She cringed as a bloodcurdling note screeched from the violin.
Whoever it was had been playing- or rather trying to play- the violin for the past hour, and they weren't doing a very good job. Besides, the usually sweet, sensual, calming music of a violin didn't belong in this hellhole.
The door to her prison opened, and the stagnant smell of mold and week old human B.O. wafted in. She huddled in a corner, her knees to her chest, praying that she could just die now. The source, a man she'd come to know as Jakob, practically threw a tray of cold rice and beans at her.
"That's your lunch," he rasped. She pinched her nose, defending it from the putrid scent of garlic and rotten eggs she instinctively knew was coming. After all, they'd had her there for two weeks now.
"When I get something edible," she said, "I'll eat."
Jakob glared at her. Damn. She was fragile, yes, but this bitch was always opposing him.
"You're going to do this again? Really?"
"We both know that Viktor needs me alive. By not eating this shit I'm simply helping that cause."
He snarled, making her flinch, then picked up the tray and left without a word, locking the door behind him. She hummed to herself until the violin started again.
Who was playing? Jakob? That would explain the atrocity. But by the sound of it, she could tell that the person was actually trying. Jakob would just state that his playing was godlike and continue.
She looked at her callused, bloody hands, tears forming at the memory that haunted her. He could have done anything to her and she wouldn't have cared. He could have raped her, but she would have recovered. This... was just cruel. By doing this, the chances of her holding her violin once more were amazingly lessened.
She bent her fingers and winced. Yeah. They were almost at zero percent.
She heard footsteps above her and froze. They weren't heavy, like Jakob's, or light, like Viktor's. They were somewhere in between, light, yet deliberate. They came closer, and closer, until the source was finally revealed.
"Annika Vladmiri. It's nice to finally make your acquaintance."
