28^th October. 0200 hours

He awoke, with a rough thud against the cold metal wall, to the sound of the doors swinging open and the shuffles of feet entering the room. He kept quiet and watched the guards practically throwing a girl into the room. They shoved her to a bed across his. She showed no emotion whatsoever, almost like a living doll. He kept close to the wall, not wanting to attract any attention to the guards in case they thought he was trouble.

And everybody knows what happen if the guards thought you were trouble.

He shuddered and pushed the thought away as he watched them leave the room and breathed a sigh of relief.

His eyes shifted to the girl sitting atop her bed. She was staring out the small square window that happens to be their only connection to the world beyond the tall walls. He contemplated whether or not to greet her since they’re going to be roommates for a long time. Or until one of them dies. The people in charge never really bothered making separate room arrangements for boys and girls. Any rooms that had space, regardless of the current and the future tenant’s gender, would be chosen as a new place for a new ‘patient’.

Figuring he had nothing to lose anyway, he decided to say hello. He approached the stoic girl and stood in front of her. He began to register the girl’s attire in his mind. She was wearing a red hoodie that was a bit torn and her jeans had many rips that he doubt was intentional. Some parts of her clothes were charred while some was smeared with ashes. Memories of his old attire suddenly appeared and he smiled bitterly. It has been too long since he could wear those outfits. All they were allowed to wear were the sterilised white attire that the facility gave out.

“Hi, I’m Sehun,” he started but the girl was unresponsive and acted as if there wasn’t another living soul in the enclosed space. He tapped her shoulders so she'd acknowledge his presence. She turned to his direction to see him smiling and holding out a hand.

“Hi, I’m Sehun,” he tried again. Instead of receiving his attempt for a handshake, she backed away from him until she hit the wall and put her knees close to her chest, hiding her face. Sehun was shocked. He didn’t know what to do.

When he heard the girl’s soft cries, he became more clueless. In the end, he settled with patting her head and saying everything’s going to be fine when he knows that that wasn’t the slightest bit of the truth. In any case, it will only get worse from now. But the girl doesn’t need to know that.  What she needs right now - or so he thinks - is a friend and he’s willing to be that.

Seeing that nothing he did could comfort her, he decided to try again tomorrow. With a last pat, he goes back under his covers and felt his eyelids starting to close. The last thing he heard was nothing. He smiled as sleep drifted him away from his terrifying reality.

28^th October. 1027 hours

When he woke up the next day, he found the girl was missing from her bed. He sat right up and rubbed his eyes with his fist. His head was pounding but he tried his best to brush it off as he usually does. It was, after all, only a side effect of all the drugs the scientist has been giving him. He noticed an active screen at the foot of her bed and concluded that it might be the girl’s recently updated statistics. He never did get to know her name last night and decided to satisfy his curiosity by reading her chart.

Name: Choi Jinri/Sulli

Age:  17

Ability: Yet to be discovered

Sulli.

The name rolls off his tongue with a slight curiosity. He suddenly heard the door clicked and scrambled to exit the application, then made his way back to his bed just in time for the door to open. She walked in lifelessly, clutching her stomach with her brows scrunched up in pain. Sehun stared at her knowingly.

The look in her eyes was the same look he had when he first came here. It was of pain, sadness and more pain. The scientists would always start the newbies with a strong drug to diagnose their abilities. When the results come out a few days later, more drugs would be given to drain their powers slowly yet agonisingly.

Sehun was naturally a cheerful person, the kind that has lots of smile to give to everyone. He was someone who looked at things with a brighter side. Even though all of that qualities seemed to disappear once he stepped foot into the building, due to the responses people has been giving to one another, he was determined not to lose grip of that part of him just yet. He decided that this girl will not be treated the way he did when he first came here.

He got up from his bed and made his way across the room to her, which only took a few steps since the room was not that big. The girl was lying on her sides, still clutching tightly to her stomach though it doesn’t seem to be out of pain. He sat beside her, asking himself whether what he was doing considered appropriate or not.

“Um…” he began, still trying to find the right words, “I know how you feel.”

The girl turned to face him, waiting to see what he’s going to say next.

“I know it hurts. They do that. I mean, they always give you strong drugs at first but you’ll get used to it.” She sat up, still clutching her stomach but her attention was fully on him.

“My name is Sehun,” he extends a hand and she hesitantly accepts.

“Ji- Sulli.” He smiled but she wasn’t.

“So you have two names?”

“No. Call me Sulli," she said.

Silence filled the air as his eyes flitted to every corners of the room. She stared at him intently which made him more nervous. It had been a while since he talked to someone and he still needed to ease back into it.

“Are we allowed to roam the building?”

“Yes, as long as we’re here when it’s time for our treatments.”

“Then, would you mind giving me a tour?” she smiled and Sehun was surprised.

She had a beautiful smile and it seemed more angelic when a ray of sun peeked through the frost covered window and shined on her. Sehun couldn’t help but be amazed. There aren’t many smiles going around here and to see one returned to him was quite gratifying.

“Of course.”