Running away from the past (Year 1)

14- His first friend

(8 years ago – Y/N pov)

"Line up!"

It was time for another physical test. All of us did as we were told. The fear could be seen in our eyes.

I tried to restrain the tears from coming out. I lost count of the kids that I saw collapsing before my eyes. What if I was the next one? What would happen to me then?

Inside a really huge room, a man looked at us with merciless eyes.

We were told to run around the room. As always, no further explanation. There were cameras monitoring everything we did.

We started running. 10 minutes, 20 minutes, 30 minutes... I ended up loosing track of the time. It was getting hard to breathe. I felt like giving up many times, but the fear made me keep running.

After a while, I could hear the other kids sobbing and falling down behind me.

Time kept passing by, and most of us were already down. I could only hear another person's steps.

I glanced over that person and saw a boy with brown hair running beside me. He looked just as tired as I was.

I averted my gaze and kept running. No matter what, I had to keep running. I had to be the winner. I couldn't end up like the other kids.

Inside the room, a man was talking with one of the workers, who was writing down something on a clipboard. Meanwhile, other workers were taking the other kids out of the way so they wouldn't obstruct us.

Most of the kids were breathing heavily and seemed to be in pain.

My sight began to blurry and the pain of my chest and legs increased. I was reaching my limit.

Unfortunately, I could still hear the other boy running beside me.

This has to be a joke... How much stamina does he have?

That was it. I couldn't take it any longer. I suddenly stopped and let my tired body fall down.

However, I was surprised when I didn't hear anyone running. I looked up and saw the other kid also lying next to me and breathing heavily.

(Y/N): "I-it seems like it's a tie."

"I t-thought that I was going to be the last one standing..."

As we catched our breath, that man approached us with his usual emotionless expression. The fear that I felt before came to me again.

He looked at us for a few seconds and then spoke.

"You did well. You two are much better than those other kids. Rest here and then we will continue."

I was surprised by his words. Usually, they would put a time limit in this kind of tests, and whoever collapsed before we were told it's okay to stop, would fail.

(Y/N): "B-but we didn't reach the time limit..."

The man smirked.

"You surpassed the time limit long ago, but I wanted to see who would resist longer myself."

He didn't care about any of us. He just wanted to see who would be more useful for him. This man was really a monster.

He turned around and left. Me and the other boy were given some time to rest.

After a few minutes, I decided to speak.

(Y/N): "You're really good, I thought that I would lose there."

The boy looked at me.

"I could say the same thing. What's your name?"

The fact that someone actually asked for my name in that place surprised me. We were enemies, we had to be the best so we weren't thrown away like trash. No one would even bother to ask for anyone's name, but...