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13

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Thursday 23rd November ~ 10:54pm

Mark's POV:

After Anti's torture Jack and I talked whenever we could.

It was usually during the period we were meant to spend passed after days of drugging, since breakfast was our other option and that was only five minutes long. Not to mention it holding a higher risk of being caught.

Sometimes either of us would actually pass out, so we couldn't always have conversations.

The nights where I'd call through the vent and get no response were the longest.

Even though I knew Jack would call through an apology the next day - insisting the experiments had just been too much for him the day before - I would still lie awake paranoid. Images of Anti plunging a knife into Jack's chest wouldn't cease, not even when I slept.

Without Jack I'd have been trusty alone in a nightmare.

Through talking I learned that Jack was in a cell that looked the same as mine, and of his 'punishment', where Anti used a knife as a paintbrush and Jack's arms like a canvas.

We discussed anything and everything - random topics just to keep the other person talking - since we only had each other to hold onto.

"Mark? Ya still there?" Jack called through.

I blinked, rousing myself from my stupor. "Y-Yeah, yeah."

I turned my head to the vent, a wave of pain crashing on my abdomen. My stomach was near empty again.

"You sound like shite." Jack commented, and I agreed. The starvation, Dark's daily drugging and Anti's electrocution stunt we're taking their toll on my body. "Whatever those fockers're doing to us can't be good, Mark."

My joints ached in collective protest as I shifted, trying to get comfortable. "I-I..."

Then I doubled over.

"Mark??"

I threw my guts up, gagging and wheezing at the stench. The stench of the bile overpowered my senses.

There was nothing inside me to vomit back up but that didn't stop it.

"Mark! Mark what's happening?!"

I pressed my forehead on the cool wall, choking down air and wiping my mouth. My insides hurt.

The aftertaste made me want to puke even more.

"Mark!?!"

"I..."

I mumbled, my voice croaky. Pain in my gut spiked. "...fuck-!"

"What? What happened?" Jack insisted.

"I... There's... So much vomit..."

I manoeuvred myself away from the puddle. I didn't want to look at it.

Just seeing it made me queasy.

"Maybe you should lie down?"

I shook my head, despite the fact that Jack still couldn't see me. "N-No, the feeling's passing." I assured him. To my relief that was true.

The sense of hopelessness however was more permanent.

"Fockin' hell Mark." Jack breathed. He didn't add anything else, we just simply spent a moment in silence.

The embarrassment became too much for me.

"I just... let's not talk about it..." I suggested.

The puddle wasn't going to go away any time soon, but I needed a distraction. He seemed to understand this.

"Sure, just... don't push yourself." Jack advised.

I smiled at his concern, yet after this we had nothing to discuss. I allowed my mind to wander for a bit.

Delusions of escape lead my thoughts to YouTube.

"Y'know... you've broken your upload schedule." I pointed out, earning a half hearted chuckle from his side of the vent.

"Fuck you, at least I have an upload schedule."

I could only have imagined how he must've been smirking in that moment. "I have one, thank you very much. I'm just... awful at keeping it." I fired back.

Jack laughed at me, earning him a grunt in response that fuelled his giggle fit. It took him a whole minute to compose himself.

My thoughts went to everyone else on YouTube, and I waited until the Irishman was calm before I spoke.

"But seriously, I can't imagine all the people probably making vlogs about us for views." I thought aloud. As the idea sunk in images of click bait thumbnails came to mind.

"Yeah..." Jack answered. "They aren't all like that though. I mean, were there any you saw? Y'know before..."

My eyes opened to the familiar mess on the floor, causing me to close them again. "I haven't been on YouTube since the day you disappeared." I confessed.

Jack grew perplexed. "Why?"

A sigh escaped me, one that was drawn out as I thought. I couldn't find the right words.

"I needed to find you, Jack." I admitted, lowering my head. "The videos... they would've just been a distraction."

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Dark's POV:

"C'moooon, please just one more day?"

I pinched the bridge of my nose, refraining from turning around. Anti had a very smackable face.

"We can't keep wasting entire days simply because you're bored and want to torture them." I insisted. "We didn't take them here for that."

My pen scratched paper as I scribbled down more notes. My thoughts needed to be on anything else but the pouting child behind me.

He was far too persistent for my liking.

"If you could just know how it feels Dark," Anti pleaded. I could imagine the pathetic look in his eyes. "Making them scream. It's-"

"Anti, I'm losing patience." I warned through gritted teeth.

"Dark-!"

"Go find some other people to slaughter." I advised in a low, menacing tone. "Leave me BE."

Behind me there was a huff, followed by stomping and a loud slam as the door swung shut. I exhaled.

Anti was becoming a problem.

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