Dharma Avon }} D1 }} fin

It was dark. Everything was dark. His eyes- this room. His hair- these bars. His smile was dark- his voice was even darker. Everything about him was rotten, everything about him made my body freeze, made it begin to shake- violent convulsions. I had seen what he had done to others, other girls my age… I had seen the way their eyes would fill with fear, the way their face was always open in a silent scream for help, the way the light- life- died from their body when he was finished. And I had waited so long, so scared that I would be next. But he never touched me, not until that one day, that one day he had decided that finally, finally my sister and I were ready- ready to be turned into his greatest creation.

2 years ago...

Drip, drip, drip. Slowly my eyes seem to open even when I begged them to stay shut. A bright light filtered in and out of my vision and I could feel myself begin to stir, my hands lazily whipping the sleep from my eyes, my mouth slowly working backwards and forwards, my legs slowly unfolding so that they were stretched out along the damp mat that I lay upon. “D-D-Davanie? Davanie, are you awake yet?” I whispered as I slowly pulled myself into a sitting position, pushing my dirt damp locks of blonde hair away from my dirt streaked face. But my question ins only meet with the deadly silience that seemed to be my life. Taking in a deep breath I try not let my thoughts run wild, I try not to think of the screams that would fill my ears at night, the sobs which would haunt my dreams… I try to think of life before this, before my abduction… but no matter how hard I think nothing comes, not even the smallest memory. My mother’s face? Nothing… Her voice? Nothing… nothing, nothing, NOTHING.

An unwanted sob escapes my lips as the tears of y horrors form in my eyes. I was so scared, so very scared. For as long as I can remember I have been in this cell, coped up and away from the rest of the society- sometimes I am so sure that I have gone insane, that there is a part of me which does not belong to me. Do I hear things, you ask, hear things that aren’t really there? All the time. I hear him, his voice in my head, is laughter in my dreams… I hear her to- my sister- and her mournful cries, her agonised screams. But do they exist? Are they real? Does she hurt when I am not there? Does she hurt when I can’t see?

A lonely tears falls down my cheek. A lonely squeal of pain fills the air.

now...

Music filled the air- louder than the howling wind outside. I smiled as I pulled back the purple locks of hair that surrounded my face, my thin- but muscular arms moving with the rhythm of the music. My hair, which fell to past the lower ribs on my chest hasn’t always been purple, sometimes it was pink, or blue green or orange even- it just depended on how I was feeling that day. Most people who saw me would stare for a while, their faces would be a mask of surprised usually followed by a frown before averted eyes. But I didn’t mind, I liked it actually, it reminded me that I was not something people wanted, I was not someone that people would grab at night and take away to have their way with me. Maybe that’s why I did it, maybe that was why I tried to mutilate the important parts of my body, the parts that made me attractive. No doll maker wanted something that was artificial. Fake.

Suddenly the smile on my thin lips drop and a flash of darkness flashes behind my eye lids. Darkness, stale air, silence. Taking in a shaky breath I try and push the thoughts of my past to the back of my mind. My knees begin to shake and I fall to the ground. My chest begins to raise and fall faster and faster as the memory of my past come swarming over me in one huge wave. I begged them to go, to leave me alone… but they came at me. The screams, the laughter, the lifeless eyes of his creations- their stiff limbs, impales bodies.

I scream.

And I scream

And I scream some more, my voice echoing though my small ears, making my small fragile body tense and uneasy.

“Dharma? Dharma are you okay?” The voice of my sister slips past my fear and into my ears and instantly my screams cut off. She was here. I was at home. I was safe. Taking away my hands from my face I turn my teary onto my sister, my twin. When I looked at her, I was looking at me. We had the same frame, the same small hands, athletic body. The only difference was the colour of our hair. Her, just like me, changes her hair as often as she changed her mood. “Dharma its ok, we are safe, we are safe,” she murmurs as she crouches beside me, her hand running though my hair like a mother would comfort her child. I lean into my sisters side, taking comfort in the way her body was so familiar, so safe.

1 year ago...

He came for us today, his hands- so spiny and sharp- ripping at the clothes which clung to my damp skin. “NO NO PLEASE! LEAVE ME ALONE, PLEASE, I DOONT- LEVAE US ALONE!” I screamed at the man as he dragged me away from the safety of my cage and into the artificial light of his operating room. That’s when he strapped me to the table, my hands first, then my feet, then my head. I tried to get free, my muscles straining against the ties that held me down. “Please please please- don’t do this to me…” My voice is small as sobs rise into my throat.

“I have too, darling, you are ready. You are beautiful. You will make a wonderful doll to add to my collection. Now, hold still. The more you struggle the harder it will be.” His voice ours as he runs a thick tube into my mouth. I try to spit it out but he secures it to my face before turning away to play with something next to us. I didn’t need to see it to know what it was- I had seen this happen to many before me. I knew what he was doing, and I knew that it was my turn to die. Dav I hope you are ok, don’t let him get you too, please. Be safe.

But the suddenly there was a scream- not my scream, but his. I saw a flash of blonde and then a deep clunking sound of metal against flesh. Then there was silence. “Dharma? Dharma- did I make it in time?” Suddenly she was beside me, her hands searching my face for a sing of life. Tears begin to form in my eyes and I try to nod, try to tell her that I am ok. After a moment she realises that I am alive and begins to rip the tube away from my face before removing the restraints from my body. I fall to the ground, and she is beside me once again. “Thank-you, thank you so much,” I manage to mumble as I look up into her clear grey eyes. “You would have done the same for me,” She mumbles. And she is right- I would have done the same for her, I would have gladly put my life on the line for her. I smile at her and together we get to our feet. I loved her, and to lose her would be to lose me.

“Lets get out of here- and never come back,” she says and she doesn’t need to say it twice, because as soon as the words fall from her lips I am running to the exit, her at my side, running away from the man who had kept us captive for the majority of our lives. “We are free.”