Lost in Alpha's eyes

2 - Craziness is what you call it

"Icarus!" I shouted on top of my lungs as the place got covered in thick dust. I couldn't see anything. It was excruciating to breathe. I was searching around myself with my hands when I caught his leg. I quickly shifted myself to him and touched his body all over. He wasn't responding. I found his shoulders and shook him.

    "Icarus! Icarus!" I was shouting and shaking him but he wasn't responding.

    "Wake up! We need to find parents!" I was screaming at him while holding him in my arms. I heard coughing. Agnes!

    "Put him... down! Don't shake... him." I gasped and gently laid him back down. Only now I saw that his forehead was bleeding from a glass fragment. My stomach flipped upside down. It became hard to breathe. I was gasping for air, desperately trying to get oxygen in my body. I was getting dizzy.

    "Hold it." Agnes touched my shoulder. I tried to breathe. I was blinking as much as I could to not see just black. I could see Agnes swiftly checking his breathing. My whole body was shaking. I held my right wrist to stop it but nothing was really helping.

    "Icarus... he... Icarus..."

    "He's fine." I could feel that Agnes looked at me. The air was beginning to clear. Then I saw what remained of our residence. I covered my mouth and tears started pouring down uncontrollably. This was a dream. It had to be a very bad dream.

    "A nightmare..." Someone said from behind the trees. I didn't recognize the voice. He read my mind.

    "Am I right? Is it a nightmare for you, miss?" He showed himself. Wearing a black suit with an even darker shirt and a lightless soul. He took out a phone and dialed someone. For a moment I snapped out of the shock.

    "Call an ambulance! Quick! My brother is bleeding!" I pleaded with him with deep desperation in my voice.

    “Yes, we got the siblings. We’ll bring them shortly.”

    “Can’t you hear me?! Call the ambulance! My brother is dying!” I shouted at him. Two arms got a hold of me. They picked me up, pulled me away from my brother.

    “What are you doing?! Put me down! Ambulance!” I started shifting and swishing. Screaming at the guy while keeping my eyes on him the whole time.

    “Take her to the car.” The boss ordered.

    “NO! I said no! Icarus!” I was kicking around, desperately trying to get to my brother.

    “Let… Me… Go!” I exclaimed and broke away from the strong arms, flying back to my brother on the ground. I caressed his hair and hoped for a miracle.

    “Call the ambulance! Agnes!” I looked at her, my eyes filled with anguish. She wasn’t moving. She was there, looking at me and then at the boss.

    “Agnes? You didn’t bring your phone? Go get it!” Nothing. She didn’t move. It can’t be. It couldn’t be. No way. No way. This is not happening. This can’t be happening. She isn’t serious. No way.

    “Agnes?” I called out to her questioningly, hoping that she was just as shocked as me and that she would snap out of it and get moving. She didn’t. She got up and went to the boss. I cried out. I screamed. When the arms wanted to get a tight grip on me, I threw myself on top of my brother and refused to let go of him.

You won’t separate us.

    But they lifted me. I was screaming, thrashing about, kicking, scratching. It didn't help. I was in the air and then being dragged towards a car. I tried to run away, get away from the tight grip that was breaking my arms. A fist flew to my solar plexus.

    "Ugh." I wanted to vomit. Throbbing pain resonated throughout my whole body.

    "Icarus!" I cried out as loud as I could when they were stuffing me in the backseat of the black van. The door shut close with a loud Bam!

    It was dark, my eyes couldn't see much. I searched for anything with my bare palms. It hurt. Every inch I moved towards any direction made me curl up in pain. Some door shut close and I heard the sound of a purring engine. The wheels started rolling on the bumpy road.

    "Let me out!" I hit the wall separating the driver and me.

    Agh. I gasped in pain. My stomach squeezed. Guess this was it. I was stuck here in this van with no light. Icarus was badly hurt and there was no one to help him. Our residence was in shambles. If it was even standing. Half of it had to collapse.

What about mom and dad? They were inside!

    The thought of my parents in the ruins squeezed my insides even more. It was harder to breathe than before. I was struggling for air. What was going to happen? What now? Where are they taking me? I need to go back! The car wasn't as bumpy as before. Instead, it sounded as if it entered a smoother road. My senses were dull. I didn't feel anything anymore but the pain in my abdomen. I didn't even dare to touch it.

    Suddenly, the van came to a stop and the engine got turned off. We arrived. It didn't take that long. Less than an hour definitively. We had to still be close to our residence.

    The door swiftly opened and the pair of hands grabbed me and pulled me out of the dark place. The sun was blinding me. I couldn't see anything. My eyes couldn't adjust to the brightness. They blindfolded me and dragged me on a similar pathway as we had at home. Pulled me up a few stone stairs. It was the same stone as was used in our residence. The inside of the house smelled cold, of mold, and was very stuffy. It had to be abandoned for a long time.

    The shoes of those two men were clapping on the floor as they were pulling me somewhere. Then we went downstairs. It started being colder than before. The dampness of the place sent shivers down my spine. A door opened with squeaking and creaking. I was shoved on a chair. They roughly took off my blindfold. I painfully wheezed.

    "Boys, try to be a bit more gentle to our guest." I looked towards the source of the words. A young man, maybe in his 30s, amusingly scanning my body and waiting for my reactions. He waved his hand to the two guys, who finished tying me to the chair, to leave.

    "So, now it's just the two of us." He happily sat on another chair, leaning his chin on the backrest while still staring at me.

    "Hope we have a good conversation together." His big eyes were looking through me with interest, scanning my whole body like an X-ray.

    "What do you want." I retorted. I looked him directly in his eyes with all power and energy I could still find in me.

    "Ow, ow, that hurt. We don't want any arguments here. Just nice and calm." He smiled and straightened his back. He felt slimy as a snake with fangs and a lot of poison in them.

    "I just want to know where the key is?"

    "Where is my brother?" I answered with a question.

    "Missy, don't be impatient. Let's be polite and respectful to each other. I asked first." I was trying to free my hands from the rope they tied them with so tight.

    "If you want to be polite, then introduce yourself." I scornfully spitted out the words out of my mouth.

    "I'm James. A good friend of some of the members of your family. For example our dear Agnes. You know her, right? Am I right?" He stood up and sarcastically bowed: "Nice to meet you, miss Ariadne."

    "Where is my brother?" I asked again. My chin was pointing a little upwards, showing that I had no interest in playing his game. I had to protect my brother.

    "He is with us. Don't worry, he's been treated and we'll make sure he'll be fine. He just might not remember a few things..." He seemed lost deep in his thoughts for a while after saying it.

    "What do you mean? What did you do to him!" I shouted and tried my best to get away from the ropes. James quickly came to me and slapped my face hard with his right hand full of rings, leaving scratches on my face. Blood started rushing out soon.

    "I ask the questions now!" He hysterically exclaimed. Then he started quickly pacing around the small room, which looked like a very old empty cellar. I swear I could even hear water dripping somewhere in the room so loud that even his clapping footsteps on the floor drilled into stone weren’t enough to cover the sound.

    "Now..." He stopped in front of me, looked at me, and placed his hands on my thighs, leaning too close to my face. He gripped my thighs tight.

    "Where is the key?"

    "I don't know what you're talking about." I turned my face away. He brought it back with his cold bony fingers, so I would face him again.

    "The key. The famous key of your family." He repeated, sounding calm like water in a pond after a storm.

    "I have no idea..." I looked at him completely clueless and hopeless.

    "Lies!" He screamed and hit my face again. This time it flew to the other side faster. "But you'll tell me. You'll see how gladly you'll tell me about it." My face was hurting and burning like hell, I couldn’t even open my jaw now properly. I thought men were not supposed to hit women. Ever. But then he took out a wooden twig and whipped my shins with full force. I screamed from the sudden sharp pain.

    "Ask my parents..." I answered with tears pouring out of my eyes from the shock and pain. It hurt. It hurt so much.

"I would if there were any to ask."