______________________________

Five years alone in a tower was enough to drive even the sanest person crazy.
My mind wouldn’t settle, no matter how hard I tried. As usual, sleep evaded me. My eyes burned. I need to sleep.
A vicious maelstrom caused the tower to sway. Waves crashed against the weathered stone in their relentless pursuit of destruction. The gears and cranks groaned, while bricks broke free from their mortar, crashing to the ground with each roll of the tide.
The noise was deafening, but so was the silence within me.
I arched my back against the hard, lumpy mattress, hoping to ease the knots along my spine. I should’ve been used to it. But how could I be?
With a restless sigh, I flopped back onto the bed and stared at the ceiling. My scalp ached from the tension of the bindings in my hair. No matter how much I fidgeted, I couldn’t get comfortable.
I squeezed my eyes shut and listened to the ominous howl of the wind thrashing outside. Everything else was quiet and still inside my lonely room. I tried to block out the emptiness gnawing at my heart, but it was no use against the assault of the past.
A flash of hair against bruised skin.
Pale, wide eyes full of hatred burning me to the core.
Shocked screams. 
Desperate calls of my name.
Then darkness.
Terrible memories blended together until my head was nothing more than a mess.
Almost surrendering to the idea of another restless night, I sat up, resting my back against the headboard. Beads of sweat gathered on my brow, and my stomach clenched.
It had been five years since I had last seen a friendly face, or felt grass between my toes.
Five years since I had felt anything but anger, resentment, and longing.
So long since—
I dragged my hands down my face, fighting back the frustrated sob threatening to break free. There was no use in crying. It changed nothing.
Curling in on myself, as if to protect my heart, I listened to the rain and thunder, praying it would lull me into a deep sleep. The only escape I had.