Surviving Hell

C H A P T E R 4 - Hades.

To say that I was irritated by what she had done, would be an understatement. The only thing that was keeping me from snapping at her for eavesdropping and pretending to sleep, was the fact that I knew that she was like only end up getting upset and finding a way to turn this around on me.

“When are you going to let me out of here?”

I was surprised by her sudden question, by the way that she had snapped. I hadn’t been remotely prepared for that specific response, but I wasn’t going to allow her to see that she had caught me off guard.

“Why would you want to leave?”

I got the instinctive feeling that my response was bound to upset her, which was why I had been fully prepared for the way that she pulled her face. What I hadn’t been prepared for, was the fact that she came right up to me and yanked on the bars of the cage that she was in.

I knew that I had no reason to fear that she was somehow going to manage to get out, but I found it rather strange that I had managed to upset her to such an extent.

“Do you think that I enjoy being locked up like an animal?”

“Well, you are behaving like one.”

The fact that she stayed quiet after my response, was more than enough to tell me that I had hurt her by saying something like that. But strangely enough, I didn’t feel guilty about it, because I knew that it was what I needed to do to make sure that she understood that bagging in the way that she was, wasn’t going to get her anywhere.

“I’ll allow you to come out when I know that you won’t do something that will endanger yourself.”

“What could I possibly do that’s going to endanger myself?”

The way that she was snapping at me was practically about to send me over the brink of my sanity. If only she actually knew how limitless the possibilities were of what could go wrong. The danger that she would be in, was beyond anything that I would ever be able to explain.

“If you knew the dangers that awaited you outside these walls, you’d wish that I had locked you up further.”

I wasn’t sure whether it was the tone of my voice that caused it, or whether it was the expression on my face, but she took a step backwards, putting as much distance between the two of us as that one step would allow.

“Why bring me here if you planned to keep me locked up in here? If it was really so dangerous to bring me here, then why did you bother doing so?”

Why did I bring her here?

It was a question that I had already asked myself, but I had not yet been able to find an acceptable answer for it. I doubted that I would be able to give her enough of an answer to make her move on from this subject.

“Because I wanted to have you here.”

“But why? What purpose could I possibly have being here?”

It seemed like she wasn’t missing a beat, like she had managed to prepare herself for the entirety of the conversation without me saying anything beforehand.

“Because I feel better having you here, than I feel having you in the human realm.”

She went completely silent after hearing that response, and I knew that she wasn’t going to say anything to me. I could practically see the way that she was curling into herself, that she was detaching from both me as well as this situation.

“I don’t want to be here, Hades.”

Her voice broke mid sentence, and guilt flooded through me like a shockwave. Of all the things that I could feel guilty about, this was it. This was the thing that tipped me over the edge and forced me to acknowledge what I had done. But I didn’t want to be doing that.

“I know that. But I’m not going to be able to allow you to leave, either. You’re going to have to come to terms with the fact that this is your new home—“

“This will never be my home! Don’t you see that? I’m never going to think of this place as anything other than a prison!”

Despite the fact that her tone of voice was practically like venom, I found that I still managed to be unaffected by her words. There were more important things for me to focus on, things that couldn’t wait. But what could wait, was getting her to come to terms with all of this. After all, she was going to be here for a long time—the rest of her mortal life, as well as the afterlife. She may not have realised that yet, but when the time came, I would make sure that she was well aware of what was happening.

“Dilara. I know that you’re upset. But honestly, there’s nothing that I can do about it. Whether you like it or not, you’re here. And you’re going to be staying here. So you might as well make yourself comfortable and even make some friends, if the opportunity ever presents itself.”

I lifted my shoulders in a shrug after I spoke, knowing that if I appeared to be careless enough, she would understand that there was no way for her to get through to me. But that was a lie, because I found that I was on the verge of giving in to her and allowing her to go back to her world.

But doing so, would make all of this nothing more than a waste of time. It would make all the trouble that I went through, worthless.

I waited and waited to hear what she was going to say, but after a while, it became apparent to me that she wasn’t going to say anything. Just as I had predicted, she was removing herself from the situation completely. And it seemed like that meant that she wasn’t speaking to me anymore, despite the fact that she knew that I was waiting for an answer.

I wasn’t sure how long I simply stood there and waited for her to do or say something, but after a while, I came to the conclusion that I was doing nothing more than wasting time by staying here. I had better things to do, things that needed to be done in order to ensure that Dilara remained safe.

I didn’t have much of a desire to leave and do these tasks, but I knew that I no longer had a choice in the matter. It was only a matter of time before she would ask me to leave herself. And who knew who would have managed to get suspicious about this place by then? I needed to do what needed to be done, not what I wanted to.

“As much as I would like to stay here and chat, there are other things for me to do. I’ll come back later to check—“

And just like that, I stopped speaking, because I was hit with the sudden realisation that I couldn’t leave her alone again, no matter how much I had needed to. But how was I supposed to find someone who is worthy of staying here with her, if I was the only one who could be with her at the present point in time? I needed to wait until Cerberus was able to come here, and that was going to take much longer than I was prepared for, but there was nothing that I could do about it now.

“I’ll have to stay with you for a short while longer.”

She remained unconcerned about what I was saying, and instead of simply standing still and staring at me, she turned her back on me this time. It was all that I needed to know that she was still upset with me. By the looks of the situation, she would be happier left alone, even if it meant that I was putting her life at risk.

“Are you going to ignore me now? Don’t you think that it is rather childish of you to do so?”

I was trying to play on her emotions, on the reactions that I knew she would have if she wasn’t on guard and alert to what she was doing.

Once again, there was no response from her. I could barely believe that she was actually going to go ahead and ignore me, but I guess that I should have expected it. I should have known that this was the reaction that I would get from her and that was that.

“Pretending that I’m not here, isn’t going to make this better for you, Dilara. I’m just going to keep talking and keep talking, until you decide to answer me.”

She whirred around, looking as upset as ever, and I knew that that was it, that I had pushed the right button.

“I think that you should shut your mouth, Hades. I’ve had just about enough. Enough, I say. You think that I’m just going to pretend that this is alright with me? That I don’t have a problem with what’s happening? Because I do. Believe me, I do. I hate the fact that I’m here, and I can’t do anything about it.

I left behind my home, my family, and everything that I spent my entire life working for, for what? Nothing. Absolutely nothing. If I had been given so much as a fraction of a choice in this situation, I would have ran as fast and as far away from you as my legs could carry.”

By the time that she was done talking, her chest was heaving up and down, her breathlessness a testament to how worked up she was about what was going on. I couldn’t deny the fact that she was overreacting, but then again, I had to remind myself to try and look at the situation from her point of view.

She was locked up in a cage, and there was nothing that she could do to get out. Perhaps this outburst had been her way of getting rid of some of her frustrations. I, on the other hand, didn’t feel like this outburst meant anything.

“Perhaps it’s time for me to leave you alone, after all. It seems like you’ve somehow managed to forget your manners through the chaos of everything that has happened. Your isolation will be your punishment—so I suggest that you get used to it.”

And with that being said, with those words as my parting words, I had no choice but to follow through with my threat, and leave.

So, that was what I did.