NOVEL FROG Chapter 11: Jail cell
I could hear voices inside my head telling me how stupid I had been in trusting strangers, but it felt like I could trust Eris. We talked for a good while about life, and she appeared like a genuinely good person all along! WAS THAT A FACADE?! Was it all a lie? She lied all along?
Tears kept dropping as I continued to cry unstoppably. How could someone be like her? She pretended to be light-hearted, and I felt a genuine warmth from them while we talked. I never would've even suspected she was leading me to a trap, albeit the sketchy road should have been a dead giveaway.
No, I shouldn't be angry with Eris or Edwina. The fault is all mine and partially of that evil creature. I shouldn't resent their actions if they were led by the devil, yet I can't help but feel betrayed, a hole ripped out of my heart that instant. I've been fooled, and now these are my consequences. It's all my fault.
I made it too easy. Maybe I could've seen the red flags if I had been more skeptical and critical. At least, that's what I tell myself, but what red flags was I speaking of? They didn't seem unfriendly until the very last second. Up until then, they seemed like regular, trustworthy people.
I doubt I could've caught on even if I had been more skeptical, but it would still be my fault. Perhaps I rushed back to the market too soon! What if my mothers were never arrested and instead went in to look for me and were in a police station filling a missing person report?!
I rushed to a conclusion way too soon, assuming they were in trouble when it could be possible they would be looking for me somewhere else. Was the answer to stay back home? YES! Why didn't I just visit Baba and chat with her until my mothers returned?! DAMN!
My fist slammed against the ground once more, making my tiny fist bleed a little as I unknowingly hurt myself with the force I put into it. My sadness slowly turned into anger. I was getting angry at myself for only seeing prudent alternatives to my problem now after I'd been tricked into a trap.
I had no excuses. I was at Eris' shop for over an hour, helping her pack her stuff. I had time to sit down and think through the situation like now. I had so many chances to correct my problem; I had so many to run away, or even better, I could've simply asked the Queen for help.
Hours went by with me processing every single other option I had before I landed here in the jail trap. I continued on every other option I had at my disposal. It should have been sketchy that only Eris knew where my mothers were. Only she knew, but everyone else didn't. How stupid of me.
It was highly sketchy that only Eris knew about a fight! And only until I mentioned it! DAMN! I fell right into that one! I gave her the perfect arguments, and I answered all of her questions for her on a silver plate. A small, devious laugh leaves my lips as I look at the cold stone ceiling.
"Mommy, ARIEL! PLEASE SAVE ME! Mother OKINA! PLEASE! SOMEONE! PLEASE HELP ME!" I screamed at the top of my lungs just to be shocked by a strange tattoo on my chest. The tattoo gleaned bright purple as my entire body got engulfed in indescribable pain.
"AHHHHHHHGG!!!!" I screamed in pain even louder as my body fell down to the cold stone floor. The shock was so intense it made me shrivel in pain like the creature from before. I tweaked for a minute until the shock stopped, making a strange transparent flat TV appear before me.
[Punishment delivered. You broke the rules of not asking for help. You'll be punished again if you cry out for help again.]
I couldn't cry out for help? Who would come to help me here? I doubt anyone even heard my screams. At least, that was on my mind until I heard a distant whisper from someone who sounded just like me.
"Hey, quiet it down. I'm trying to sleep in here." A soft voice spoke from the cell next to me. So I wasn't the only one? How come there were more? Just how many kids had Eris kidnapped?
"I'm sorry, I'm just freaking out. I just got here."
"Oh? They got you, too, uh? What did they promise you? I got promised an illegal power-up ceremony. All I wanted was to get ahead of my class, that was all." The voice spoke softly while it coughed once in between words. Their lungs didn't sound like they were having a great time.
"Eris told me she knew where my mommies were taken after they were arrested, and she led me here." Whoever was on the other side of the wall softly laughed, followed by heavy coughs that sounded like they were about to die.
"Oh? So Eris is with them, too? Damn, never would've guessed that one. A shady lady named Matilda got me. She said she had access to a dragon pedestal." I grew curious about the person in the next room, so I asked them some personal questions so we could get to know each other.
The girl's name was "Vera." I quickly got her story down, which basically consisted of her being at the top of her class regarding magic, but she wanted more. Vera explained how the level system worked and what happens once a user reaches level 20.
She explained that at level 20, you need to do a class upgrade to keep leveling up, or your XP will be turned into nothing. But since she was so ahead of her class, she felt like she was being held back by the age restrictions on class upgrade ceremonies. She explained that she would have to wait at least another five years for it, so she began to look for loopholes in the black market.
Vera was unsuccessful until one evening a shady-looking lady appeared promising her access to the class-up ceremony table for a relatively small price. Naturally, Vera said she paid the fee and followed the supposed lady into the shady forest, which landed them next to me.
Her story was lengthier than my summarized version, but I didn't think removing some details would make her seem less like a victim. We were clearly tricked by evil adults who well knew what they were doing. I had to tell her my story next since she had told me hers...