The Beautiful and the Psychotic

Chapter Ten

David's P.O.V.

I was thrown into a room by the strangely strong 16, a room labelled B500. I'd heard there was something different about this room, but I can't recall what. It was a small wooden room with benches along every side except for the two doors, the one to the hallway and another, labelled "Primary Punishment". What had I done? Then it came to me in one terrifying moment.

It was the torture room.

This is why 16 is psychopathic. Every little slip-up causes a landslide. Every major mess is a torturous death. He wants complete control over everybody here. To him, feelings are worth less than dirt.

He's drunk on power.

I was running through in my mind what I might've done when Alexis was thrown in after me, confused. Along with her came 16 and his little sidekick, Mason. Mason jeered at us while 16 just smiled his crazy, insane smile.

Neither of them talked, just walking straight through to the Primary Punishment room without stopping. That was the last thing I saw before I fell unconscious.

Sleep gas. How original, I thought as I woke up. I could only see a black room and a dim light of... was that fire? No, embers, below me. Hot coals.

I was tied by my feet, hanging upside down. My hands were trailing just above the coals, so close I could feel the heat from them. I used the momentum from my hands to spin around, looking for Alexis. And there she was, in a.... bathtub?

What, was this going to be torture by rubber ducky?

She was still in the costume, thank god. I had a bad feeling about this, though. There was a path of embers, leading up to her. I spun around a little more, unable to stop. I saw 16 and Mason sitting on a bench, a little control panel in front of them, like a dashboard. Mason was giggling into his hand.

16's voice rang loud and clear in the dark room. "So. I went and sent you on a mission, and you brought me back my cousin. I mean, it was bad enough when Harrison brought back my baby sister. But two members of my family?"

I gulped. Harrison mysteriously died.

"If you're smart, you may not come to the same ending as he did. But last time, my baby sister wasn't in danger herself."

I looked over at Lexi. She lifted up her hands, staring at her wrists, wrists wrapped in chains.

"The water is slowly heating up. And you have to save her."

Lexi started crying, tears running down her face. I started attempting to untie the rope holding me up, unsuccessfully.

"Not only did you capture my cousin, you spoke treasonous words, trying to deter Lexi from her fate, trying to incite rebellion."

All I'd said was that this place was horrible. To be exact, that everything about it sucked. That was trying to incite rebellion? Okay, so I hated it here. But I had good reason.

16 started laughing as I kept trying to untie myself. Lexi was sobbing.

"Are you okay?" I yelled, louder than I needed to.

"It's okay. I can try and get out of this myself," she responded

16 managed to stop himself laughing long enough to say, "The keys are above you, Lexi. Good luck."

The keys were in fact hanging from a string above Lexi's head. She tried to retrieve them, but they were out of her reach.

I soon realized that trying to untie the rope wasn't getting me anywhere. Looking around for a quick solution, I formulated a plan, and despite the fact it would hurt, it was the only plan I had.

I reached for the coals, stretching my hand as far as I could until my fingers felt the burn of an ember. I managed to pick it up and rub it along the rope as pain singed its way along my hand. The rope caught fire, burning enough to snap and drop me.

Unfortunately, it dropped me on the hot coals. A blast of pain soared up my side, blasting me with a a burning fire. My hands burned and my side throbbed as I struggled up and limped over the coals. Every step felt like walking through a forest fire. I ran as best as I could, and Lexi was screaming as the water began to bubble. My screams melded with hers, filling my ears, ready to explode inside my head. Dazed, I reached the bathtub, barely reaching the keys as I fell to my knees on the cool metal floor around the tub. All the while 16's maniacal laughter pierced our screams and sobs, every move hurt, every second moving so slow as I fumbled to save Alexis as the water began to boil her alive, and when the key went in and turned, it was like a miracle, and she climbed out and fell to the metal floor, crying.

And 16 just laughed.

He just sat there laughing as Mason picked up the phone to call Sienna. 16 thought this was funny. To him, it was a joke.

Alexis still had tears running down her face. She was scalded all down her torso and legs, just as I was singed. We hugged on the floor, taking solace in the fact that we survived it. "I never expected to end up like this, at the hands of a psychopath, who uses us all. For his entertainment, for the entertainment of others, for slavery. I've known him since I was five... or so I thought. Jamey is psychotic. My psychotic cousin." Alexis whispered to me as 16-or was it Jamey?- laughed.

I hate his laughter.