The Fallen #1: Chambers & Chains

Part Two: Hospital Bed

Lace opened her eyes to see the medic, treating her arm with some of the mysterious medical supplies that stocked the walls in one of the very few well-lit rooms in the facility. The woman looked at her when she turned her head. "Took a pretty bad beating from Boss, huh," she said, patting her shoulder sympathetically. She nodded.

This person was one of the very few nice adults here. There was one other, the physical therapist, but other than that all of the adults were mean.

"Did you ever have to deal with him like we do?" Lace asked. She always asked her questions, because she would sometimes - very rarely, but still - get bits of information that she hoped would one day help them get out of this place.

"Oh, you betcha. I was kind of the older sibling of my group too." She slapped her hand over her mouth. "I-I mean..."

So she was an experiment too...

"P-please don't tell anyone I said that, I'm sure that something bad would happen..."

Lace nodded. "It's fine, I won't tell."

The medic sighed, her furrowed eyebrows relaxing into something more like relief. "Y'know, you're one of the nicer kids around here, Floating L,"

Lace just realized that she'd never told this woman her non-experiment name. "Please, don't call me that. My name's Lace."

The woman Looked away from Lace's battered arm and to her face. "My name's Flint."

Flint smiled - a genuine smile - which caught Lace by surprise. She hadn't seen a genuine smile in, well, she'd actually never seen one.

Without warning, her eyes began to tear up.

"What is it? Did I say something wrong? Are your arms hurting again?" Flint's eyes were wide with worry now, which made Lace sad again.

"N-no, it's just... I haven't seen anybody smile while happy in well... Ever..."

Flint's face softened. "Lace, what do you mean? How has nobody ever smiled genuinely around you?"

"There's been no reason to, we're kept in captivity and tortured..." She looked away from the woman.

There was a sudden knock at the door, startling Lace. "Can we come in?" came a muffled voice from outside of the room.

"Of course," Flint said, standing up and moving towards the door.

Upon opening the door, all Lace could see at first was the familiar face of the physical therapist. But then, she saw a pair of furry pointed ears, and then the tip of a glowing string. And then, the pair of dull orange and bright red pieces of hair that never smoothed down. And last, the small doll that Lola never let go of, no matter the situation, held by a small and delicate hand straining to stay high up.

Flint walked back over to Lace's bed, pressing her foot against an unseen pedal that sat her up. The faces of all of the worried kids slowly creeped into view, shocking Lace.

"Lace! You're okay! Garni said, rushing up to the side of her bed. "We were so worried!" Garni and Hond said in unison.

Grace was on crutches, Lace noticed, with a cast encasing her leg. "Grace... What happened? After... I couldn't help anymore?" Lace, once again, could feel her eyes tearing up.

"He... He threw me against the wall and I landed awkwardly on my knee..." she said, looking down and to the side.

"Is anybody else hurt anymore than bruises?" She said quickly, scanning the kids for injuries.

Garni reluctantly held up his left hand, revealing his pinky and ring finger with braces and bundled in gauze. Lola turned around and slightly lifted her hair to show a large bundle of bandaging on her neck, specks of blood leaking through. Luke's string wrapped around one of his legs and raised it, showing a torn-out seam with stuffing and blue goo visible. The blue goo was normal; it was what kept him alive and able to feel. What wasn't normal, however, was that Lace could see the goo.
Though wrapped in bandages, she put her hand to her mouth as her eyes stretched wider and wider with every new injury revealed to her.