Chapter 6: Purely Evil I

        Lying down on the cold hardened  ground made of black wrought stone, it sent chills that ran through her body making her weaker and fatal, Jaylyn had already resigned to her undoubted fate as she stares deeply into the dark brick wall with a distraint quality in her eyes as if the bleak wall was speaking to her . The little light that reflects from the punctured roof helps shade her from impending doom and aids her in order to notice rodents that share the dungeon.

      As days count, the more her sense pricks at every sound she hears...be it the dripping sounds of water, crackles made by mice or scratches made on the walls. Jaylyn became aware of them, consumed by fear whenever she closed her eyes to see the image of the lifeless body she found when she was thrown inside.

Fear tickled down her spine, as she watched the blood run into the drain down into the Manor sewage filling the dungeon with a foul smell. Jaylyn waited patiently for her death to consume her. 

      Slowly, she draft into a long sleep, where she finds herself caged at all sides, as she tries to escape she finds no exit point so she screams and shouted for help but no one came...

Then a big beast broke through the cage and tried to get her. She ran under its legs and escaped as fast as she could but the dark smokey fog that covered everywhere made it hard for her to see, arrow shots out from every angle... She dodged a few but some pierce through her skin now bleeding and weak, she stumbled and fell on an oak tree. Once the beast caught up with her, instead of killing as intended it rescued her.

   She suddenly felt soft pats on her forehead and slowly she opened her heavy eyes and saw Miss Camila cleaning her up because she was burning with fever. 

" Thank God, you finally woke up.. You've been like this for two days now "... 

She kept talking about how she was found almost dead before her uncle gave the order to call for the local medicine man.

     "What did you do child, that made your uncle so mad that he left you here even in this condition? "

     Jaylyn expressed her sadness and frustration for she had done nothing that could warrant this treatment, Miss Camila promised to help her escape even if it was the last thing she did.  

***** 

       Days after days, Mrs Camila sneaked in food from the Manor, each day she came back with newly gathered information she had overheard from the servants who worked in and out of the Manor. Words that made rounds within the Manor was that the Baron received a letter requesting an invitation to make selection to seek his daughters' hands in marriage but instead the supposed suitor asked for Jaylyn whom everyone knew was married. 

       This letter was from Lord Bryan. This got the Baron infuriated that why he threw her into the cell to keep his lies intact. Mrs Camila had a feeling that this rumour was not exactly true nor complete,  because Lord Bryan's father was once a friend to Jaylyn's father when they both attended the same college, this new information left Jaylyn with a bit of hope. Jaylyn still felt she was at the receiving end despite everything this would neither solve but worsened her case. 

*******

      " No!, stop!, please stop, I did what you asked me to do, please stop!" 

   Jaylyn was drawn out of her frustration as the cell guard dragged a screaming girl forcefully into the dungeon. 

" Please help me beg her.! " she pleaded as she tried dragging the guard's legs but he knocked her cold to the ground and slammed the cell gate shut. The girl struggled to get up, she crawled her weak body on the ground as she tried to get closer to the now locked cell screaming. 

"Please let me hold him one more time.... Please! " she begged. 

      Jaylyn who was already tired with her current situation with no energy to ask for another,She looked away. 

" I have bigger problems " Jaylyn murmured to herself as walked down to the end of the dungeon. 

    For an hour, the new girl kept on screaming and shouting, Jaylyn couldn't take it anymore so she yelled out with her loudest voice. 

" No one is going to help you, scream all you want, no one will help you out, save your energy for what judgment or punishment that will come after! "

     The girl turned with a blank stare for the first time she took notice that someone else was also locked in the dungeon. She took no notice of anyone when she was brought in. 

" Are you a ghost or a human? Or am I seeing things? She asked 

Jaylyn gives out a dry laugh. 

"I wish at least I wouldn't feel pain,"

she sat down motionless looking too tired to care anymore. 

"Stop screaming cause no one would aid you. "

The girl slowly walked away from the cell gate relentlessly and fell to the ground still trembling 

" I just want my baby, I did what she asked me to do.... My poor baby!"

    A mother being separated from her child is a painful experience, it feels like their heart's been ripped off from their body especially nursing mothers . Lillian's huge breast tightened around her chemise . 

Jaylyn  felt pity for the girl so she walked over and cuddled her 

" Everything is going to be fine, "She assured her

 " I'm  sure his father will find a way to take care of him now" as if her words had struck a chord, the girl removed herself from Jaylyn's embrace and studied her silently. 

" Who are you? I mean what was your crime? " she asked curiously, her eyes fixed directly at her. 

"I am Jaylyn, nephew to the Baron and I have no idea of my offence."

Jaylyn answered her. 

" Liar....! . Liar!... She pushed Jaylyn as she got up, giving her a full view of a now fierce woman. 

     " I heard the Baron married off his disowned brother's daughter to a rich seaman so you must have been punished here as an impersonator "

    Not taking her words to heart, Jaylyn narrated her story to her when she was done, her new cellmate was marveled still trying to process the information she had just received. 

" What treachery! , she exclaimed 

  'This people are evil... Deadly snakes hiding in forms of monks, I should have known! I shouldn't have come back! ' she kept blabbering. 

" Who are you and how did you end up here? " Jaylyn asked 

    " My name is Lilian and I am a courtesan, " as she spoke she stood up straight as if she was being presented in a court. Lilian was indeed a beauty, her green glassy eye shined as if it could read through one's thought, porcelain skin that had just been ruined by new bruises, her face had been hit multiple times. 

"Who did this to you? 

Her mouth turned with a scorn 

"Lady Alfreda " 

that didn't come as a surprise. 

      Lillian narrated her experience about how she lost her father a village wine merchant and her mother a few months later with no one to take care of her, she join the courtesans of Aempleforth before she moved back to Dutchmall where she meet and fell in love with Jaylyn's cousin James.

They had an affair and the obvious end result was her pregnancy. He asked her to get rid of the baby but she fled to her mother's village hoping that after her child was born, his father would come to love him but instead her baby was taken away from her and she was thrown into a dungeon. 

Before she could finish her story a guard interrupted them as he opened up the cell gate and dragged her out. 

            *******

     Lady Alfreda was ready to tear down the walls of the manor when Lillian, a low life courtesan, had the audacity to seek her attendance just for her bastard child". 

" what insulant!! "

She rang for the Old Butler 

" You called my lad.., " her first landed on his face with his cheeks exploding with a hot slap before he could complete his last word, the pain sent him into shock as he stumbled terribly on the concrete hard floor. 

        "Now I know you are of no use to me, you just a  weakling " she said a bit satisfied that her anger had dismounted him and left him terrified as he kept blinking to regain his sight. 

"I am sorry for my mistakes, my lady, please forgive me," he pleaded with a painful groan that broke out from his throat. 

    The Old Butler, Mr Buck was indeed getting older and had stayed the longest in the Bennett Manor but he was not ready to resign yet because  his job was paramount to his family. 

If he was ever laid off, no one would require his service since he would not be given a standard recommendation. 

He was already an old and sickly man; no one would hire him for labor, with his eldest son still serving his master and the other about to start his apprenticeship as a blacksmith; he couldn't  afford to lose his job. 

     He lied down on the ground and kept pleading as the fear of losing his job sent him trembling from his heads to toes

Disgusted by his presence,  she decided to make use of him for the very last time. 

" Fine then, I still have need for your service " she said with a disbelief if he was capable enough to handle it.