𝐓𝐇𝐄 𝐃𝐄𝐅𝐄𝐂𝐓𝐈𝐕𝐄 𝐒𝐎𝐋𝐃𝐈𝐄𝐑 || ℝ𝔼𝕎ℝ𝕀𝕋𝕋𝔼ℕ

𝐂𝐇𝐀𝐏𝐓𝐄𝐑 𝟔

𝕋𝕙𝕖 ℕ𝕖𝕨 𝕋𝕣𝕚𝕒𝕝𝕤

 ✃✃✃✃✃✃✃✃✃

The bathroom lights were off again. "Deep breaths", he told himself. "Deep breaths, empty thoughts". It didn't help. Screams broke through the silent void, invading his mind with waves of memories that he couldn't spare the willpower to confront. They were too cruel, filled with enough nightmare fuel to make the choice for him. He couldn't see it, but the screams didn't drown out the sound of the rope hanging high from the ceiling. It creaked softly, drawing his attention and keeping the possibility open for his exhausted mind to consider.

"William, wake up!"

The yell echoed in William's ears, piercing through the mist of memories. With an almost instinctive jolt, his eyes snapped open, only to be met with an abyss of pitch-black darkness. Hands he couldn't see, cold and clammy, grasped his clothes with a desperate grip, fingers clawing at the fabric as they shifted restlessly, shaking him. The desperation in their touch sent a shiver down his spine, a horrifying realisation that he was not alone in the darkness.

Panic surged through him, his heart pounding in his chest. William's hands flailed, trying to fend off the attacker. Their startled shriek overthrew the screams, breaking the grip on his clothes. What followed was as, if not more, odd. Laughter filled the room, drowning out the screams until he realised—he was the one screaming, his throat sore from it.

"It's official. Birdie's got the worst nightmares of us all," said George, what William believed to be his hands reaching out to him, way calmer and drier than before. "Everything alright William? Need anything?"

"Light," William whispered, his hand grabbing onto George's to convince himself that he was awake. Back with the soldiers, away from the Confinement Room and the hanging rope. To an uncertain degree, he was safe. "Turn on the lights. Any lights. I beg you."

George gave his hand a light squeeze. "Leen, turn on the lights, please."

A buzzing sound appeared just as the lights flickered on, blinding the soldiers. William's eyes fluttered open when he noticed that the hand holding his had vanished. Instead, he found himself in a tight embrace, pulled into someone's comforting arms. The soldiers cracked a few jokes about it before realising something with one look at his face. Soon, half a dozen of them had crawled onto his bed, squeezing the best they could into the hug.

"I'm not dying, am I?" William asked, making a few soldiers laugh. "Don't get me wrong. Love hugs. I think they're great. But this feels really weird somehow."

"Oh no," Flor whined playfully. "We have another Mae."

Mae was among the few to stay idly watching the scene from the side of the bed, leaning on the bunk bed ladder with a concerned smile plastered on her face. "What's that supposed to mean?"

Ignoring her completely, Flor reached out to William's shoulder, forcing the others to back off or leave the bed. "Don't tell me, birdie. You think love's only good to get us killed, don't you?"

There was a moment of silence as he gazed at her, his face completely expressionless. "Is there something I'm missing?"

Henry had the decency to explain. When the first few girls had arrived at the Sanctuary, a boy soon followed. The guards wanted to keep them apart, and at first, the boy accepted it. However, as more boys came in, they insisted on being placed in the same compartment as the girls. The situation escalated to the point where Janson had to step in to prevent a fight between the soldiers and the guards.

"I still don't get what they were so scared of," said Henry. "Alright, say it was love and stuff—but even that's difficult to imagine. Did we ever think about one another in that way? I guess it's actually pretty sad. If we were... you know, proper teenagers, like the Immunes, we would probably have, like, people we like, right? Even then it's stupid, 'cause any of us could like anybody. Keeping girls and boys apart makes no sense. What if you, George, and I were together in the same compartment, and, I don't know, I liked you? Or you liked George?"