Page 47 of Their Stolen Obsession

My last ordeal with the enemy didn’t go as planned. I resisted all their painful tactics and made it to the finish line. Until the biggest miserable fuck threw all his body weight into me and I crashed to the ground. I fell straight onto my left shoulder. A loudpopof bone dislocating from the joint echoed in my eardrums. Pain rippled in agonizing waves one right after the other until I made it back into my cell, carefully placed my shoulder between the bars, and popped it back into place. I didn’t make a sound, not one peep. But a scream echoed in my head until I passed out.

I didn’t know how long the blackout lasted. Nightmares of being stabbed repeatedly replayed in my mind. The torment lasted until I heard my name.

“Sin…”

The voice repeated over and over again. The sound was an angel in disguise, flying me away from the death I witnessed, and I awoke to the damage to my body. I realized the sharp blade was an illusion for the true agony I had experienced, wreaking havoc through me.

I rolled onto my left side.

“Fuck…” I winced.

Don’t put pressure on the injured shoulder. Noted.

“Sin…” There was my name again.

“Can’t a guy catch someZ’s?” I asked, half unimpressed.

The other half?I was thankful for the company.

“Not in your condition, soldier.”

I peered up to my right, still in the dirt. The voice came from the cell beside Saint’s. The man who remained nameless, faceless, and the most quiet in the cell block.

Until today.

“How would you know about my condition?” I asked.

He replied, “Because I heard a bone crack when you fell.”

“Is that right?” I sighed and watched his cell for any movement. “Are you a doctor or something?”

I squinted, everything went blurry for a few seconds, then refocused, and I saw hands. Dirty fingers wrapped around the prison bars with dried up bloody scabs on them. He was missing a couple of nails, too. A torture tactic I hadn’t endured. Fuck. I didn’t want to live through that nail biting experience, but I knew my time was coming.

“No. But I’ve popped a damn shoulder one too many times to count,” he responded.

“Really? That bad in here, huh?” I groaned and tried to get up. “How long have you been cooped up in this shithole?”

The struggle was real.

Once on my feet, I staggered, and my right side fell against the bars. I was too fucking weak. Tired. I’d be damned if I gave up. Plus, I didn’t want to miss all the fun because this asshole had finally joined the party. I could use the distraction.

“If I had to guess?” he responded with his toes hanging out of the cell. “A few months maybe. Times a blur when you’re caged away in here.”

Jesus.Months?I don’t know if I could take it.

“What’s your name?” I asked the burning question.

He remained quiet for a bit. Shit. I lost him. He was reverting into the darkness, into the stillness he had built around himself to defend against all the evil within these walls in order to stay alive.

I understood him more than ever. He had survived his lengthy captivity. Sane. In pain, tormented, but lucid. His soul shattered forever, but the pieces were still there to be put back together. Some day.

“Zane,” he whispered low enough I could barely hear him. “My name is Zane Adler.”

I grinned. “It’s nice to meet you at last, Adler.”

I heard Zane chuckle. The rumble was low, showed off his humanity and a humble side of him. It took guts to reveal who he was after being locked up for this long, unsure who to trust when the mind played tricks on you. But Adler had chosen to have faith in me, and I wouldn’t ever forget that.

“Adler.” Saint joined the party. “The surname has a nice ring to it.”