Mother's dark eyes stare at me, unblinking. Her face is bluish white. Her head is so smooth without a single spark.
"No." I whisper.
She tilts her head into an uncomfortable position, as her voice haunts the entire space, with no distinct source. "It's not me you should worry about, Scarlie."
"Huh?"
"Look down at your hand."
My clenched fist is as white as death. I try to unclench it, but it is frozen. I carefully bring my other hand to touch it, but as soon as my good fingers make contact, I feel a searing sting and retreat.
"No, no, no. This can't be."
She tilts her head even more, and my neck hurts for her. "I thought you'd be happy to know that at least we will be together after all." Her smile is as wide and lifeless as a ghost's.
"This can't be. This can't be. This can't be." My heart drums my ears.
Dum, dum, dum.
My eyes burst open, and I stare down at my hand. I clench it, unclench it, as I exhale a hand full of air that got somehow trapped inside.
"It was just a dream, it was just a dream." I chant to myself, as I graze the warm rosy skin.
A guard slides a tray of 'breakfast' into my cell. I crawl towards it, to get a closer look. What were they aiming for when they cooked this? I honestly can't tell. It's green color and slimy texture is anything but appetizing. I shove the tray aside, and retreat back to my corner, trying my best not to throw up.
To my surprise, the girl across me sits over her food like a predator, scooping the green stuff with her hand and shoving it into her mouth. The scene makes my gag. Does she even know what she's eating? Did she ever see utensils in her life! I divert my eyes from her, only to see the same scene in her neighboring cell.
Do I really strike those guards as someone that belongs here?
"So, you decided not to eat, eh?" A guard uses an iron rod to slide the tray under the bars. "Then STARVE!"
He then moves on to the girl on the other side, who, at the sight of him, starts gobbling up her 'food' even faster. Like if she doesn't finish the whole thing, she will actually starve. He snatches the tray from under her, and she groans, as she chases after it until it slides under the bars. She tugs at the bars and lets out a loud monstrous roar, but the guard ignores her and simply moves on to the next cell.
I thought you'd be happy to know that at least we will be together after all. Mother's words from my dream keep replaying in my head, as I continue to clench and unclench my finger. I hope she's okay. I hope that, somehow, the doctor got the lily, and he's brewing the her remedy right now.
I hope that Lady Elanor pays for what she did. Mother trusted her. She was more than just her assistant, she was her best friend. And all she did, to honor all those years of friendship, was snatch the lily from my hand and run away with it.
"So, princess, what brings you here?" Asks the girl across me, her arms hanging lazily through the bars.
I ignore her and pretend I didn't hear her. Somehow, saying it out loud feels like confirming it, and I don't want that.
"Come on, don't be shy." I stay quiet. "Come on, any day now."
"I am being set up! Okay? I didn't do anything!"
"Denial. We've all been there." She presses her boney cheek against the bars and scans the area. "There are no guards here." She says in a lower voice. "There is no need to lie. You can tell us."
"I am not lying. This is the truth!"
"If you say so."
"I am telling the truth. Why don't you believe me?"
She sits down, lazily leaning against the wall. "Because I was once where you are, thinking that lying-"
"I am not lying!"
"Okay, okay. I am saying that I used to think that lying is going to save me from this hell hole. But it's been." She turns her head towards the back wall of her cell, which is covered in carved tallies. "More than ten years, now. And here I am. Still here."
"Ten years!" My voice comes out barely a whisper. "Why?"
She shrugs. "I stole an apple." A long pause. "I only seven then, living in the suburbs of Kinette with my parents and my five brothers. My parents' earnings weren't enough, we would sometimes not eat for days. One day, we passed by this man selling apples on the street. I was starving, so I snuck one, thinking that no one saw me. But clearly, I was wrong. I was hauled, the next day, straight to prison. And I have been here ever since."
"Ten years for an apple?" I whisper in disbelief.
"Actually, my sentence is execution. But since I am a minor, I have to wait here till I turn eighteen."
"Execution? Over an apple?" I wonder what could the sentence for crossing the gate without an invitation be?
"According to that bitch, Regina Kinette, 'we should annihilate children with criminal tendencies to ensure a bright and prosperous future'." She imitates mockingly.
I flinch at her choice of words, but then again I can't blame her. I have heard that the mayor of Kinette is 'unforgiving'. But killing hungry children for stealing food?
She tilts her head to the side. "It's okay. It's not that bad. It's better than wasting away in this hell hole. I won't have to eat that…thing anymore. Once they pour that bucket of water on top of my head, I'll burn out and be free." She shrugs and lets out a humorless laugh. "Who knows? Maybe my next life could be better than this cursed one."
A thick cloud of tears clouds my vision. It's sad to see someone lose hope and give up on life just like that.
"I am accused of passing through the border gates without an invitation." I find my self saying, as if, somehow, her honesty is contagious.
She turns to face me, eyebrow raised with intrigue. "Damn, princess! Seems I have underestimated you after all. How did you pull it off? I mean the gates' eyes never miss a person."
"I didn't do it!"
"Yeah right." She rolls her eyes. "I forgot."
I groan. "Why can't you believe me?"
"Why does it matter to you so much that I believe you?"
"Because, because…" I don't know. "Because that's the truth!"
She shakes her head exasperatedly. "People believe what they wanna believe. If you try to convince everyone with the 'truth', you'll only be wasting your time."
I find myself thinking about how people always thought I could kill them by merely looking at them. My whole life I have tried to convince them, prove to them that I can't harm them. But they were always too stubborn to listen.
When they serve lunch, my stomach starts to rumble wildly. I wrap my arms around it and gently squeeze it, trying to convince that it's better off without that. But it doesn't seem to understand. Across me, Kyla, like she told me earlier, is devouring her lunch.
She catches me staring with disgust. "Just don't think about the taste, and swallow it down right away."
My eyes bounce from my tray back to her.
"It's either this, or starve to death."
"I thought you'd rather die than be here."
"I wanna die a fast death, that will only hurt for a short while. Not slowly die of starvation."
She has a point. I slide closer to my tray. And when I dip the tip of my pinkie in the green thing, I draw it right away and gag at it's sliminess.
"You don't have much time. They will snatch it right from you whether you are done or not."
I close my eyes and grit my teeth, as my hand sinks into it. Then, with a 'pluk' sound, I pull it out and drag it all the way to my mouth.
I give it a lick with the tip of my tongue. "Ewe!"
She swallows a hand full. "I told you: don't focus on the taste and swallow it quickly. But you had to dip your tongue in it, didn't you?" She quickly shoves the next in her mouth.
I force my teeth to part, and my jaw to open wide, then pour some in to my mouth. I hurry to swallow, like she advised. But because of it's stickiness, it requires a lot of effort to swallow it down.