When I awake, I feel an angry pounding in my head, almost as if someone is trapped inside my skull and is trying to get out. A low groan escapes my lips and I lift my hand to my head with the intention of burying my face in my palms to attempt to reduce the pain. Or, at least, I tried to.

I can feel my muscles straining to bring my arm up, but for some reason, my arm refuses to comply. In fact, it’s almost as if they are not moving. I look down to identify the root of the problem, but the moment I duck my head, the pounding gets worse by tenfold. I flinch and soon, the sound of rattling chains echo throughout the room, filling my ears.

I panic and I can feel my chest becoming more and more constricted with each passing second and soon, it becomes hard to breathe. My wrists and ankles are in metal cuffs, chained to the floor.

I push myself up to sit properly, but my legs are positioned in rather awkwardly and uncomfortably, not able to cross them nor bring my knees to my chin level due to the short chains. I blink and a wave of dizziness washes over me. I sway back with wooziness and my head collides with a hard wall, causing another series of pounding. I groan, willing the pain to go away, though I know it would not help, not even in the slightest bit.

“What-“I start, but decided against continuing.

Who knows who else is there with me – wherever I am – and what they’d do to me? I think it will be for the best if no one knows that I am awake. Though, I’m pretty sure I just blew my over. It doesn’t matter anymore. The question now is that who exactly did this to me? It can’t be Aries, Aristelle and Key, can it?

The room – I assume it’s a room anyway. After all, what else could it possibly be? – is dark, but it’s not the kind of dark where all the lights are switched off. It’s the kind of dark where there are no lights in the room in the first place and those in the room will have to depend on the light that streams in from the outside, or, in this case, the moonlight.

A small, sealed window located on the very top of the wall is the only view I have of the outside world. Even then, I cannot see much as the window is too high up. The only thing I can see is the vast, bright blue, afternoon sky. The Sun is high above, shining it’s light to those below. It’s just a glimpse of freedom. Enough to know that I want it, but not enough to get addicted to the idea of it.

Large, white tiles covers the floor. Some tiles have forest green moss growing on it while others have dark, unidentified stains on them, a clear sign of neglect. It’s obvious no one has cleaned this room in a rather long time. The walls are made up of rough clay-coloured bricks, the cement that holds the bricks together clearly visible. I wonder why they are just left to be like that and not plastered or painted. It’s almost as if they’ve left this project unfinished.

Speaking of which, I wonder why I’m here. And where I am.

What happened?

I can’t seem to remember much. It’s almost as if my memories are erased or blocked out. The last thing I remember is leaving Aries and Aristelle’s house and, very vaguely, my peculiar encounter with Key. Then, all of a sudden, a whole series of flashbacks hit me. And I remember.

I remember escaping through the tunnel in the twins’ house. I remember Wil being injured on his shoulder. I remember trying to stop the bleeding and cleaning his wound but end up fainting instead. I remember Key finding us and bringing us with her. I remember Wil being unconscious and waking up after a whole twenty four hours. I remember running away from that place and riding on the hub to the next town. I remember going into the Firewire Inn. I remember Key directing us to our rooms there. I remember the three men, dressed solely in white, bursting into our room. I remember them directing us into a black van. I remember…

I gasp.

This is the facility, isn’t it?

I sigh, recalling why sometimes, I prefer not knowing. It saves me from all the pain and the hurt, leaving me in utter bliss and ignorance. Sometimes, false happiness is better than whatever the truth or the knowledge of something may bring.

The pounding in my head that was lost in the intensity of the moment returns. They must have drugged me or injected me with some sort of chemical. It is the only plausible explanation for this agonising pounding in my head and the temporary memory loss. Only one of their many chemicals could have had such an effect on me. I’ve had too many experiences with them to not notice the similarities, especially the aftereffects.

I gulp, swallowing the forming lump in my throat, closing my eyes, wanting to shut out the world – or rather, this prison cell – from my sight. I just want it to go all away. I want to turn back time. I want to open my eyes and find myself in the Firewire Inn with Wil right next to me. As much as I long for it, I know that it won’t happen. I can’t ask for the impossible to happen.

“Calm down, Miri. Calm down,” I mutter, trying to comfort myself. “There’s nothing to be worried about. You’ve been here nearly your entire life. Calm down. You just went on a short break and now you’re back.”

The uncertainty is so clear in my voice that one would have to be deaf to not hear it.

I know Wil normally does the comforting. But he’s not here now – who knows where he is? He could be anywhere – and if he can’t do it, someone has to. And there’s no one else here other than me. If I don’t calm myself down, I might get a panic attack and I certainly do not want that to happen.

Though, clearly, calming myself down doesn’t exactly work.

I drum my fingers on the cold floor. The soft thud that it makes every time it comes in contact with the hard floor reaches my ears. It’s hard not to catch even the tiniest of sounds in a place as quiet and echoic as this. It is the rhythmic sound of it that helps me keep my sanity and prevents me from going crazy.

The sound of a metal door slamming against something solid resounds through the near bare room like the clanging of a gong during a festive season, though this is anything but. The sudden noise startles me and I jump, but the chains effectively hold me down. The metal loops clanking against each other cause a small ruckus, making myself more noticeable than I had intended to.

“It is time to wake up,” someone with a low voice, presumably a man, bellows. “Stand up. You’ve had more than enough time to sleep.”

I do not comply to this stranger. Besides, even if I wanted to, I can’t. After all, the chains are not long enough to allow that much movement.

“You have had more than your fair share of rest, princess,” he growls, sarcasm thick in his voice. “Get up.”

My heart beats so rapidly in my chest that I feel like vomiting. I try my best to keep a straight face, not wanting my emotions to be portrayed on my face so that I won’t be readable.

The echoing footsteps grow louder and louder as the man closes the distance between me and him. I bite my lower lip in nervousness, not wanting to find out what he is here for as I know, from past experiences, that whatever it may be, it is not good. I rarely ever get any visitors when I’m in the facility and whenever I do, their visits are never good nor pleasant.

“I said get up,” he whispers quietly, through gritted teeth, but threateningly into my ear, his face so close to mine that I can feel his hot breath on my bare cheek. A chill goes down my spine.

I think I know what’s coming.

I close my eyes and brace myself for the impact as he swings his feet and my stomach. His shoe collides with my flesh and it’s as if the wind has been knocked out of my being. My eyes shoot open and I gasp for air. Pain goes through my entire body and I groan in pain. My lips quiver and my breaths become jagged as the aftereffect of the kick begins.

Sometimes, I wish I had not run away. Then, things like this would not happen to me. I would still get tortured and misused as they conduct their endless experiments on me, but at least I would not have to go through these kinds of torture.

He hits me once again in my stomach but, this time, with his fist. Thankfully, the force from the punch is not nearly as much as the force from his kick, so it does not hurt as much as the last though, even so, it still hurts a lot. I collapse to the floor, my ear pressed up against the cold floor.

“Consider that a warning shot,” he tells me, his voice full of hatred and anger, before straightening himself up.

My tears gather in my eyes, threatening to spill over. My breaths are laboured as I try to contain the pain. It’s always after that hurts the most. I wince as my chests move up and down as I draw in breath after breath.

“I hope you are not thinking of running away again. I sincerely hope that this attempt will be your first and your last, for your own sake. You wouldn’t want to know what would happen if you ever try again.”

“I-I-“ I try to say, but the only sound that I manage to make sounds like either a fish out of water or a strangled creature.

“Your creators are still trying to decide your punishment. Both your and Experiment 428’s. I will assure you, though, that whatever they have in mind is definitely not pleasant. Rest assured, you will surely not want to do anything that defies them anymore after that.”

I hear the door slam shut and, just like that, the whole room becomes silent once again. Well, to be more specific, silent except for the sound of my heavy breathing as I try to curb the agonising pain. He had just left me to lie here in agony, making me recall all the moments I had that are similar to this in the past.

I almost forgot how terribly painful these encounters can be.

I constantly wonder if they even have a heart at all because, to me and probably to Wil as well, they are the most heartless creatures in this world. I don’t think it’s possible for anyone else, data or not, to be any less heartless than them. It is a miracle they have not been deleted yet.

I shift my body so that I am facing the bare ceiling. Every movement I make causes a jab of pain to shoot throughout my being. Although it had only been two hits, he had inflicted so much damage to my body. There is no doubt that he had used his full strength for both. If not, I would not be suffering here like this. Perhaps it is the creators who commanded him to do so. After all, they are the ones in charge of most everything in this place.

I sigh, willing all the pain to go away although I know how futile the attempt is. Why must they do such a thing to me? I may not have come into this world the way most have, but I still have feelings and a heart, which is something they obviously do not have. If they do, they would not treat me like dirt.

If I were in their shoes, I obviously will not treat anyone under me, be it a subordinate, pet or even an experiment, in such a torturous way. I will look after their welfare. They deserve it as much as anyone else, after all, though they clearly do not view it that way. They are the superior ones. They get to make all the calls and everyone has to listen to their every word without question. And, honestly, I don’t think they look after their workers as well as they ought to be.

It’s so weird to think that they are actually Aries and Aristelle’s parents as their children are so unlike them. Aries and Aristelle actually have compassion for others, a quality they clearly do not have. Aries and Aristelle helped us to stay under their parents’ radar so that we won’t have to come back to this horrifying place. At least they understand. How I wish they could impart that knowledge to their parents. Perhaps then I actually wouldn’t mind staying here to assist in their research, whatever it is.

My eyes drift to the window. The sky has changed colour when I wasn’t looking. From a bright blue to a dark red. Dusk is coming. It’s going to be dark soon. The time when the lights go out and nocturnal creatures come awake. The time when the world is dead asleep but at the same time, more alive than it can ever be. The time when true beauty reveals itself. A world most people do not appreciate nor enjoy.

But I do.

I may be weird – but then again, I was never normal to begin with – but I really love the night. Some may even call me nyctophiliac. Perhaps they are right. I’ve almost always managed to find comfort during the night. To me, night time is like a totally different world where I can forget all the troubles of the day and just relax and savour the moment. It’s the time when I do not have to remember that my life is so troubled and the time when I can just live my life one second at a time and the time when I can forget that I am locked up in a confined space. It’s the time when my imagination runs wild and for once, I can smile and I do not have to remember all the pain and the hurt.

I continue gazing out the window, watching as the Sun sets and the moon rises, watching as the sky turns from deep red to navy blue. The vast sky, filled with countless twinkling stars from thousands of galaxies millions of light years away that lights up the night sky, seems to be unending and the beauty of it never ceases to fascinate and amaze me, no matter where I am.

I close my eyes, both my stomach and my head still throbbing in pain, though it has lessened. I am so near yet so far from the outside. Yes, the small window does not make one addicted to the outside, but that is only if that person has never experienced nature. I have. And to me, being locked up here when I could be roaming outside is agony. It’s almost as if they are trying to torture me.

Oh wait. They already have.

Now, I recall why I wanted to escape in the first place. I do not care about the price I have to pay for pulling off that stunt. It may be horrible. It may be their way of deterrence, of teaching me a lesson, of making sure I never escape to a place that is not within their grasp again. Of making sure that I do not run away again.

But I do not care.

No matter what they may do to me or what they may try to torment me with, in every way possible, it will never bring the intended effect on me that they want. Really, it does not matter as I do not care. It does not matter what they may do. They can never erase the memories I have of the outside, of the adrenaline, of the rushing feeling of freedom.

I may be a lot weaker than them, and, while it is true that I will never stand a chance against them, I will keep on fighting. That’s what being on the outside has taught me. It has given me a reason to live. And I will keep on fighting for that cause. I don’t care how much they may hurt me or how much they try to bring me down.

At the end of the day, I know that it will all be worth it.



Hey all. So, I was supposed to post in the afternoon but I woke up early so yay for another chapter. I'm updating rather quickly as compensation for those of you who have followed me since the prologue (I was updating rather slowly then, if you recall). I hope you do enjoy this chapter. It was only supposed to be a filler chapter but I guess I got kind of carried away. Ah well. At least now you guys have an insight on how Miri's life used to be - or rather, is going to be for a while - in the labs. :)

Also, I have decided that I want to cast the characters that are currently in here. Any ideas? For Miri, Wil, Aries, Aristelle and Key. I'm horrible at casting so I would appreciate the help. :)

One last thing. Please vote, comment your opinons on this chapter or the book as a whole, and follow me for more. :) Love you all. Have a good weekend.

xoxo, Angie