"And she finally lost it."

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"What have you done to end up here?" Kingston asked me, his voice low and cautious. It feels like everyone in the cafeteria stopped talking just to listen to me. But, I knew for a fact they already heard about what I did.

I sighed, unconsciously rubbing my wrists. "You know what happened," I couldn't hide anxiety from my voice, although I had no reason to be nervous.

They did bad things, too. But, I'm a murderer. I shouldn't have the right to make friends and be happy.

Do I regret my decision, though? Definitely not. If I didn't do it, she would probably kill me. Maybe she was supposed to kill me, so I wouldn't have to continue with my miserable life.

"If you're going to be here, you need to stop running away from your past and embrace it instead," Atlas said, not even looking at me. It was almost like he was criticizing me. "Eventually, everything connects."

"Okay, smartass. What have you done?" I turned the question around, looking into his strange eyes. He raised his head and I could easily read through his emotionless expression he never seems to take off - he was in pain. And that's when I knew there was nothing bad about this boy. We stared into each other for a while, and I don't know what took over my body to give me such confidence. Could it be because of what happened in the past few days?

Jesus coughed, rubbing the back of his neck. "Do you want to hear my story?" he chuckled, trying to change the subject. Atlas' deathly eyes were still resting on me as if I'm the hottest attraction in a circus. Well, I probably am. His body was still like he's trying not to move.

Did he do something so bad that he couldn't even tell me?

"Here he goes again," Gage mumbled, rolling his eyes. I broke our gaze, looking up to Jesus, who snapped his knuckles and cleared his throat.

"It happened three years ago," he started, but I already felt the need to interrupt him.

"You have been in here for three years?" I gasped, holding back a cry from only thinking about it.

I can already imagine myself - I will go crazy in two months if I don't get killed by then, and after I turn eighteen, I will be shipped to a mental hospital.

Gage scoffed, raising a brow. "What did you expect? The minimal sentence you get is two years. And if you don't stick with us, you will be here for a short, short time," he sang, looking at me with his big, hazel eyes.

"Why are you accepting me into your crowd? You don't look like guys who would do a nice gesture if you don't get something from it." I looked at him, then at Atlas, who seemed like the leader of the pack.

Gage got up and climbed over the table until I could feel his warm breath on my skin. His eyes pierced through mine like I was his prey, and I could feel myself slowly losing all of the confidence I thought I had.

Although his body was still on the other side, his hands were leaning against my side of the table. That's how huge he was and I would be lying if I said I was not intimidated. "You don't get to ask fucking questions, Penny. If I was you, I would be glad-"

"What did you call me?" I interrupted him, confused with the word 'Penny'. He smirked and looked around my face like he was the superior one.

"Penny," he smirked like it was supposed to mean something. I raised my eyebrows in question. "It's your new nickname. After all, you did kill your step-sister with a pen, am I right?"

Atlas stopped him from further talking by pulling his body where it was in the first place - far away from me. Atlas' face was still emotionless, although his eyes were showing something else.

I studied them for long enough to remember everything about them - not that it was hard for me to do so, anyway.

From the corner of my eye, I could see Jesus carefully contemplating the situation, his eyes going back and forth. "Gage, shut the fuck up. Brandy is one of us now, whether you like it or not, and we will treat her that way," Atlas warned him with a deathly voice, looking around the table to see if everybody else got that.

They nodded and Gage scoffed, leaning back in his chair.

The tension slowly evaporated into the air and Jesus cleared his throat again, turning towards me. "My mum and dad are hardcore Christians if you can't already tell by my name," he joked, a wide smile spreading across his face. "You know how teenagers are - they try to be rebellious and do everything against their parents. I was one of those kids. When I was fourteen I started stealing from corner stores and dealing drugs."

I looked at him in pure shock. He dealt with drugs when he was fourteen? "Yeah, you got that right," he laughed, almost like he read my mind.

Oh, wait, he probably saw my terrified facial expression.

"So, the last strike was when they caught me in bed with a girl. They sent me here after they made me go through an entire ritual of exorcism. I will be able to leave once I turn eighteen, which will be in a few months."

"I didn't expect that," I laughed after a moment of silence, still shocked from what I heard. "So, what are you doing here all day? Don't you get bored to death?" I changed the subject, trying to get Kingston and Emrys to talk.

They all looked at each other, smirks appearing on their faces. Did I just start something? Jesus tapped my shoulder and got up, leading the way. "Good luck," he wished, turning his back on me.

"Penny, we need to take you on a tour," Gage smirked, and got up, following Jesus as the rest of the crew did. Am I supposed to go after them?

"Wait!" I called out, but they didn't even turn around. It was like they didn't even hear me.

I grabbed Atlas' arm, stopping him from walking. Before I could say anything I couldn't help myself but notice, damn, he has great biceps.

"What?" his deep voice snapped me from further drooling and I could feel the blood rushing to my cheeks.

I withdrew my hand from him, completely and utterly dazed for some reason. He studied my actions without any emotion.

Fuck, why is he so careful about everything? Aren't teenagers supposed to have fun and be free?

"Where are we going?" I finally put together a sentence, after thinking about it for way too long.

This time, he grabbed my arm and pushed me in front of himself, practically forcing me to walk. "We can't attract any more attention to ourselves or this won't work out," he whispered into my ear, as we caught up with the others, making my knees weak for some reason.

What was he talking about?

When we exited the cafeteria, we walked three halls to the left and then turned right and walked down some creepy stairs, ending up in front of large, metal doors.

Everything reeked of mold and dampness. I wrinkled my nose, covering it with my hand. We were in some kind of a freaky basement.

"These are doors to the freedom," Jesus announced theatrically, opening them with a hard push.

We walked out in a small space surrounded by walls. The only thing I could see was a clear, blue sky. A million questions ran through my head and my heart started beating faster until I saw what were they talking about.

We weren't escaping - I was just fantasizing about things.

"We needed a cigarette break. Do you smoke?" Jesus asked, offering me one. I shook my head as I watched each of them lighting their cigarettes. The smoke got into my eyes, which made them water and everything around me blurry.

"So, you always sneak out here just to smoke?" I asked, trying to sound normal, although disappointment filled my body. "And you never get caught?"

"We are people who don't get caught, it's that simple. So, what you need to do is prove you can avoid trouble too," Atlas pointed a cigarette at me.

"We are ninjas!" Jesus swung his arms, cutting through the air with karate movements.

"Why would I want to get in trouble? Trouble is what brought me here," I ignored Jesus, crossing arms on my chest. "I don't want to be put on an electric chair or something."

Gage scoffed, inhaling the smoke. "Do you want to be a part of our group?" he asked, eyeing me up and down. "You will have to do what everyone else did to get to our positions," he growled and looked away.

I could feel annoyance growing inside my stomach. "Can someone tell me what the fuck are you talking about?!" I snapped, heath rising to my face. "I can't deal with your fucking hints and stalling!"

They all looked in my direction, almost like they were admiring my reaction.

"And she finally lost it," Emrys announced with a childish grin after a few moments of silence, making everyone burst out laughing.

"I did not lose it, y'all are just so fucking mysterious and it's driving me insane!" I replied, to which they simply laughed again. I tried to calm myself down with deep breaths, which made them laugh even more. "What, did you finally break out of your morning period faze and decided to join the living humans?!"

Emrys poked Kingston in the ribs, wiping off tears from laughing so hard. "I like her, she's crazy," he chuckled like I wasn't standing literally in front of him. "I think Penny will hook up with someone," Kingston continued the conversation with a smirk, looking over to the rest of the guys.

Don't boys have any fucking filter to know what to say and what not?! "Do not call me 'Penny'!" was all I said though, ignoring their statements.

"Okay, I think we should tell her the tradition of initiation," Jesus finally decided to have mercy on me and change the subject, looking into my eyes with excitement. The others nodded, watching me in anticipation. "It's called Grab The Prey. Basically, you have to sneak into Blue's office and steal something convenient for reasons of why you're here," he explained and Gage continued almost immediately afterward.

"Sometimes, we do it just for fun, but it's not challenging because we don't have any new flesh. So, now that you are here, this will be interesting," he smirked, looking at Jesus. "When Jesus came, he had to steal a one-foot cross that was hanging in Blue's office. They still haven't found it hiding in his room beneath the bed."

I raised my hands, stopping them from further explaining. "Wait," I said, processing what they've told me so far. "Who the hell is Blue?"

Emrys laughed, raising his eyebrows in disbelief. "Uh, the one who threatened to kill you with his gun?" he told and I widened my eyes and mouth in shock.

The man who tackled me down when I tried to escape?!

"No fucking way. No. I ain't doing it," I shook my head and turned around, crossing arms on my chest.

He will murder me if he finds out. No, he will do something way worse - he will torture me and burn me alive and then throw my leftovers to the wolves, which he'll pet afterward.

"You have to do it or you can say goodbye to safety," Atlas told me seriously, his voice snapping me from my thoughts. "I counted one hundred and twenty people who would love to kill you, but won't because they are scared of us. If you do anything to make them believe you didn't go through with the initiation, things will turn upside down and, well, you will probably be dead by the end of this week."

I turned around and walked over to him, our bodies barely touching. I had to look up to meet his eyes because everyone had to be so tall.

"I am not a person who you can manipulate with," my voice was stable and angry. Most of all, confident. "You and your gang can rot in hell," and with that, I stormed off into the building, feeling their eyes on me.

When I tell you I do irrational things when I'm angry or paranoid, it's an understatement. I dug my own grave by flipping them off and I knew it very well while doing so.

Now, I can only wait to be killed in my sleep.

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