Chapter Four - Naked and Cold
Sky's Pov
I woke to the sound of dripping water. It echoed through the room or whatever this place was, slow, steady, rhythmic, like a clock ticking time that no one would ever track.
The room was dark, too dark for me to see in. But soon, my vision started to clear.
Light came in from a narrow, rectangular slit of a window high up on the wall, slowly illuminating whatever part of this room it could.
It wasn't enough to see everything… but just enough to know I didn't want to be in it.
I struggled to sit up but I winced at the pain screaming from within my body. My lips were dry and my stomach clenched with a dull, gnawing pain that had nothing to do with hunger and everything to do with dread. The stone beneath me was damp and rough but it was comfort enough for now.
I moved slowly, groaning as I got up, and that's when I realized—
I was naked.
Not the half dressed kind, not torn clothes either. I was completely naked from my head to my feet. My arms shot around myself instinctively, my breath caught in my throat as a sickening wave rose from my stomach.
What in hell was this?
I don't remember taking it off or it being pulled while I was being dragged by the ones who sold me. Last thing I remember was being thrown in the cage, gagged and a hood was placed over my head.
As I gathered my thoughts, a low moan ripped through the quiet atmosphere. I instinctively turned to the direction, realizing that I wasn't alone.
There were others too.
Thanks to the low light from the small window, I could make out how many of us were here. Two, three... five, seven.
Seven other girls, huddled in the shadows. Some pressed against walls, others curled into themselves.
Their skin glowed faintly under the sickly moonlight, damp and trembling.
I got down and pulled my knees to my chest, wrapping my arms around them as tightly as I could. My hair, this unnatural burnt orange color now fell in tangled strands over my shoulders, plastered to my neck with sweat and grime.
No one spoke at first.
Then, quietly, softly, one girl asked, "Where… where are we?"
Another answered, her voice hollow. "The auction hall, maybe. The lower pens."
"They didn't even give us clothes…"
"Why would they? They don't care."
A sob broke the silence as they spoke.
Another girl with a trembling voice added. "What did I do? I—I was just taking a shortcut through the woods and they came… I didn't— I didn't do anything…"
Someone else whispered, "I was taken from my own house. They dragged me out when I was alone—"
"Shh," the pale haired girl snapped. "It doesn't matter. We're here now."
We sat in silence for what felt like hours.
The light through the window shifted slightly, enough that a few of us crept toward it, hoping to glimpse something, anything of the outside world.
I stood last, my hands still crossed over my chest, hugging myself so hard my arms hurt.
But the moment we reached the shaft of moonlight, it hit. A loud sound.
Pssshhkt
And then a sharp, screaming stream of water came flying through a small barred opening high on the adjacent wall.
It struck the first girl in the face and chest, freezing to the core and forceful. She shrieked and stumbled backward, slipping onto the wet stone.
Another blast followed, hitting the next girl. Then the next. Then me.
It felt like ice cutting down my spine, peeling layers of skin from my bones. I gasped, fell to my knees, clutching my chest.
My teeth clattered aggressively as I tried to resist the cold. My legs curled under me.
Then again. And again.
The water didn't stop even after minutes of spraying directly at us. Each blast knocked us back or sprayed our sides, our hair, our backs, our legs. We were soaked, drenched in cold so sharp it felt like punishment.
“Please, stop...." one girl cried.
Another sobbed, "Why are you doing this?!"
"Please—PLEASE!"
Finally....it stopped, leaving the entire room in nothing but our own sobs and heavy breathing.
We stayed there for a long time, shivering, curled into ourselves, shaking like dogs left out in the snow. Eventually, some of the girls began crawling toward each other.
Huddling for warmth. For comfort. For any sense of humanity left in this place.
I didn't move. I just sat there, arms locked around my knees, and tried to remember how it had all begun.
---
It's been years that I don't even remember how long exactly. I just know that it has been over five years since the castle.
Since him.
The white haired vampire with cold eyes and warm hands, who gave me a ring and spared my life without knowing why.
The night we escaped, Mira had shoved potions into my throat, one after another. They burned going down, and every single one tasted like metal and bile, like nightmares.
The wolfsbane made me sick to my stomach. I remember vomiting outside a cave and collapsing in the dirt while Mira crouched beside me, silent as ever.
I begged her to tell me where we were going. But her response was, "You're safer this way. It's best I can think of right now."
But I wasn't safe. I was sold right after we were ambushed and we got separated.
First to a weaver's wife who wanted a servant she could beat. Next, to a mining town lord who found pleasure in breaking things that looked delicate.
Then to a black market handler who whispered about my "shifting potential" and how much I'd fetch once I matured.
I stopped counting after the fourth time someone handed me over like I was a parcel, not as a person.
I stopped crying when my hair changed color for the last time. Stopped talking when no one cared to listen.
Now, years later, I'm sitting naked in a stone cell, huddled with other broken girls, waiting to be sold like livestock.
And I wondered—How many more years will I have to endure this?
How many more years will they try to break me? How many more before I forget who I even was?
Was I still Sky Veylin?
Or just another nameless girl in a cage?