Chapter 20: Light in the Darkness (1)
Elliot’s POV
“My brother is dead, and though I breathe, I am more lost than he will ever be.”
––Elliot Starfall
I stare at my hands—dark red, almost violet in the dim chamber light. My thumbs and forefingers twitch involuntarily, nerves frayed beyond control. The bones beneath my skin feel like shards, slicing with every tremor. Tears return, replacing the blood the Green once licked from my cheek. The memory of his grin, the stench of Ren’s entrails on his breath, makes me shudder.
I’m naked, lying on the cold floor of a gothic house in a city I’ve only known through history lessons. We wandered for over an hour through the city’s blue mist, passing other Reds chained to their masters. Pathetic.
I examine my mutilated body. It’s been a day maybe longer, and already he’s torn skin from my arm. I lie on my right side to avoid pressing on the plate-sized wound on my left. My tears moisten my parched skin, only to dry it further with their salt. An endless cycle, much like my damned fate—to be tortured and die as a Red.
My chapped lips quiver. I cough weakly. I want to die. It’s pathetic. I am pathetic. My brother sacrificed himself for me, yet I contemplate squandering his gift. A dilemma. I yearn to forget the pain, both physical and mental. Yet, I also crave vengeance for Ren. I want to kill the Green, the Blues—everyone. But I know it won’t bring Ren back.
My cheek rests on the cool floor, which also sends pain through my back. It’s pointless, I tell myself. Pointless to live, knowing I can’t defeat them. Beings immune to bullets. Yet, I desperately want to kill them. My already weak jaw, that couldn’t even bite through a strawberry if there was one. They are superior; I am inferior.
I stare at my cracked toenails. My pupils are dilated; there’s barely any light in the room. It’s darker than the ship. I gasp as my lungs forget how to breathe. My left upper arm, where blood seeps from my flesh, throbs as if it’s being constricted. I flail my legs, trying to inch away from the silhouette in the light.
"Now, now. Why so shy?" The Green speaks. His face is different from yesterday—more masculine, with a blond mane resembling a lion’s. He runs his long index finger along the stair railing leading to me.