Hidden in plain sight

As easy as swimming (I can't swim)

I woke up. The room was dark, the blue light setting a weird entrancing glow to the dark room as it spread around the floors nearest. 'I didn't think this plan was actually going to work.' I tilted my head and looked around; my head was throbbing in pain. 'Oh shit...' I wanted to cry at what I saw, about 20 other teenagers from what looked like the age of 13 to the age of 17. The one that seemed to be the oldest saw that I was awake and made a shushing gesture when I realized there were footsteps heading this way. I nodded and stayed silent when the door slammed open and an adult -about 20 to 25- walked in with another (maybe) 13-year-old, he walked to me and put the kid next to me, putting chains on their ankles. The man then left the room and the oldest turned to me. "Hello," he whispered to me, "What's your name?" I mumbled "My name is Oliver, what's your name...?" "Ashton." I nodded silently and checked on the child next to me, checking their breathing and heartbeat. They had also been knocked out, but they were alive and that mattered a lot. I turned back to Ashton and whispered, "They are alive, they should be okay." He nodded and looked away, sitting down silently, I tapped my ear, checking to make sure the comm was still there, which it was. (Thank God) Whispering into the comm I spoke softly "Hey? Are you guys there? Can you hear me?"

I only heard static for a few seconds before hearing Jeremy's worried voice "Oliver? Oliver I- we can hear you, Oliver. Can you hear us?" "Mhm."

James' voice takes over the comms, "Oliver? We can hear you clearly. The tracker is working. We can see your location. Can you tell us how many other people there with you are and from what ages they might be?" "mhm, I believe there are about 20 teenagers here, ranging from age 13 to 17. I know the name of one of them. They are named Ashton; I believe they are the oldest here." 'I hear a sound of acknowledgement from the other side, and he speaks up again', "Okay Oliver, it is currently 1AM, we will look online to see if we can find the name Ashton on any missing posters." "Thank you, sir, I'll be going offline now. Please check in with me every 30 minutes to an hour." "Okay Oliver, but before you do, please turn on your camera" "Okay sir, bye boss." I turned on my camera and heard his mic turn off. I glanced at Ashton, he looked confused and slightly hopeful. I heard the child next to me shift and whimper softly in pain, I turned to them, seeing them clutching their head in pain. Whispering softly to them, I asked them where their head hurt, they responded "F-Forehead, it hurts a-a lot" "Okay kid, can I help?" They nodded slightly, I put one hand on the back of their head and one hand pinching the top of their nose, pushing and applying pressure for ten seconds before slowly releasing the pressure. "Does that feel better? Even slightly?" The kid nodded, letting out a sigh of relief. I whispered, "What is your name and pronouns?" "M-Milo and, u-um, t-they/them" The kids' eyes teared up, like they wanted to cry but didn't know if they were allowed to, their eyes flicked around the room but were unseeing and albeit a little... dim? "Hey, Milo, why do your eyes seem dim?" They mumbled, "I'm semi-blind... n-nothing major b-but it's there." "No wonder, okay, how far can you see?" "Um, about to that kid there," they point at Ashton, who was a few feet away from us, "anywhere further is blurry." I nodded in acknowledgement, about to speak up before hearing footsteps, I made a shush gesture as the same man from earlier walks in, heading straight to me. I froze, starting to sweat. He grabbed my forearm tightly and took my chain off, dragging me to my feet and pulling me out of the room while Ashton looked at me with sympathy and understanding as whatever will happen to me has happened to him.

Milo stayed silent in fear while the other teens that were awake kept their eyes away from me.

                                                                           TW for experimentation

                                                                           Go to the stars to skip it

The man grunts, speaking up, "Call me Professor Jack. That is the only thing you will call me." I nodded hesitantly, letting him lead me out of the room and into a separate room. Pushing me onto the table he put needles into my skin, the blue burning liquid injected into my body, I yelled out, my muscles tensing and spasming. As soon as the man- Professor Jack, snapped at me to shut up I bit my lip, holding in my yells of pure and unbridled agony, tears running down my cheeks. He gave me no explanation as he pulled the first needle out before inserting a second one, red liquid sloshing inside of the container before getting injected into me once again. I wanted it to stop, my muscles clenched. 'Please, why won't this stop, I can't handle it. Stop. Please.' This liquid didn't burn, nor did it freeze. But it hurt, my breathing got heavier as he injected a third liquid into me, this one amplified the other pain as he strapped me to the table and left the room, leaving me spasming and crying. My eyes flicked around the room, at which time I saw an observation room where three men were gathered and writing notes, watching me spasm and cry.

                                       ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

I was thankful, the pain had mainly worn away about an hour ago, but I was sore. I heard the comm go off every 30 minutes and I just made small sounds to let them know I could hear them but that I couldn't respond.

The pain had lasted 4 hours of what I knew, as I got regular updates from James and Jeremy. My body ached but I was no longer spasming, Professor Jack had come into the room about thirty minutes ago and dragged me to the room with the teens. I sat in silence as Ashton and Milo attempted to get me to speak, I was still processing what had happened.

I heard the commas turn on and I mumbled, not letting James start talking. "I'm in pain James. In pain. My body is sore. They injected something into me and my body hurts." I could practically hear his frown as he spoke, "describe the pain for me Oliver." "Full body pain, my muscles are sore and tense, my blood burns. It's currently numb but it still hurts. Anyways, less about me, the child that I might have mentioned earlier woke up after the first talk and told me their name is Milo. Check in the system for any missing person reports, though, it might not be their real name." I heard some clicks from the other side and he mumbled "There is no matches for that name but the other kid you mentioned, Ashton, there was a missing child report about 11-12 years ago that was dropped after a month and he was assumed dead, he was 6. What other information do you have on the kid?" I turned to Ashton "Ashton, do you remember anything from when you were a child?" He shook his head, responding "The only thing I remember is a basement. I've been with these people since I can remember. But they aren't my parents, they made that much clear. But they did tell me my last name was Marick' I don't know if that's important though." I hummed in acknowledgement and went back to talking to James, "He says his last name is Marick, anyways, I have to go, I'll talk in about thirty minutes to an hour." I heard a hum come from the other side of the line and then it went silent for a few seconds before Mark's frantic voice came online "Marick? Ashton Marick? I-Is that his full name? Can I talk to him?" "Uh, sure." I take off the comm and hand it to Ashton, telling him to put it on, he nodded, carefully putting it on his ear. "H-Hello?" he whispered out softly, his eyes widening slightly. "D-Dad...? Dad, I-It's me, Ashton." A pause before, "Dad, I've missed you so much, dad, please, help me dad." Ashton was now crying, after a few minutes of back and forth talking he handed the comm back to me, which I put back on, the comm was now silent. Ashton sat down silently, a small smile on his tear-stained face. I smiled gently, Milo had fallen asleep against the wall, and I could see Ashton falling asleep as well. Another kid, maybe 14, hesitantly scooted closer to me. I stayed silent, the kid getting a little closer and sitting next to me, the kid mumbled, "Um, my name is Xion. Can I lean on you...?" I nodded silently as Xion rested his head on my shoulder, yawning and quickly falling asleep. I tilted my head back against the wall and also fell asleep.