Captivated

Consciousness and Clarification

This one is for @bunny_yah (hiii) Thank you for reading and voting

(づ￣ ³￣)づ

- The day before the ceremony -

There was a faint pounding in the back of my head like someone knocking incessantly on the door of somebody who wasn't home. The noise annoyingly grew louder and louder until the repetitive sound was playing in my head like a broken record.

"Wake up", a voice whispered.

I didn't want to wake up. I could feel myself in pain, why would I wake up? It felt like I was on a soft cloud, but slowly I could feel the cloud sinking and taking me closer and closer to the ground. I didn't want to go there. It was dark and... Scary. Where I was, I could feel a strange sense of cooling relief but the closer I got, the more aware I became. I could feel the burn growing around my throat and the pulsing pain each time I took a breath. My skin felt dry and rough, my lips parched. My fingers felt numb and the rest of me lifeless. Trying to fight back against gravity was useless and I fell anyway, hurtling towards the barren awaiting ground.

Just as I reached the ground, my eyes shot open. A blinding light was shining directly in my eyes and I squinted against it, struggling to see. My arms were far too weak to move as was the rest of my body. I could somehow still feel all parts of me even though I was sure I would have lost something to frostbite. I wiggled my fingers, feeling my fingers slowly become less stiff and rigid.

As my eyes slowly adjusted, the familiar walls of my room began to daunt me. I was back to where it started. This was the same view I saw when I was first kidnapped except I wasn't tied up by ropes but shackled down by my own bodies weakness.

A faint rustle drew my attention to the entrance of my room. Amara stood there, her brows etched in concern before realising I was awake and shuffling towards me, impatiently.

"Dear me", she sighed in relief, clutching her chest. "I thought you were never going to wake up".

"I- I-" I wheezed, my voice coming out scratchy and painful.

"Shhh", she said gently as she strode over to my side. "You do not need to talk or move. I'll take care of you. I'm going to feed you a healing broth now, okay?"

I numbly nodded my head and opened my mouth as she spooned a hot mouthful of broth down my throat. The hot liquid fell down my throat, slightly easing the ache on its way down. I stayed silent and allowed her to feed me, one spoon after the other, obediently but painstakingly swallowing each time despite the faint sense of embarrassment that followed at being fed like a child.

She set the bowl down to the side after scraping the last spoonful into my mouth and sighed as she scanned over my body.

"What happened?" I tried to whisper. All I remembered was seeing Mikhail's cold eyes and the fingers closing down on my throat. And then darkness.

"Well, Mikhail, he tried to... he tried to do something he would have regretted much later. If it wasn't for her- Mikhail stopping in time, you might have died".

I turned my head away, feeling emotion clog up my throat. I would have died? He would have killed me if this woman hadn't stepped in? I hadn't missed how Amara had said 'her'. Who was she?

"I am truly sorry", she whispered as she brushed the hair out of my face. "No one should have to go through this".

A tense silence followed as I mulled over her words. It was pure hypocrisy. No one should have to go through this, yet I had to go through it. Amara was a bystander to my suffering whether she liked it or not. Just because she was the nicest to me, it didn't mean her behaviour was excused.