And then I met you:a generation loss story

Chapter 4:facility

  "oh shut up you are slow! I would know best, I'm your best friend after all!" I start running ahead "woah.." I stop as I'm out of the hallway now and it just leads to a room with a tv, a bucket with keys and a chair "ran.. you're seeing what I'm seeing right?"
  "Uh, yes, I am seeing this." There's a hint of coldness to his voice, but there's a little bit of humor in there now too."This lab's got very poor safety precautions." They sound like they are mocking the person who designed it, well because he is.
  I walk into the room and I look around I then walk up to the chair and look at it "holy shit... someone was supposed to be in this chair it's a shock chair that sends a electric shock though your body and I know someone was at least supposed to be sitting here being there chains for arms and legs so that person can't get out"
"O-Oh my god.." their eyes go wide. "That's- that's so..wrong.." There's so much more in his voice there's disgust, and sadness, and pain, and the fear it's way more present now. "It's..it's- I..what..how does anyone even think that's..that's okay? It's not..it's not right.I'm, I'm so sorry.."The fear in their voice comes out, now. He sounds so sad, and so scared.
I turn back and look at him "no saying sorry ran you did nothing wrong let just get out of this cruel place.." I try to keep a cool demeanor but in my mind I'm just going, what kind of sick place is this?
"O-Okay." He nods, but I can tell he has anxiety by their voice. He's trying to hide it, or at least ignore it, but there's so much fear behind it and he's not doing a good job hiding it."W-We'll get out of here. We will." He's trying to sound confident, and he is in a way or at least he's confident in his own way. there's just so much fear in his voice and I can notice all of it."We'll try." He nods again. "Try." He sounds like he's trying to convince himself of it as well, not just me.
"were not gonna try were gonna...." I get cut off by someone coming on the tv my attention turning over to the tv as I hear the guy speak my face is a blank expression because I'm just confused and I think Ranboo is as well.
  "hello Ranboo and Rose looks like you've found my little games well done for you two all you gotta do is just try and make your way though enjoy" he laughs and as he does the tv turns off.
  I quickly turn back around and I stair at Ranboo "okay....I guess we gotta get out of here now" I say trying to make him feel better or at least trying to take control of are situation.
  "W-What?" They raise their eyebrows. "What do we have to do to get out of here?" His tone gets harsher, and there's more fear and anxiety in his voice but also a hint of his old coldness. He's scared, not of the guy exactly. But I can tell he's scared of what could happen if all this goes wrong. "There has to be something. A switch. A button. W-What do we have to do?!" They keep a calm look on themselves, but there's so much urgency so even though they look calm on the outside on inside they re just freaking out.
   "he said go though his little games maybe it's something with the chair or the keys I don't know.." I say as I shrug my shoulders confused
  "Maybe one of the keys will unlock the door..?" His voice is desperate now, as he looks at all the keys. His eyes are trying to find any sort of pattern, any sort of hint. He's trying to be so calm, but there's just so much fear and anxiety."Maybe- maybe..maybe you should try the chair.." There's..more urgency, more panic. He's trying to stay calm but it was just all visible now.
  "I try the chair?!?! Are you trying to get your bestie hurt now?" I laugh so then you know that was a joke I'm trying to make the situation better not worse
  "I-I."  There's a hint of humor and the sound of him laughing, but then it's followed by the sound of sadness in his voice. He can't calm down. There's so much in him and there's so much on his mind."W-We've just gotta..we've just gotta, um...." He's trying to explain, but he's not doing very well. He's trying to calm down and he's trying to sound happy.but there's just too much it's too much.
"Ran you okay bud?" I put my arms out "want a hug?" I ask knowing that he isn't okay and what he needs right now is to calm down
  They hug you.There's no hesitation he doesn't even think twice about it. There's that comfort, again. But his arm shakes more, as if the urgency and the fear is getting to them again. There's so much coldness and so much heartbreak in his face. But he's holding on so tight.He needs this.They need me right now.
   I wrap my arms around you "it's gonna be okay bud I promise" I say in my most recurring tone I squeeze you tight
  "I..I can't lose you, okay?" He leans into you even more, and I can just feel so much of what he's going through in him. But all he can think to say is, I can't lose you.And I can feel the weight of the words in that sentence, and just how scared he is.I'm his last hope, and now it's all so much to carry but he's trying his best.
  "Ran I can't lose you either but it will be fine everything will be fine" I start slowly rubbing your back as I'm holding you tight
  "It'll have to be, okay?" He's still hugging me tightly as he speaks. He seems so desperate. They are still terrified. They are scared."We're going to be okay. We will be." He says again, still speaking with desperation.And it seems as if he's starting to cry again."I, I." The words are so hard for him to say. His voice breaks, again "I...I need you, Rose..." His grip tightens.
  I breath "we both need each other ran its okay you can hug for as long as you need okay" I feel like I'm gonna start crying but I hold it in
  "Yes." He speaks so gently and quietly. But the truth is, he's still scared. But I can kind of feel a little bit of reassurance from him. Not even enough to make this feel better, but just enough to let him calm down enough to figure something out."I do- I do need you, Rose." He lets go after the hug, but he's still holding my hand. His grip is so tight, I can feel all his fear. "Thank you. Thank you, I'm- I'm sorry for everything."
"Ran... you don't have to be sorry you did nothing wrong you actually did everything right" I give him a small smile
There's a sort of calm to him, again. It's the hope and the kindness that I'm giving him. I'm giving him that confidence, that hope, that he might be able to do this, and that he's not entirely alone. He's so scared but that's slowly going away, and for the first time since I started talking, he starts thinking about possible solutions again.He holds my hand, and it makes him feel better, in a way. "You're right.." he says quietly. "Thank you."
  I quickly change the topic so then I can try to make him feel better "I think that if we look through those keys we may find one that opens the door." I pause and then I continue talking "I know it can get overwhelming but if it does just hold my hand as tight or as loosely as you need okay"
  "Okay. We'll do that." He looks down at the pile of keys, and he's really trying to control his emotions and try to be as calm as he can be. But all of that calmness is just barely there. He takes a breath again, trying to calm himself down.* "Yes." his grip on my hand tightens again, a little.But he's trying. He's really trying to be positive. "I-I think I saw a lock on the door, yeah?"
   I use my other hand to search though the keys because he's holding on too my left hand"I seen it as well it was kinda just a normal key hole so I guess we're looking for a normal key"
  "Yeah. Yeah, let's just, we got to look through these then-" He starts to go through the keys as well. They are really trying to stop themself from panicking."We'll do this, okay? We'll figure it out." His voice is so much more calm now, once again like it was.There's the feeling of hope in his voice, again, and with everything I'm doing he's really beginning to calm down. And he's trying so hard to be positive. To stay positive, for the both of us.
"Just to let you know you're not hurting me by holding my hand tightly you can hold it as much as you or as less I don't mind" I then pull a key out and I show it to you "does this look like it could fit?"
"Yeah, probably." He tries to fit the key into the lock, and it works."Y-Yeah. Yeah, this'll work." There's that calmness and determination in his voice, as he gets his first hope of being able to escape. "We'll do this, we'll figure it out." He's got this now. He's holding onto me, as well, because I'm helping him. It's nice. It's comforting, and he finally gets his calmness all the way back, because I'm there, because I'm helping.
  I stand up still letting him hold my hand and I then put the key into the door and it slowly opens "first one down more to come but we got this no worries"
   "The first room..." His words are soft. "We've got this."He holds onto my hand tightly and stands up with me, and his words are soft but there's a little bit of determination to them, too. All he wants, right now, is to escape. And he's trying his best to just stay calm.
   I walk out of the room and try my best not to walk fast we're then in a hospital room that has a TV again and a hospital bed "mental ... .so very mental..."