Jazz had somehow managed to cry herself to sleep. It was discouraging, waking up to such silence. For a moment, she thought that she had finally escaped her own personal nightmare.
The dim emergency light that lit the dank, moldy jail cell made Jazz’s eyes open wide. Despite the grogginess, fear overtook it by a mile. The recently cleaned mattress below her was reassuring, but it didn’t stop her from violently shivering. The cold concrete floor was wet, and a quick peer upwards saved Jazz the curiosity as a small leak dripped monotonously into a small puddle. Aside from the toilet in the corner of the room, the jail cell was completely empty.
But, why am I still here?
Jazz sat upwards, holding her head in her hooves like a drunkard after blacking out. She must have fallen asleep. There was no doubt in her mind. So why was there nopony there? The jail cell was silent, but it let Jazz tune in around her. She could hear nothing. No hoofsteps, no talking, nothing.
A week should have passed, but a quick look at the clock proved that she had only been asleep for around eight hours.
She was still in Hell.
The Townsend.
That’s when it all came flashing back to her, like a speeding carriage in the night. She was unable to fall asleep. She tried waking Crest to no avail, she wandered outside with her satchel — which she somehow still had, lying on the floor a few feet away. She went to the Cafe and…
It.
Jazz felt like she was going absolutely manic just by remembering it — the monster that tormented her. I was… chased here?
Running it through her brain again, it sounded nuts. She didn’t even get a clear look at the monster that chased her, aside from those eight, soulless eyes that pierced through her very heart.
It was fuzzy, and she felt the tears welling up in her eyes again. She had to forget about monster, or whatever it was that she saw. If anything, it was just a dream. She had been wanting to come to the station, right? She probably came in and then hallucinated it out of panic.
She wouldn’t accept anything else.
So many questions, and each one drove Jazz more and more hysteric. Why was she still awake during the Townsend, even after falling asleep? Do you have to fall asleep the night of to ensure that you’ll be asleep for the whole week? What was that monster? What happened to the cafe?
Jazz’s stomach growled, and the poor mare almost jumped. She put a hoof to her belly, and sighed. It’s morning. I’d feel much better moving around town now, with all the light.
The blue mare scooted herself off of the mattress, all while shaking vigorously. She hadn’t eaten in quite some time now — her last meal being a small nutritional bar the evening prior. Despite the fact that she couldn’t see it, she knew the light was much safer should her dream about that monster have been real. Jazz grabbed her satchel off of the floor, dusted it off, and then swiftly put it on.
Jazz reached the jail cell door, and attempted to open it.
Nope.
“Huh?”
Jazz tried again, but with a little more force. The barred door hardly budged, and the mare furrowed her brow. Locked? Jazz groaned. Where did I put the keys? There was no way she was as dense as to lose them. With a quick rummage around her satchel, the mare was instantly overcome with worry. “Oh, no, no!”
She barely noticed her aching body as she bent down to look through the mattress she had slept on, and on the floor surrounding it. “Please, they have to be…”
Jazz was relieved when she had found them a few moments later. She had left them in the lock last night, or so she assumed. All that mattered now was that they weren’t there anymore.
They were on the floor, about ten feet away near the guard’s desk.
A few more tears fell down Jazz’s face upon the realization. She had screwed up — real, real bad. Jazz bent down, sliding her hoof through the jail bars in a desperate effort to grab the keys. She wasn’t even close, unable to reach even halfway. Her mind began to do calculations, wondering how in the world the keys managed to bounce that far. It didn’t take long for Jazz to focus on the bigger picture.
She was locked in there.
With nopony being able to let her out for at least six days.
With that single thought, Jazz’s stomach roared in protest as she sat her rump down on the cold floor. With one cruel mistake, the mare had a whole new misery to experience. Instead of dying to some monster she wasn’t even sure was real, now she was going to die slowly — painfully. She was going to starve to death down there, in a damp jail cell.
The tears flowed freely once again, and this time she was unable to stop herself. She had cried so much in the last day that half of it quickly turned into panicked shivering and sniffles. As if on cue, Jazz’s ears finally tuned into the clock in the corner of the room, taunting her.
The mare threw her hooves down and grabbed her satchel, eager to look through it again. Please, tell me there's some kind of food in here.
Jazz’s prayers failed to fall on anypony’s ears. She was horrified to discover just how ill-prepared she was. Aside from her usual things, like her wallet and house keys, the only other things she had were useless: sunglasses, her flashlight, a deck of cards, floss, some headache medicine, and a pen and small notepad that she was more than surprised to have found.. She took off her satchel and threw it to the side, relishing in the noise it made when it crashed against the brick wall. Everything she had on her was a joke.
Now, she was going to starve because of it.
Jazz lied back, stared at the ceiling, and closed her eyes. She left her hooves on her stomach. She forced herself to start getting comfortable. She had a feeling she wasn't going anywhere anytime soon.
It was fifteen hours later, almost approaching three in the morning, when Jazz had finally finished her song.
It was nothing special, just a way to pass the time as she waited for herself to finally starve. There was a fluttering sensation in her chest as she read over it for what must have been the umpteenth time. Whether or not she got out of there alive or not, at least maybe her work could escape.
Jazz let out a sigh, as she contemplated actually singing it. Her fear of her own voice was the reason why she called it ‘poetry’ instead of what it actually was: music. There was nothing stopping her, in fact, there was nopony awake anywhere in Equestria. She could do as she wanted. Despite this, her starving gut still told her not to.
It had been a full day—plus some— since she had anything to eat or drink, and because of it, her stomach was throwing the biggest tantrum she had ever had to endure. Jazz hung her head, and put her notepad and pen back into her satchel. She could polish the song later, maybe. Perhaps I should go back to trying to fetch the keys.
As much as she told herself that, she knew there was no way. Jazz had spent a few hours already trying to get the keys in whatever manner she could: from using her satchel as a lasso to actually tying the ending of her tail into a loop. Much to her disdain after that didn’t work, getting the knot out of her tail gave her so much grief that she actually had to stop and get a hold of herself before she had a breakdown.
The ticking of the clock was driving her crazy, not to mention the fact that the monster she had dreamed of earlier replayed in her mind constantly, like a stuttering movie. Inside, the idea of it being a dream was silly, and obvious. Outside, the mare shook her head at the possibility. It was a shame that every single time she saw those eyes in her head she felt even sicker than the time before.
Jazz suddenly tried again, opening her mouth and belting as loud as she could. “Is anypony out there? Please, help!” she cried desperately as each breath tore into her dry throat. It had only been a full day or so, yet it felt like much longer. Jazz was positive that ponies were supposed to go days without food or water, but she was quickly being proven wrong. Either way, it was Tuesday morning, and she could feel death looming over her.
Perhaps it was all the running I did earlier, she pondered as she finally came to terms with the events of the night prior.
She made her way onto the mattress, and curled up into a pathetic little ball. She did her best to nurture her pained belly, rubbing it to no avail. She was out of tears to cry, and she slowly accepted her fate.
The poor mare closed her eyes tightly, right as a new sound perforated her ears.
Thump. Thump. Thump.
Just like that, her eyes snapped back open in a frenzy. “No… no… please, no…” she whispered to herself, as her shaking evolved into a full blown fit. She remembered that sound, and what it brought forth. It was coming from upstairs. Had it followed her? Did it have a way to penetrate the jail cell walls?
Would she have enough energy to run?
Jazz felt like the better question was: starve to death, or eviscerated and eaten by a gigantic monster?
She could hardly think. Why would it come down here. It has no reason to, right? Did it hear me crying for help? I’m so stupid!
Thump. Thump
THUMP.
Whatever what coming upstairs, Jazz heard the last thump come from something she knew was bad news: the top of the stairs leading to her jail cell.
“Please, no…” she whispered below her breath. Her heart stammered so hard in her chest that it physically hurt. It was getting difficult to tell what was her heart and what was the monster.
Thump. Thump.
Whatever it was, it was definitely coming down the stairs. How could she have been so stupid as to have called for help when there was a monster running around, especially when she had nowhere to run?
The monster reached the bottom of the stairs, but Jazz wasn’t looking anymore. If she was going to die, the last thing she wanted to see was herself getting thrown into a monster's jaws, or to see her own organs. She waited patiently, before a medium pitched voice pierced the jail room.
“Dear Celestia, you’re awake!”