James' POV

A week...A week and a half in this awful place...

Everything's still quiet...everything's still cold and dark...everything's still the same. We would get breakfast and dinner everyday, never any lunch. But even that wasn't enough, since he only gave us enough for what most would consider a snack. Maybe four hundred calories a day? My imagination, the hope I had left, and the desire to help my little sister are the only things keeping me going. I like to think about that part of the Lord of The Rings where Sam asks Frodo as they're climbing up Mt. Doom, "Do you remember the taste of strawberries, Mr. Frodo?" I smiled to myself. That's kinda how I feel right now, striving for freedom against my enemy, being so weak and tired but not wanting to give up. Because I made a promise to Analiese, just like Sam made a promise to Gandolf to keep Frodo safe.

I attempted to ask Cain, our captor, about his life everytime he came down to feed us...or...I looked at the chain attached to the wall across the room. My mouth suddenly felt dry as I looked at it. I looked away, blinked, and shook my head before cupping my hands to catch the water droplets that slowly fell from the ceiling. It took a minute but I finally had a decent amount of water in my hands. I lifted my hands to my mouth and drank the water until I bang to slurp and it ran out. I looked back behind me to look at Analiese but my eyes once again landed on the chain...

(Flashback)

Analiese winced in pain as Cain tightly held onto her wrist and began dragging her over to the underneath of the stairs, toward the chain. What is he doing? He forcefully made Analiese sit underneath the stairs, with the chain right above her head. He looked at her with his fierce gaze before commanding her, saying: "Don't move." Even from across the room I could hear her shuttered breath, fearful as to what was to come. And she obeyed, too scared to protest or even talk infront of him, so she said nothing. He grabbed the chain and rapped it around Analiese's neck in a loop. Then, with one hand holding the chain in place, he reached into his massive coat pocket and pulled out a padlock. My eyes grew wider as I suddenly realized what his intention was. And without really thinking, I said--

"No! Stop! Please, don't!"

Cain looked back at me with his cold eyes, he looked angry but confused at the same time. "Do it to me! Do it to me if you have to. Please..." I continued, begging him to stop. I didn't care what he did to me, I just wanted to protect Analiese at any cost. His grip on the chain loosened ever so slightly, but not nearly enough for her to escape, not that she would be bold enough to try even if she wanted to. His gaze almost softened before he dropped the chain, releasing Analiese, with his intense gaze still on me. Analiese ran over to me and hugged me tight. She cried into my shirt before I reluctantly had to let go of her. "Get over here, hero." Cain mocked, but I didn't care. I walked over to Cain and willingly sat underneath the chain. He rapped the cold, iron chain around my neck and used the padlock to keep the loop in place. Analiese only watched in horror as she tried not to cry. Cain pulled a very small key out of the same coat pocket and with a quick flick of his wrist, he locked the padlock. He removed the key and stuck it in his Jean pocket this time. He looked at me one last time with a devilish smirk on his face before standing up to leave. Just as he was about to walk past Analiese, he stopped in his tracks, turned to my sister, and said--

"...You have a good big brother..." And without another word, he left. Leaving only the familiar creak of the door behind him.

The moment the door closed shut, Analiese rushed over to me and knelt down. She finally let her long held tears fall down and her body shook with fear. "Hey, hey, I'm okay. I'm okay..." I reassured her. The chain wasn't tight enough to choke me so it was only limiting the amount of room I had to move. "Why-why did you do that?" She asked, her body still shaking. "I'm not gonna let anything happen to you, Analiese. We're gonna make it out of here, I promise." Analiese nodded and leaned up against me, holding me just like she would hold mom when she cried at home.

(End of flashback)

I whispered something under my breath--"She's gonna live to see another day...even if I don't..."