Title: Lucky One

The Nurse flips the clipboard at the end of an equally-white stainless bed while another Nurse checks on the IV drip. The Nurses looks all the same with the high-ponytail, white nurse dress with two red stripes on the sides, red tights and white pumps. There are eight other beds in the all-white laboratory. The beeping sound of the machines is obnoxiously loud in such a quiet setting.

He turns his head slowly to his left and the resident of the bed next to him catches his eyes. The young man has a white collar around his neck with the number ‘88’ printed in black. His white clothing and the collar looks contrast with his beautiful dark skin. But the bleached hair looks so much better on him, slicked back to show his nice forehead.

“Kai…” he calls out to the young man, voice soft. Before he can continue, the Nurse checking his IV drip looks down on him with those eyes void of feelings through her red face-cover, yet sending him a warning all the same. He remains silent as she continues her work, injecting some sort of blue liquid from a syringe into his IV bottle.

When she leaves to do the same on the others, he looks back to Kai. Instead of speaking again, he mouths the words slowly – a habit they have enveloped with the others when they can’t speak loudly with each other – his heart-shaped mouth forming the words slowly.

Are you okay?

The young man blinks his slightly droopy eyelids, grey eyes looking a little daze and sleepy. The effect of the blue liquid is already taking place. I’m okay, Kyungsoo.

He feels himself feeling extremely tired and sleepy too. It’s starting…I’ll see you later, Kai.

Receiving a half-nod, his eyelids are closing on his own. He has learnt not to fight it after the first twentieth time they put him under.

His eyes open with a start. He can feel his heart racing in his chest as if he has woken up from a bad dream. It’s like falling from a high place… or one of his limbs twitches when he accidently falls asleep from doing nothing but looking up to the sky through a small barred-window.

It’s that sort of start.

When his heart calms down and he doesn’t feel like being chased by an unknown creature in the dark, he sits up to find he is not in the laboratory with the others anymore. He is in his own bed now, in his own room and when he looks to the other side of the room, his cellmate is still not awake yet.

With a sigh, he pushed the red blanket away and swings his legs down. He winces from the cold floor against his bare feet. He starts inspecting his body; pulling the sleeves of his long-sleeves shirt to see his bruised arms, lifting his shirt to discover his midriff is covered with bandages although he is pretty sure that he is healed already and he can feel there are a few freshly-cleaned cuts on his face.

A groan pulls his attention away. His cellmate is awake now.

“Sehun?”

A reply comes out from his cellmate in a form of another groan. Sehun is a poker-faced handsome lad, in the same age as Kai and has the same white collar just like everyone else – his with the number ‘94’. But right now, he looks pretty much just like Kyungsoo; covered in cuts and bruises. His hands are covered in bandages and his face is a little pale.

“How long have I been out?” the youngest of them all, asks. He has the heels of his bandaged hands pressed on his eyes, trying to get used to the brightness of the cell.

“I don’t know,” Kyungsoo quietly replies. “I just woke up myself.”

It’s hard to tell how long they had been in this hellhole facility. Time means nothing to them and their entire lifetime had been spent in different rooms and laboratories since they were kids to make a difference.

“Have you seen the others yet?”

Kyungsoo shakes his head.

-----

He mindlessly stares at his reflection in the mirror as he brushes his teeth, taking his own time. He can’t function well after waking up from a restless sleep that he doesn’t see the figure approaching from behind until an arm drapes around his narrow shoulders. He adjusts his eyes into the reflection to see the number ‘04’ on the white collar.

Kyungsoo sips his water from his red plastic cup and spits into the sink. “Hello, Baekhyun,” Kyungsoo’s voice bounces around the white-tiled bathroom. There are the sounds of water from a few of the shower stalls.

“You don’t look good, Kyungsoo.” The said young man peers at Kyungsoo’s face with a frown on his face.

Somehow, Baekhyun’s bright eyes remind Kyungsoo of a puppy. He has never seen a puppy in real life but he knows from the picture books in the common room that he likes to browse through. But no puppy has mysterious blue eyes like Baekhyun’s.

“I don’t get a good sleep, last night.” Kyungsoo wipes his mouth from toothpaste foam with a small towel.

The latter grabs a toothbrush with his number on it and squeezes a little toothpaste on the bristle. “Must be a rough night,” Baekhyun says, “I can see it from the dark circles under your eyes.”

Kyungsoo merely nods. Kai is the first to come out from one of the shower stalls with just a white towel around his slender waist. He gives a small smile towards Kyungsoo but he looks as much as tired as Kyungsoo. Lately, Kyungsoo is not the only who has trouble sleeping.

“I’m going to get breakfast now,” he says particularly to anyone who’s listening. Baekhyun hears him so he receives a thumbs-up and a foamy ‘okay’ and a few drowned ‘see you at breakfast’ from behind the shower curtains.

“Kyungsoo, look! It’s a whale,” a piece of half-eaten toast is shoved under his nose. Luckily Kyungsoo is quick to move his head away or the toast will go in the wrong place if he is not careful enough.

“That does not look anything like a whale, Chen,” Kyungsoo hears Sehun say with disinterest.

“Shut up, S