Secretly Mine

As I craned my neck around the first archway, that's when I finally saw it. A set of holding cells that were filled with people.

From my angle, I couldn't see fully inside to see exactly how many people there were per cell, but I knew it was at least three to four.

Anger, sadness, and a mix of other emotions surged inside of me. From what I could tell, there were even basic necessities in the cells, not even a blanket to lie on.

I wanted to rush over and pry the bars open with my bare hands, but I knew that was impossible. Even at full strength, I wouldn't be able to nudge the bars open.

I looked around a bit more and realized that just on the other side of the stone archway that I was hiding behind was a wooden door.

I wonder where that leads to? It doesn't seem like a holding cell.

Just as I was about to walk out behind the pillar, a sudden, paralyzing bolt of pain caused me to fall to the floor. My arms and legs felt numb, but that wasn't the worst part.

If the pain I experienced in the previous room felt like someone was splitting my brain apart, this felt like someone placed my head inside of a blender.

The pain was so intense that I couldn't manage to do anything other than breathe. It felt as if I didn't put all of my conscious thought into breathing, that I would keel over and die.

Grunts of pain and labored breathing escaped my mouth through gritted teeth.

Why? What is happening to me?

I was certain that whatever this pain was, it was going to break me. It was so miserable that I began wishing for death.

But just as I wished for death to claim me so that I didn't have to experience this pain any longer, Leslie's smiling face appeared in my mind.

No. I can't. I still haven't made things right with her.

And just as I finished the thought---

---

When I opened my eyes again, I noticed that I was hunched over on the ground. My face was resting awkwardly against the cold stone pillar.

Huh? I must have fainted from the pain...

I tried moving my head so that it was in a more comfortable position, but I realized that I couldn't move it.

Am I paralyzed?

A sudden panic spread, taking over me. I glanced down at my hand and put in all of my effort to wiggle my fingers. They moved.

Oh, thank goodness. I must just be too exhausted to move.

For the next few minutes, I simply sat slouched against the stone archway, resting to gain any sort of feeling back into my body.

About ten minutes later, I felt the numbness in my head finally subside. It was replaced with a very dull, and ever-present ache, but I was finally able to move my hands and feet.

I suddenly straightened up and looked around.

It was familiar.

This underground dungeon, the room before it. Everything.

Days upon days' worth of memories came flooding in. It was like a warm stream flowing through my head.

Tears began rolling down my face as I remembered the many precious moments I spent with Leslie. Her warmth and smiling face as she looked at me with nothing but joy.

I remembered the moment she came to me at the engagement party, and the night after.

Memories continued to pour in, restoring day after day of missing information. I sat still, allowing them to come through while I relived the forgotten moments once again.

It was the night that I told Leslie about my mother that had me choking up the most. It was a very difficult moment for me, but she was there listening gently by my side.

I remembered how she even allowed me to selfishly use her to calm my scattered emotions that night. It was then that I realized it.

"I've loved you this whole time, Leslie. I've loved you more than I knew."

I wanted to smack myself across the face for how stupid I've been with her after she confronted me about overhearing my conversation with Zach.

All she wanted was to hear me tell her that I loved her. She was willing to look past all of the other nonsense...

A new fire ignited inside of me. As soon as I was finished here, I would go see Leslie, even if it ended up being the middle of the night. I would tell her everything. Tell her how I felt and how I wanted her to spend the rest of my life with her.

After settling my emotions, I turned my attention to what was in front of me. A serious expression appeared on my face as I looked around the familiar scenery.

Right over there was where I got ambushed.

They hit me over the head with a heavy object, but that only knocked me out for a little bit. I remembered waking up a while later, in a room filled with medical equipment.

There was a doctor wearing a mask and glasses who injected me with multiple liquids. That was the last thing I remembered before waking up at the hospital.

They did something to manually distort my memories. I wonder if they do this to the people they auction...

I finally gathered enough strength to stand up. This was now a race against time. I wasn't sure how long I had fainted for, but I could hear a faint sound of footsteps in the distance.

Peeking over the edge of the stone archway, I looked down the long hallway towards where the sounds were coming from. I couldn't see the people, but I could see their shadows flicker in the distance.

They're probably here to present another person.

I waited for the footsteps to disappear before finally coming out from behind the arch. Carefully, I walked a few steps down the hall to the second arch and hid behind it.

From this angle, I could see the group of guards pulling a person out of the cell and dragging them farther down the hall, in the opposite direction from me.

That way must lead to the stage upstairs.