Chapter Twenty Four
He pulled me once more and pain assailed my already wounded wrists. The blindfold still covering my eyes so I had no idea where we were going. I wanted to run. Really, I did. But what he said about Saori made sure I wouldn’t.
I heard the opening of a door and he pulled me inside. I didn’t tried to fight back. Instead, I followed him inside carefully. Then, he walked behind me and removed the blindfold. My eyes burned at the bright lights and I had to blink a few times as they adjusted. And when I finally adjusted to the lights, my eyes widened in shock at what I was seeing.
I had a one-way window in front of me. And on the other side was Saori. Or what used to be Saori. Because all I saw was a broken woman. It was the first time I have ever seen someone truly broke. She was crammed on the corner of the room; trying to make herself as little as possible. She was hugging her knees close to her chest. She was rocking back and forth on the soles of her feet. Her empty eyes darting here and there.
“What did you do to her?!” I asked, aghast at what I was seeing.
He took a step towards me and put a hand on my shoulder and used his free hand to signal to Saori. “You did that,”
I tried to be cool with his answer but I could stop the gasped that escape my throat. I raised a hand to the glass. The small sound it made had Saori jumped in fright as she screamed and covered her ears. Her eyes frantically darting here and there until it stopped on me. I knew she could not see me but it looked like she was staring right at me.
Her eyes were empty. Dark like an endless pit. And like mirror, they reflect pain and agony like no one had ever felt before. And it took my breath to see her like that. And it killed me to think that I caused it. To kill a person by physical force was one thing. But to kill something inside of them and let them live to torture them with it?
It was killing me too.
“No,” I whispered, “I didn’t,”
He shook his head, “Think what you want to think. But it doesn’t change the fact that you did that,”
I screeched and turned around. Then, I jumped at him and we both fell to the ground. I rained punches on him and even before the pain registered, he was already bleeding from the attack. Then, a high voltage that created sparks in front of me assailed me from my throat and sent me flying. My back hit the wall hard and I had to suck in my breath in pain. The electricity still attacked me and I shook in it. I slowly raised a hand to my neck and felt a thin metal that I haven’t noticed earlier.
I thrashed on the floor as the electricity continued to travel inside my body. I could barely control my fingers. And I couldn’t even feel any other parts of my body. Through my blurry eyesight, I saw dad standing up from the floor, coughing as he did. Then, he clicked something on his thick bracelet and the electricity stopped.
But my breathing was still fast and shallow. My whole body numbed. My eyes closing even though I tried to keep them open. Everything was hazy. I tried to think of ways to escape but all my mind scream was for me to sleep. For me to rest. I tried to fight but in the end, I succumbed and closed my eyes.
ԘίŊ
I woke up on a dusted floor. Blinking, I looked around me and saw that I was inside an arena-like place. It was closed off. Camera surrounding the place, making sure that every angle were visible. The roof was high and the wall bared no sign of where the door was. But surely- there was one.
I tried to sit up but I fell down. My body was still numbed from the attack earlier. Suddenly, I heard something opening and my eyes darted towards it. A portion of the wall opened and I waited for someone to enter. And that someone took my breath away.
Zoi.
Zoi entered the close room. Looking intently at me. At first, I felt happy and saved that he was the one who entered but then I noticed that something was off with him. He moved like a soldier. And his eyes- his eyes were clouded.
I tried to stand up to greet him but before I could have even move, he ran towards me and kicked me. I rolled a few times and the dust on the floor started to dance in the air. Before I had even stopped rolling, he walked towards me and picked me up by holding me in my neck with one hand. He managed to lift me a few inches off the ground.
I wheezed at his hold and tried to pry his hand off of me. But my nails only scratched him and it wasn’t enough to hurt him. I then tried punching his wrist but my weak attempts were gone unnoticed. It was getting harder to breath with every second that passed.
“Zoi,” I wheezed. “Zoi, wha. . . what-”
Then, he suddenly let me go and I fell to the ground with a loud thud. My hand flew to my neck to try and lessen the pain and I gasped in huge breaths one after the other. Coughing, I tried crawling away from him and his eyes followed my every move.
A loud beeping sound disturbed the silence in the room and a microphone was turned on, and dad’s voice spoke. Like that’s a shock. “Katra, I believe you already met Zoi,”
I gritted my teeth and spoke between breathes, “what do you want?”
“I want you to kill him,”
My chest rising and falling fast as I tried to even my breathing, “you crazy? As if I’ll do anything you ask,”
“But I’m not asking. I’m forcing you to,” then, Zoi started to walk towards me again. “It’s kill or be kill, kitty. Why don’t you use that new ability of yours? Since no one can kill the ‘immortal’ Zoi. No one but you,”
Immortal? Did Zoi told him about his ability? But that was impossible. He would rather die than demonstrate his power. But then again, he can’t die. And now that I thought about it, dad did looked at Zoi that day like he knew what ability he had. Like he knew who Zoi was.
Zoi reached me and he picked me up again. But this time, I was ready. I lifted the lower half of my body and snaked my legs in his arm and I rolled. I heard something snapped but I had to hope for the better. He involuntarily let go of me and I fell to the ground.
I rolled away from him before I jumped up on my feet. I managed to kill Saori when I looked at her in the eyes. So, I tried my best not to look at Zoi straight in his. I ran around the room but with my body still half-numbed, I couldn’t ran my real speed.
I could hear Zoi running after me but I didn’t looked back. I ran straight to the wall and I managed to take three steps up on the wall before I kicked away from it. I rolled above Zoi and landed squarely on my feet behind him.
“Zoi! Stop! This isn’t you!” I pleaded but he turned to me and gave me a swift punch in the cheek. My eyesight rolled and I felt my teeth clattered before I fell to the floor.
He walked towards me and stopped. I raised my lower half and gave him a spinning kick; hitting him squarely on the jaws, making him fly a few steps away from me. I stayed standing in place as he stayed limped on the floor. But when I saw his hand twitched, I took a couple of steps back. Then, he stood up and faced me again.
“It’s me,” I cried, “Katra,”
For a moment, my heart rejoiced when he stopped and leaned his head a little to the right like a puppy. “Katra?” he whispered and my heart stopped. A smile formed on my busted lips but before I could answer, he shook his head and rushed towards me again.
I didn’t had the time to move out of his way. He punched me on the stomach and I slammed to the wall behind me. My breath was caught in my lungs as pain assailed me. He had me trapped between him and the wall. So, I kicked him in the knee and he knelt in pain.
I took the moment to escape from him and ran towards the other side of the room. “Please, Zoi! Wake up! It’s me! It’s Katra! Please!”
He stood up again and faced me, “I have to kill you,” he answered.
By now, tears were pooling in my eyes but I refused them to fall. “But I love you,”
ns 15.158.61.48da2
