Muted

Chapter Twenty One

Chapter Twenty One

It felt like fate, maybe even divine providence, that so far everything had aligned perfectly.

You had successfully slipped past the Rehabilitation Center's guards undetected and met with Miss Tanaka. Her whispered instructions were still playing on repeat in your mind, you desperate to not forget a single detail. And now, as you approached the room Yuzuru was held prisoner, the halls were empty and unguarded.

Just a few more steps and you'd reach him. You would whisk him away into the safety of the night and toward the Wall, where freedom waited.

"I thought I may find you here."

The spoken words rooted you in place, a cold rush of dread immediately spiking your veins. Slowly, you turned, every muscle tense as your eyes met Dr. Eteri's. His gaze was piercing, cold, yet beneath it, a dark satisfaction simmered--a twisted pleasure that seemed entirely wrong for a man supposedly stripped of feeling.

"I... forgot I left m-my..." you stammered, attempting a flimsy excuse, but the words fell flat.

His eyes drifted to the bag slung over your shoulder and his smirk deepened. "That is quite the bag you're carrying," he remarked, taking a step closer to you. Instinctively, you stepped back, pulse hammering.

And then he chuckled, a raw, hideous sound that you weren't sure how it could be even in the same category as a laugh.

"I've suspected something was different about you for weeks, Miss Lawson," he said.

A chill ran down your spine.

"I don't know what you mean," you whispered, trying to hold his gaze.

But he reached out before you could react, his hand seizing your coat, his fingers curling around the fabric like claws.

"There's no point in denying it now," he sneered. "When your neighbor was admitted, I knew was right. You're just like the rest of them-- an offender."

Your stomach dropped to your feet and in an instant you knew... This was done.

You were caught.

All hope was dashed. Every risk, every sacrifice, every ounce of courage that had been building for months and had accumulated to bring you to this point, this man--this disgusting man-- would end it all.

And now, in this prison greys and whites, you would be left to wither. You would be forced to forget all of the color that you had discovered. The range of emotions, good and bad, would be washed away with all your memories. And, the life within you would be condemned to the same fate.

And Yuzuru? He'd-

A blaring siren shattered the silence. The hallway filled with harsh, strobe-like flashes of red. An authoritative voice boomed from the loudspeaker: "Code Red, first floor. Code Red, first floor. All staff report. Code Red, first floor."

Code Red.

The infamous Code Red that you had only heard about from staff and never had to deal with yourself. It was when the patients were causing a serious disturbance, a state of utter disorder requiring every available hand. They happened then the staff were unable to handle unruly patients.

The sudden noise jostled Eteri, and his eyes flickered with a moment of indecision. His fingers twitched mid-grasp, his gaze darting between you and the direction of where he assumed was the source of the chaos.

The loudspeaker boomed again. This time, with a look of displeasure, Eteri's bony fingers released their grasp.

"I'll deal with you in a moment," he sneered. "You have nowhere to run." With one final, seething look, he turned and strode down the hallway, his footsteps echoing sharply against the floor as he disappeared into the chaos.

Just because Dr. Eteri's didn't believe in the Wall, didn't mean it wasn't real. At least, that was what you were counting on.

Without wasting a second, you sprinted down the corridor, breath ragged, pulse hammering as you fumbled with the knob to Yuzuru's room and pushing the door open, slipping inside and closing it behind you.

The sound of the alarm dulled, muffled by the thick walls.

"Yuzuru," you whispered, moving toward him in a single, fluid motion. You did not take even a moment to take Yuzuru in, really take him in. All you noticed was that his wrists were still bound, chained to the bed. Without pause, your fingers struggled to insert the key every rehabilitation physician had.

You trembled so bad you dropped it, once, then twice, before finally shoving it into the lock, your fingers shaking as you undid the cuffs, freeing him from the cold metal before pulling a thick coat from your bag and thrusting it into his hands.

"Put this on-- quickly," you urged, glancing over your shoulder, half-expecting Eteri to return at any moment. "We don't have much time. We have to go."

But Yuzuru didn't move, just sat there watching you with a quiet, unwavering gaze. For the first time since you entered, you took him in fully.

You didn't really know what you had been expecting. Perhaps you had expected to him to look just as he had last time you saw him- cold, devoid of emotion- muted.

But instead, his face, calm and steady, held that gentle warmth you cherished, a flicker of the man you'd risked everything for. His eyes, clear and bright, held no trace of the cold, dulled emptiness that had plagued him before. That numbed, subdued version of him was gone, replaced by the quiet strength you'd fallen in love with.

Somehow, he'd resisted.

"I knew you would come," he whispered, a balm in the frenzied stillness.

A tear slipped down your cheek as relief and disbelief mingled within you, melting away the tension, if only for a moment. You managed a small, trembling smile, barely able to speak. "You promised you'd teach me how to skate," you whispered.

"I'll promise you much more," he replied, his voice warm.

For a brief moment, you held each other's gaze, silent words passing between you. Then, as if in silent agreement, you clasped hands, a shared resolve steadying you both.

Seconds later you were both slipping out of the room, moving swiftly down the hall as the sound of the pulsing alarm blared around you. After a short distance, you could see where the Code Red was occurring. You watched as Rehabiliation staff shouted to each other, struggling to contain the scene on the first floor. Patients had broken loose in an emotional fit. Tears and screams were heard as they faught against their handlers, a raw desperation filling the air.

You wondered then, just like you had wondered before, what exactly had prompted such a thing. What exactly was it that was continuing to set these patients off, when they had been so inundated with supplements before?

Then, like a mysterious melody, a voice drifted through the air.

It was a sound so pure and beautiful it seemed almost out of place, drifting through the sterile halls and strobing red emergency lights.

It was a voice, singing.

Mrs. Stella Volo was singing again, syllables of a foreign language pouring into the hallway like molten gold.

And when it reached you, it filled you with awe too. It was beautiful-- achingly so-- a sound that stirred something deep within your soul, breaking through the walls of fear, pain, and suppression. For the first time, you understood why her voice had caused such a stir, even riots, among the patients in the past. Her song was freedom made manifest, an unrestrained expression of the human soul.

Tears slipped down your cheeks as her song filled you, courage replacing fear. This, this song, was another example of why you faught, why you will still fighting. It was another reason to keep pressing on.

You tightened your grip on Yuzuru's hand, pulling him closer as you slipped out the side door, Mrs. Volo's song echoing behind you like a benediction, lifting you forward.

And then, together, you ran.