Same Band... New School... New Species?!

Same Band...New School...New Species?! - 17

I don't know how long I stayed in that room. There were no windows and I didn't have a watch, so time just passed in silence. I guessed it was around midnight when I just couldn't stop ignoring the food. I was starving. I sat up on the couch and stretched my aching everything. Laying on that couch in a ball for hours gave me more than a little crick in the neck.

Slowly, I stood up and made my way to the desk. There was a bowl of pasta, which would be cold by now, a bag of pop tarts, a bowl of strawberries and two bottles of water. With all the amazing food in this place I felt positively ripped off. Still, I was damn hungry.

I picked up the tray and went back to the couch. Then I grabbed the remote off the floor and turned the TV on. Someone had wired this TV to get all the British channels. I don't know if it was to mock or comfort me. With all that was going on, I chose to be comforted and gratefully turned on Doctor Who. It was a replay of one of the first David Tennant episodes. I instantly remembered the six of us smashed on the tiny middle couch at the orphanage watching this episode. I took a deep breath and started on the strawberries.

A couple of hours and Doctor Who episodes later I was exhausted. Still, I couldn't bear to go over to the bed and try to sleep. It was too quiet, too lonely. I don't remember the last time I went to sleep without my brothers in the room. I missed their noise and their mess... God I missed them. The tears started again as I curled back up on the couch.

A sharp pain rocked through my body, snapping me out of a dreamless sleep. I gasped and jerked up, instantly looking for the danger. I was alone in the room. My body was still tingling and my mind sleep logged. So it took me a while to realize what had happened... that I'd been shocked. By my collar.

"What the fuck do you want?!" I yelled at the ceiling, losing my temper completely.

"Now, now Crystal," the deep, condescending voice came back on. "No need for language."

"Those were vanilla words compared to what I want to call you right now mate." I snarled. "You fucking shock me again-"

"And what?" he laughed. "What exactly are you going to do Crystal?"

I calmly walked up to the door and bashed my head against it. And again, and again. I kept going even after I got dizzy and was pretty sure that my head was bleeding.

"Stop that!" the voice yelled after the fifth hit. "I am warning you."

I kept going. A jolt shot through me, sending pain dancing along my nerves and throwing my feet out from under me. I screamed with the sheer agony of it and lay on the floor for a long moment. Then I struggled up and hit my head again. I was not planning on killing myself, I had no intention of dying. I had every intention of knocking myself out and making the headmaster look bad. He obviously didn't want me hurt, so I was going to hurt myself. It was the only act of rebellion I could think of right now.

The door clicked open and I fell straight threw and into Don's arms. I looked up at him dizzily. What was he doing here? Probably to stop me.

"Are you trying to kill yourself?" he demanded, picked me up and walking towards the couch.

"Nope," I shook my head. "I'm trying to piss the headmaster off."

"You're a stupid girl," he dropped me unceremoniously on the couch. "Are you really a masochist? Just accept this."

"No."

"Don," the voice called from the ceiling. "Kindly incapacitate Crystal."

"What?!" he looked at the ceiling in shock. "Sir I-"

"Bite the girl or I'll shock her into unconsciousness. You can guess which will be more uncomfortable."

"Don't you dare!" I jumped up when Don turned and stared at me.

"Sorry Crystal," he was inches from me in a split second. I tried to reel away, but he grabbed me. "This is your fault."

"Like hell!" I struggled, for no reason because there was just no way I was getting away from him.

"Don't make this any harder than it is," he sighed and grabbed a fistful of my hair, pulling my head back.

"I trusted you." I accused.

He paused, but only for a moment before sinking his teeth in. I whimpered, hating the rip of pain that tore through me. I grit my teeth and just bore with it. It was hard to stay still in the danger with my fighting spirit... but I convinced myself that struggling would only hurt me more.

My knees gave out almost instantly. It must have been because I was weak after being locked in this room so long (I've never enjoyed being stuck in one place for long). Don just kept going. I brought a memory of our first concert, me and my brothers, and held it in my mind. I fought the warm feeling spreading through me, instead concentrating on the pain. I wanted to remember the pain and betrayal, I didn't want to forget how people kept betraying me. The only ones I could rely on were my brothers.

Spots danced in front of my eyes, so I closed them. I remembered our birthday. We were all dropped off at the orphanage within four months of each other, kind of like a higher power wanted us to grow up together. We'd all been between the ages of none months and a year, but no one was sure of our birthday. So we'd been given the same one (that orphanage really could not be bothered to give us all different parties when one's so much easier).

The birthday I called up from memory as I started to go limp, was our 10th birthday. We sat around with the other 20 kids in the orphanage ranging from toddlers to 9 year olds. It was the best birthday we ever had because it was the one before we were sent to the building down the street, the building that housed kids 10-18, before they were thrown out on their arses to fend for themselves.

I'd gotten a pink dress for that birthday, the first dress I'd owned all my life. Ink got  a mini plastic keyboard (probably stared his love of the thing), Lyle got a notebook with music bars in the back (he'd already started on the writing music front at school), Sparrow got a football (he insisted that music irritated him until we turned 13), Frost got an arsenal jersey (he adored football and played football with Sparrow for hours on end in the street outside the orphanage every day), finally, and my personal favorite, Nix got a whistle; the idea was to let him referee the Sparrow vs Frost football games, but he ended up coaching all of us on every aspect of our lives for a good three months. I focused on how happy we were, how we had all loved growing up together... I kept thinking about it until I fell unconscious from blood-loss for the second time in too short a time period.

I opened my eyes to a dark room. I blinked and looked around, but the room was as dull as before... just in the dark. I could see because someone had put an electric alarm clock on the desk and it was just light enough to find my way around without dying.

Perfect. I had no idea if it was actually two O'clock in the morning like the clock said, but it was the perfect chance to get out. I really hoped that the camera in the ceiling and any other camera they may have in the room did not have night vision.

I made my way over to the door, tripped over the side of the couch, got up, then reached the door. I wish they hadn't changed me out of my real clothes, those pockets had three bobby pins each... I sighed and stood up. I strained my eyes to look around for something that could be used as a lock pick. I settled on a plastic fork on the ground that must have been left behind when someone took the tray out. I went back to the door, split apart the fork and set to work. We'd all learnt how to pick locks at an early age, though bobby pins were much easier to use than crude plastic.

It took a very long time to get that door open, but I sure as hell did it. The door finally clicked open and I jumped up. No one had come to stop me in the half an hour it took to get the door open, so I hoped no one knew I was busting out yet. I closed the door behind me, and looked out into the hallway. It was dark, no sign of anyone... but I took no chances. I crept along as fast as physically possible while being practically silent. My heart was pounding a thousand miles a second, I was terrified that someone was going to come out of the shadows and drag me back to that damn room.

I made it all the way to the reception, never calming down once. Though when I saw the main doors... hope ignited in me. Until a strong, unfamiliar hand descended on my shoulder.

"Now Crystal, where on earth do you think you are going?"