The lingering light was obliterated by the night that fell rapidly. The once salmon and violet sky transformed into a vast expanse of jet-black that soon engulfed the City of Blaymond. A canopy of luminous stars exposed themselves amongst the ocean of blackness. Some dull, merely flickering into existence, yet there was an adequate amount of sparkling stars accompanying the silver shimmering moon to illuminate the night's shadowy sky.

A young teenage girl gazed out the window with her enigmatic diamond eyes. She had shoulder length hair that draped down, softly curling along the ends and brushing against her neck. The color of it flowing from a brown to light golden like a waterfall. Nonetheless, if her face was not covered in muck or if her clothing was not torn and filthy, she would probably be considered decent. Maybe if she also removed those thick black glasses from off her face once in awhile- it's a pain to have a distorted vision.

The building she dwelled in placed her at a distance, but despite that she admired the aesthetic scenery that managed to ease its image through the begrimed glass. She thought it was beautiful! Even during the night the glistened indigo ocean mirrored the assemblage of those stars as well as modern buildings and the fashionable people who walked amongst it all. Soon the chilled breeze skimmed against the water's surface ruffling the stillness, distorting the city's reflection distorted.

Staring long at this image prompt the poor girl to an poignant emotion. One of captivity; of imprisonment. Her black eyes began to sting, inducing warm tears to gradually well up. The girl blinked several times, rapidly. With the hems of her oversized plaid sleeves, she rubbed her eyes. Entirely determined to prevent tears from falling all over the grimy wooden desk beneath her.

Needless to say, she longed for a different life. A better life. One right out the stories she reads. But miracles like that are nonexistent.

Respiring deeply, the girl scooted her unsteady chair from near the desk, and extended her arm to unlock the hidden sable drawer from under it. The door swung opened with a loud creak, emanating from its rusted hinges and throughout the miniature room. The girl gasped. She shifted her head impetuously, fearing the possibility of her roommate or any person in general, being woken by the screeching noise. Luckily, no one was. A sigh of relief escaped her mouth as she returned to what she was previously doing.

Installed within that hidden drawer were three hardcover books- all conceivably six hundred pages full -a small fulvous box of matches, and a white pillar candle. She grabbed all the items and placed them on the desk- it wobbled as she did so. Utilizing a single match, she lit the candle. Striking orange flames emitted from such and illuminated the dismally compacted environment. She grabbed one of the three books, specifically the book with a cover resembling a galaxy. Smiling, she began to read.

The story was titled Compassion and written by the famous novelist Hellenah J. Briar. As of now, this book took the place of being her most favorite, for she has read it multiple times. To her, it captured the negative parts of reality adequately, yet kept the story decent by having the main character attempt to optimize sad moments. She felt that in some way her life related massively to the story. Well despite the ending, she envied the story's ending.

While turning to the next page, she heard a very audible groan. She jolted slightly in her seat with widened eyes. Her roommate had woken up.

"ugh..Madison...blow the candle out...it's too bright," her roommate groaned in a coarse but fairly feminine voice. She threw her pillow at Madison to grab her attention, but she didn't flinch.

"Wait...Lyla..I..I'm almost finished," Madison stuttered yet with a dulcet tone in her voice. The girl hastily flipped to the next page.

Lyla sluggishly ascend into a hunched position on her small metal barred mattress. Her skin was devilishly pale, as though all the life had been drain from out of the essence of her soul. Grimey blotches and bruises were smeared all over her arms and face.

She languorously ran her hand through her tousled black hair and with dark indigo eyes she looked at her acquaintance; blinking several times to regain a clearer vision." Are you reading.... again?! Ugh."

"...mmhmm," Madison answered, with a slight nod.

"...I don't understand why you always read," Lyla rolled her eyes and straightened her raveled sheet," it's a waste of time."

Madison rotated to her side in order to face towards Lyla, but her book remain within her hands. "What? Reading...isn't a waste of time...Lyla, it's...it's interesting...um...inspiring a..and...helps you imagine a better reality."

Lyla gave Madison a vacuous and inscrutable stare."You know what that sounds like to me?"

"What?"

"Bullsh*t."

"...w..well..th..that's just your opinion-" Madison began. Her soft voice somehow unintentionally managed to advance into a rather aggressive tone but was immediately interrupted before she became hostile.

"And?" Lyla scowled abrasively towards the poor girl,"Did you forget where we are, Madison? What we do? How we suffer? It's not an opinion it's a f*cking fact, doing that...stuff is pointless. It will never get you anywhere besides trouble! Just give it up."

"Um...well..." her voice gradually trailed off until was completely soft and quiet; distressingly typical of her.

Madison averted her eyes downwards and bit severely onto her lower lip. She partially felt despondent by Lyla's words but also quite regretful for attempting to explain her deep interests. Just as Lyla implied, those interests were insignificant and pathetic.

Lyla threw her sheet over her head and turned towards the opposite direction- facing the grey deteriorated wall. She shuffled around for a short moment but eventually found a satisfying position, ending her obnoxious movements.

She gave out a disappointed sigh, "Go to sleep already, that light is annoying. Plus, you wouldn't want Ms. Villian to catch you...hahah...then you'll really have to imagine a better reality."

Madison closed her book and placed it softly on top of the desk. She no longer faced Lyla's direction, as her eyes subconsciously refused to acknowledge her presents. Her thoughts however altered this, motivating her to ask a question she typically never would.

"Lyla..." Madison somehow managed to muttered through her brittle voice.

"What!"

"...Why...why do you hate me?"

Suddenly, before Lyla could utter any type of word to answer, the door busted open and revealed a tall physically unappealing woman.

She appeared drowsy and reeked of alcohol. Her dark red colored hair stuck out in multiple different directions and her eyes were covered in leaking black mascara. As for her figure, she was fairly thin but certain specific areas were rather large to say the least, and genuinely made her body look quite disproportionate. One of the many unfortunate outcomes with getting far too many implants. This lethargic woman was ironically the matron, or in more direct terms, the woman who owned and made every commands within the building.

"Why...is there noise...coming from this room?" she asked, her voice: extremely slurred. In her right hand, a glass of wine that sloshed around as she walked.

"Ah! Miss Villian, um...I was just about to-" Madison began.

"I always forget this is your room, so dreadful," Ms. Vitch interrupted glancing away from the young girl for a moment, only to look back with an expression of disgust. "Why are you still awake?"

Madison sighed," I stayed up to read a book."

"A book?" Ms. Vitch scoffed.

"It's a story confined in the many pages of-"

"I know what a book is," Ms. Villian sat up on the desk and swiftly grabbed one of books from off of it. She stared into Madison's eyes," This isn't mine. Where did you get it?"

"Um.."

"Well?!"

"I...I...g...got it from the...libr...library," Madison admitted in faltering voice.

"The...library?" Ms.Villian replied,"... so...you left the building eh?"

"...yes ma'am."

Ms.Villian grabbed a lighter from out of her pocket. Placing it between her index and middle finger she waved it around, tauntingly. "Oh Madison...how long will it take for you to understand the consequences of disobeying my rules?"

"...um..."

Ms. Villian flicked the lighter on the her thumb and placed the emitting fire under the book. As the flames engulfed the book, some of its pages began to turn a deep color of black and disintegrate.

To this, Madison's eyes grew wide as she began to realize the amount of money she would have to pay for damaging a library book. To a person with a fairly normal life the payment would appear pointless but for Madison, it was repaying gold, something she did not have.

Madison practically tumbled out of her chair and onto her knees,"Ms. Villian wait! Please.... stop! It's a library book and I don't have the money to pay the librarian for its damage!" She pleaded, her eyes almost in tears.

Ms. Villian dropped the burning book on the ground on front of Madison,"Should've thought of that earlier. This is why we don't break the rules," Ms. Villian replied.

Tears poured out of Madison's eyes, the reason for it being many. However she wasn't bawling, just merely staring in horror and pain as the tears rolled down her cheeks. Ms.Villian roughly clasped her nails around Madison's short blonde disheveled hair and practically dragged her from out of the room.

They stood for a moment in the long deteriorated hallway with multiple doors on both sides. Ms.Villian violently ranked all the hair she clutched so deeply in Madison's scalp, as though was trying to pull her hair out. Madison gave out a high pitch scream of agony, resulting in many tired girls exiting from their rooms.

"Wake up you little pieces of sh*t!" Ms.Villian announced insultingly,"It's time for you to clean up."

"But it's two in the morning," a little girl complained rubbing her eyes.

"But it two in the morning," Ms.Villian mocked in bratty little girl's voice," Like I give a f*ck! I want these floors so spotless that I could see my reflection!"

"Ew! Why would you want to see that?" A different girl asked, looking as though she wanted throw up.

Ms.Villian growled and threateningly stared the girl down. To this the girl noticed and said,"I...I mean, of course you would want to see your reflection because you look just like a Queen."

The girl then grabbed a mopped and walked away but before she completely exit the rooms she added in a low mutter,"you know, when she turned old and tried to poison snow white with an apple," and ran off.

"Why I oughtta-" Ms.Villian hollered only to look around at the all the girls staring off mindlessly,"What are you all just standing around for!? Get to work!"

With that the all the girls grabbed cleaning supplies and scrambled over to a position to clean.

"As for you," Ms.Villian said pulling Madison up to her knees, still having her hair clutched tightly in her hands.

Ms.Villian stood over Madison intimidatingly. Madison shifted her head so her eyes would avoid Ms.Villian's ominous stare and to prevent from inhaling the overwhelming smell of alcohol emitting from her breath. "You know exactly where we are going."

With this, Ms.Villian is implying what she personally enjoys to call the "Torture Chamber" however every girl who has been there refers to it as "Pure Hell." Surely the name itself determines the havoc that occurs within that dismal room but for further specification, that's the room where Ms.Villian usually beats the girls senseless.

The 'Torture Chamber' is a nearly dark room located in the basement. It's without windows and only one entrance 'decorated' with many old locks. The walls, deteriorated, painted a dirty gray and sound proof so if the girl screams, the sound wouldn't be able to alarm any of the neighbors or near bystanders.

Madison, unfortunately, has been in this room many times. The most times, in fact. As though the "Torture Chamber" was meant to be her harrowing home. Ms Villian unlocks the door, and the two enter. Both people having entirely different emotions, one overjoyed the other nervous. Ms.Villian closes the door, behind it only lies trauma.

A better life?
Miracles like that are nonexistent.