Liberation

[feredar]

Story: Liberation
Year: 990 FY
Characters: Mel
Warnings: Enslavement, references to genocide, war, isolation, starvation.
Notes: This takes place in the Desshiri AU.


I wake up in the morning like always, and I know I am one of the lucky ones.


I kept track of the days for a while, but it got harder.


I haven't been out much, not since the siege started.


Then the Purge started and I've haven't been let out since.


The handlers, the guards, they used to whisper about it, that's how I know.


My cell block is empty, except for me.


No guards, no other prisoners.


I can't count the days anymore.


I'm tired.


It hurt, but I could feel the water underneath me, and I was so thirsty, so I pulled it up.


The light through the window changes, orange, fiery.


Maybe it's over now, maybe that's how they're going to kill me.


I watch the light and shadows flicker on the wall.


I drink some water.


I'm tired.


I hear voices--voices, for the first time in I don't know how long.


"Holy hell, there's a live one!"


A blurry man--dark, like me, an Islander--in a tattered uniform with something shiny crossing back and forth on his breast yanks the door open.


I can't move, so he picks me up.


Feredar is burning around me.


I feel weightless.


"You're safe now," he tells me, "I'm takin' you home."


The light outside hurts my eyes, so I close them.


I feel myself slipping back down into darkness, quiet, cool, sleep.


But I think I'll wake up tomorrow, so I know I am one of the lucky ones.