And then I was gone

My breath stains the air.
My heart pulses — the rhythm climbing, faster, faster.

I feel myself trembling with…
Fear.

What’s going to happen?
I don’t…
Wanna…

My mind stumbles on that last word, that last thought.
I don’t know what to say.

I don’t know what not existing means —
what not being means.

A body of skin and flesh…
but nothing inside.
Just that.

Time slows, like it doesn’t want to move anymore.

My being reacts to my…
thoughts.
These feelings.
Like they’re moving before I even understand why.

A hand grabs my collar — the same place Aveline grabbed me —
but this hand covers more.
It fits around me.
Tighter.
It knows how to hold me.
Like this isn’t the first time.

Everything moves faster.
I thought time stopped to spare me this.
I was wrong.

My legs lift off the ground.
My body rises into the air.

My neck —
It hurts.
The cloth ripping, teeth of fabric tearing into my skin, marking the flesh behind my neck.

A smell — rot, decay — escapes his breath.
Rotten.
Teeth the color of the sun.

His eyes.
They are so…

I see nothing in them.
Not like Aveline — her green held something, even fear.
These eyes hold nothing.

Is this what it feels like to be…
Nothing?
Completely helpless?

My earlier cries for help —
They only lived in my head.
No response.
No answer.
Only this reality in front of me.

At least…
Aveline is safe.

“You are perfect,” the man says —
the one I’m helpless to,
the one holding me in the air.

The muscles in his hand tighten, fingers digging into my shirt.

into me.

What…?
I’m…

Perfect?

The others laugh.
Like they understand.
Like they know something I don’t.

His face leans closer to mine.
His eyes sink into me —
I see myself inside them, tiny, fragile, disappearing in the black.
Like he wants to see my fear.
To taste it.

His right arm lifts — slow.
Each finger curls into his palm, one by one.
I see it from the corner of my eye.

Why is he—

Everything
Everything went black.—

My eyes snap open.
Pain surges — head, nose, left eye

Stone.

It’s cold… against my back.

Rot the smell of it.

Its strong.

Too strong.

…..

Where am I?

I force the muscles in my back to stand.
Something hits my tongue — a silver taste.
Like metal.
Bitter.
Dry, but brought back alive by my saliva.

I look in front of me.
Metal bars, top to bottom.
Split into sections — like they’re meant to hold someone.
Trap someone.

I turn to my right — a narrow path, only two people wide.
And more.
More bars.
More metal, perfectly aligned with the last.

And—
And—

My heart races.
The pain in my face fades into blur.

Ears.
Pointed at the edges.
Hair like a darker shade of the golden sun.

I…

Elves…?
Like…
Me.

Curled into corners.
My ears open wider — trying to listen.

A small movement.
A soft sound.
Someone… sobbing.

It’s dark.
Too dark to see faces.
But those ears —
they’re like mine.

In every prison.