Making a choice

Bringing up the Past

The ride up the elevator with Seven was quiet, quiet and awkward for MC who was attempting to look anywhere but at the redhead tapping away at his phones screen. She studied the grain on the wooden boards that lined the small space instead of looking at him or the large mirror that showed off his back. He didn't seem to even notice her struggle through the thick miasma of nerves that were filling her and seeping out to fill the space as well.

"You okay?" She jumped and looked at Seven, who was standing in the open door of the elevator, his hand held out to one side to hold the doors open as he eyed her with a quirked brow.

"Oh... yeah, um, I'm, I'm fine."

O...Kay..." he drug out the word as he turned slightly to allow her to slip past him. She hurried down the hall, her head bowed forward as she walked and her hands gripping the strap of her bag tightly. His footsteps behind her were steady and slow, far different from her quick shuffling all the way to her door. It took him a moment to catch up with her, a moment she needed to calm down enough to be normal. He reached past her as he stepped up to the door, typing in the code swiftly, so swiftly in fact that she couldn't keep up with which button he pressed when.

The door opened itself slightly as soon as the last digit was entered into the keypad, and he opened it fully for her rather than allowing her to do so herself. She stepped past his arm and laid her bag down on the couch as she made her way further inside the apartment. She didn't have to look back to know he followed her inside. The shifting creaks of the floorboards as the door shut behind him told her that much.

"Do you want a drink? You left some PhD Pepper last time and I've been chilling them." It had only been hours since the last time he was in the apartment, not even a full day had gone by and yet here she was acting as if it had been a week at least.

"Yeah, sounds great." She looked over her shoulder to see him looking up at her smoke detector with a firm frown on his lips. When he noticed her looking his face morphed into the Cheshire grin that he had posted as his profile picture on the app. "Too bad we ate all the chips. Ah, no better pairing than Honey Buddha chips and PhD Pepper!" She smirked as she opened the fridge and pulled out two of the chilled cans. He took the one she offered and they popped the cans open in unison before moving to sit on the couch. She reached for the remote to turn on the tv, but his hand on her wrist stopped her halfway to it.

"Something wrong?" She asked.

"After last night, I uh... I looked further into those cases." He wasn't looking at her as he spoke, and the playfulness that he held a moment ago couldn't be found in his features. "The things that your dad- no he wasn't a dad to you was he? What he put you through..." his brows pulled together as he closed his eyes.

"You read what I told the officers, didn't you?"

"They aren't exactly public knowledge, but it didn't take much digging to find them. Did you really go without food and water at that age?"

"Yeah." She turned away from him and let out a soft sigh. "For days, the longest was a week. All because he wanted me to be the best."

"It was just a way to keep you weak and submissive though, in reality." She turned to give him an inquisitive look and he gave her a small, weak smile. "It's a classic tactic. There's a lot of published reports on it. Messed up people get people when they're young, mouldable, and use tactics like starvation, isolation, just... a bunch of messed up shit to make them into what they want them to be."

"What are you saying?"

He leaned back against the couch, stretching his arms out and laying one behind her as he allowed his head to roll until his eyes were locked on hers. "Congratulations on surviving brainwashing?" These words were offered with a gentle smirk.

"You're, kidding right? My father is a dick but..." she turned and used taking a sip from her own drink to think over what he said. "Brainwashing?"

"It's more common than you think. People go through it and don't even realize they have been changed. After brainwashing, there is little chance of changing them back to who they were before." He shrugged as he spoke, but his words were nowhere near as nonchalant as to call for one. MC stared at her can of PhD Pepper as she sucked in her bottom lip and bit down on it hard.

"You talk as if you have experience in the subject." She murmured after a long moment of silence.

"Ahh, look at the time..." she slapped him as he pretended to look at a watch that wasn't on his wrist. He chuckled, pulling back his fringe as he turned his gaze to her once more. "I just read a lot of reports on the subject after going through your case. If there is a way to help you through them then I want to know all I can about what's causing these panic attacks." He patted her head gently as he spoke, moving his face closer to her own. "I don't want any of my friends to suffer, not even you."

"Thank you, Seven."

They fell into silence after she spoke, and she could feel him shifting beside her on the couch. His hand brushed along the back of her neck as he moved his arm from behind her and he smiled apologetically at her as he let his fingers laced together in his lap. She pulled the warming can of soda to her lips and took a long sip of hit before looking down to study the rim of the can. They sat that way for what felt like minutes but could only have been seconds before Seven coughed into his hand and leaned forward.

"It's not just reports though, there are still hundreds, maybe thousands of people out there going through the same as you did. And there's no way to know that they can all be helped and safe..."

"And I'm one of the lucky one's right?"

"Yeah." His smile was faint before fading entirely, "there is this, organization, sort of a group therapy sort of thing for people who survived stuff like that. I don't know if you'll be able to contact them until after the party but-" She sighed at the mention, V had decided on the date of the party that morning, but having only seven days to plan and put on something like that was rather stress inducing.

"Why don't we invite their representatives to the party, I could bring up joining them then." She suggested with a gentle nudge to his shoulder with her own.

"Sound's good." He said after a moment of looking deep in thought, "I will get in contact and tell them to send you an email." he nodded as he spoke, then let out a long sigh. "I have to get to work, are you alright now?" She nodded to his question and stood to gather his empty soda can. He stood after her and stretched before looking around the apartment. "You did a good job cleaning this place." He noted.

"Thanks, though you're the only other person who's seen it. I felt more comfortable with less dust." She shrugged and he chuckled at her response. They walked the short distance to her front door and he paused before placing his hand on the handle.

"Are you upset that the others can't come by?" he asked. She hesitated for a moment, true it was lonely being in the apartment by herself but she wasn't sure she was ready to meet the others who sometimes could be suffocating in just the chat rooms.

"That's a hard question to answer." He quirked his brow at her words and gave her a bright smile.

"I can come over more often if it helps?"

"I wouldn't be against that..." She looked away from him as she spoke, but his soft laugh pulled her attention back to his face. He placed his hand on the door handle and pushed down on it gently.

"Next time I'll bring a station and we can lose a few hours."

"Sounds good."

He was out the door without adding any more to their conversation. The sound of him tapping away at the keypad on the door then walking down the hall was all she had before she was left in silence and solitude once again. She allowed a small sigh to escape her as she dropped her head and turned to the empty apartment. Her hand scratched at the back of her neck as she moved back to the couch and flopped down on it. The tv was turned on but she wasn't really paying attention to what was playing on the screen. Weight settled on her eyelids and she allowed them to slip closed.