Black Moon Beginnings

chapter Fifteen

When I wake up, I am sprawled on the floor and shivering. Disoriented, I slowly sit up, my body protesting with each movement. The left half of my body is throbbing and feels bruised. I was probably dropped on this ground. I look around and all I see is concrete. Concrete floor. Concrete walls. Concrete bench on the far side of the cell. There is a small door on the opposite side of the room with metal bars connecting from floor to ceiling. I’m trapped. I can see men walking outside of the room, but no one looks at me.

My toes are going numb. I look down and notice that I am barefoot. They took my shoes? My hair is also no longer in its ponytail anymore. They have taken everything that I can use as a potential weapon…or at least a distraction. I stand up and walk around the room starting to pace. I don’t know where I am or how long I have been here. I hope that nothing happened to David or Colton, or anyone else for that matter. I reach back into the thought box, as I like to call it, and turn the lock. I open my mind to unleash the thoughts to try and hear what everyone is thinking, but I can’t hear anything. Only static.

Shoot.

I pace around the room for hours, scraping my bare feet against the concrete, until I finally hear the sound of a lock turning and the door opening. Two men walk into the cell. One of them stays by the door and the other walks towards me. I back up as far as I can go. He continues to come at me, until he is standing inches from my face. I morph my face into a neutral expression, but inside I am terrified.

“This can go one of two ways. You can listen to everything we say and tell us what we need to know. Or, we can get more creative when it comes to getting the information out of you. It’s your choice.” I spit in his face. I’m not going to go down without a fight.

His hand comes up and smacks me across the face. I fly into the wall beside me and gasp as the pain spreads across my cheek.

“Who were you staying with?”

“No one.” He hits me again. I feel blood start to trickle out of my nose, as the right side my face numbs.

“Don’t lie to me!” He yells and fists the front of my shirt in his hands. Shaking me, he continues, “Tell me the truth. I want the names of the people you were staying with.” When I don’t reply, he pushes me back against the concrete wall. My head slams into it and my vision blurs. My body crumbles to the ground and I can’t think straight. I am in a hazy stupor of confusion that I can’t get out of.

I hear footsteps receding and the man mumbles, “We’ll come back later with Dravin. She’ll be more likely to talk then.” A door opens and is bolted shut again. I try to move, but a blinding pain shoots through my head.

I black out.





I feel someone nudging me. “Wake up.” My body is shaking. I can’t get myself to open my eyes. My ears are ringing and my face is throbbing. I feel someone grab the front of my shirt again and lift me up, my feet dangling off the ground.

“I said wake up!” He starts shaking my body. My head lolls back. I feel like it weighs a ton. He slaps me on my other cheek this time, causing another fit of pain to spread across my face. I open my eyes and glare at him. I can see two other men in the room. There’s a man standing in the middle of the room and another at the door. Is all this protection from me?

The man standing in the middle of the room, watching me, is incredibly handsome; tall and lean, standing around David’s height with Colton’s physique. His skin is tanned and his hair is slicked back into a ponytail at the base of his neck. Piercing brown eyes stare into mine.

“Thomas, put her down.”

I fall to the ground with a thump; my knees tuck under me and my arms take most of the fall. Pain shoots up them. I try to recover quickly, not giving them the satisfaction of seeing me in too much pain.

“Now, Ryanne. I need some information and you’re going to give it to me. You’ve been here for almost two days without food or water. If you cooperate, I’ll think about giving you some. If you don’t…well, you don’t really want to know what happens then,” he says. I can’t see him, but based on his tone of voice he is smiling.

“Now,” he says calmly, “Where were you staying at? We already checked your home and you haven’t been there for a while. We looked around the area where you were captured and there was nothing there. Where were you?” They didn’t find the house? That means Claire’s enchantment worked. I am finally able to sit up, but I refuse to talk. “Nothing? Fine.”

He stands up and walks to the center of the room. His eyes never leave mine, but they narrow, his face furrowing in concentration. I am about to ask what he is doing, but my head starts aching. The dull pain intensifies, causing me to cry out. It worsens to the point where I can’t think straight. It’s unbearable. I scream in agony, but the pain doesn’t lessen. I fall back to the ground, on my stomach, curl my knees up under me and prop myself on my elbows, grabbing my head. Panting, I try to breathe normally, but can’t. I’m unable to concentrate on anything but the pain. Suddenly, images start forming in my mind.

“What’s wrong honey?” She asks me, while taking her eyes away from the road for a second.

I bite my lip and continue staring out the passenger window. If I share what just happened with anyone, they’d never believe me. It’d be his word against mine.

With a sigh, I turn and look at her, “Nothing happened, mom. I’m fine.” All I want to do is curl up in a ball in my bedroom and cry myself to sleep.

“You’re not fine. You wouldn’t have called me to pick you up if everything was fine.” She turns back to me, trying to figure out what is causing me to act this way. She’ll never know. I can’t tell her. She’d overreact.

Messing with the seatbelt, I reach out and grab her free hand. She worries too much. I’ll be fine. I just need to stop thinking about it and busy my mind.

“Mom, why are you…” Out of the corner of my eye, I see a flash of silver. I face forward and look out of the windshield. A large truck is driving on the wrong side of the road, heading directly for us. At its current trajectory, the truck will collide with us head on, the majority of the impact on the passenger side. My side.

“Look out!” I yell at the same time as she turns and looks at me, tears in her eyes.

“I love you, Ryanne.” Throwing her hand on the horn, she jerks the car to the left.

I love you too, I think as we collide with the truck. My body is thrown forward right as the airbag deploys sending me back against the seat. My seatback rubs the skin across my neck and chest raw.

The sound of crushing metal fills my ears as glass starts shattering around me. The outside world blurs as the car starts flipping through the air. Glass fragments scrape across my skin with each movement. Warm blood starts oozing out of the cuts. The car slows as the back connects with the base of a large tree.

I’m hanging upside down when the car finally stops moving. I try to move, but pain shoots through my side. A large piece of glass is embedded under my ribs. In the distance, I can hear sirens headed in our direction. I turn towards the driver’s seat to see if mom is okay, but the seat is empty.

Black spots are starting to cloud my vision as the ringing in my ears worsens. I reach out and lightly touch the area. Drawing back, I see my hand covered in blood. I reach down and unbuckle my seatbelt. As I fall, I succumb to the darkness.

Beep. Beep. Beep.

“Mom?” I grumble as I try to open my eyes.

“Sweetie, can you hear me?”

I open my eyes and instantly shut them. The room is too bright. Fluorescent lights overhead reflect off the white linoleum tiles on the floor, instantly giving me a headache.

Beep. Beep. Beep.

“Where’s my mom?” I ask as I slowly open my eyes again. One look at her expression tells me all I need to know. I start shaking my head as the tears begin falling from my eyes.

“No, no, no” I repeat over and over again. Maybe if I keep saying it, she’ll come back to me. As the nurse starts walking towards me, I begin screaming. I want my mom. I don’t want a nurse. I. Want. My. Mom.

“I’m so sorry, honey.” She whispers as more nurses come into the room. I struggle against their restraints, trying to get away from them. I know they just want to help, but there’s nothing they can do. That truck was supposed to hit me. Not her.

Me.

I was the one that was supposed to die. I watch as a nurse walks over to the side of my bed and pushes the button to inject me with morphine. I continue struggling against her until I start to feel the effects of the drug.

That is the most painful moment of my life. My body is numb; the physical pain no longer there. The emotional turmoil is worse. Leaving me with my thoughts and memories, I realize that I’d rather feel the physical pain. That moment was the moment that I realized that I had no one left in the world. The only person that truly loved me was gone, ripped from my life and never coming back.

I was alone.

The images go away, but the headache doesn’t. I turn my head and see all the men still standing over me. I close my eyes, because the lights in the room are too bright. I prop myself up and empty the little contents of my stomach.

“So, are you ready to tell us now?” I’m not sure which one spoke to me, but I don’t care. They’re all crazy.

“No,” I grunt. My voice cracks at the end as I try to speak.

“Stubborn, insolent, little girl!” Someone kicks me in the stomach, sending me backwards and when my body hits the wall again, the air is knocked out of my lungs. Based on the intense pain, I think he broke a couple of ribs. I roll onto my back, trying to catch my breath again.

“We’ll be back.” I hear their footsteps leave the room and the door is bolted shut again. Warm tears start falling down my face as I let the grimness of my situation sink in. I may never get out of here. I wish that I would pass again. At least, I can’t feel the pain that way, but my body will have nothing to do with it. I lay on the concrete floor for hours, before my body finally gives in and I fall asleep.





I wake up and find myself still lying on the concrete floor in the cell. I try to sit up, but am too weak. I haven’t had anything to eat for days now. I’d wake up and find small bottles of water in my cell. They give me enough to keep me alive, but nothing more. I don’t even react when I hear the sound of the door opening for the third time.

The handsome man, who I assume is the infamous Dravin, sits on the ground beside me. “My patience with you is running out.” He reaches out and touches my swollen cheek. I flinch away from his touch, but he forcibly grabs my chin and jerks my head closer to him. Aggressively opening my mouth, he pours a vial of clear liquid down my throat, placing his hand over my mouth, coercing me to swallow.

“What I just gave you was a truth serum. Now, I’m going to ask you again. Who were you staying with?”

I turn toward him and give him the most menacing look I can muster. “Why do you want to know?”

“Why do you think I want to know?” I know what he will do if he ever finds out about them. He will use them against me in an attempt to make me do whatever the heck he wants to me to do. “Now, tell me where they are! Where are the mages that are helping you?” he yells.

The serum is starting to go into effect. I can feel the liquid moving throughout my body; the majority of it coating my vocal chords. My mouth is urging me to reveal everything, but my mind is screaming at me to remain silent. He asks the question many more times. Each time I don’t reply, he beats me, kicking me in the stomach, legs, and arms, while punching and slapping my face. My left eye is almost swollen shut. I can barely see him anymore.

Each hit pushes my body one step closer to telling everything. But I keep picturing Claire laughing, Colton and David smiling, and Tom giving me a hug. I can’t do anything that would put them in harm’s way. Thinking about them makes me stronger.

Dravin is getting frustrated. He hits the ground beside my head. I jerk my body away from him out of fright. My whole body aches from the torture, but I don’t want him to know how much pain I am in. I’m not going to give him that satisfaction.

“Thomas, go get the new recruit.” Thomas walks out of the room and down the hall. Dravin slaps me across the face one last time, splitting my lip. I can feel the blood drip down my chin and neck. He growls and gets up, walking out of the door. I close my eyes and wait for this new recruit to arrive. There isn’t anything that he can do that could be worse than what I’ve already endured.

Shortly after they leave, I hear the door open, but refuse to open my eyes. From the ground, I can hear the sound of footsteps stopping right beside me and the sound of clothes rustling together as someone sits next to me.

“Interesting predicament you’re in here.” I tense. I recognize the voice—the voice that had haunted my dreams. The one that had terrorized me through high school.

I open my eyes and stare angrily at Adam. Using all of the strength I have left, I try to scoot back, but can barely move. He looks at me and smiles wickedly. I struggle harder to get away from him. He crawls closer to me and punches me in the stomach, knocking me on my side. Rolling me onto my back, he straddles me, inhibiting movement.

“Why don’t we finish what we started last summer, eh?” I struggle harder, but freeze when I see the dagger in his hand. He reaches down and unzips my sweat shirt and pushing one side off of my shoulder. I gasp as he presses the dagger to the side of my neck, applying slight pressure and dragging it down to the edge of my shoulder. Blood oozes out of the wound and drips down my back. He pins my hands above my head with one hand and bends down, trailing kisses down the cut.

Reaching the end of the cut, he moves away from my neck and looks at me. His face is covered in blood. My blood. I want to throw up. It is repulsive. I feel tears start running down my face again and I start screaming, trying to get out from under him.

“Now, now. Calm down, Ryanne.” When my struggling increases, he says. “Fine. I didn’t want to have to do this. I’d rather see your reaction, but either way will be fine with me.” He brings his hands up and grabs me around the neck, cutting off my oxygen supply. I try scratching his arms to get him to loosen his grip, but it causes him to squeeze harder. I continue grasping at his arms until I feel mine go limp. My eyes roll into the back of my head.

I can still hear everything around me and feel the pain running through my body, but can’t move or see. Adam’s laughter echoes around me. I hear the sound of the cell door being thrown open and Adam’s body weight is thrown off of me. Grunts and the sound of punches being thrown echo through the room. Then it gets quiet.

I am quickly losing consciousness. Strong arms reach under me and lift me up.

“I’ve got her! Bragden, clear the exit.”