea for Knox to move closer dies on my lips, though. He’s suffering – we both are, and I don’t want to add to his.
“Okay. Wake me if they come back. Or if you feel worse. Please, Knox.”
