be no breathing room left. I hadn’t allowed myself to hope escape was an option for me, but now...
Cypress said my parents sent him. He said he was going to get me out of here. Part of me was reluctant to believe him. I even debated on alerting a guard. But I kept my mouth shut. And when the sound of footsteps approached, I restarted the time clock in my mind. Thirty more minutes until the next guard. Sixty minutes until Cypress came back at the witching hour, hopefully with answers.
Chapter Two
I never heard him come in. I wasn’t sure how that was possible. Even the most well-kept doors creaked and groaned when we walked in and out of them. I’d been listening to the stark silence with my ears tuned into any movement, when he randomly appeared, as if out of thin air. Had I dozed off? I thought it pretty damned unlikely. I’d been too anxious about his arrival to sleep.
I scurried to the front of my cell and peered at the guard stationed there. She was knocked out cold, nothing more than a crumpled heap on the ground. “What did you do to her?” I asked in a whisper.
“Does it even matter?” Cypress replied in a bored tone. I spun around to face him. There was a sense of intrusion in my bones. I’d never had anyone but guards and the warden in my cell. This was my little corner of the world, and now I had a strange man taking up all the space.
He’d seemed tall and imposing before, but in my tiny, closet-sized room, he grew to larger than life. He even had to duck because he was too tall. If he wanted to hurt me, there was nothing I could do to stop him.
His eyes were wide as he took in my cell. He stared at all the drawings in amusement before bringing his attention back to me. “What a sad little existence you’ve had, Princess,” he began, and my heart sank. It wasn’t a glamorous life. Even though I had nothing better to compare it to, I’d heard enough stories to know that this wasn’t humane. I found myself embarrassed.
“Well then. I guess we should get going,” he said, holding out his hand. I looked down at it, not sure I wanted to reach out and take what he offered. If you’d asked me earlier today if I’d ever considered holding hands with a terrifying man who claimed I had parents and was taking me out of here, I’d have laughed at the ridiculousness of that question. Nightmare Penitentiary was all I’d ever known, and one of the first lessons I learned here was to trust no one. The second lesson was to never hope.
“Come on, I don’t have all day,” he growled while wiggling his fingers in amusement.
I pinned my lips together and shook my head, not sure what to say. I didn’t trust him, but I didn’t want to make him angry, either. Then there was this pesky little emotion bubbling up in my chest—hope. I couldn’t help but wish what he said was true, that Cypress really would bring me to my parents. Maybe the seclusion had made me naive, but that emotion had me considering his offer, even when I should have screamed and alerted the guards.
Cypress sighed and looked around before crouching lower so we could be eye level. “You don’t want to stay here forever, do you?” he asked.
“N-no,” I offered, hating how helpless I sounded.
“Even if this was all a hoax, wouldn’t you give anything to see outside these four walls? What kind of life is this?”
I shamefully averted my gaze. He was right. A life synchronized to the meals I ate and the guards who silently watched me was no life at all. Leaving was both exhilarating and terrifying to think of. But I did want out of here. I opened and closed my mouth, but none of my words felt significant when compared to the opportunity to escape. So instead, I wrapped my fingers in his because I couldn’t bring myself to consider elsewise. I was really doing this.
His skin was rough and coarse like he spent most of his life working with his large hands. He had a strong grip too, squeezing me tightly as if he was terrified I’d let go and scream.
Part of me wanted to.
If I didn’t do this, nothing would change. At least now—even if it went poorly and