Page 16 of Not Your Hero

“Yeah. Okay. I’ll call you in a few days,” he says before hanging up. I set my phone down on my desk and close my eyes, feeling a headache coming on. I’ve had them since we were kids, and they only get worse with time.

I hear the door open but don’t bother to look up to see who it is until he speaks up.

“Are you okay?” Ren asks.

“No. I have a fucking headache,” I reply. He knows about my headaches since we work together so much.

“Shit. You want to go to the hospital?”

“No. I’ll be fine. I just need to go home,” I tell him.

“Want me to drive?”

“Yeah, I think that’s the best,” I agree as I shove out of the chair and move around my desk. Ren walks out first, and I follow as we climb into the elevator and ride it down. I follow him out to his car and climb in the passenger seat while he gets into the driver’s side.

He doesn’t speak as he drives me home. Once we arrive, he offers to help me in, but I shake my head and climb out, making my way up the sidewalk. I shove the key in and open my door, making my way inside and straight to my room, where I crash. I fall onto the bed, cradling my head in my hands. I keep my eyes closed praying the sunlight goes away soon.

The doctors never figured out what caused the headaches or why I got them. They aren’t a daily occurrence, but when I do get them, they usually take me out for a few days. They’ve given me medicine to try and help relieve some of the pain, but nothing truly takes it away. I just have to wait it out.

Forcing myself off the bed, I walk over and pull the curtains closed, slipping my shoes off and tugging my pants down. I reach over my shoulder and grab my t-shirt, pulling it over my head and tossing it to the side before pulling my blankets back andclimbing into bed. This is going to be the only place I’m going to be for the next couple of days. At least the hunt is coming up, and I’ll get to see my brother. While I live in New York, he lives in Georgia. He wanted nothing to do with the city after our childhood but wanted to be in the country. I was the opposite although I still go down for the hunt.

But for now, I’m going to try and get some sleep until this headache clears up.

Chapter 10

Emerson

I try to blink my eyes, but it doesn’t help. The light is blinding. Even through the little slits, I can see nothing, so I snap them shut. The heat is stifling. The air is hot as hell as I take a few deep breaths trying to figure out what the hell happened to me.

I move my sweaty limbs, and everything seems to ache. My wrist is the worst as I reach over with my right hand and rub at the left one. Pain shoots up my arm into my shoulder, and I wince.

I stretch out my legs and roll my shoulders before shoving to my feet the best I can. I turn away from the burning light and face the wall I’ve been lying against, apparently, for some time.

Now I pry my eyes open, but all I can see is the dirty rock wall in front of me. I avert my eyes to the left, but again, that blinding light keeps me from seeing anything useful.

I reach up and press my hands to the rock, feeling the slight coolness under my palms as I close my eyes and try to think. How the hell did I even get here? Where am I? My head throbs, blood rushing in my ears. I feel as though I’ve been beaten, but I can’t remember if I had been.

The smell in here is strong. The scent of urine, feces, and sweat all mix, hitting me at once, and I gag, doing my best not to throw up. I lower myself to the floor and sit down, curling into myself as the scalding light seems to burn my flesh when suddenly the light is gone. Like a light switch, it’s been turned off. I blink rapidly, looking left and right, trying to get my eyes to adjust to anew darkness, when a small light flips on. That’s when I hear the whimpers. I’m not alone.

As my vision slowly returns to normal, I can see the others. Are we in a cave? The walls are rock, or so it appears, but bars separate us. I whip my head to the left and see girls curled into themselves, much the same as I was. Then I turn to the right and see more.

My lips and mouth as so dry I don’t know if I can even speak, but that doesn’t stop me from trying.

“Hello?” I call out softly, but someone should have heard me.

“Don’t talk,” one warns softly. I spin around, looking at the girl to the left of me now as she stares at me with lifeless eyes.

“What? Why? What’s happening?” I ask. She shakes her head, and before I can come up with anything rational, a burst of water hits me. Not just any water. Freezing cold water.

I stand and try to move away from it, but it keeps following me. Someone is spraying me with a hose.

“Stop! That’s freezing,” I yell, only to get a laugh in return. “Stop!” I yell once more. The water turns off as I turn to face the front of my cell and see a man standing with the hose in one hand, the other latched onto the bar.

“Too cold?” he asks in a sneer.

“What’s happening? Where am I?” he smiles at me.

“You already know you won’t get the answers you want, right? None of them do.”

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