☾ ✦ ° ◦ ∘ Eclipse ~ Preface ∘ ◦ ° ✦ ☽

Instructions

Word Total ›› 706 words All writing is by @Astrid_da_potato ────── • ─ ✦ ─ • ────── PREFACE ────── • ─ ✦ ─ • ────── The invisible shackles of an unbreakable promise bound me to the floor as I stood on trembling legs, determined not to show them my pain. I let my eyes flood with indignance and loathing as I’d seen Katrina do so many times, letting the hateful thrum of my muscles say everything that I couldn’t convey out loud. The stabbing pain had faded, but I still had to smother a whimper as I heaved myself to a standing position. I marveled at Katrina’s bravery. Her lion-like courage while I was stuck here, known for nothing but my fragile delicacy. /Where are you?/ I ran a tongue over my dry, cracked lips, closing my eyes as I willed myself to remember what water tasted like. My throat screeched back in response, arid and parched. I coughed, collapsing on the floor again as I tried to recall what I had done to make everything go wrong. My jailor laughed as if he knew exactly what I was thinking. “Face it, little girl,” he said, his face pressed close to mine as I scrambled to scoot away. “It’s over. And it’s all your fault.” My traitorous heart pounded hard—/too/ hard—as I scowled at him, trying not to feel and look like a deer caught in the headlights. His harsh laugh echoed through the dungeon chamber as his heavy footfalls grew softer and softer until he had vanished completely. I shrunk against the cold stone wall, refusing to cry. I thought of Katrina. Of Justin. And even Kyle. My friends were counting on me. I couldn’t fail them like this, knowing that they were out there risking their lives while I was stuck corroding away in a musty old jail cell. I hated not knowing if they were okay. I hated being here when I could be out there, helping them fight and plan. I refused to give in to the murky darkness. If they wanted me, I might as well go down fighting. Reaching forward to grasp the freezing metal bars with renewed strength, I ran my hands along the indestructible steel. /Nothing is indestructible/, I thought, letting my grandmother’s words come back to me. /Even the greatest of empires fall to destruction and collapse in ruins./ /Hope./ Adrenaline pounded through my veins, faint but still there, and for the first time since getting shoved in this cell, I felt alive. /My name is Raven Rivera and I AM a warrior./ I let myself repeat those words over and over again in my head, letting them fill me up until every inch of me believed they were true. I wasn’t like Katrina, with her never-extinguishing wildfire of bravery and persistence. Or Kyle, with his seemingly endless stamina and exuberance. Or even Justin, who could’ve come up with a plan to avoid getting abducted in the first place. Instead, I was just me. And I had my own talents. Running my fingers along the ancient steel walls, the only thing keeping me from the outside world, I knew one thing was for sure: I was going to get out of here or die trying. Bracing myself against the metal bars, I let all my depression, exhaustion, and trauma surge through like a crumbling stone wall that had finally snapped to the howls of the wind. /I’m coming, Katrina./ ────── • ─ ✦ ─ • ────── END OF PREFACE