The Siren's Daughter, Part 7 (v1)

I need more sleep.

====================================================================================

I ate every bit of food Clyde left for me. I had to regain whatever strength I could for my escape. After what felt like two weeks, my opportunity arrived. The sound of someone banging on the front door carried down into the basement along with a man’s voice.

“Clyde, hurry up! The General is already on his way. We have to go!”

Clyde swore under his breath as he tossed me aside and stumbled up the stairs. The front door slammed loudly as he rushed out of the house. Fortunately, his careless habits continued, once again leaving behind his basement. The moment of my escape had finally come.

Climbing up the stairs from the basement left me out of breath. My body throbbed and ached. Merely walking was a chore from having been in that basement for several months. As I managed to round the corner at the base of the stairway, someone began trying to unlock the front door.

“What the hell are you doing? We have to go!” said a man’s voice.

“I forgot to lock the basement. Damn lock, open!” came Clyde’s voice.

“The basement? Why would you need to lock your basement? Well, whatever. I’m going ahead. I don’t want the General on my ass.”

I began pulling myself up the stairs in fear, dragging myself one step at a time. I felt the blood pumping through my veins as I struggled to make my way up the stairs as quickly as possible. The front door slammed shut. I heard Clyde dart toward the basement as I neared the top of the stairs.

“Damn it, she’s gone!”

I reached the top of the stairs and staggered into the bedroom in front of me. I stopped in my tracks, gazing into the mirror that sat across the room. A torrent of emotions drowned me as I stared at the tortured, starved figure that looked back at me. Scars and bruises covered my body. A hint of every bone was visible underneath the battered, pale flesh that clung to it so desperately—the emblem, roughly etched into my chest.

I became blinded with rage as Clyde’s hurried footsteps climbed the stairs. I wanted nothing more than vengeance. For all he had done to me…For all he had done to my sister…He deserved to die.

With a surge of adrenaline, I charged into Clyde once he reached the top of the stairs, causing him to lose his balance and teeter backwards. Clyde flailed his arms, grasping at whatever he could to save himself from falling. Although he managed to grab one of the thin wooden rail supports, it snapped under his weight and left him rolling down the steps. The supports didn’t break under my weight as I grabbed them, but my grip was too weak to stop me completely from sliding down the stairs. Luckily, his crumpled body broke my fall, leaving me with only minor injuries. A small pool of blood formed under Clyde’s head as he groaned in pain, grasping his right arm.

I ignored the pain and scurried into the kitchen nearby to grab a knife. I couldn’t give him a chance to recover from the shock of the fall, so I rammed the knife into his leg. Clyde screamed out in pain, staggering backwards into a stool in the den. He fell to the ground with a loud crash, his leg oozing with blood.

Banging came from the front door, followed by a familiar voice. “What the hell is going on in there?”

I was running out of time. I had to kill Clyde before the other person could stop me. With what strength remained in me, I leapt onto him in a desperate attempt to stab his heart. I put all of my weight into the attack, but Clyde was able to resist despite his injures.

“Clyde, what the hell is going on? I’m coming in,” called the voice.

“No, don’t!” Clyde yelled back.

I pressed down with all my strength, but it was hopeless. My withered body was no match for his athletic physique. Despite the fact that the situation was clearly in my favor, I remained powerless. I strained and strained until tears streamed down my face, but the blade wasn’t going any lower.

The front door smashed open. A man ran in and pulled me off Clyde, stripping me of any hope of escaping. The man stared at my face in disbelief. “R—Razelin?”



First: The Siren's Daughter, Part 1 (v1)
Previous: The Siren's Daughter, Part 6 (v1)
Next: The Siren's Daughter, Part 8 (v1)