Aurora slept of with her thoughts,
Her fitful sleep was shattered by the abrupt sound of the heavy oak door creaking open. She bolted upright in bed, her heart racing as a figure stumbled into the room. The girl was younger than Aurora, with mousy brown hair and wide, terrified eyes. She was naked, her body bruised and trembling, and she was pushed inside by an unseen hand. The door slammed shut behind her, the echo bouncing off the cold stone walls.
“Are you okay?” Aurora whispered, sliding off the bed to go to the newcomer. The girl was shivering, her teeth chattering uncontrollably. She looked up, her eyes meeting Aurora’s with a silent plea. Without a word, Aurora wrapped her arms around the girl, pulling her into a tight embrace.
The girl, whose name Aurora would later learn was Luna, buried her face in Aurora’s neck, her body shaking with sobs. Aurora’s heart ached for her, understanding the fear and pain that she was feeling all too well. She held Luna close, her own fear momentarily forgotten in the face of the younger girl’s anguish.
“Shh,” Aurora whispered, her voice soothing despite the turmoil in her own mind. “You’re okay. You’re safe with me.” She didn’t know if it was true, but she hoped the words would offer some comfort.
Luna’s sobs grew louder, her small body convulsing with the force of them. Aurora’s heart broke as she felt the girl’s trembling in her arms, her own fear momentarily forgotten in the face of such raw, unbridled pain. “Please,” Luna choked out, her voice a broken whisper. “Make it stop.”
Aurora didn’t know what she meant, but she knew she had to do something. She held Luna closer, stroking her back in soothing circles as she tried to calm her down. “I’ll protect you,” she murmured, the words a promise she wasn’t sure she could keep. “We’ll get through this together.”
The room was still, the only sound Luna’s muffled cries against Aurora’s shoulder. The weight of their shared fear and desperation hung heavy in the air, a palpable presence that made it hard to breathe. Aurora’s eyes darted around the room, looking for anything that could offer a glimmer of hope, anything that could help them escape this hellish place.
“Who did this to you?” Aurora asked, her voice gentle as she pulled back to look at Luna’s tear-stained face. The girl’s eyes were red-rimmed and swollen, her lip split and bruised.
Luna’s voice was barely audible, her words a whispered confession. “The guards,” she said, her eyes filling with fresh tears. “They said it was a… a test, to see if I could handle it.”
Anger shot through Aurora, white-hot and blinding. She had been through her own hell the night before, but to see this innocent girl subjected to such cruelty was more than she could bear. Her grip on Luna tightened, a fierce protectiveness swelling within her. “You don’t have to handle it,” she said fiercely. “Nobody deserves this.”
Luna’s eyes searched Aurora’s, as if looking for a shred of truth in her words. “But I’m just a slave,” she whispered. “This is all I know.”
Aurora’s jaw clenched, her eyes flashing with defiance. “You’re more than that,” she said firmly. “We all are.” The thought of the guards touching Luna in such a way made her stomach churn, and she couldn’t help but wonder if she had faced the same fate. She knew she couldn’t let that happen to her, or to Luna.
Gently, she wiped the tears from Luna’s eyes with her thumb, her own eyes softening with concern. “The master,” she began, her voice trembling slightly. “Does he… does he know about this?”
Luna looked up at her with a mix of fear and hope, her eyes red and swollen. “The master?” she echoed, her voice barely above a whisper. “He… He doesn’t do such, he only go for the older girls, when I was brought here, he said I’m too young ,” she confessed, fresh sobs shaking her small frame. “But not… not like the guards.”
The revelation hit Aurora like a punch to the gut, her rage flaring. “We’ll get out of here,” she said, her voice shaking. “Together, we’ll find a way.” It was a bold claim, but in that moment, Aurora felt a fierce determination to protect this girl, to be the guardian she never had.
Luna’s eyes searched hers, a glimmer of hope flickering within the depths of her despair. “Do… do you think so?” she sniffled, her voice small and hopeful.
Aurora took a deep breath, trying to keep the tremor out of her voice. “I believe we can find a way,” she said, her conviction stronger than the fear that clawed at her. “We just have to be smart about it.”
Luna looked up at Aurora with a mix of awe and desperation. “How?” she asked, her voice barely above a whisper. “They’re everywhere.”
Aurora’s expression softened as she stroked Luna’s hair. “I don’t know yet,” she admitted. “But we can’t just give up. We have to keep looking for a way.”
Luna nodded, wiping at her eyes. “But if we get caught…” she trailed off, her voice quivering.
Aurora’s heart broke at the sight of the young girl’s despair, but she couldn’t let it consume her. “We’ll be careful,” she assured, her voice stronger than she felt. “We’ll find a way.”