“You better go before they catch you,” I warn, but then the lights suddenly turn on, blinding me, and I scatter to the corner, covering my face and naked body. Axel’s screams make me jump as I fold deeper into myself.
“To the lab you go. The both of you. Electrotherapy it is. Now there’s no way of getting out of here. Master will have two new puppets to play with.” The man laughs as Axel fights back, but he’s slammed head first into the wall then falls to the ground. The man leaves him there and comes to me, his footsteps heavy as he kneels in front of me. His hand grabbing at my hair, forcing my head up to look at him.
“Let’s go,” he orders, pulling me up by my hair.Big mistake.Still with the knife in my hand, I sink it into his side.
“No, Lolli!”Jethro screams, and then everything goes black.
A slap to my face jolts me awake and I scream. This isn’t the first time I’ve been here. Axel… yes. Me… I’ve been here more times than I can count. They never ask questions. They just strap me down with leather cuffs that buckle and bite into my wrists, ankles, and naked chest.
“When will you learn this shit never works.” I giggle, but no one answers. The machine hums in the distance as Axel's screams echo through the small room. “Don’t leave,” I whisper, hoping Jethro is still here. It’s so fucking quiet.
“I’m not leaving,”he answers as something cold is pressed against my head.
“Procedure is starting,” someone says, and I grin.
“Let’s see if you can keep up.”
The switch is flipped and everything shatters. White. Black. Nothing. Everything inside my body shakes uncontrollably. Electric zaps flow through my veins like it’s rattling a cage.Jethro smirks, knowing all it does is awaken him. No more hiding in the corner. No more hiding behind me. Now—he’s center stage, right in front of me, waiting for the key to unlock and unleash the beast within.
“You hesitated,”he says, and I nod.
”I won’t again.” I smirk.
He steps closer, licking his black lips.“I know.”And then he leans forward, his smile matching mine.“Next time,”he whispers, licking the shell of my ear, then down my cheek over my scars.“We don’t stop.”
My eyes snap open and the straps creak while the machine hums and Axel continues to scream. I can’t see him. I just hear all his pain pouring out of him. He will be better. He will be stronger. Different, but this will make him ruthless to survive in this place, and with my help, we will kill everyone that’s ever hurt us.
I start to laugh because now I understand. They didn’t break me. They finished me, and now… they are all fucked.
It’s too quiet
Jagger Holmes
I woke up angry today. It sits in my chest waiting to explode, and I fucking hate it. I stare up at the cracked ceiling above me. Same cracks. Same lines and patterns I’ve memorized just so I don’t have to think about anything else.
“You’re wasting time,”the voice says as I drag my hand down my face.
“Shut up.”
It doesn’t. It never does.
“She’s gone,”the voice says and my jaw tightens.
“I know.” The words taste like metal leaving my lips. I didn’t think it was possible for the room to feel smaller than it does right now, and it’s because she’s not here. Who knew that this place could feel different because of her absence but it does. Everything is off. It’s too fucking quiet. I heard everything those orderlys did last night but I was strapped to this fucking bed, locked behind a metal door. There was nothing I could do other than to listen. They must’ve came early to release me because now I’m free and I’m out for blood. Listening to a woman beingassaulted triggered me back to the days when I listened to my own mother being raped.
“It was your fault,” the voice reminds me, and I growl.
“Fuck you.” And it laughs.
I swing my legs off the bed and slam my feet onto the cold concrete.
“You should’ve stopped them,”the voice presses.
“I wasn’t there,” I growl.
“Excuses, just like the ones before.”
My fist slams into the wall before I can think about it. The impact cracks through my knuckles, sending shooting pains up my arm.
