Taken Away (Gakuen Alice)

29.) Shred of Hope

Mikan

"Are you awake?" A persistent nudge welcomed me. I stayed completely still. Maybe if I pretended to be asleep or dead, the person would go away. I had no clue why I was here, and I cursed at myself for being so careless. I was seconds, SECONDS away in escaping. I held my breath the more the person poked me. My attempt in acting dead had failed entirely. From my moribund movement, the person seemed to panic even more and poked me, unassuredly if I may add, with a stick. It was a small poke and wasn't intended to hurt.

One poke

Two pokes

Three pokes

And one last poke on the head.

"I'm awake!" I let out an irritated grumble, snatching the branch out of the little girl's hands. My expression was the same as hers, shocked and surprised. I expected the kidnapper to be annoying and foreign (Jose for say), but all I got was tiny and cute. Her eyes grew wide and let out a yelp, falling back and scooting away from me. Damn it, I felt ultimately responsible for raising my voice and scaring her. I'm such a jerk. "Hey..." I paused. If I took a long look, she sort of reminded me of Natsume. Her crimson eyes had an excited glint to it also mixed with fear. "I'm sorry, I didn't mean to yell." I bend down offering my hand. She hesitated to accept my apologies, (can't blame her) and finally accepted it, before snatching it back. "Huh?" Her attention was directed behind me, the same fear and hatred returning.

"Mikan-chan~" Upon hearing the voice, my mood instantly darken.

"You." I reached to grab him with my bare hands for doing this to me, but a set of chains tugged me right back. "Really, was this necessary?" Not only was I locked in a cell with a little girl, but I was chained down like an animal.

"I feared my life," He teased and feigned hurt. "You were going to hurt me." He sat down by a chair, giving me a toothy smile that no doubt if Natsume was here, he would have knocked all those perfect teeths out. But I knew Natsume wasn't aware where I was. Hell if he knew I had tried to escape, I would have been in serious trouble.

"Oh I'm not going to hurt you," I grabbed the stick on the floor and threw it at him. Jose flinched and held his arms up in reflex before I snickered. What a dumbass, nothing can touch him from behind these bars, and he still flinched like a pusillanimous fool.

"That was cold," He puckered his bottom lip out. "Yeah yeah keep laughing little A." He saw the little girl crack up a smile. "If this is how you cope with the situation, I feel sorry for you."

"It was pretty funny, right?" I laughed over at the little girl who nodded.

"I'm just following orders Mikan." Jose said seriously. "For both our sakes, I would behave. Persona isn't the kindest man."

"Stop telling me what to do." I rolled my eyes and slided down onto the floor. I hugged my knees and sent a glare at his direction. My glare was glued to him in case he pulled anything funny. What's to tell if he would knock me out when I let my guard down again? I'm not going to fall for it again.

He ignored my comment and shook his head, playing around with the keys in his hand. My eyes followed the keys, and he knew. He would taunt me by throwing it right back up in the air and then right back into his hands. "You shouldn't have tried to escape, the alarm ran." Jose clenched the key tightly in his hand and tapped the small earpiece hidden behind his perfect blonde hair. "I'm sure there's some compassion in Persona that he'll let you slide without much bruises." He smiled.

Much my a**.

I snorted, eyeing him. It was hard to read his real intentions when he sat down with the same damn smile plastered on his face, almost like a clown. Clowns are suspicious little things, they act like they are your biggest fans and feed you with all sorts of funs, and before you know it, they attack you. Jose was like that, a clown by nature. "Like I believe that crap, he probably planned this from the beginning." I sighed. "I just made it easier for him."

He didn't comment at all. He stood from his seat and dusted his lap. "I got to go report to him Mikan-chan, please make yourself comfortable." He blew me a kiss.

"Like a pillow." I rattled the chains and let out a sneer.

"I didn't want to hurt you," He furrowed his eyebrows. I watched again the keys in this procession. He wasn't throwing them in the air in a taunting manner like before, it was tangling right by his side. Maybe if I time myself and get a bit closer, I could snatch it. Maybe not. I felt discouraged. Based on experience, he would be able to snatch it away from me faster than I could reach. He was one of Persona's favorites, he's not a fool.

"You did..." I looked down. "I actually thought you felt something for me."

"Mikan." Jose said firmly. "I know what you're doing."

"If you didn't want to hurt me, why do this?" I rattled the chains around. "Do you know why I attempted to leave? Because I didn't want to be with Natsume...I wanted to be with you. I was going to come back when the course was clear-"

"Stop!" He raised his voice slightly. The little girl behind me jumped and hid closer to me. How adorbs. "Let's not lie to ourselves. You never looked at me the way you look at Natsume, never." He circled around, biting his nail. "Do you know how it feels to be trapped in the same nightmare?" He turned over to look at me. "Do you? You judge me for my actions without letting me explain myself or knowing my side of the story. And you have to lie and decieve."

He saw right through my plan. "You're welcome to because no offense," I got as close to him as these chains allowed me to. "Not like I spent most of my childhood being abused by the person I thought cared about me, who was supposed to NURTURE me. I have been through nothing but crap since I came here. I don't mean to compare your experiences with mine, but if you have such a reason to commit these crimes, explain it to me."

"I..can't."

"See? How can I believe you?" I said softly. "All I wanted to do was to escape."

"Persona isn't going to let you." He whispered. "He will make your life more miserable than it is. He will pinpoint you and once you think you are completely safe from his clenches, he finds his way to get you. Hurting everyone you care about." My eyes widen. "You were going to leave right? Leave that bastard and Hotaru behind? Well, who is to say Persona won't take his anger on them?" He broke the stick I previously had thrown at him and disposed of it. "So do yourself a favor and deal with it." Jose said and stopped at the door in front of the door. His back faced me. I couldn't help but feel a few tears escape. "Because Neko cat isn't going to save you this time. Persona has you where he wants you." And with that, the door closed and so did my last shred of hope. 
~~~~
Question time~

1.) What do you think Persona has over Jose?

Mikan: I think Persona just needs a hug
Natsume: Idiot
Jose: I weren't mind a hug from you Mikan-chan

A/N: I finally updated😭I do apologize for the very late update, I haven't been on Wattpad for a  long time. I had a lot on my hands, but I do hope to getting some more updates out to you guys. I hope you guys enjoy!