𝐖𝐡𝐲 𝐃𝐨 𝐖𝐞 𝐅𝐚𝐥𝐥?

𝐨𝐧𝐞.

━━━━━━ ⋅•⋅⊰∙∘☽༓☾∘∙⊱⋅•⋅ ━━━━━━

"come on, penny. come on"

━━━━━━ ⋅•⋅⊰∙∘☽༓☾∘∙⊱⋅•⋅ ━━━━━━

PAIN.

That was the only thing that registered in Penny Parker's mind. A searing pain that wrapped around the teenager like a blanket of immense agony. She shakily inhaled, fearful of what would invade her lungs. The first breath of clean air, however, she greedily gasped for more. The zephyr that passed through her lips was like a cool drink of water in the middle of scorching heat.

It was a difficult feat to open her eyes. She needed to see. It was not like after a long sleep where you did not want to let the light invade your view. It was like after a car crash where you needed to see the damage inflicted upon you and your passengers. Penny could not open her eyes. At least, when she thought she did, black oblivion was still all she could see.

Slowly, her hands raised to her face and she let her fingertips brush the rough fabric that was wrapped around her head. There was no effort required to rip away the blindfold, but there was to adjust her eyes to the sight before her.

It was dark, save for a hanging lightbulb in the center of the room that flickered once every few minutes. A crack ran up the wall directly across from her, the pattern resembling a pulse. Her head slowly turned and halted when a door entered her line of vision. Running on pure adrenaline, Penny pushed herself to her feet and attempted to move. She did not make it more than two steps before her left leg gave out. She hit the cement floor in a loud heap, the sound echoing throughout the room. The girl groaned in a mixture of aggravation and pain. Her gaze shifted down to her leg. She nearly puked at the sight.

There was an entire portion of her calf missing. Penny could not seem to drag her eyes away from the gory view. Scarlet-red blood poured from the wound like rain pours from the February sky.

Her hand searched the floor wildly, trying to find the strip of fabric that once covered her face. Eventually, she managed to find the blindfold that laid a few feet away. Penny struggled to remember Doctor Cho's words of what to do in situations such as this when there was no access to medical supplies. Her mind was too hazy to come up with the woman's advice. Tightly, she tied the fabric around the injury, watching as the cloth was stained red.

With a deep breath, she tried to stand once more. The attempt was in vain. She collided with the ground yet again and grumbled in aggravation.

"Come on, Penny. Come on." She muttered, trying her best to ignore the violent pain in her leg.

Suddenly, the metal door slammed open. Her sixth sense went wild, alerting her of the oncoming danger. Penny did not look up to meet the face of whoever entered, only watched their black dress shoes near her hunched over form. Her eyebrows furrowed as she caught sight of the colorful socks beneath their purple pant leg. Against her better judgement, Penny tilted her head up.