Lara
“Get up, Inmate 512,” a gruff voice barks, startling me awake from my restless sleep.
I roll over and squint up at the narrow barred window to my cell and see a familiar face staring in at me, looking mildly annoyed. I’ve named him Phillip simply because I love the way I can pop the “P” at the end of the name. It brings me immense joy when his eyes narrow, and yet nothing else changes in his expression.
He’s attractive too, with his boy-next-door face and wavy brown hair. His eyes are a striking green and frankly, if I didn’t already have two mates, I’d be all over him like the entire female population of both criminals and guards are.
“Ooh, why, Phillip?” I sing as I roll to my feet.
“Solitary. Again.”
I giggle and lean into the bars with an exaggerated pout. “You found him.” It’s not a question, but he answers it anyway.
“We did.”
“Well, I didn’t do it,” I protest dramatically.
His expression doesn’t so much as twitch, but I swear he mentally rolled his eyes at me. I blow him a raspberry.
“You’re no fun today, Phillip.”
“Stand back,” he orders, and I obey, because god, his voice is heavenly.
“Did he stink? Did you throw up when you found him?” I laugh just imagining Phillip gagging from the smell of Number 5.
“I wasn’t the guard who found the body.”
I rock on my heels as he opens the door wide so I can follow him to the underground tunnels where solitary is.
“Boo.” I pout again. “I left him for you.” I didn’t, but it’s more fun if he thinks I did.
I skip after him while humming under my breath for a few minutes before I blurt, “When did they find him? Last night or this morning?”
“This morning.”
I missed the commotion, and that’s just unfair. I wanted to see it, be a part of the chaos, yet it happened when I was confined to my cell, though that was always a risk. It was just the most unfavorable outcome, damn it.
“I bet it was entertaining,” I sing. He doesn’t reply, not that I thought he would. He’s a quick one, Phillip, and that’s another reason I like him. He’s so stoic, and he reminds me so much of Kelvin, my too-serious mate. It’s only when Kelvin is around me and my other mates that he really lets down his guard and shows the other side of himself I easily fell in love with.
I sigh as longing threatens to drown me. It’s hard here sometimes. I miss them so much. We’ve known each other since the academy, and it’s hard not to reminisce on those simpler days when grades and a job were our biggest concerns. We spent all our time together, getting to know each other and slowly falling in love. We were inseparable, and my head was always in the clouds, daydreaming about what our lives would look like. Now that’s all gone for good. All those hopes and dreams are now nothing more than a distant memory that hurts to even think about.
If I were ever to be free of this place, I’d hunt down the bastard who ruined my life and make him regret everything.
The rough sandstone scrapes along the bottom of my bare feet as I plot my revenge. It makes me giddy, and I can’t help but smile wide as I envision the blood coating my hands as I tear into my betrayer. Oh, all the things I could do to make them hurt, to make them regret crossing me.
“You know the drill.” Philip’s deep voice pulls me out of my daydream, much to my dismay, and that’s when I notice we’re already at the trapdoor leading down to solitary. There are two guards on either side to ensure I won’t flee while Phillip heads down to the cells first.
“How long this time?” I ask with a smile.
“Three weeks.”
I hum and patiently wait for Phillip to disappear down the ladder and call up for me. The moment he does, I’m heaving myself into the trap door and into the darkness.
It’s much cooler down here with everything being encased in solid stone, and I shiver, goosebumps pimpling my skin. If not for the flashlight in Phillip’s hand, I’d be forced to use the walls to guide me around. I have a short moment to appreciate the light and company before he and the light disappear for three weeks, leaving me in this pit of complete darkness.
My first stint down here broke me, but now I crave the utter silence and stillness it provides.
In seconds I’m guided to a narrow room with a steel door where I’ll spend the next twenty-one days, and I slide my hands over the rough stone affectionately. Phillip is always the one who escorts me to my new cell, and he always puts me in the same one, the one to the left of the ladder and exit. I’m not sure why he chose it, other than him not wanting to traverse the darkness for longer than necessary, since no one else is ever down here. I imagine it's easier to bring me my food when I’m closer as well, and who knows, maybe Philly is terrified of the dark. Weirder things have happened. I mean, look at me, I’m in prison over a false accusation, and I never thought that would happen.
I skip inside the cell and spread out on the floor, already missing my lumpy pillow, scratchy blanket, and too-thin mattress. The cold is biting into my flesh too,, particularly my bare feet, and it’s unpleasant, but I know it, like the lack of other comforts in solitary, will soon become a nonissue.
Phillip doesn’t say anything—he never does when he drops me off down here—and closes me in, then escapes to the prison’s main level like the hounds of hell are nipping at his heels. Maybe they are. I start to sing with a smile on my face, the sound too loud and awful, but I don’t stop. No one can hear me down here, so there’s no one to scream at me to shut up, which sort of takes some of the fun away.
* * *
Time passes in a blur as it always does down here. Life seems terribly drab in the real world when I’m sequestered away in darkness. It’s like my normal problems cease to exist and I’m just here, wondering why I did the things I did when none of it matters. It’s an odd feeling, existing in total darkness alone, and it makes you question everything. It makes your other problems pale in comparison to this all-encompassing blackness that only eases when Phillip comes with food.
Most of the time I’m asleep when he arrives, as solitary has a way of making you constantly drowsy, which only makes the passing of time even harder to determine. I don’t want to wake up; I just want to sleep life away, because it’s so peaceful and calming. I want to give everything up and stay here for an eternity, but eventually they'll drag me back out and force me to face the light of day once more.
Right now, though, I’m singing again, making up the words as I go, laying on my back eyes wide open and staring into the abyss.
“Well,” a familiar voice drawls, “at least some things haven’t changed.”
I sit upright, song cutting off abruptly as my brain struggles to come back online long enough to understand what’s happening right now. Phillip never talks to me down here, and that voice is far too familiar for it to belong to another inmate.
Max? I shake my head. No. That’s impossible. My bond can’t be here.
Scrambling to my feet, I hightail it to the door, bouncing on my toes in anticipation.
There’s a very small glow from behind the bars of my cell that I can just barely make out, and it’s not bright enough for me to discern any of Max’s features, but I’d know his voice anywhere. I’d know Max even if I were blind and deaf. I can feel him in my chest, where our bond connects us. It’s like a tether gently pushing us together, and the distance causes strain and tension that isn’t pleasant for any of us. My two mates are tied together as well, though only as brothers, not mates, and their connection is not nearly as strong as their connections with me.
At least they have each other out there in the real world. My separation from them has a big part to play in my current… insanity, along with the near-constant threats and regular exposure to prolonged darkness. But it’s okay, even though I’m crazy. This Lara is stronger. Better.
Max will see that, and so will Kelvin.
The door creaks open, and I’m finally able to get a better look at my mate—my love. He’s shadowed, and it’s a little creepy, but it’s definitely Max. Max would never hurt me, and I’ve missed him terribly.
I fling myself into his arms, and he only hesitates for a split-second before wrapping me in his embrace. He lifts me and swings me around like he always used to, making me giggle and swoon like a sweet little damsel.
He finally puts me down and pushes my hair behind my ear. “We need to go, Little Dragon. We don’t have much time.”
I smile widely, though I’m sure it’s scary with how the shadows are likely playing across my pale face and white hair. “Where are we going?”
Am I being sprung from jail? From S.O.P., nonetheless? How exciting!
“I’ll explain on the way.” He reaches for me and slips his hand in mine, making me sigh.
I don’t argue; instead I let him guide me up the ladder and through the abandoned trapdoor. With no guards standing by, we’re able to take off down the hall, my feet slapping against the sandstone roughly, no doubt tearing up my soles. We race through the cellblocks where other prisoners are running and fleeing in all directions. Everything is chaotic, and now that I’m topside, I can hear screaming and loud banging sounds I can’t identify.
I’m not paying attention to where Max is leading me; my eyes are too busy trying to adjust to the sudden brightness, and the too-loud noises that are far too overwhelming after the complete silence of solitary. The moment we step outside, the moonlight itself is like the sun compared to the oppressive darkness of those cells. Somehow I still manage to feel the soft grass on my feet now instead of harsh stone, and that draws all of my attention.
A loud boom makes me stumble into Max, who quickly rights me and continues at his hard pace toward wherever we’re going. There’s another loud noise, this one sounding like stone breaking, and I swear the island itself shakes. I want to scream to Max and demand to know what’s happening, but I haven’t run this far and hard in a long time, and I’m out of breath already. There’s a stitch in my side, and fuck, it hurts, but I push through it.
Worry for Kelvin flits through my mind, and I grow panicked. I have to remind myself that Max has a plan. He’s smart, and he wouldn’t let anything happen to either of us.
I’m suddenly thrown to the ground, my hand torn from my mate’s, causing me to cry out at the sharp feeling of loss. I can’t lose Max now, not after finally having touched him after so many years apart.
I won’t survive the distance between us a second time, I just know it.