The confinement room smelled of disinfectant and spoilt cabbage, but it was just like Naomi had described it, not as bad as a dungeon. ɪꜰ ʏᴏᴜ ᴡᴀɴᴛ ᴛᴏ ʀᴇᴀᴅ ᴍᴏʀᴇ ᴄʜᴀᴘᴛᴇʀs, ᴘʟᴇᴀsᴇ ᴠɪsɪᴛ NoveIꜰire.net I haven’t been to the dungeon before, but I have heard the ghastly stories about it, stories I eavesdrop on whilst the others talk about it. No one talks to me about these things, but dungeon is another word for filth and suffering just like the story books do justice to it. There was a bed right in the middle of the room with a white bedsheet, just like Naomi had said. The room had double windows and there was a bathroom, small but neat for easing up oneself. Well, Naomi was right. It was okay, just like a holding cell. I think I can survive here till the investigation result came out. I had faith in Adam that he wouldn’t let me rot in the cell. Sitting on the bed after the little tour of the room and fast intake of the cup of water the guard had given me out of the blues, I stood up the next minute and began pacing around the room. This got me feeling dizzy, and so tired of waiting for Adam who had promised that he would be coming to see me soon. I dropped to the bed again, and decided to sleep. I was sure that the time was around 8pm, even though my my phone had been confiscated by the guard, including my jewelleries. Like I would escape. Tsk. I sighed, turning to the side of the bed which faced the white wall. Taking in a deep breath, and muttering a prayer for the investigation to go in my favour, I shut my eyes and slept off. I don’t know how long I must have slept, but then I was drawn into a dream state. Dream in Author’s POV: A woman’s despairing cry echoed in Maya’s soul, tearing at her, reprimanding her, drawing her back from the edge of a great precipice. And she was starving. Every cell in her body craved food and something else, something she couldn’t lay her finger on. She was somewhere underground. The hunger raked at her with merciless claws until a red haze covered her sight and her pulse hammered with the need for immediate sustenance. Desperate, she scanned the area above her resting place for the presence of enemies and, finding none, burst through the rich layers of soil, into the air, her heart thundering in her ears, her mind screaming. She landed in a crouch in the midst of dense shrubbery and thick vegetation, and took a slow, careful look around her, not in the least concerned about how she could jump out from the ground. For a moment, everything was wrong-monkeys shrieking, birds calling out a warning, the cough of a larger predator, even the brush of lizards through vegetation. She wasn’t supposed to be here. The rain forest. Home. She shook her head, trying to clear her fragmented mind. The last thing she remembered clearly was sleeping in the holding cell. How did she get here? Waves of weakness rocked her. She found himself on her hands and knees, her belly in hard knots and her insides heaving. Fire burned through her system like molten poison. Disease didn’t plague the her often. As a matter of fact, she couldn’t remember if she had ever gotten really Ill. "I couldn’t have become ill with a human disease. This was manufactured by an enemy." She heard herself mutter, and furrowed her eyebrows wondering what her dream self was talking about. Human disease? She was almost human. It wouldn’t be a surprise. She could hear her thoughts too. Her white teeth snapped together in a show of aggression, her incisors and canines sharp and lethal as she glared fiercely around her. How had she gotten here? Kneeling in the fertile soil, she tried to sort through what she did know. Another jolt of blinding pain lashed at her temples, blackening the edges of her vision. She covered her eyes to try to block out the shooting stars coming at her like missiles, but closing her eyes worsened the effect. "I am Maya," She murmured aloud, trying to force her brain to work... to remember... pushing the words through teeth clenched tightly together in a grimace. "I have a boyfriend, Adam, and he would not leave me if he knew I had need of him." She pushed past the pain to try to uncover the truth. Why was she in the rain forest when she should have been in the holding cell? Why had she been abandoned by Adam? She shook her head in denial, although it cost her dearly, as the pain increased, spikes seeming to stab through her skull. She shivered as the shadows crept closer, ringing her, taking shapes. Leaves rustled and the bushes shifted, as if touched by unseen hands. Lizards darted out from under the rotting vegetation and raced away as if frightened. She pulled back and once again looked warily around her, this time scanning above and below ground, quartering the region thoroughly. There were shadows only, nothing flesh and blood to indicate an enemy close. She had to get a hold of herself and figure out what was happening before the trap was sprung-and she was certain there was a trap and she was close to being truly caught. Throughout her time with bullies, she had been wounded on many occasions, but still she survived because she had always used her brain. She was cunning and shrewd and very intelligent. Nobody would best her, sick or not. If she was hallucinating, she had to find a way out of the spell to protect herself. Shadows moved in her mind, dark and evil. She looked around her at the growth of the jungle, and instead of seeing a welcoming home, she saw the same shadows moving-reaching-trying to grasp her with greedy claws.