Page 75 of Ruthless Riches
18
Alexis
The cell was spinningaround me. I couldn’t see it, but I could feel it.
The candle on the tunnel wall had burned down not long after Sascha left. It was the only source of light in this place, and as it slowly flickered and died, any hope in my body drained away with it.
After that, I was plunged into a new state of terror as the oppressive darkness enveloped me in its chilly embrace, threatening to swallow me up. I curled into a ball on the velvet seat, trying to escape its icy fingers, but it drew me in tighter with every ragged breath. It engulfed my thoughts, multiplied my fears, turned my blood to ice.
I tried my best to avoid the panic by breathing slowly and deeply, but it didn’t work. My lungs constricted, forcing every breath to come out as a choked gasp, and dizziness overwhelmed me until I felt myself falling. Down, down, down, into the abyss.
I was never scared of the dark as a child because that was a different type of darkness. There was always some light, even if it was just a tiny sliver, to remind me that I was still in the same place. Still safe in my bed. But this… this was the kind of blackness that could push even the strongest mind into a hysterical freefall. There were no shadows dancing on the walls. No faint fragments of light shining through a crack in the door.
Nothing but the dark.
My pulse pounded loudly in the inky space, echoing in my ears alongside my whimpers of despair. The total lack of sight had given free rein to my imagination, which was now driven by primal fear. Every time I heard a slight drip somewhere in the tunnel, or the frantic skittering of tiny feet, I pictured monsters and demons instead of mice and leaking pipes.
“Sascha,” I croaked, even though I knew she wasn’t around. “Come back.”
I had no idea how long it had been since she left, but she hadn’t come back to feed me or give me water yet, so I could surmise that she’d only been gone for a day. Maybe even less than that. The crushing blackness around me made it feel like an eternity, though.
Balancing on shaky arms, I sat up and rummaged around, searching for the blanket Sascha gave me when she first brought me down here. When I found it, I covered my face and body as if the thin wool could somehow protect me.
After a while, it actually helped me feel a little safer, and I managed to lie back and get my breathing under control. For a moment, I thought I might even be able to close my eyes and get some sleep… but then I heard it.
A whisper, followed by a creak.
I sat up with a jolt, cocking my head. All was silent again. But it was too silent. There were no faint dripping sounds coming from the left side of the tunnel. No sounds of critters scurrying around, either.
Then it came again. The whispering. “Alexis.”
I jerked my head to the left. I couldn’t see anything, but I could feel something there. An evil lurking in the tunnel. I knew it wanted me; wanted to take what was left of my sanity.
Something began to float through the air in front of me. A fine white mist. It gathered together, forming a shape. A person.
“Alexis,” it said. The voice was distinctly masculine. “This is your fault.”
My stomach churned. “Nate?”
“That’s right. I’m here.”
The misty figure was fuller now. I could see every feature, every strand of hair. It was Nate… only it wasn’t. He was too pale. Too luminous.
“You’re dead, aren’t you?” I choked out. “Sascha killed you.”
“She said she would,” the figure replied. “It’s your fault.”
“No.”
“Yes. She did it because of you, so it’s your fault. You killed me, Alexis.”
“No!” I shouted, clamping my hands over my ears. “Stop!”
Emotions ripped through me like shrapnel, threatening to tear me apart. Fear, fury, grief, guilt. I curled into a ball and cried for hours, refusing to look at the specter again. I knew it couldn’t be real, but it was still there. Still mocking me and blaming me.
“Shh, Lexie. It’s okay.”
Another voice echoed in the darkness. Then a beam of light flashed through my cell. Sascha was back.
