Chapter Sixteen: “Trapped”
Alene looked up. “Wh-why? Why am I here?”
“You mean you don’t know, child?” He rolled his eyes. “I don’t know why they put you in this block, but you deserved to be here, In Carcere.”
“Why?”
Ubel shook his head. “You really don’t know…” He grinned. “This is the greatest prison in the world. We have permission, and the right to imprison anyone, just as long as they have done something wrong in their life. And everyone has done something wrong. So you, and everyone deserves to be in this prison. However, you are inside the wing reserved for dangerous people. I do not know why a child would be here.”
“I-I deserve to be here…?” Alene blinked. Why would she deserve this…?
“Eh, whatever. You probably don’t understand anyways.”
The girl crawled forward. “Wait, wait! What do you mean? I can understand. I want to know why this happened to me. You said that I deserve to be here. I may have done some bad things, but I do not deserve to be locked up in here! And, how long will I be kept here?”
“Oh just shut up,” Ubel rolled his eyes. “If you want answers so bad, you should pay attention and keep your mouth shut!”
The door to the cell block, opened and an old woman came inside. Alene gasped: the woman. She was the same woman, who she met so long ago. Back in her home, before this all began, she met that woman in the market. She’d argued with the woman… and now, the woman stood here.
“Hello, Ubel.” The woman grinned.
“Hi Rue… why are you here?”
Rue sat down on a bench. “Gryphon said you were confused about your new tenant.” She gestured to me with a withered hand.
“Yes,” he grumbled. “This child was put in this wing for a reason. Why?”
Rue smirked. “She is a devout follower of the king. She is learning still, but she has been saved by the king’s men too many times. The king knew she’d be in danger and has been working hard to save her. So, she must have some importance.”
“That makes sense.” The guard looked down at the girl. “However, no one explained her purpose here to her. She does not know anything about this place or why she was brought here.”
“Oh? Is this true?” Rue fixed the child with her eyes; Alene gave a slow nod.
“See.”
The old woman silently mused on this, for a moment. “Then let me do the explaining. Child, you have done bad things in your life. I saw you. You disobeyed your grandfather before. I saw you steal some bread once, when you were hungry. And you have disobeyed the king, which is why he had to rescue you. Everyone who does wrong is sentenced here, for life. And you fit that description, little one.”
Alene’s eyes widened. If that was true, then she did deserve this…
“Now it is sinking in… good.” Rue stood up. “My job is done. Have fun, Ubel.”
Alene sat in silence as Rue and Ubel left her alone, this reality sinking in. She leaned back against a wall, closing her eyes to think, but with everything that happened, it overwhelmed her. Tiredness overcame her and she fell into a deep sleep.
[Next Chapter: Alene finds a single friend in the prison, but who is he?]