❛ 𝔦 𝔡𝔬𝔫'𝔱 𝔴𝔞𝔫𝔱 𝔱𝔬 𝔰𝔴𝔦𝔪 𝔣𝔬𝔯𝔢𝔳𝔢𝔯, 𝔴𝔥𝔢𝔫 𝔦𝔱'𝔰 𝔠𝔬𝔩𝔡 𝔦'𝔡 𝔩𝔦𝔨𝔢 𝔱𝔬 𝔡𝔦𝔢. ❜
→ * . & ━━ a girl by the name
of sar, who can walk through dreams, finds
herself drawn to her hometown and into a
bigger m...
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IT WAS WINTER AND THE ROOM WAS COLD. It seemed the Lab couldn't spare expenses on warming its experiments.
Sar had her side pressed against Eight's bony one, the two of them at one of the white-sheeted beds at the corners. The sheets had been torn at the edges on the sharp metal bars encaging the bed, and hung in tatters down the side. Sar was twisting three of the strips around each other, braiding it just as Lune had taught her.
Eight copied her by her side, eyes narrowed in concentration. Her bruised fingers wound the braids slowly into the ripped sheets.
"You've got it," Sar whispered to silent Eight. The girl hardly ever talked—Sar couldn't have imagined what she'd seen. A pretty smile worked its way across Eight's face slowly. They were beside the loose tile in the wall: the one which inside was hidden a stuffed tiger, still covered in a fine dusting of ash—though it wasn't Sar's.
"They're coming," Two said, opening her silver eyes. James pulled Sar backwards on her stomach, away from the grips of the braids and across the floor; and Two grabbed Eight to lift her onto the bed. It was just them four today, the other five out for experimentation. It was Sar's fourth year. She couldn't even remember what Outside looked like.
Sar had only managed to throw herself on her own bed when booted footsteps slammed down the hall—Two was always right—and James straightened himself out against his metal bedhead.
There was the click of an electronic lock and the man walked in. He was middle-aged, a guard by his uniform, bearded and rounded, though his face held a particular cruelty and his lips were twisted. His taser was out in one hand—for seemingly no reason—and Sar shrunk beneath his gaze.
They were silent as he strode across the tiled room. That's not right, Sar thought, and sat up, Papa usually tells us when he wants testing.
The man yanked Eight off the bed, hand clutched firmly around her right wrist. He dragged Eight towards the doors, Eight trying to pry her small wrist from the man's crushing grip. She tried to plant her feet but found herself being pulled along anyway.
Sar got up then, rising along with James. "Hey!" James exclaimed.
The guard paused at Eight's resistance. He said something foul and Eight winced at the cruel words. He slapped Eight across the face and Sar screamed in protest.
Sar leapt out of bed and threw herself at Eight, clutching onto the girl's other arm with both hands. "Let her go!" Sar yelled. "Let her go!" God knows what he'd do to Eight once he got out of this room.
"Leave her alone!" Two shouted, already flying off her own bed. She cannoned into the guard, nearly knocking him off balance. She sunk her fingernails into his other arm and the man yelled. Two was small, and she was thin like bones, but Sar knew she kept her fingernails long and she had no doubt they hurt. Two's golden wishbone necklace glinted in the laboratory light around Two's neck.
