LIES A PLACE: BOOK TWO OF THE EXISTENCE SERIES by Allred Tara C

Author:Allred, Tara C. [Allred, Tara C.]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Patella Publishing
Published: 2022-06-27T05:00:00+00:00

TWENTY-EIGHT

Leilani

the cell smelled like urine. I wasn’t sure if it was my own or just the floor around me. A cockroach ran across my knee. I needed to shoo it off until the next one came. But I felt too exhausted.

The large cat hissed. From the sound, I knew it was in my cell, a few feet away. Over the days, or weeks, or however long I’d been here in this cell, I’d learned to just keep my distance. If I didn’t address it, if I didn’t make eye contact, the wild and ferocious fighter would turn its attention to the rats that occasionally ran past. Then the feline would slip through my bars and disappear.

In the beginning, we clashed. With an arch of its back, it hissed and slashed its claws at me. I backed into the corner, my body shaking, while the feline went to work, finding its food.

Then, once satisfied, it left.

I learned to give it what it wanted. Let it eat. Then leave.

Same with the others who came to see me.

Sometimes they cleaned me up before they demanded their exchange with a hunger my lacking EnRapture skills never seemed to satisfy. They always wanted more. And always left me emptier than before.

After my fear left, I no longer cared. All I wanted was my memories of home, but it was what they wanted, too, leaving me with so much noise, so many extremes banging in my mind. At times, my grasp on the island seemed vague, like a fairytale I dreamed of often.

A bright light shone down on me, lying on the floor in my filthy clothes. The cool cement seeped through a hoody I think was once Draven’s. I raised my head to see CasVaughna, a creature with mostly human female parts other than the nose that was flattened to resemble a bunny and her snow leopard’s tail. She often wore costumes, her current one a maid uniform with scant fabric; she even carried a dust mop—a large feather one. I’d seen it before; she used it to trace up and down any figure she passed, then she would give a hop, a sway of her long tail, a scrunch of her bunny nose, and a pucker of her lips. Whenever I could, I tried to look away. What once all seemed ridiculous now just left me empty and tired inside.

I did what I always did when I saw CasVaughna. I drew myself up and tried to ignore the smells. She, over the others, offered a gentleness I appreciated. Whereas the others came with fanatic appetites, a demand for their obsession to be fed, CasVaughna talked with me a little before the exchange. Her eyes would look at me, as they did now, searching for something. Like she was requesting an allowance for the creature she had become.

She always asked for memories from the island, as if I had anything else to give. But more and more, my memories kept clouding up. Too many other EnRapture experiences intruded.

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