Twisting Her Fate
Chapter 100

Lani finally makes it all the way from the bed to the door, feeling the cool metal of the handle under her palm. She doesn't hold out much hope but she feels relief as the handle actually moves and the door opens a cr*ck. Adreneline courses through her. She was trying to work out if she had the capability of breaking down the door, but since the effort of just walking from the bed to the door threatened to consume every little bit of her energy, she wasn't holding out much hope. She doesn't swing the door wide open, just leaving it at the faintest cr*ck, observing the hallway and getting a feel for the surroundings. Her wolf senses are not functioning to full capacity, even half capacity would be pushing it, so she strains her ears and nose to try and replace the source of the man, her captor. Trying to somehow block out the whimpering coming from the door across the hallway.

The hallway or corridor is rock, jagged and lined with the gashes and scars and markings of the equipment used to make it, old thick timber supports hold up the walls and ceilings of the sh*ft giving a true indication of the age of the tunnels. Lani looks back into her overly modern and pink room and out into the earthy corridor and it looks like two different worlds. It is surprising that the man can make such rooms in such a place. It might nearly be impressive if it wasn't so wrong. Lani looks at the heavy door which has numerous locks fixed to it. She must have been lucky enough that he didn't think to lock her in due to the dr*gs she was given. Lani is grateful as at this moment, she would never be able to break down such a vast array of locks. In her current condition, she would be lucky to be able to break a simple door chain, so the slide locks and deadbolts are out of the question.

Lani breathes in as she views one of the other doors with the locks all unbolted. She can sense the man in that room. The door across from her own room has only one of the five locks engaged. She makes a move toward the door that houses the whimpering girl. Lani silently moves out of her room, pulling the door shut behind her, thankful that it is soundless in its motion. She moves silently across the hallway, thankfully her limbs are responding better, making her silent steps possible, her heart is in her throat as she slowly slides the thick metal lock out of its seat, thankful when the metal on metal only gives the faintest sound.

Lani inhales deeply, pressing her eyes shut as her hand presses on the handle, moving the door ever so slowly, she can feel her heartbeat at the surface of her skin, feel the blood rush through, her nerves are pulled tight.

She is truly scared of what she is going to see on the other side.

Lani pushes open the door, holding in her gasp as she views the room in front of her. It is nothing like what she was expecting, it is nothing like the room she had just escaped from. If there were two rooms that are more opposite she would be surprised. The black painted walls have silver detailing, large mirrors line one whole wall, on another wall is a variety of weapons and s*x toys. While there were similar things on the twentieth floor, this is so much different, the dark paint and lack of natural light in this place making everything appear more seedy and more violent. The fact that most girls on the twentieth floor are also consenting adults whereas no one is here of their own free will.

As Lani looks at it, this whole scenario is a far cry from how she felt that day with Connor up on the twentieth floor. That lighthearted, playful girl is long gone. She feels like sobbing for this poor girl. To be subjected to all of this...... it is heartbreaking. Lani has to bottle up all her sadness and nausea and get on with the job now.

There is a small bed in the corner with some white sealed buckets. A cabinet beside a single tap attached to the wall.

Positioned in front of the mirrored wall is a woman fixed in a s*x swing suspended from the ceiling. Through the mirror Lani can see that the woman has long blonde hair cascading around her, as her head hangs to the extent that her shoulders will allow, with her restrained wrists, a black silken scarf covers her eyes.

The most mournful whimpers escape the woman.

Leilani feels tears pricking at her eyes as she views the utterly ruined woman, she is dressed in next to nothing and it doesn't take much imagination to know exactly what this woman has been through.

The woman silences as she senses someone else in the room. She doesn't scream or beg for mercy this time. There is something different about the aura. It is still powerful, but it isn't the same. There is a softness, a near nurturing feel to it. "I don't want this, I am not like this"

Lani gently shuts the door behind her, approaching step by step, making sure not to startle the woman. Her soft and slender fingers reach out and gently untie the silken eye cover, letting it gently fall to the floor, tears well in the woman's eyes as the views the woman who stands before her.

She is so beautiful.

She is an angel.

Tears flow down the woman's cheeks as she looks at Leilani, firmly believing that there is an angel in front of her, that she is finally to be released from this life and move on to the other side where she doesn't need to feel this pain and torment any longer. She knew that she would die in this place and it finally came. After so much suffering, she finally gets to walk into the sweet embrace of death.

Lani watches the girl that sobs so miserably, her heart pounds and her eyes open wide, her mouth forms an O, her hand slowly lifts covering her mouth, trying to contain her surprise, her fingers part slightly and a single word emerges past her fingers. "Evie?"

She looks different to the pictures, the carefree and sweet girl is gone. Even different from the other photos that they found, there is no happy or seductive smile. The years have aged her terribly, the underneath of her eyes is so dark it looks like she has slept with makeup on but Leilani can tell that is not the case. Severe lack of sleep would be the reason. Evie's skin is sallow. She is only about two steps off being emaciated.

The beautiful girl is still there. She is just hidden well behind all these years of terrible circumstance, there is no glitter in her eye, it is hard to tell whether there is even a soul left in the shell, she is so broken, she is fragile, so crushed.

Lani was expecting that the girl was Rosalie, not someone that has been missing for so many years.

Evie stops sobbing.

"How do you know my name?"

It has been years since she has heard anyone say that word. She was starting to think that everything that happened before was all a dream, this is her only reality. She was starting to forget her name. Started to forget she even had a name before all this, started to forget she was even her own person with hopes and dreams. Someone that even deserved a name.

She is a far cry from the person she was when she was Evie.

She has started to think that a person that lives in this position that is restrained like this, that is treated like this, is touched like this no longer requires a name. She is nothing anymore. A name means an identity, something that she no longer requires.

Evie watches the girl in front of her, seeing shock and almost pity in her eyes suddenly. Realizing that this isn't an angel to take her away, she's someone else. She feels a strength radiating off the girl. She knows that there are other girls here and why she hasn't seen them. She can't imagine any of them are like this girl. Why is she here? Why does she look so strong? So confident? So unbroken?

"There are very few people that don't know your name in our world"

Evie half laughs, half chokes back a sob.

"I replace that hard to believe. Maybe I meant to suffer like this. I can only assume that had been forgotten, that I had been forsaken"

Lani shakes her head adamantly, looking at Evie with sincere eyes.

"Absolutely not. I used myself as bait to come here and hopefully retrieve Rosalie, another girl taken by the same man. We never expected, we never assumed that you would still be..."

Evie looks at Lani, who doesn't dare to finish her sentence, it doesn't really need to be said.

"Alive? You assumed after all these years that I'd be dead?"

Evie turns her head to look at the mirrored wall, reflecting back the hollow core of what she has become. The sadness. The depravity. Things have happened to her that she didn't even know possible before this. She never understood true evil. She never understood hate in this manner.

Before she was joyful, she saw the best in everyone else, maybe even to a fault. Always believing that everyone is good somewhere and it is just a matter of bringing that forth and nurturing it, letting the hidden light shine, anyone can do anything and be anything, everyone can be better if just given a little encouragement.

She no longer believes such things.

There is evil in the world, she has seen the face of it, she has lived in the midst of it, it is piled around her, she is buried alive in evil.

"I wish I was"

Leilani reaches out stroking a piece of hair off Evie's face, tilting her chin slightly as Lani squats down, getting right at Evie's eye level.

"I don't ever want to hear you say that again. You are strong. You are going to get this through this. I have faith in you. Don't let anyone elses sickness affect you. I can't begin to imagine what you've been through but....

Evie looks into Leilani's clear eyes, the stormy blue is such a mesmerizing colour, Evie is searching, holding a bated breath for what Lani is going to say next.

"My name is Leilani. I am going to keep you safe, I will protect you, my group and I are going to get us out of this place"