Restart Again: Volume 1 by Adam Scott (pocket ebook reader TXT) 📕

to protect myself I ended up cutting her hand off.” The statement felt outlandish hearing it out loud for the first time, but I just chuckled lightly and continued. “The guards didn’t seem interested in my side of the story, though. I was never even questioned, come to think of it. They just dragged me down here, took all of my belongings, and left me. I’ve been down here for about a week.” I stopped, thinking. “Well, I assume it’s been about a week. It’s hard to tell without any windows.”

Lia’s face had paled over the course of my explanation. “That’s...that’s terrible! Why didn’t you try to tell them what really happened? I’m sure they—”

The sound of a heavy, creaking door interrupted her. Footsteps began to approach from down the hallway, a single person from the sound of it. I motioned for Lia to be silent. Please, let this be breakfast, and not an unwanted visitor. An agonizing ten seconds passed as the steps grew louder, coming closer to our cells. I had never felt more relieved to see such a miserable plate of food in any of my lives once the guard finally made it to us. “Mealtime, prisoners.” The gruff voice called out as always while he shoved the trays in through the delivery slots.

Once the guard had made the trip back to the door and left us alone once more, I let out a heavy sigh of relief and retrieved the tray of food. “I’m sure this isn’t anywhere near the quality of what you’re used to eating, Lia, but I suggest you finish it regardless. It might be bland and stale, but it’ll help you keep your strength up.” I set the bread to soften in the soup for a moment, almost a necessity with how stale it was.

“Lux...I’m sorry that you’re stuck down here. I’m sure you’ll get out soon, too!” Lia tried to sound uplifting, but I could still see the worry on her face.

“Oh, you don’t have to worry about me.” I called out between mouthfuls of food. “I’m sure they’ll want to give me some sort of punishment eventually, and at that point we’ll get everything cleared up. Truth be told, I’m much more eager to see you out of here than myself; I’m sure you have lots of family and friends that are worried about you.”

“Well, not really.” Lia admitted as she began to pick over her tray with disinterest. “I’m sure Mother and Father are worried sick about me, but other than that, I don’t have many friends that would even know I’m gone.” She took a bite of bread and struggled a long while to get it down. “Most of my friends from childhood have gotten married and moved away. It’s really just me and my parents now.” This didn’t seem to upset her based on the way she said it so matter-of-factly.

I finished the rest of my meal in silence, unsure of how to respond. After I had sponged up the last of the soup and pushed the tray back into the hallway, I finally had something to say. “If there’s one person out there worried about you, it’s one person too many.” I clapped my hands together and hopped to my feet, starting in on my pre-workout calisthenics. “But that’s enough talk about that for now. Why don’t you join me in doing some post-meal workouts? It’s a great way to pass the time, and it’ll keep your strength up too!” She didn’t stand to join me, but I proceeded with my stretches regardless.

Lia watched me for a long while in silence. “Hey, Lux. Why are you doing this?”

“Well, I’ve found that if you’re going to be stuck somewhere for a long time, it’s best to keep both your mind and your body engaged as much—”

“No, not the workout.” Her tone was markedly more serious than normal. “Why are you being so nice to me?”

That caught me by surprise. Well. She’s much more perceptive than I gave her credit for. Though, I don’t know if I should burden her with what I think is really going on...or am I just being too protective of her with that as well? I slowly sat down cross-legged in the middle of my cell. “Do you really want to know what I think?”

“Yes.” Lia’s face was a mask of determination, and her eyes were locked on to mine as she stood opposite me.

“I believe that you were taken to be used as leverage over your father. If he’s been resisting the usual shakedown that the corrupt guards have been giving him, they were most likely looking for a new way to control him.” I swallowed hard. “If that is indeed the case, I’m worried for your safety down here. Those guards...if they were able to take you without repercussion and are allowed to put you down here in the lower dungeon without cause, I believe they’ll be coming to pay you a visit within the day. And it won’t be a pleasant one.”

To her credit, Lia never broke eye contact with me as I spoke, although I could see the beginnings of tears welling in her eyes. Even so, I continued. “I wasn’t lying when I said you would probably be let out soon. I’m sure your father has given them whatever they wanted, even if they raised the price. But if these guards are really the scumbags I think they are, they won’t pass up the opportunity to hurt you, and use it to ensure your father never defies them again.” Can I really trust her with this? I lingered on the thought for a moment as she took the words in.

“Lia.” Finally decided, my words were resolute. “I promise that I am going to get you out of here. I promise that those guards aren’t going to hurt you in any way. And I promise that they will leave you and your family in peace from now on.”

Her face