Chapter 0317
Seraphina
Each day I hoped for improvement.
Each day proved me wrong.
Levi claims this IV sustains my life.
Yet it feels like it's draining my soul.
A knock interrupts my thoughts.
The daily ritual begins.
A nurse enters to check the drip.
She places a towel on my bed.
A small soap and toothbrush follow.
I must accompany her to the showers.
Dragging my medical equipment behind me.
I attempted to use the tubing twice.
Both times brought severe punishment.
They withheld the medicine intentionally.
Just long enough to cause agony.
Repeatedly.
Levi ordered this for days.
Until I begged for death.
His response never changes.
"Think of those you murdered."
"You deserve this suffering."
I follow the nurse silently.
Most cells remain quiet now.
Inmates learned screaming wastes energy.
No one's coming to rescue us.
But new arrivals always reveal themselves.
They pound against their doors.
They demand freedom until exhaustion.
Weeks later, I still don't understand.
Why make us suffer like this?
Why remove our abilities just to imprison us?
Killing us would be more efficient.
We wouldn't drain resources this way.
The humiliation continues during showers.
I'm constantly watched.
They take my old gown.
Provide a fresh one afterward.
I return to my room.
A meager oatmeal bowl awaits.
The nurse departs immediately.
I have thirty minutes to eat.
Another nurse collects the bowl afterward.
Everything here remains brutally plain.
Bland food, white sheets, white gowns.
A constant reminder we deserve nothing.
They even performed a hysterectomy.
That happened after my first week.
Something about keeping things clean.
Bastards!
This is a prison.
Levi appointed himself warden.
My old life feels galaxies away.
The life I fought so hard for.
Ironically, I'd sacrifice anything now.
Just to contact my mother.
Or hear Athena's voice.
Any voice besides mine or Levi's.
Or someone pleading for freedom.
I place the oatmeal bowl on the floor.
Curling up on the bed seems better.
Starvation beats this existence.
The lock slides open suddenly.
Warm air rushes inside.
"Why aren't you eating?" Levi demands.
I refuse to look at him.
"Third day straight."
"Should we force-feed you?"
"Not hungry."
"Not your decision."
"Feeling unwell."
"Impossible. The drip contains everything."
"You call this survival?"
"Is this some twisted joke?"
"I'd rip this shit out myself."
"But you always stop me first."
My eyes dart toward the camera.
If we all acted simultaneously...
Who would he save first?
"This is your deserved punishment."
"Why let you die, Seraphina Blackwood?"
"Your methods are utterly deranged."
I turn away from him.
"Met many with god complexes."
"But keeping people alive for amusement?"
"That's truly fucked up."
"Minor suffering compared to your destruction."
"Your poor mother, for example."
I sit up glaring fiercely.
"Don't speak about my mother."
"She tried helping you."
"You repaid her with horror."
"Shut the fuck up!"
"You caused her immense problems."
"Made her relive terrible memories."
"Because you couldn't accept reality."
"Clung to your foolish ideas."
"I deserved what was mine!" I snarl.
He laughs deeply from his stomach.
"Life doesn't work that way."
"Perhaps things would differ."
"If your mother raised you properly."
"Maybe you'd have known Athena."
"This conversation's over."