Warning: this story contains some mature-ish themes that I'm not sure are classified as mature or not. If you get upset at torture, murder, or psycho actions/behavior, I advise you to read something else. For those that are not bothered by this, Enjoy!

It's not my fault. I shouldn't be here. It's all his fault. I need to escape. I only have a few more days. I need to get away. I don't know where I'll go; just anywhere else.

Every day I hallucinate from lack of sleep. The scary thing is, I see the same thing every time, and there's no way to stop it. I've gone insane, mentally ill, crazy, psycho. You would, too, if all you could see was your small, defenseless sister being tortured and burned to death. It's impossible to erase the visions from my mind.

I hear a soft knock on my cell door. It swings open, revealing the fact that one of the guards were standing there with a small tray of food and about a pint of water. I growl at him like a dog. It's my first instinct, though why I have no idea. He swings his foot and it hits me in the face. Pain explodes in my jaw and I stop growling. He puts the food down and walks out without saying a word. Before I cam take a bite, visions start to swarm my head again.

"No," I beg. I don't know who I'm begging to, but I still do so. "Not now."

A smoke clouds my eyes and suddenly I'm next to my little sister, Leila, hidden under a loose floorboard. She's crying softly, and I'm rocking back and forth with her in my arms. My older brother is next to us, and he's straight-faced and emotionless. He presses his ear to the floor above us.

"Seems quiet," he mutters. "I'm going to look."

"Careful, Thomas," I whisper. "We have no idea what will happen if they find us." My entire body is shaking like crazy as he lifts up the floorboard. It doesn't make any noise, and Thomas climbs out. I can see his eyes darting from side to side, looking for scouts. 

He stays silent for a few seconds, then shouts, "general, I've found them!" His face stretches into a smirk as he peers down at me. I know my face is plastered with fear and disbelief, which only makes him smirk more. I hear footsteps racing towards us. "They're under there, sir," Thomas confirms with the person who I assume is the general. I hear several more footsteps of about seven people, all coming towards us. I hug my sister tighter as she mumbles a prayer.

 The general's black, muddy boot slides close to my face and lifts up the floorboard. He shines a flashlight in mine and my sisters' eyes, making me squint. He can see how terrified we are, and he enjoys it.

"Well, well, well," he chuckles to himself. "A new slave," he looks into my eyes and shines the flashlight directly at me. "And a sacrifice," he continues, now shining the flashlight on Leila.

"D-don't you d-dare t-touch Leila y-you b-bastard," I manage, my entire body shaking. I turn so I'm shielding Leila with my body. The general laughs and snaps his fingers. Immediately, men come up from behind us, grabbing us both by the shoulders and ankles. I kick and shriek, and Leila bawls her eyes out as they carry us to their cart. They bind our wrists together and bind our ankles together, so all we can do is squirm around like caterpillars without legs. Worst of all. my older brother is watching all of this, and doesn't do a thing. He just stands there with an expression of vanity and satisfaction on his face.

The squeaky cart rolls for about ten minutes, and the scouts drag my sister and I to a temple. They lay Leila on a bed in the middle and tie me to a pillar to watch. They whip her, kick her, and slash her with knives. Every time she makes a noise or even jerks away, they take a finger or toe and cut it clean off. Some people would get traumatized just hearing about it, but having to watch it, having it burned into your mind, and not to mention having it be your poor, innocent little sister just drives it over the edge. I couldn't even close my eyes or turn my head, because there was a guard pinning my had in place and holding my eyes open with his fingers.

When they were done torturing her she was a bloody mess, deep cuts in every place imaginable. Her skin was bright red and some digits lay in the floor. It was disgusting as well as traumatizing. Finally, they set her on a piece of cardboard and lit the cardboard on fire at its corners, and even though she had just endured more pain than what should have been humanely possible, her shrieks of pain still cried out as the fire spread. I couldn't cry out to her. I just cried large tears as I sat there, unable to help her. Why couldn't it have been me?

I made a silent promise to my sister that day. I will get out of here, I promised, and I will murder every single person that caused you the slightest pain.

Including and especially Thomas.