The Manipulation Room

Chapter 28 - I Killed Her

- AUTHORS NOTE - 
I don't normally write these, but this is just a little note to say thank you so so much to all of my readers! Why? Because this book just hit 1K views! Thank you so much for that, I actually cannot express how grateful I am in enough words. I hope you are all enjoying this book as much as I enjoy writing it. Thank you again! 

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Manipulation Room victim no. 20192
Name: Celeste Yankee 
Age: 17 years old 
Occupation: Student 
Family Member: 17-year-old brother, Judas 
Description: Throat under immense pressure from strangulation, death after 7.5 seconds of choking. 

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I woke up to the sound of yelling echoing around my cell. It was a sudden noise that had caught me totally off guard. I sat up, groaning as my limbs felt weak and painful. My back felt numb from the ground too. The chill from the cold had penetrated through Ezra's coat and the bare skin from my belly was completely desensitized. 

When I looked to Ezra, I found him grasping the bars to the front of his cell with his healthy hand, his eyes burning with fury. In his intense silence he somehow screamed with his whole body. The eyes wide with horror, the mouth rigid and open, his chalky face gaunt and immobile, the fists clenched with blanched knuckles and the nails digging deeply into the palms of his hand.

That was before the shouting began. "Put him down, you f**king monsters!" He yelled, pressing his forehead against the metal bars as his expression grew desperate. A chill ran through my spine as I heard his yell. It made me shudder as a freezing cold wind would wake someone. My blood ran cold and a bead of sweat dripped down my face. I sat there helpless, not knowing what to do and too scared to even think. What was happening? By the time he had finished yelling, his voice was so hoarse he could barely speak. "Mr Allen-Blue!" He cried. "Cedric. Ezra, it's Cedric." That was Mr Allen-Blue (or apparently, Cedric) , his voice hoarse and thickly coated with fear. He was trying to make light of the situation, with a light-hearted joke but it failed miserably. 

"Ezra! Ezra, I'll be okay! Tell Lyric not to worry!" He added, the fear still strong in his voice. I sat up fully, arching my back, my whole body shaking from fear. "Ezra, Ezra, what's happening?" I stood up, flinging myself at the bars and seeing passed them. That's when I saw it. 

Two large soldiers were holding each of Mr Allen-Blue- sorry, Cedric's arms forcefully, dragging him out of his cell that could be partially seen from the front of our cells. He looked exactly the same as he had a month ago, but somehow completely different at the same time. His hair hung around his neck in scraggly, brown strands, greasy and coated in dust. His face seemed blue, covered in long, jagged facial hair from a lack of shaving. His eyes were blood-shot and tired; it seemed that no amount of sleep would get rid of the tears, eye-bags and dilated pupils. Even his clothes were a picture of pure despair. He was wearing the same shirt I'd seen him 'die' in; it was clinging where it shouldn't and hanging loose where it shouldn't. His jeans had rips too, but I don't think that was a fashion choice. 

When he caught sight of me, watching him with pure terror, he tried his hardest to smile. It just crumpled from the pain of the two soldiers, and he pressed his eyes shut as more tears fell. "Lyric." Ezra exhaled, moving closer to my cell. "What are you doing? Let go of him!" I cried, glaring at the soldiers as they violently pulled him away from the cell. "It's okay, Lyric. I'll be okay." Cedric sighed, tears trailing down his cheeks. Ezra stared at him uncertainly; we both knew he wouldn't be. 

I banged my hands against the bars, close to tears, "Let go of him! Where are you taking him?!" 
"You're twisted! The lot of you!" Ezra yelled, pressing his forehead against the bars and cursing under his breath. "Oh, shut it!" One of the soldiers growled,  pulling Cedric forcefully by an arm and tugging him through the dark room. And that's when one voice cut through all the others.