[Is It Over Yet?]

[sandandwater]

Friday, dies Veneris

" ... Ro?"

Deprivation does strange and varied things to the human mind, body and soul. Pippa Kerr has been deprived of a great many things in the last few days: food, water, cleanliness, dignity, compassion, love, mercy. She's been left with no perception of the passing of time, no exposure to daylight or warmth. To anything familiar.

Reality bent, distorted, broken. Where she is physically isn't the place she's dwelling mentally. She has turned inward, sifting through memories and thoughts that are so far removed from her current predicament that she no longer feels the cold air on bare skin, the tightness of abused muscles, the agony of wounds incurred. She's stopped reacting to the abuse. Stopped crying, no longer screams or moans. Sometimes she doesn't even blink for long, long minutes.

She's gone. She's resigned. She's going to die. Somewhere in the recesses of her mind, that realization keeps her company. She's going to die and this is all going to end. But until then she has places to hide. One person she thinks of. And then she feels safe.

"Ro ... ?"