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10

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Tuesday 14th November ~ 11:44pm

Jack's POV:

I squirmed in the restraints, yet my arms and legs were tightly bound to the chair - Anti had made sure of that. The only dim light came from a lone lightbulb, and on the other side of the room Anti was hunched over an open crate.

He was looking for something?

"I don't know what the fuck you want from me!" I protested, jerking at my arms. "I-!"

"You don't need to know, Jackie dearest," Anti assured me, rummaging further in his crate. "All you need to do is - let it happen."

My anxiety worsened, thoughts dominated by fear. Anything could happen and no one would stop it. I was helpless.

Alone.

And Mark probably felt the same way.

"I fockin' can't!" I exclaimed. "You and Dark wanna hurt us f-for no reason. You took over my body. Dark probably t-took over Mark's."

My words were frantic now, and I couldn't help but feel I didn't have much of a chance at appealing to Anti's 'soft side'. If he had one.

"Please. Please don't-!"

"Dark can't take control of Mark yet."

Anti's searching stopped, yet I felt no relief. His usual upbeat, albeit psychotic, nature had vanished. "What-?"

"Mark has actual physical strength." Anti stated, turning around and approaching my chair. He was holding a gag. "-which means that, unlike you, Mark can fend off Dark. You're too weak to push me out."

Anti brought the gag to my face, yet I jolted my head left and right in desperation. "Motherfucker! I-mmph-!"

With the gag secured around my mouth Anti dropped the steely expression, wearing the grin of a madman once again. "That's better~"

Anti pranced to the crate, playing with a knife between his fingers as he neared me. "Plus why did you think I drugged you? You're no fun to me unconscious - I only did it 'cause Babyiplier in the other room was being awkward and we need both of ya."

I pleaded into the gag, my breaths quickened as the blade drew closer.

"Dark tried a buncha stuff that didn't work before straight up punching Mark in the face - he's classy in that way."

Anti brought the knife to my face. I'd never been more petrified in my life. My struggles made him laugh louder.

"Now then - if you don't want your punishment, now would be the time to - I don't know - say something?" Anti suggested, watching me writhe around in blind panic in the restraints.

"Mmph! Mmmph!!"

He giggled.

"I'm not hearing a no-ooo~"

Anti rolled up my sleeve, positioning the knife and lowering it to my bare arm. I couldn't breathe.

The metal sliced my skin easily.

I whimpered into the gag, tears pooling in my eyes at how it throbbed. Warm blood spilled out of the large gash in my forearm, dripping onto the concrete, and the pain overwhelmed my brain. I grew lightheaded.

It was only going to get worse.

I couldn't stop it.

Anti cackled, gleeful.

"You could've said no!" He taunted, raking the knife across my skin a second time. I cringed, fighting back the urge to cry out. My arm was on fire.

"This'll teach you not to try and run, Jackaboy~♪"

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Dark's POV:

"Nngh..."

I discarded the empty syringe, observing over my shoulder as Mark's struggles faded. His limbs fell limp on the bed after a few seconds.

"How... curious." I muttered.

"That serum was supposed to work instantaneously."

I scribbled notes, deep in thought. This was meant to work. The mixture had been flawless, I had seen to it that all the calculations were done over and over again. All that hard work.

Mark mumbled nonsense, cuffs clinking against the bed frame as he shifted. I cursed. It hadn't even paralysed him?

How?

"I haven't ever felt so alive!"

Anti burst into the room, his trademark grin wider than usual. I huffed and attempted to concentrate, yet the demon was in my peripherals.

"Making Jack bleed like that, it's all I've ever wanted." Anti revelled, acting like a child who just tried candy for the first time. When I glanced up from my work he was at the bed. "We should slash up Mark next, believe me-!"

"Not until we perfect the serum."

I rose, taking papers with me and attaching them to the collage I'd formed on the wall. Anti sighed. "Still obsessed over that?"

I shot him a glare. "This is a necessity Anti. Do you not understand the consequences of us failing?" I snapped.

"Alright, alright, no need to get so bitchy," Anti pointed out, tracing his fingers along Mark's jawline. "You can do all that boring crap, I'm gonna-"

"I need Sean just as much as Mark, Anti."

Anti pouted, his fingers lifted from Mark's face. Sometimes it felt like I was a babysitter. "You can't chop him into tiny pieces. He'll be on the same dosages as Mark starting tomorrow." I ordered.

"Do I have tooooo-?"

I cut Anti off. "Today was just a punishment. Sean has learnt not to humour himself with delusions of escape."

My gaze returned to the wall, eyes skimming over the notes again. There had to be a mistake I wasn't seeing. Something.

Anything.

"By that logic Mark should've been punished to~ooooo~" Anti sang out, exiting the room.

He got to leave. Meanwhile I was in for a long night.

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