"Things will never be the same again."
Gneiss Underwood never thought that he could have a shot of a normal life.
Growing up in an environment where everything defied sanity, guns and loneliness were his normal companions, if not danger and Death h...
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"Sometimes it's better to stop trying to make sense of things. Life isn't clear cut, there are always gray areas."
Number Twenty-Three
Faye heard heavy boots approaching. She curled herself into a ball, tucking herself in one dank corner as the metal door opened and a sliver of light flooded the empty room. Dizzy with hunger and pain, her eyes took some time to adjust.
"I brought your breakfast."
She peered at the plastic tray on her feet, her impaired vision giving her a headache. She couldn't see well, and the room was dark. The brownish gruel looked appetizing, and the glass of dark liquid seemed like the most mouthwatering thing in the world. Slowly, she reached for them, but the sudden pain in her joints cleared the fog in her mind. Those are drugged, her mind warned. Her figure retreated again, slightly shivering with the agony of the small movement.
The voice of the man they call M was coaxing. "You haven't eaten anything for two days. I can't let you starve to death."
Faye tried to wet her cracked lips with her tongue, but even that was as dry and rough as sandpaper. Her voice was weak but steady. "Let me go?"
M made no response.
She cast another gaze at him before shutting her eyes. When she was captured, she had accepted her fate. She knew she would be tortured, defiled, maybe killed, yet despite everything, she couldn't bring herself to betray Creed. As much as she hated its master, the people in it are not all bad. Some of them are her friends. She couldn't betray her friends.
Something warm covered her shoulders. M had placed his jacket over her naked body. She pulled it closer, relishing the first warmth she received for what seemed like eternity.
"Thank you," she murmured fervently. M was the one assigned to look after her, and among all the men here, she liked him best. He wasn't particularly nice, but he wasn't mean like the rest. He's the only one who doesn't use brute force on her.
"Don't misunderstand," he growled. She realized that he was sitting to her left, leaning against the wall. "I just didn't like what they did to you."
Faye tried to stop her mind from returning to all those painful memories the Light had given her. Even so, her body stiffened. She hummed a soft lullaby to calm herself, trying to remember good memories. She remembered her parents smiling proudly at her the first time she cooked a meal for them. Although her cooking was terrible at that time, they claimed it to be delicious. She recalled the screams of her fans once she stood on stage, the incredible feeling of touching people's hearts through her songs. She saw Gneiss the time he brought her to that special place of his and told her that he love her. Fireflies danced around the glade, and the moment he kissed her, the place became magical. She remembered Arashi and his lame attempts at joking. Trying to teach him was the funniest thing ever, but heck that man could cook. Then there was Ivan and his ridiculous love of girls, his carefree attitude contagious even at the most unlikely times.
