Chapter 9 Angelia

I reached the end of the corridor where a heavy locked door stood.

“I need keys!” I cried back down the hallway.

The guards came up behind me as Matt pulled me back. One of them shot the lock on the door and the door swung open. The damp scent of the basement gushed out along with Angelia’s scent and I ran in.

My stomach roiled, memories I didn’t want to think about surfaced, but I ignored them.

I smelled old water and molded bread. The stench of unwashed bodies, but I couldn’t focus on that.

Angelia was here.

I’d found her.

Across the room, she lay on a dirty mattress on the ground, unmoving and unspeaking. I ran towards her as Alyssa tried to reach out to her and lifted her into my arms. She didn’t move. Her eyes stared out into nothing as if she would never speak again. She’d grown frail and thin since the last time I saw her. Her cheeks were drawn into her face and her eyes were a bit sunken. Her hair seemed dull and lifeless, but there was no mistaking her.

“Angelia, say somethin