To Be at Peace with Yourself

Chapter 2: Escape

In honor of the holiday, I decided to change the update schedule from two times a week to three times a week (also because I'm impatient and validation trash). Funny that this happens to be the chapter I release on Independent's Day. Happy Flag Day, guys~

Now for a bit more build-up, just from a different perspective~

Chapter Warning: Implied neglect and abuse

The featured song is 'Skupienie OST' by Tomasz Domagala

***

The hum of electricity, ever-present throughout the building, went eerily silent with a deafening clunk. The noise jolted a small skeleton out of his fitful sleep.

Pulling himself up from the worn sheets on his sad excuse for a bed, he hesitantly looked around. It was dark and various shouts could be heard in the distance. They didn't sound happy in the slightest.

What?

Carefully moving towards the bars of his 'room', Something caught his eye in the cracked wall mirror... or rather, a lack of something in the darkness.

Collar... no more light!

Hastily, the boy summoned his magic, letting out a shaky laugh when a bone construct successfully materialized, creating a dim glow in the darkness. 

He wasted no time wedging it into a crevice of the black metallic ring, reveling in the hiss of electricity as the shrapnel broke off and fell away.

No more shock.

Summoning more bones, he launched them at the bars before him. It created a cacophonous series of clangs, but the skeleton didn't care at this point. This was his chance, and he wouldn't waste the opportunity.

A hole just big enough to fit through was visible and he fought to contain his excitement. 

Get out... free...

Before he was able to crawl through the opening, his thoughts turned to a red scrap of cloth still laying on his bed.

The bad people called it a scarf. He had no idea where it came from... only that it was important and comforting to him. That, and trying to think about its origin too hard made his skull throb in unexplained pain. As if his mind was trying to punish him for his probing.

Nobody had been willing to educate him on it, either... and he knew better than to ask more than once. The bad people preferred compliance over curiosity from their test subjects.

The one time the scientists tried to take the cloth away from him, he'd fought back and was punished. It put him out of commission for two days. It wasn't a result anyone wanted, it was easier to let him have the scarf... he had to be thankful for that one allowance.

In his melancholy, a holed hand absently rubbed at one of the hairline fractures littering his bones under his clothes, as if the action would soothe away the phantom ache. 

No more hurt...

Feeling exposed without the black collar around his neck, he took the red cloth and draped it around himself and peered in the mirror. It complemented his grungy and ripped sleeveless white gown in a way he couldn't describe. 

Soft... nice...

A shout caused him to jump, startling him from his musing. The bad people!

Quickly slipping through the bars, bare feet clicked down the deserted hallway away from the voices and the direction of the examination rooms. 

The skeleton had no idea where he was going now, running around a veritable maze of doors and cells he'd never been escorted past. He only prayed that he would somehow stumble upon the exit to this place.

His soul shuddered when a noise was heard at the other end. 

Mad... get away!

Backtracking down another corridor, the noises behind him grew in volume. 

No more! No again... now free! Go out, no more hurt!

The skeleton wanted to cry as he came upon a set of metal doors with buttons and a rectangular pad like the on the door of his room. Hitting the buttons and pressing his hand to the pad did nothing, just like the other one. Prying his fingers into the slats between the metal to pull it open proved useless as well.

No... why no out? Want get out!

As he made to retreat the way he'd come, angry voices echoed down the hall. He heard his name. His magic crackled and sparked with his raised emotions. He wrapped his arms around himself as if the action would hide him somehow.

No again... They hurt again! They shock, beat, cut... no again!

Want get out... want go... no want here... no want here!

Clenching his eyes shut his magic flared, responding to his panic, and he felt the world twist and warp around him. 

A burst of sudden color sent his world into a disorienting spiral.

He stumbled, gasping for breath, squinting at the bright and colorful surroundings assaulting his senses.

Where... I... out? ... free?

Leaning against a brown and green object, he panted, trying to process his new surroundings through the dizziness that overtook him.

Taking a deep breath, he tried to push himself forward only to fall with a pained grunt. Everything swam in an amalgamation of color. He groaned, his swirling vision making his non-existent stomach roil.

As his surroundings slowly faded, something stirred in the distance. His efforts to pick himself back up failed as his body no longer responded to his wishes despite the muted panic coursing through him. 

Bad people... no... getaway... why...... nomove...... I......

***

As always, thank you to the people that take the extra few seconds to vote and comment. I love hearing what you guys think and knowing you all like my silly musings.

They're probably the biggest motivators that keep me writing and drawing by letting me know you guys want to read these stories as much as I want to write and draw them. In a way, it's my payment for posting~