The My Chemical Chronicles - King of the Damned
Chapter XVII
Laila kept her head bowed and stared fixedly at the floor, more from fear than respect.
"So," the voice echoed softly around in the darkness, turning her insides to ice in an instant. She kept silent.
"Where have you been?" the voice asked, trying to mask the demanding demeanour of its owner with slippery charm.
"Sorry?" Laila breathed slowly, conveying confusion in her tone.
"I recall asking you some time ago to report back on your findings," continued the voice. She once again remained silent for a few moments before answering.
"I..forgot," she spoke, knowing how utterly futile an excuse that was, and how unbelievable at that.
"Did you really," the voice stated with a hint of humour. Sure enough, a dark chuckle followed afterwards; Laila bowed her head further.
"So you, forgot," the voice emphasised on the third word, "to report back on your subject?"
"I've been keeping a close eye on the subject," Laila spoke, "as you asked me to."
"So I've heard," came the reply. The humour had slipped from their voice as the tone took on a new frightening softness.
"Tell me," they continued, "what was the mission I gave you?"
"To..to watch over the subject," she said, injecting little confidence in the sentence.
"Indeed, watch over.." the answer came. "Watch over..and?"
"..and not offer any means of communication to the subject or anyone who is connected with them," came her faster than usual reply, as bubbles of fear started to rise in her throat.
"Yes, yes, very good," said the voice, then-
"You know why you have been called here on such urgency?"
"No," came Laila's immediate reply.
"No ideas?"
"None at all."
"How strange," the voice taunted.
"Strange?" she questioned openly.
"Strange, I think, how your worthless self underestimates me," came the cold reply. Laila struggled to suppress a terrified shudder.
"You have communicated with the subject," the voice stated rather than asked.
Laila shook her head sharply, still staring at the floor.
"You deny it?"
"I do." She cursed herself for her too-quick answer.
Laila felt rather than saw their smirk of disbelief.
"However, I trust that my sources did, in fact, clearly see you talking with them," the voice said, "it's the sort of thing I should come to expect from you, isn't it, Laila?"
She forced herself to shake her head, barely visibly, as she choked on words stuck in her throat.
"Maybe this will ensure your distance from your subject in the future," the voice spoke darkly for the last time, before she heard a door closing from somewhere in front of her in the darkness.
Alone, she waited, the only sounds her own blood pounding in her ears.
A few minutes she crouched in absolute darkness, wondering what would happen in the utter silence that surrounded her. The sudden unwelcome creaking alerted her to look upwards as dirt fell from the ceiling onto her face.
Hurriedly wiping it off, she stood up jerkily before raising her head upwards.
A thin beam of sunlight had shone inside the small, dark space.
Laila let out a strangled cry as she looked wildly around for an escape, a way out, any way out.
Bars above blocked her from clawing her way out upwards.
More sunlight poured into the room as she desperately began scrabbling at the walls of her confinement, short rasping breaths escaping her throat in her panic.
"No..no," she kept whispering, as more light streamed into the room, a single flair catching her on her arm causing her to cry out as she felt the lethal burn.
Finally, she found the door through which her captor had left; nearly breaking down with relief, she grasped the handle and lurched backwards.
Her hand leased its grip as she fell back, tripping over her own feet as her shoulder hit the sunlight. Howling with pain she leapt upwards, twisting and pulling on the handle and then the door itself as terror overrode her common sense.
The light grew ever more vast until there was as little as two feet separating the wall from the deadly sun.
Compressing herself to the wall, Laila pounded on the door in her last vain attempts as her knuckles grew torn and bloody, shouting and crying out pleas to which no-one would ever hear..
"So," the voice echoed softly around in the darkness, turning her insides to ice in an instant. She kept silent.
"Where have you been?" the voice asked, trying to mask the demanding demeanour of its owner with slippery charm.
"Sorry?" Laila breathed slowly, conveying confusion in her tone.
"I recall asking you some time ago to report back on your findings," continued the voice. She once again remained silent for a few moments before answering.
"I..forgot," she spoke, knowing how utterly futile an excuse that was, and how unbelievable at that.
"Did you really," the voice stated with a hint of humour. Sure enough, a dark chuckle followed afterwards; Laila bowed her head further.
"So you, forgot," the voice emphasised on the third word, "to report back on your subject?"
"I've been keeping a close eye on the subject," Laila spoke, "as you asked me to."
"So I've heard," came the reply. The humour had slipped from their voice as the tone took on a new frightening softness.
"Tell me," they continued, "what was the mission I gave you?"
"To..to watch over the subject," she said, injecting little confidence in the sentence.
"Indeed, watch over.." the answer came. "Watch over..and?"
"..and not offer any means of communication to the subject or anyone who is connected with them," came her faster than usual reply, as bubbles of fear started to rise in her throat.
"Yes, yes, very good," said the voice, then-
"You know why you have been called here on such urgency?"
"No," came Laila's immediate reply.
"No ideas?"
"None at all."
"How strange," the voice taunted.
"Strange?" she questioned openly.
"Strange, I think, how your worthless self underestimates me," came the cold reply. Laila struggled to suppress a terrified shudder.
"You have communicated with the subject," the voice stated rather than asked.
Laila shook her head sharply, still staring at the floor.
"You deny it?"
"I do." She cursed herself for her too-quick answer.
Laila felt rather than saw their smirk of disbelief.
"However, I trust that my sources did, in fact, clearly see you talking with them," the voice said, "it's the sort of thing I should come to expect from you, isn't it, Laila?"
She forced herself to shake her head, barely visibly, as she choked on words stuck in her throat.
"Maybe this will ensure your distance from your subject in the future," the voice spoke darkly for the last time, before she heard a door closing from somewhere in front of her in the darkness.
Alone, she waited, the only sounds her own blood pounding in her ears.
A few minutes she crouched in absolute darkness, wondering what would happen in the utter silence that surrounded her. The sudden unwelcome creaking alerted her to look upwards as dirt fell from the ceiling onto her face.
Hurriedly wiping it off, she stood up jerkily before raising her head upwards.
A thin beam of sunlight had shone inside the small, dark space.
Laila let out a strangled cry as she looked wildly around for an escape, a way out, any way out.
Bars above blocked her from clawing her way out upwards.
More sunlight poured into the room as she desperately began scrabbling at the walls of her confinement, short rasping breaths escaping her throat in her panic.
"No..no," she kept whispering, as more light streamed into the room, a single flair catching her on her arm causing her to cry out as she felt the lethal burn.
Finally, she found the door through which her captor had left; nearly breaking down with relief, she grasped the handle and lurched backwards.
Her hand leased its grip as she fell back, tripping over her own feet as her shoulder hit the sunlight. Howling with pain she leapt upwards, twisting and pulling on the handle and then the door itself as terror overrode her common sense.
The light grew ever more vast until there was as little as two feet separating the wall from the deadly sun.
Compressing herself to the wall, Laila pounded on the door in her last vain attempts as her knuckles grew torn and bloody, shouting and crying out pleas to which no-one would ever hear..