A Moment

===========================

A Moment

Independent writing practice, based on art > vampire by eat01234

——————————————

“Release us, please!”

Janet slowed, looking through rusted bars to the prisoners within. A young woman wearing a scant silken dress crouched beside a bare-chested young man with dark, hopeless eyes. An intricate shackle bound the girl’s ankle and another, larger shackle encircled the boy’s throat. A crisscrossing network of chains bound them to their cell.

The djinn’s instructions had been very clear. Only Nathan could be saved. She hardened her heart against the tortured wailing rising from the denizens of the dungeon. She was almost to the bottom, to Nathan.

Desperate, the girl called out, “Wait! We have the keys. They gave them to us. Only an outsider – like you – can use them. Please, unlock our shackles. You can’t imagine … the things they’ve done … please.”

The boy lifted his hands beseechingly. Where the iron shackles met his wrists, skin blackened and peeled, new blood welling up and falling in velvet droplets to the floor.

Janet noted the girl’s bare legs, the boy’s scarred face, and the sickeningly vivid bed cushions decorating their cell. What evil could they possibly have done to merit this?

Nathan had traded his soul for her life. Perhaps they’d done the same – a selfless act rewarded with suffering. Janet paused, torn. She couldn’t just leave them. Not when she could so easily save them.

“Please,” the girl whispered, eyes eerily bright.

Janet stepped forward and took the keys.

It would only take a moment.