The Warning

Beryl was starting to count the soul piercing wail as the turn of an hour, as he had no other way to tell time.  If he was right then it had almost been a day since he had last seen the Professor, and the sound of heels heading towards him made Beryl nervous.

 Once again the light was blocked out as someone looked inside of his cell.  It was Evangeline Quinn, Rance’s unkempt nurse who smelled and acted as the offspring of an opium den marrying a bar.  Her hair was as puffed up as he remembered and her eyes were full of indifference.  She tossed a small pill inside and it skittered to the ground in front of the Beryl.

 The cat looked up from the pill at Evangeline warily, “What is this?”

 “Eat your vitamin, cat. It’s all you’re getting.” Evangeline ordered, and then added,  “Or give it back and I’ll eat it.”

 Beryl put their head back down and turned away from the nurse, knowing that Evangeline would only shrug and leave him there alone. He could hear her leaving him alone, with only the moans of his fellow captives to keep him company.

It was several moments after Evangeline left that the sickly green light outside his room flickered violently and then shut off leaving Beryl in darkness. It was only a moment, and then the lights came back on.  They were still green, but it didn’t seem as sick as it had before.

The cat assumed that it must have been a surge and began to relax in his cell when he heard a soft, muffled voice whispered from outside, “They’re going to take you.“

Beryl sat up, ears perked towards the door suspiciously as he tried to see who had snuck up on him.  There was no silhouette blocking the light this time, but the voice was there.

“Don’t try to fight them, guardian.  If you try to fight them they will kill you.  You will never wake again.  You have to do what they say.  Let them take you.  Trust me.“

Beryl moved closer to see who was talking to him, but before he reached the panel he could already hear them retreating.  He looked around and saw a small woman that he had never seen before escaping.  Was she one of the girls that Lisa had hired on to help her?  Beryl didn’t know, but he felt as if he should trust her.  

Beryl looked at the pill that Evangeline had given him and began to wonder…