Page 20 of Freeing Emily
I roughly collapse onto the concrete floor when he releases my throat. My fingers rub against where he dug his fingers into my flesh.
Despite my better judgment, I shoot him a glare which causes him to laugh and then land a kick to my ribs. The crack is instant, and I cry out in agonizing pain.
“Take her to the hole. It seems like she needs to be reminded of her place.” He says to the guard in the room before he leaves. The door slams shut behind him and the force reverberates through my body.
I fight through my pain when the guard hauls me up to my feet and pulls me out of the room. His grip is unyielding but still, I fight and claw at every inch of skin I can reach.
He descends into the bowels of the basement and panic coats my very soul.
The Holeis a single, windowless room deep within the basement. There are no guards down here. No light. Not even the sounds of scurrying mice can be heard. It’s a Hell I’ve experienced plenty of times and each time, a piece of me is carved out.
“Please, no. Please. I’m - I’m sorry.” My heels scrape against the concrete when I dig into it. The guard completely ignores me and continues his path toward Hell.
The silence is petrifying. It’s as though we’ve entered another dimension. One that is absent of all things.
Not even the door makes a sound when it's pulled open. I’m thrown into the darkness and land on my hip. I shriek when the pain shoots down my leg and into my toes.
I scramble to get to my feet and dart to the door, but it’s slammed shut before I can stop it.
My fists pound against it repeatedly as I scream in panic.
“You can’t leave me down here! Please! Please! I’m sorry!”
I slump down onto my knees when no one comes to release me. I press my head and hand against the cold metal of the door as tears fall freely down my face.
“Please…” I cry quietly.
I’m met with nothing but silence.
I wake on the dirt floor to the sensation of someone’s fingers caressing my face. I can’t see anything, but I can feel it. No, I can seehim.
“Liam?” I whisper into the void.
“I’m here,Féileacán.”The gentleness of his voice coupled with his calling me butterfly, causes unbearable grief to course through me. I’m never going to see him again. I’m never going to get the chance to tell him that I love him.
“Liam… I – “
“Shh,” he silences me.
I feel the ghost of his touch on my skin, and I lean toward it. His scent invades my nose and absorb as much of it as I can. I don’t know if he’ll ever come back as the Liam I love. AsmyLiam.
“Everything will be okay,Féileacán.”
My lip quivers and I softly shake my head. “I don’t see how.”
I feel his presence sitting next to me against the concrete wall I’m leaning against.
“Do you remember the day in the garden when we watched the clouds?” he asks.
“How could I forget?”
I remember that day so vividly as if it happened just yesterday. The smell of freshly cut grass and wildflowers flow through mysenses and I can feel the soft breeze against the strands of my hair.
That was the day Liam gifted me with a butterfly necklace to replace the one I had lost.
A small smile spreads across my face when I picture how his eyes softened when he watched my reaction to the necklace. It quickly became one of my most prized possessions.
My hand moves to play with the pendant, only to be reminded that it was ripped away from me when I was taken. My eyes burn when tears begin to fill them.