At the sound of the door lock clicking into place, I let out a sigh of relief. Already I felt lighter, save the nagging of the voice in the back of my head. Carefully, I cradled my injured arm against my chest as I stood up from the chair. I glanced around the room quickly and one thing caught my eye. Hyuk stood near the glass panes of his cell staring at me. I watched him as he watched me, holding his eye contact for minutes.

“Hyuk,” I whispered. His head cocked to the side as he carefully approached the glass, gripping on to the exposed metal of the busted panes. I began to make my way towards him, curious how he would react. He just stood there, watching me as I got closer to him. I could feel several other eyes on me as well. “Hyuk…can you talk?” I asked quietly when I got close to him. I stood about two feet from the cell, staring at him. He grabbed at the back of his neck with a grimace. “Are you okay?” I took a step closer to the cage, wanting to reach out to him. He looked so young. This was no place for a boy like him. My fingers brushed against the metal of the windows and his eyes darted down to them before locking with mine again.

“…An…gel…” he whispered. It was so quiet, I wasn’t sure if he had actually said anything.

“What was that?”

“Angel,” he said again. My lips twitched in a slight smile.

“Yes. Yes, I’m Angel.” Hyuk was gripping onto the frame of the windows and I could see the rocks protruding from his skin. Mistress was slowly adding them to both of his arms, making a scale like patter up and down both arms. I cringed, remembering him howling after she returned him to his cage after implanting them. So much pain. Without even thinking about it, I reached through the window pane and brushed his arm softly. Hyuk’s eyes widened and he darted back in his cell with a small cry. I yanked my hand back in surprise and took a step back. For a moment, we stared at each other before he growled at me. I took that as my cue to leave. I quickly made my way back to my cell, sitting down cautiously on the filthy mattress.

“What was that sound?” Leo asked quietly, shuffling over to me. I looked at him as he sat down next to me and wrapped his arm around my shoulders. I curled up into his side, still cradling my arm from earlier. It ached slightly from where Mistress had yanked the rings from my skin, but I was used to it. Leo gently took that arm and ran his hands over my skin. It amazed me how his hands stayed so soft in the conditions we lived in.

“It was Hyuk,” I whispered back. Even knowing Mistress was gone, I still felt uncomfortable making loud sounds. “I startled him is all.” Leo remained quiet, staring at my arm as he rubbed it gently. “Leo…Did Mistress really leave?” I felt Leo shrug.

“I don’t know. She never has before. Ever since you came there have been a lot of firsts around here.” He took a piece of his shirt, wetting it with his tongue and wiping off the blood from my arm. Even if she is, she has cameras, so she’d see everything.” I was quite, looking across the room at Ravi who was curled up in the corner of his cell, rocking slightly.

“Is he okay?” I pointed at him. Leo followed where I was pointing and stared for a bit.

“I don’t know. He’s not usually like that.” I bit my lip as I watched the tattooed man rock back and forth.

“I’m going to go try and talk to him.” As I stood up, Leo’s arm fell away from my shoulder. I looked back at him only to see his eyes glazed over. He was gone again.

He misses Mistress.

I shook my head, trying to get the voice to go away again. The voice let out a chuckle and I froze. This was a first, and it shook me to my core. After a moment, I tried to shake off what had just happened and finished making my way over to Ravi’s cell. He didn’t seem to notice me, so I sat down next to where he was in the cell.

“…Ravi?” His head shot up and he stared at me with wide eyes. Wide, brown eyes. Tears were tracing their way down his cheeks. “R…Ravi?” I asked again.

“You…” he whispered. He moved closer to the glass of his cell. “…name…”

“Name?” I pointed at myself and he nodded. “Angel. Mistress calls me Angel.”

“Angel…”

“Are you okay?” I tried to lock eyes with Ravi and when I did, I nearly cried. Everyone here was so broken, and you could see it in their eyes. Ravi’s eyes now were different than the others. His held some clarity to them, like he knew what was happening and he wanted it to stop.

Lies.

“…Sad…I’m…Sad.” He looked down at his hands.

“Sad? Why?” Ravi just shook his head before letting out a cry and curling back up in a ball on the floor. “Ravi?” He screamed and slammed a fist against the glass. I jumped back, catching one of my wires in my haste to get away and accidentally ripping it from the back of my neck. I gasped and grabbed my neck, trying to stop the burning. With a whimper I stood up and moved around the room and looking into the other cells. Ken was sleeping in the corner, or at least looked like it with his eyes closed. Hongbin was laying on the floor of his cell, overcome by one his laughing fits. His body convulsed with the strength of the maniac laughs racking his body. I skirted around his cell, trying to stay as far from it as possible.

Over the time I had spent here, I still had yet to even grow comfortable with looking at Hongbin. He was Mistress’ favorite doll to play with. When she would bring him out, he would sit in the chair and not move unless she moved him. She would pet him, play with his hair while she hummed an off key tune. However, as soon as she put him back in his cell, he would revert to his animal like state, growling, snarling and screaming. It seemed to get worse when he would see me. He would scream louder and his cries would sound more anguished than before, coupled with slamming and scratching on the glass of his cell. I was scared to be near him.

I continued to make my way back to my cell, not really paying attention to N’s cell. He was never really coherent anyways. Before I made it back though, I felt a tug on one of my cords. I stopped and turned around to see if I had maybe caught it on the chair, only to see N by the panes of his cell, holding on to one of my cords. I hesitantly made my way back over to him.

“…N.” He tilted his head as he looked at me.

“Girl.”

“Angel. I’m Angel.” I reached for the cord that was in his hand but he grabbed it tighter and tried to yank it away from me, tugging at one of the rings of my back. I let out a cry and N froze, staring at me. He tugged on the cord again and I moved closer to the glass. “Please stop,” I whimpered.

You already miss this. Let him hurt you.

I flinched, still watching N. He looked from me down to the wire in his hand, relaxing his grip on it before looking back up at me.

“Pain…” he said quietly. I nodded quickly.

“Yes, pain.” Hesitantly, he dropped the wire and I pulled it out of his grip.

N placed his hand on the metal framework of the windows. He opened his mouth to say something but quickly shut it before moving back to his couch and sitting down, reverting to his frozen position. I watched him for a moment before moving back to my cell and sitting down next to Leo. He didn’t move, still too far gone to communicate. He go like this sometimes, where he would zone out and I couldn’t do anything to rouse him. At first is scared me, but I was used to it now. I would just wait next to him until he woke back up.

Not too long after that, Hongbin stopped laughing and sat up in his cell and looked directly at me. I returned his stare and we held each other’s eye for a moment before he grabbed at his perfectly kept hair, a grimace on his face. He blinked a few times and when he glanced back at me, his eyes were a deep brown and his face read nothing but confusion and fear. I leaned towards him, thinking if I should go and try to speak to him now, but that idea was quickly swept away when he closed his eyes and let out another howl. This time when he looked back at me, the white eyes with black x’s were back. He snarled and pounded on the wall before slinking back in to his cell and pacing, occasionally letting out a growl. What one Earth was going on with these boys?

~~~~~~~~~

Hello everyone!!!

Okay, it's been forever I know. Right now, I have major writer's block on this story, so this chapter is kinda eh. I mean, there are some good parts, but I think I may end up rewriting it at some point. Who knows. I just really wanted to give you guys something, so I'm sorry that it is short too. I could really use ideas right now, so if you have some, let me know and it may help me with moving the plot along. I'll be sure to credit you if I use your idea!

So yeah. I'm sorry that it took me so long to update this, so if you are one of the ones who has been with me since the begining, thank you sincerely. It means a lot to me to see recurring people commenting here and supporting me. Also thank you to any new subscribers or readers who have joined recently. I'm glad to see people are liking this story. <3 I'm not sure when I will update again, but I will do my best. Thank you for all of your patience! 

Have a good one my Starlights!

***Gif is NOT mine. But it is amazing *-* Teach me how to tallent. TT-TT