In The Flesh(Teeth)

13

  "Hold on to that heartbreak , hold on to that hell you have to pay. 
All the tragedies make you who you are, remember every scar." Remember Every Scar by Escape the Fate

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Hell.

"How is that even possible?" I ask.

Tommy just looks at me with bright eyes.

"Dunno, kid. You're definitely a breath of fresh air in this hellhole. I've missed the scent of your fruity hair," he says.

I shake my head at him.

"Still the old Tommy, I see," I say.

Tommy pulls me away from the elevator doors and turns to the people behind him.

"Everything's cool, people. Get back to eating those oats. Don't mind my friend, he's fresh from the Pit and starving for some banana mush."

The people blink and burst into movement, chattering to themselves. They disperse, some still glancing occasionally glancing over their shoulders at me. I can't help but remember how I felt the first time someone came back up from the pit.

I acted very much the same way. When the beep of the elevator sounded, we gathered and waited silently for what was coming. I was confused when they dropped what they were doing to watch the iron doors. What could've been so exciting about the doors, other than the fact that they looked out of place in the rocky walls of the farm?

Then the sound of metal scraping against metal stopped and the doors clicked. The doors swished open, revealing a dark interior. I looked into the hole over heads of the others to see if anything came out. I hardly saw anything, but then I saw glinting orbs in the darkness. A person stumbled out, holding a hand over their eyes.

The man was scrawny and incredibly pale. His hair was a faint stubble on his head. He wore a torn t-shirt and sweats.

He let the hand fall from his face and looked at us wildly.

"Where's Candy?" He asked.

We offered him silence.

"Candy?" He questioned, swinging his eyes around the room for whomever he was addressing.

He waved at us.

"Hey!" He shouted.

The arm he waved with had numbers tattooed onto it.

The man's face screwed up in frustration and he gripped the shirt of a woman near him.

"Have you seen her?"

He shook her by the shoulders.

Her eyes widened and she shook her head. He thrust her away from him and stepped through the crowd, repeating the name.

He kept calling for her every day after that. Eventually, it became normal to hear 'Candy.' He was taken back down into the Pit one day and never returned after that. Probably to fix some screws loose in his head.

Now, Tommy stands before me, eyes suddenly filled with grim light.

He grabs me by the shoulder and pulls me away from everyone.