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Chapter 10
Mel lay there for she knew not how long, hugging herself to keep what was left of her body warmth. Her teeth chattered loudly in the darkness.
She huddled herself in one corner, making herself as small as possible in hopes of trying to hide from her misery. She weakly raised a hand to her left shoulder and gave a small sigh of relief to find that the gash she'd gotten when the guys had accidentally "dropped" her had finally stopped bleeding. All that was left was a dull throbbing and a somewhat sore arm.
Mel tried to get herself to relax. The guys who had brought her here were long gone and she was left stuck in one corner of the cave. She didn't bother trying to walk out either. Somewhere in the darkness was a shadow figure and it had already prevented her from leaving her little area of the cavern before. Despite being unable to see it, she could still feel its cold presence nearby somewhere. If she quieted her pounding heart just enough, she could faintly hear the shadow's own breath. Mel didn't know which was more frightening for her, knowing the shadow was around or knowing that if the shadow came at her, she'd be incapable of even fighting back. How can you fight something that's not there?
Instead of thinking about that, she tried establishing a mind link with anyone out there. She sent her soul searching out of the cave and into the wilderness around. Unfortunately, her own cold got the better of her and another wild coughing attack spent so much of her strength that she was forced to sit back in her little corner and focus on trying to breathe.
Faintly, she could feel the amusement of the shadow on guard but she pushed the knowledge aside. The shadow figure though, had other plans. Poor Little One, it spoke through thought to her.
Mel's head snapped up and in doing so, she smacked it hard against the rock behind her. A loud groan left her as she tried to overcome the sudden dizzy spell she'd gotten. "Who are you? How do you know me by that name?"
I know quite a bit about you.
Mel felt a chill that penetrated her deeper than the cold of the night. "What do you want with me?"
I just want to finish some business with you, came the eerie response.
"Look. I'll give you whatever you want. My clothes, my money, take it! Just let me go!" Mel begged, her eyes straining to make some form out of the darkness. There was silence. Mel sat, not knowing if the shadow had gone or was just watching her. She felt it was the latter and her heart raced at the thought. "Hello?" She heard her voice echo. "Are you still here?"
There was another pause, and then from right next to her ear, came an answer. "Oh, I'm here all right." Before she could even jump up to scream, a body tackled her to the ground and a hand clamped over her mouth. "I just wanted to play with you for a little while, that's all."
Deep inside Mel's brain, she thought furiously. She knew that voice from somewhere. It was his voice… But who was he? Someone in her past… But for the time being, she struggled against him.
The guy had managed her onto her stomach, pinning her to the rocky surface of the cave floor. Both of her arms were underneath her and she could do nothing but try to wriggle from underneath his heavy body. He chuckled at her weak attempt and bared her injured shoulder, easily ripping away the already tattered sleeve from her shirt. Taking a blade in his free hand, he cut deep into her flesh, ignoring her choked screams of pain and the writhing of her body underneath him. "X number one," he whispered softly into her ear when he was done. "Never turn your back on anyone."
Just as suddenly as he had come, he was gone, melting into the shadows of the cave. Mel lay there, trembling and too terrified to move. Her muffled sobs echoed in the hollow cave.