SEVENTEEN - SOPHIA
I try to warn him but I am silenced by the tape over my mouth. I can only watch as he comes out of the cell, through the corridor and into the room where Charles is waiting.
He is cunning. He knows he cannot beat Rock in a fair fight and so he does not fight fair. First he weakens us both, leaving us for days without food or water. Then he takes me out of the cell while I sleep, tying my limbs before I have chance to fight.
Even when I realise what is happening, I am too weak to take him on and he knows this. He tells me his plan, like the worst of villains. I can do nothing about it. I am forced to watch on the TV screen as he waits for Rock, knocking him out as soon as he enters the room.
I am now tied to the chair in front of the TV screen. I watch it, seeing Charles struggle with Rock's unconscious form. He has dragged him into the fighting room. He has dressed him once more, no easy feat. He has told me he has taken plenty of bets on this one. How many will it take to kill his son?
I weep inside as I watch Rock slowly come to. Charles is back by my side, telling me this is all my fault, that he should have listened to his instinct and taken me for himself.
"Still, plenty of time for that now," he says, grinning down at me. "You'll give me another son, a better son. Then a grandson. We'll be a family together." His eyes are a mask of insanity, he truly believes I will accept what he says, that I will father a child with him. As soon as I get loose, I will kill him, I will never give myself to him, not now he is happy to watch Rock die.
"Would you like to say goodbye?" he asks as on the TV, Rock gets slowly to his feet. Around him are three men, circling him warily. Even weak, he is still a formidable sight, taller than all of them.
Charles tugs the tape from my face. "No need for you to keep quiet now," he says. "Do you know, all I wanted was a grandchild? All you had to do was let him come in you and you couldn't even do that."
"Please," I say, my voice weak. "I didn't know. Give me another chance."
A light grows in his eye as he looks at me. "You will behave?"
"I will," I nod. "But if he dies, you won't get your grandchild the right way."
I don't know if it will work. I don't know if I can penetrate the insanity that circles him like a cloud. None of this makes sense if thought of rationally. But he is not rational. When he looks at me, he sees an eager to please face and he smiles.
"But the audience must have their show." He glances at the TV and then back at me. "I tell you what. If he lives, I will give you one last chance. I must be getting soft in my old age."
I turn to the TV in time to see Rock swinging a punch at the first of the men. They act like hyenas, trying to tire him, jabbing at him when they have chance. They close on him and I think all is lost. He is weakening. "Please stop this," I say but Charles only laughs.
"Don't you have faith in your lover?"
He stares at the screen as I work one hand loose from my bonds. I have been squeezing and twisting from the moment I was brought in here and it's working at last. I have a plan for if I can get my hand free. I just need a few more seconds.
Charles is transfixed by the fight and I look too, praying that Rock will get the upper hand. One man is down, nursing what is probably a broken leg. The other two are enraged and they pounce on Rock but he shakes them off, spinning with force and crushing the one on his back against the wall behind him. I have almost got my hand free. The enforced starvation helps, there is no muscle in my wrist, only skin and bone. It burns but it is working.
A minute later the fight is over. I sigh with relief to see that Rock is alive, the other men still on the floor. Are they alive?
The blind lowers over the screen and Charles turns to me, not noticing that my fist is now clenched.
He is too excited. "You will keep your promise?" he asks, sounding desperate.
I nod, anything to keep him happy.
I am untied, my hand back in the bonds as if nothing happened. Once I am free, he leads me back to the cell, shoving me inside and lowering the hatch just as Rock appears inside. He is again covered in blood. I gasp at the sight.
"You have one hour," Charles says. "Do not disappoint me."
He turns and leaves and I am alone with Rock who staggers over to me, breathing heavily. "An hour for what?" he asks, wheezing slightly.
I draw him close and kiss him, whispering as quietly as I can in his ear. "Have you heard of chess?"
He shakes his head.
I whisper again, "It's a game with two players. When you first learn, you think of a move to make. When you get better, you think a move or two ahead. The best players think many moves ahead. I never really understood that until now."
I pass him what I have in my hand, his reaction gives nothing away and it is at once in his pocket.
I saw it the first time I saw Charles. I put the information away, all the steps I took after that were in the hope of getting to where I am now. I was playing against a good player but I was better. For the first time we are ahead, me and Rock against Charles. Time for the end game.