Entry 2-Xiao Luhan

I'm glad my Sehun is ok. When I woke up in the dark, I had panicked. What if Sehun was hurt? What if he was lost? Would I ever see him again? I don't know what I would do without Sehun next to me. He's the only good thing that has happened to me and I would die if I ever lost him. I will protect him until the end!

End Entry

"You found the light switch, progress 2/3 complete." 
All 12 jumped. The voice was so cold, so void of emotion, that it sent shivers down their spines. After momentary shock, the group glanced at one another. The state they were in was horrendous. Sehun had a partially black eye (thanks to Luhan's instincts),Chanyeol had a growing lump on his head that Baekhyun was carefully tending to, and Yixing was scrambling to everyone, checking for injuries. Not to mention that their hair stuck in every direction that it possibly could. 

"What's step 3?" Minseok asked, turning to their clueless leader, YiFan. Truthfully, he had no idea what to do. They were past the halfway point and from their point of view, that was great progress. He contemplated long and hard. So, they had escaped from their confinement which must have been step one. Step two was to turn on the lights. What could step 3 possibly be? 

“We need to escape,” Kyungsoo called out. Everyone either physically or mentally face palmed. Why hadn’t they thought of that earlier? Whoever was on the loudspeaker was basically urging them to escape. First the confinement, then the light. The light showed them the room which would then enable them to find a way of leaving.
Only problem was that there wasn’t any way to escape. For one, there wasn’t a door any where in sight and the only break in the walls was where the next one started. 

“Ok guys,” Yifan turned around to face the group. “We need to put our heads together and think.” Not thinking up anything better, the 12 nodded and, by default, made a circle on the metal ground.
In the circle they made, Kyungsoo was the first to speak up.

“Maybe the light switch will open the door. You know, when the lights are off, the door opens.” The others nodded in agreement since they weren’t even thinking at the moment. Instead, they were just trying to figure out why they were in this white confinement. 

When no one moved, Kyungsoo sighed and stood up. Sometimes, he felt like he was the only smart one in the world. So, he made his way over, and, with the help of some others who caught on, turned off the light. They waited in the dark for a few seconds, listening for anything that sounded like a door opening. Nothing. Just silence. Disappointed, Kyungsoo flipped the switch and the bright lights, once again, blinded the group. They all groaned in annoyance. Now what? There wasn’t exactly any clue to nudge them in the right direction.

“Hey, whoever you are,” Jongdae called out loudly. “How are we supposed to escape, huh? For one, you didn’t leave any clues, and two, we aren’t very bright.”

“That’s an understatement…” mumbled Kyungsoo, crossing his arms and turning away from the group. This earned a few glares from the others, but they refrained from making any smart comments.

“Jongdae, you probably shouldn’t have… erm…” Minseok looked around nervously as if there were something or someone just ready to harm them.

“Whatever,” Jongdae snorted. “I said it and I can’t exactly take it back.” Although he was putting on a brave face, inside, he was freaking out. Chanyeol was right. They were all prisoners to these psychos and god only knows what they’ll do! 

After a few minutes of just sitting in silence, the speaker crackled on and a man spoke in a deep, husky voice. “Check the walls.” The man’s voice definitely had the hint of amusement hidden behind the robot-like way he spoke. It was very unsettling to the 12; it made them feel like they were being played with, like toys.

Without any other ideas (it’s not like they had come up with ideas in the first place), they all begrudgingly got to their feet and made their way to the wall. Slowly, Luhan began running his hand along the cracks, hoping to find some button to reveal the door. Meanwhile, Sehun was angrily pounding the wall with his fist which echoed in the confinement. He was so angry at everyone; angry at the teachers for allowing those nasty scientists; for putting them to sleep; for locking them up; for playing with them. It was inhumane, in Sehun’s opinion.

To release his anger, he began mumbling to himself.

I hate grown ups!

They make me want to throw up.

They are deceiving.

Sometimes, they leave us grieving.

They should all just go away,

us kids are here to stay.

Sehun punched the wall again, and this time his hand hit something pointy that tore his skin. He whimpered in pain and Luhan came rushing over to inspect the damage. It only had exposed raw skin and there wasn’t any other damage done. Luhan sighed and held Sehun’s hands, gently caressing the tops with his thumbs.

“You must be careful, Sehun. We barely got any where and you have already injured yourself.” The elder shook his head and gave Sehun a concerned look. 

“I’m just so angry! So angry at everyone! Why do we even have to be here? Why us? Couldn’t they find another twelve? There are probably some way smarter than us!” Sehun shouted as his eyes began to get watery; this happened a lot. Whenever Sehun would get very emotional about things, he would start crying; when he was angry; when he was annoyed; even when he was happy. He couldn’t exactly explain it, but he didn’t like doing it, especially in front of Luhan. It made him look like a child, and that’s not the image he wanted others to see. He wanted them to see a strong, independant 3rd grader. 

“It’s ok, Sehun. We will make it out together. Don’t be mad; anger can blind one from seeing the problem and finding a solution,” Luhan said calmly, already used to these moments. “Now, just take big, deep breaths to release all that anger, alright?” 

The younger nodded and began in large breaths and exhaling loudly. Soon enough he had calmed down and was now hugging Luhan (which he claimed that it helped him calm down, but he just wanted to hug the elder). Once fully in control of his emotions, Sehun pointed to the row of matte plaster dots going up the wall.  They were all spaced evenly apart, according to Luhan who had measured with his eyes, and had been put in far and filled with white plaster to conceal them. It seemed that whoever had installed them in had forgotten the one Sehun had punched not too long before. Upon further inspection, it seemed that the, conveniently, non-glossy screws  not only went up the wall section, but had also made a line to the next section which just happened to make the shape of a door.

Everyone cheered and either clapped Sehun on the back, or hugged him. Although Sehun’s hand was throbbing in pain, he felt like a hero! He was able to do something important for the group and it was something significant for once. While the others began scraping away at the plaster with the safety pins Baekhyun had suspiciously stashed in his back pocket, Sehun beamed. 

“I can feel Sehun’s happiness from here,” Jongdae whispered to Minseok who nodded, but smiled.

“Let the kid be happy. Don’t ruin it.”

Jongdae looked the opposite way with a guilty look, mumbling something about how little kids were annoying.

About 60 minutes later, the room was echoing with the word “finished.” They had all picked the plaster from every little dot they could reach. The taller were obviously used for the ones higher up and the shorter members busily worked on the bottom ones. Then, everyone was silent except for the hissing noise coming from where the group had just picked the plaster from. The hissing noise was then followed by a creaking noise and the metal began tilting in towards them. Hastily, they all scrambled towards the opposite side of the room and it was just in time to avoid being crushed by the wall that had come undone and landed with a reverberating thud. 

They could escape.