Caged

Silence echoed in Alexia's ears.

The cage bars were cold against her bare shoulders, her eyes darting around the darkness of the large room. The small borrower felt sick to her stomach. It wasn't easy as she gazed into the dusty darkness, the moonlight glittering in from the window in the corner.

Tears welled in the back of her eyes, as she pulled her knees into her chest. The outline of her bag just barely visible just outside the cage she was sitting in, and just out of her reach. She shouldn't have been caught.. This never would've happened if she hadn't of tried to do something so risky, and she should've known better.

The trap the two humans -one male, the other female- had set down for people like her, was so tempting. The food that had been set in there was irresistible  for a starving borrow trying to feed her kids.

But she had been desperate. Too desperate.

Breathing out shakily, Alexia had heard snippets of the human's conversation outside the door, as they'd walk by. They were planning to sell her off for profit. Humans didn't care about her kind. People didn't care that borrowers had families, or hungry mouths to feed. Living on scraps was a poor way to survive, as they barely scraped by with Ben still around, and without her husband, everything was worse.

The days passed slowly for her, thinking on how her children were starving. Caleb, Lucas and Christian. Her babies.

Her oldest only being ten.

"I'll be back soon," she had promised. "Stay here until I get home, Christian, watch over your brothers."

She covered a hand over her mouth and tears threw her world into disorientation. She didn't let them spill, but they were almost overwhelming.

Alexia felt the table shake under the weight of one of the humans coming to the door, and before anything, the door handle jiggled before being opened. A poor light was flicked on in the room and she jolted backwards as the door shut loudly behind the person. The floor shook again and she looked up to see a large face looming over her, sending her nerves through the roof.

Everything in her body telling her to run. But, was there anywhere she could go? No, she was stuck in her spot, watching this person, as he watched her.

The scruff on his face showed he couldn't have been too much older than herself. And eyes that looked almost glittering with a sorrow she wasn't used to seeing.

The scraping of a chair on hardwood sounded and she flinched, her hands instantly clasping over her ears to drown out the sound as best she could. Her body shook uncontrollably, and Alexia's eyes were away from the man, but she could feel the close scrutiny she was under.

"Aren't you a small one," he murmured. The voice was softer, but deeper than she actually found herself expecting. "They haven't fed you well enough, have they Sweetheart?"

Alexia didn't answer, but she slowly found herself letting her eyes slide upwards and land on him and she nervously took in his features, and from what she could see from the poor lighting the single light-bulb in the room provided, his lips were pressed into a thin line.

There was a heavy pause shared between the two. The fear radiating from her body was easily felt, and almost thick enough to cut with a knife.

Every breath she took, Alexia was expecting to be her last.

He hadn't made one brash move towards her yet. Unlike those other two. They loved to jostle the cage and cause her to cry out in panic and fear, but this man held his hands down by his side from what she could see from her curled position on the cage floor. The woodchips stiff and uncomfortable, but she'd bear with it. For her children.

Would she ever see her precious boys again? Her heart lurched almost painfully in her chest at the thought. They were so small.

"Not a talkative one are you?" He said again, and her eyes were instantly back on him. Watching his every move with a terror that insisted that he get whatever he was going to do, over with. "I'll take that as a simple 'no'."

She didn't want to speak to him, but she had no other choice. He wasn't going to stop speaking with her, and it didn't look like he was about to leave either.

The man shifted and got a little more comfortable in his seat, and she flinched. There was an apology in his light blue eyes. Again, minutes passed in silence and she quivered, wishing he'd just leave her along to be sold.

Alexia didn't understand why this man was here.

He cleared his throat softly. "Could I get your name, Sweetheart?" His hands moved to clasp together on the table, in front of him and near the cage and she was terrified he'd use them to shake the cage to get a better reaction from her. "Will you feel better if I give you mine?" Again, silence from the small girl. Though, she knew that wouldn't stop him from trying. "I'm Bryan."

She swallowed thickly and her heart ached against her ribcage. She just wanted to go home to her sons, not talk with this stranger -Bryan, he'd said-.

"Mommy, where are you going?" Caleb's voice rang in her ears.

"Just going to get something to eat, I'll be right back. Don't worry, Christian will look after you and Lucas."

"But I don't want you to go," he had whimpered, grasping onto her leg. "I want you here, mommy. I don't like this place."

"I know, sweetie, I know."

A small strangled whimper escaped her mouth and she clasped a hand over it. She hated how her children were by themselves, was the only way to get back to them, to answer him? If only Ben was still there to look after the kids...

"Please," she whispered, her eyes downcast and her voice barely audible to him. "Just get it over with.."

Bryan looked like he'd seen a ghost when she'd spoken back, and he almost didn't know how to respond to such a small and scared voice. "I'm not going to hurt you," his voice lowered as he ran his hand along his scruff. "I'll promise you that, Sweetheart."

That was the third time he'd used that name for her. Her pale grey eyes sought out his features again, as her eyes came up to look at him.

That's when she watched as his hands parted and reached for the cage.

With bad memories from hands around those irons bars, she let out a frightened cry and curled into herself, hiding her face in her knees and waiting for the inevitable shaking to begin, but, nothing happened.

"I didn't mean to frighten you," Bryan murmured. "I'm sorry." And before anything, she heard a small snap, and she froze.

Alexia knew that sound all too well, it was the sound of the latch releasing. She let out a breath and looked up, seeing the small door being swung open by huge fingers. As she thought, he'd let her climb out on her own, a hand began to reach in for her.

"Easy, Sweetheart," he cooed softly, as if trying to calm a baby bird. "Easy. I'm not going to hurt you."

Of course, in her moment of panic, her chest began to heave and adrenaline pumped through her veins. Hands of humans were only meant for hurting her, that's what had been engraved into her mind ever since she was a child, and that had proved true with the other two humans. They handled her roughly and carelessly whenever they wanted to, and it didn't matter to them.

Her heart thrummed against her chest as it got closer to her and the warmth made the hairs on the back of her neck stand on end.

It wasn't long after she had shut her eyes, was she scooped up into warmth and enveloped completely into the grasp of this man. She tried to struggle her ways out, a cold fear settling in on her stomach.

Alexia was terrified that at any moment, the fingers would curl in further and crush the life from her, to abandon his small comforts. But he didn't, but she did feel her stomach drop as he stood.

But, he dropped to the ground on a knee and revealed her back into the open air. She noticed his hands now cupped around her small frame and held her only a few inches above the ground. She peeked over the edge of his fingers, before turning to face him and looking way up to see his face. She was in his hands and there was no escape after you'd been grabbed.

He saw the panicked expression and he matched it with a calm one. He could see her chest quivering at her light breaths and he breathed out steadily. "I'm letting you go, I promise on my life. But, once I do, gather your things and escape from here. Leave this place in your wake and don't look back," Bryan looked her right in the eyes and held it taut. "Stay safe, Sweetheart."

He lowered his hands to the floor and dipped them a little, just letting his fingertips brush the floor.

As soon as Alexia could move, she did. But before she did anything more, expect flinch when he moved his hands back, she checked herself for her bag. Which was still sitting on the table.

He seemed to catch on and leaned back on his heels, and seeing the tiny bag, he pushed it into his palm with a fingertip before leaning back down. She'd backed up a few steps in pure terror of his size, and watched as he outstretched his hand out to her, a small bag in the centre of his palm.

Breathing heavily, Alexia made a quick move and snatched it. She held it tightly against her chest before slowly backing away from his towering form.

With a single nod from him, she hurried away and under the dresser, before climbing through the hole leading her back to her small home. Which was further under the cement of the human's home.

***

Tears were burning her eyes as she finally came to a stop at the end of the twisting stone passage. And there was the small flickering candlelight at the end of the hallway. Her footsteps were noiseless and she heard the small talking voices of her baby boys.

Alexia almost barreled down the passage and pushed open the card-door they'd used to keep the large bugs and rodents out.

Caleb was sitting on the floor, staring at his hands, but the noise made the small five year old look up.

"Mommy!" He squealed, leaping from his spot on the floor and running to his mother's outstretched arms.

She dropped her bag onto the floor and was easily able to support her son's weight as he leapt into her arms. Hugging her tightly. He held to her, as tears slowly began to make their ways down the young boy's cheeks. And she kissed his hair sweetly.

Hearing the commotion, Christian led Lucas out and once their eyes landed on their mother, it seemed to crash on them that everything would be okay.

"Mom!" Christian whimpered, as Lucas ran to their mother. She brought all three of her boys into a tight embrace.

"Its okay, babies," Alexia whispered to her little ones as they made sure to hold onto her tightly. "Everything will be okay now."