A Film Queen

Chapter 169 Towards the Light

Finished

With teeth bared, he resembled a ferocious beast poised to pounce, the chains clanging once more in a resonant clang.

The nearby onlookers, witnessing this tense display, hesitated to startle him, swiftly moving to press a button on the iron cage. Instantly, the crackling sound of electricity echoed through the hushed chamber, enveloping the child in a torrent of intense shock. His body convulsed on the cold floor, emitting a primal roar akin to a beast’s anguish.

“No!” Milly gasped, stunned by the unfolding scene. Before she could intervene, her cry had already pierced the air.

Her outcry startled the waiter who had activated the mechanism, causing him to release his grip and cease the flow of electricity. The figure inside the cage fell silent, his howls abruptly halted.

In that tense moment, a chill raced down Milly’s spine, causing her to shudder and instinctively wrap her arms around herself. Memories, long buried and forgotten, surged forth like an overwhelming tide.

The sight before her now and the distant echoes from her past life at the orphanage eerily intertwined….

In that bleak orphanage, nestled within its labyrinthine halls, lurked a dimly lit chamber adorned with a formidable iron cage, a place where justice, or perhaps its shadow, was dispensed.

Once a feisty spirit, Milly had stubbornly resisted yielding, frequently finding herself incarcerated within its cold confines. There, she endured thirst and hunger, subjected occasionally to cruel lashings…

An outcast, she found solace in the furtive kindness of a mute boy, who was the only one who covertly saved morsels of sustenance for her, a lifeline in their shared hardship. They existed in a delicate balance, always wary of discovery and its dire consequences.

Initially shielded by a compassionate elderly caretaker, age eventually rendered her immobile, leaving them vulnerable to the brutality of their oppressors. They weathered these storms, cach time teetering on the brink of oblivion, until the specter of tragedy compelled their reluctant liberators.

The specter of death’s proximity haunted her memory, an indelible scar etched upon her soul.

Yet fate, capricious as ever, soon parted them. The boy, whisked away by the capricious winds of adoption, vanished from her world forever.

All that remained was a poignant recollection, the image of him clinging to the orphanage railings, his voiceless pleas haunting her with echoes of “Milly, Milly.

Others dragged her back, assuring her of his good fortune, the blessing of a new beginning far from their shadowed confines.

Yet if it truly was a blessing, why did they not join him?

There was that time, confined for five days and four nights

time when she lost the elderly lady and her little

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169 Towards the Light

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subject of experimentation, honed and enhanced to endure high voltages unscathed.”

“Have faith.”

seemed ensnared in her own world, deaf to his words, trembling with a pallid countenance and vacant gaze, exuding a numbness

first occasion George had beheld Milly in such

as if

not anticipated her response

twinge of sorrow gripped him as he enfolded her within his arms and guided her away, “Milly,

Milly remained rooted in place, clutching his sleeve as though it were her lifeline, teeth chattering, her murmurs faint and incoherent, “Save… save him… I can pay

him with us, then…

in her eyes unnoticed, the once resolute and self–assured woman now beseeching

though an arrow had pierced his heart, a pain that penetrated

well, we shall take him along, George agreed, honouring

in Milly before, leaving him puzzled

her…..

her sorrow, she summoned a smile and uttered. Thank you. I will

George felt a squeezing sensation in his heart, a deep

to convey that repayment was unnecessary, yet when he

her own

will follow your guidance, George

sigh of relief, turning her attention to the figure inside the

deliberate steps,

defensive posture, fixing her with an intense glare, his

remained composed as she took two more steps forward. Now standing directly in front of the cage, she was just outside the perilous

breeze, sought to soothe rather than startle. She

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