Chapter Fourteen

Thunder

This chapter is a flashback. 

Sungmin groaned, shifting away as his body was sore, barely conscious as he whined, “Umma, five more minutes.” However, in his barely conscious state, he had completely lost his sense of reality, his eyes cracking open to immediately scrunch against the blinding sun. He struggled to remember what happened when he felt someone grabbing onto his arms, gripping them harsh enough to where the delicate immediately bruised.

He was dragged out of his semi-conscious world to stare straight into the eyes of an emotionless looking Chosen, who threw him down to the ground without hesitation, causing Sungmin to whimper. It took him a good minute to actually realize what was going on, memories flooding back to him as his body tensed. The Chosen that had taken him had assured him that he was not going to Seventh Circle – which was a miracle in itself, however wherever he was being sent to was little better.

Sungmin figured that he must have just arrived, after drifting off to sleep to try and rest his tired body. Before the Chosen could force him up, Sungmin got onto his knees and hauled himself quickly, staring around at the scenery around him. If he had not been told before what kind of facility it was, he probably wouldn’t have been so intimidated at the sight. It was a plain building, painted a bland white that stretched up to only two stories. Surrounding the building was an ordinary looking fence, however he knew that they weren’t stupid. Although the humming electricity was not as obvious as the electrified fences he had seen in movies before, he knew that they would have to have some kind of way to keep anyone from leaving before the Chosen decided they could.

“Move.” Sungmin heard a voice growl at him, kicking him in his inner knee, causing him to stumble forward.

 He was led right to the front door which the Chosen pressed his palm to, causing it to open, before shoving Sungmin inside. Sungmin kept his emotions in check, however the Chosen noted how pale Sungmin’s knuckles were getting as he pressed his nails into his palm, his hands in fists. The pressure he exerted was enough to draw blood. He glared at the Chosen, however the male did not seem to care in the slightest, making him stumble every step he took as he was pushed to quicken his pace.

Sungmin’s eyes cast around the room and noticed the building’s outward appearance he had been deceiving. The walls and floors were all concrete, every inched covered with the cool, gray surface. Their footsteps echoed around the room as they approached a hall lined with several doors – where Sungmin figured that where all of the people were, as he was alone with a demon.

Once again the tall figure laid his palm to rest on the door and it opened for him. Sungmin raised an eyebrow, however he didn’t have time to ponder as the Chosen grabbed him by his soft, ebony hair and pulled him into the room. Sungmin growled, however the Chosen simply smirked, kicking him in the shin before slamming the door behind him and locking it shut.

“He’s a piece of work, isn’t he?” A boy’s voice rang out in the room and Sungmin turn to see a boy tilt his head toward the door before heading over to where Sungmin stood, “Lucky for you that you caught him in one of his better moods.”

The boy extended a hand out, “I’m Kyuhyun, by the way.”

Sungmin’s eyes glanced towards the others in the corner before taking it lightly, having not expected any kind of pleasantries in the place they were in. He introduced himself, before Kyuhyun led him over to one of several cots that were spread around on the floor.

Once they sat down, Sungmin noted the awkward silence. “Is it normally like this?” Sungmin asked, having expected to be nailed to the wall or beaten with a stick upon arrival. Sure, he had gotten beaten around a little bit, but it didn’t seem anything like out of the stories he had heard.

Kyuhyun shook his head. “When there isn’t a Chosen in this room, it’s fair to assume that someone else is in very big trouble.”

As if roused by Kyuhyun’s words, a scream shattered the calm air of the room and disturbed the only other person in the room besides the two of them. The boy stirred before lifting himself up and his eyes landed on Sungmin.

Not even mentioning the scream that had completely terrified Sungmin, the new boy looked over to Kyuhyun, a small smile crossing his lips, “Who’s this?”

“His name is Sungmin.” Kyuhyun replied mildly, his eyes flickering towards the door, “I wonder who that was…”

The unknown boy sighed. “I don’t think I’d want to know if it was someone I knew,” He said lowly, “I doubt the Chosen will kill them, but it won’t be pleasant.”

Sungmin shivered at the strangers' words, however the other male seemed to sense that and his expression softened. "Don't worry," He cooed to the fearful boy, "As long as you listen to what the Chosen tell you to do, you won't end up like that poor guy." He tilted his head toward the source of anguish.

"I'm Zhou Mi, by the way," Zhou Mi flushed, feeling awkward about his introduction when it fell on such poor timing.

"He's Sungmin." Kyuhyun cut in before Sungmin could introduce himself, however truthfully, the older was too stunned to speak, his eyes making a direct beeline to where the screams only continued, not faltering despite the countless minutes that were passing.

The one named Zhou Mi scooted closer to him, ruffling his hair. “You’ll get out of here soon, you’ll see,” He nodded confidently, “You’ll probably end up somewhere nice too.”

“W-why would you say that?” He asked, however they all silenced when the cries completely stilled. If he had thought the shrieking had been horrible, the stillness made his heart plummet straight into the pit of his stomach. He felt sick, as he knew what the silence meant.

Zhou Mi cleared his throat, about to answer when the door swung open, slamming hard against the wall and causing Sungmin to jump. However, his expression was set and stubborn. He wasn’t going to melt into a puddle over them. While he had wanted to whimper before from all the pain he had heard, however now he would not bat even an eyelash whenever the Chosen came upon him. His self-respect was the one thing he wouldn’t let them take away from him.

The Chosen strode into the room, seeming to be the same height and build as the one that had brought him in. The two other boys made sure to avoid eye contact, causing the Chosen to smirk, however Sungmin stared back at the male without the slightest hesitation. The Chosen grimaced at the look he received and went over to him, picking him up by his shirt collar before throwing him across the room.

“You’re new here, aren’t you?” Sungmin heard him approach and then let out a sputter when he felt a heel press into his back, cutting off his airways, his lungs beginning to burn as time progressed.

Sungmin tried to get back to his feet, however the Chosen added his other foot, standing on top of him and practically crushing him with all of his weight.

“Maybe if you apologize I’ll get off,” He mused, “Although, you do make a nice rug.”

“Get the hell off of me.” Sungmin responded, his eyes watering as his intake of oxygen had completely ceased.

The Chosen growled at him, stepping off of him and picking him up again, spitting in his face. “That’s not how things work around here,” He snarled at him, “If you want to get out of here – which all of you good-for-nothings do – you have to follow the rules. Got it?”

He pinched Sungmin’s cheeks painfully before letting him go, as Sungmin glared at him, brushing himself off.

“You can hate me all you want.” The Chosen spoke flatly, “Your kind have it so much easier here compared to what we had to go through every day for years.”

Author's Note:

OMG you guys! I finally updated O:! I've been going through a bit of a writer's block, along with a TON of homework and other boring crap but... I'm getting this up. ^_^ *does victory dance* Hope you enjoy the update! Please comment~ maknaehariiex27~ You're amazing for supporting me~ And of course, iheartsungmin is... infinite levels of awesome.

See you guys with an update soon~ And I will come out with a TeukChul quite soon. Maybe... o:? You never know~ And I'll try and update the hyung story too.

~*Carissa*~