Chapter 5

Violet couldn’t place the smell of the liquid that was being placed under her nose. Vision blurred, she swatted the old hand away that was waving the handkerchief in front of her face. She jumped up and ran to what appeared to be a window, it was not.
“Be easy little lady,” belted out the small but sinewy looking woman. “You were in some kind of shape, I have no idea how you got where you were, but you betta be glad I found you before the wild life or something worse did.”
Violet tried to get her bearings, she quickly realized she wasn’t herself when the room began to spin and she reached for the quickest thing to stabilize herself. She slowly sat down leaning her head and body against the wall. All of sudden Violet realized how hot it was, the nape of her neck was moist as though she had been sweating in her sleep. Her clothes felt a little damp against her skin and she couldn’t tell if she was drying up from being submerged in water or if she had sweated through all her clothes to the point that they needed to be hung up and dried.
“What was that liquid on the handkerchief you were waving in front of me?” Violet asked in a curt tone.
“If you hadn’t taken such a nasty spill, I might be insulted that your first words consist of a distrusting question. I will excuse you, plus you didn’t ask me to do what I did. I did it on my own accord. Pure cayenne pepper.”
The woman continued with whatever she was doing, Violet couldn’t make it out, but as she looked around the room it felt like she had stepped back into the past and not the recent past either. The room was well lit by a chandelier of candles. The floor appeared to be cement with rugs neatly positioned to purposefully reveal sections. The rugs seem to indicate where one section of the room finished and another began.
Violet struggled to concentrate. If she could muster up enough strength she wouldn’t need to ask any questions, she’d just rely on her gift. “Where is my bag and where am I?” she asked out loud.
There was an echoing sound as something, somewhere slammed shut, it almost seemed like a chamber door. Whatever closed was massive and there were lots of chains rattling. The footsteps that followed were heavy, combined with lots of bumping around. All the noise seemed to come from beneath them.
“Be very quiet.” the woman starting moving feverishly around the room, she blew out all the candles but two on the chandelier.
“I will explain later, if you are seen here we will never get out, alive,” responded the voice in a hushed tone. For the first time, in the worst lighting, Violet caught a real glimpse of her savior, now captor. It was a beautiful face with trusting clear eyes; however one side covering the whole left eye was disfigured. Almost like healed, burnt skin.
Violet instinctively believed this stranger and plus there was no time to ask more questions. She realized she was almost holding her breath and for some unknown reason, she felt an emotion that had been foreign to her for a long time-fear.
“When I leave out of here you have to move over the latches, you must do as I say. Focus child, your life depends on this right now. Trust me, I didn’t save you to kill you, but I thought I had more time. We’ll have to think of another plan, but for now I just have to get through the rest of the night.” The woman ran off a list of things that Violet needed to remember and she mentally filed each away so as not to forget.
Violet’s mind shifted for a moment to Nahmie and Toby. Wait, this was no time to get sentimental. Focus Violet, she thought to herself. The woman lifted the heavy cemented door and exposed the wood bottom and dark abyss beyond. Violet briskly crawled over to the opening and as quick as it appeared the woman was climbing down a makeshift ladder that looked to be made of rope and motioned to Violet.
Violet recounted the mental instructions she was given and pulled up the ladder, realizing she was weaker than usual. She closed down the door with deliberate, soundless movements and pushed over the three latches that secured the door shut flushed with the floor. She replayed the list in her head. As instructed, she only crawled along the edges of the carpet. Now it made sense why the rugs seemed so deliberately placed. She made her way to the stash of food and water, nibbling to her desire. Her appetite was small and she was not herself in the least bit.
Violet attempted to still her mind long enough to figure out what was the last vivid thought she remembered. Then came the muted sounds that chilled her to the bone. She heard yelling, it seemed like a louder version of her trusted unknown friend’s voice. Then came grinding noises, chains and something heavy hitting the floor. Next came the sound of laughter. There was definitely more than just two people down there, Violet was certain of that. She felt her way to the bed and laid there thinking of her next move.