The faint glow emanating from the red stones did nothing for the darkness within the cell. It was as if light itself had learned to avoid it, curving around the cell bars, not wanting to be tainted by the shadows.
The several pale, discolored hands that shot out strained against the rusted metal bars, trying to grab hold of me. Bruce and I had managed to evade those withered hands by a hair's breadth. Even so, they did not stop reaching for us.
"Free me! Please! Please!"
"I'll do anything! Anything! I beg of you!"
"Please! I have to get home! Let me go, please!"
The cries that echoed from within the darkened cell sent shivers down my spine. Their high-pitched shrieks—raspy and distorted—only served to steal the air from the space and amplify the sound of my own heartbeat pounding in m
