Manipulation Room victim no. 14032
Name: Topaz Anderson 
Age: 37 years old 
Occupation: Stay-at-home parent 
Family Member: 62-year-old mother, Lilac 
Description: Blood gushing out through gaping blood vessels in the stump of his dismembered right leg. 

...........................................

"Who do you think created The Manipulation Room? Like, who came up with the idea?" Kierra asked, as we walked down the school corridor together. It was time to go home, we just needed to go to afternoon register. The day was long but my heart was still warm from the free period I'd spent with Ezra. The memory was still fresh in my mind. "God knows..." I mumbled, stopping at my locker to fill it with fat folders full of notes. I wrestled with a folder, pushing it into a tiny space in the top corner of my locker. She stared at my overfilling locker, "You really are the world's biggest nerd, aren't you? Lockers are for dirty sports kits and old sandwiches...not schoolwork." 
I gave her a confused look, "You're crazy." Sometimes I honestly wondered if Kierra knew she was at a school. 

The school hallway stank. The odour of the stale urine curled from under the restroom doors, depressingly mixed with deodorant and body odour in equal measure. I kept my head down and pushed my way through the sea of despondent faces. I scoffed as I walked under a banner: "The child in pursuit of knowledge, not knowledge in pursuit of the child." We all know who'd said that...President Thanatos. The hallways were dark marble floors and white walls, not a hand print or scuff mark anywhere. The doors were a glossy black, numbered with silver digits that matched the globe shaped handles. 

I followed Kierra towards our classroom and when we arrived it was already stock-full of students. Credence was sitting with a group of students that I rarely sat with as we arrived to our desks. "Hey girlies!" He chirped, hugging us both as we sat on either side of him. The other students said their hellos before continuing with their conversation. "What'cha talking about?" Kierra asked, putting her backpack onto her desk. Credence snorted, "We found something." 

He held up a ripped page, it took me a second to register what it was before I realised. It was a page from Ezra's sketchbook. Other pages were scattered around the group, all ripped from the sketchbook which was lying on the desk in between us all. I stared, horrified, as they all passed around certain pages and laughed. I had a flashback to when Ezra had so proudly shown me his work, and now it was ruined. Maddox, the world's biggest jerk, erupted into laughter, "What a weirdo..." 

I flashed Credence an irritated glance as he inspected one of the pages; a beautiful drawing of a girl in a yellow summer dress sitting on a wooden swing. "What happened to 'future boyfriend'?" I spat. He shrugged, looking suddenly guilty. "It's just drawings, Lyric. I still like him-" 
"-you have a weird way of showing it." 

Kierra suddenly seemed just as uncomfortable as I did. She was a social butterfly but she's also the kindest person I've ever known. Another girl, Trix, whined, "Ugh, what a shame. He's so hot too!" All the girls in the group, minus Kierra and me, squealed and nodded in agreement. What a snobbish, materialistic thing to say...he was handsome, of course, but that had nothing to do with his art. "Y'all are crazy. You're saying he's hotter than this?" Maddox, that self-centered git, flexed his muscles and all the girls giggled. 

Isaiah, another boy in the group, snickered, "All I'm saying...is he doesn't belong here." Everyone in the group nodded in agreement. "Touché." Karma added; she pretended to shudder, making me detest her even more. I've always hated these so-called 'friends'. They all strike me as completely fake, putting up friendly facades to hide their vile personalities. Hate and enmity welled up in my heart, fury itself burning me up. Hate burned in my heart so deep that it was ingrained in the tissue. 

How dare they call Ezra a creep and a weirdo! He wasn't weird, he was talented. Every drawing in the sketchbook was beautiful. They were so deep and full of talent that it told a hundred stories in one art piece. And they'd ripped it all up...Who gave them the right to do that? I had to stop them but I didn't know how; you can't just reverse time. Credence chuckled, "When we marry, I might have to put strict rules on the art he's allowed to draw." He held up a picture of couple, dancing together with water-colours trailing off of their feet and hands. It was another beautiful work of art that had been severely mocked. 

And that's when I lost it. I stood up, stomping my foot on the ground and flashing them all angry looks. Maddox tried to stroke my arm but I pulled it away quickly. "Hey, babe. Chill out!" He chuckled, blowing me an air kiss. I rolled my eyes at him, "Can you all just stop?" 
He pretended to have been shot in the chest. "Ouch! That stung. Maybe a kiss will make it better?" He puckered up and pushed his face forward, much to my annoyance. Credence gestured for me to sit down but I stayed standing. He gave me a concerned glance, "What's wrong, Lyric?" 
"Why did you rip up his book?! Have you even said more than two words to him?" I folded my arms, tapping my foot steadily on the ground to avoid lashing out. 

"Have you?" Isaiah asked, folding his arms and resting his shoulders against the desk he was sitting on. I thought back to the free period we'd shared together earlier. It was all sorts of blissful, he had been a lovely presence. I'd seen a side to him I didn't even know existed; I'd seen the real Ezra. I paused before croaking a quiet 'yes'. "What? When?" Credence spat, a shadow going over his face as he swallowed. There was a muffled gasp before Karma broke into laughter. "You fancy him!" She chortled, her laughter echoing around the walls. Soon enough, the whole group was laughing too. Like I was just some love-struck joke to them. I clenched my fists and saw, out of the corner of my eye, that Kierra wasn't laughing. She simply gave me and understanding glance and sat in silence. I'd never been so grateful to call her a friend. 

"Lyric, you're kidding. You and him?! No. No way." Credence stammered, holding my shoulder and creasing his forehead. I pulled away abruptly and glared at him, "We're not together! Why did you rip up his sketchbook?"
None of them were taking me seriously at all; they were all breaking down into laughter.  Maddox grabbed a page from Isaiah's lap, and I noticed it straight away. It was the sketch of Ezra's parents. "These are actually so dumb." He chortled. I looked back to Ezra's desk. His bag and belongings were there, probably where they got the sketchbook from, but he wasn't there. Where was he? 

I turned back to Maddox and in one swift motion I grabbed the page from his hands. He protested, trying to grab it back, but I was too quick. I folded the page and stored it safely in my pocket. "You guys are actually disgusting. How could you?" I spat. "Wow, you really got the hots for him, eh?" Credence mumbled, whilst I stared at the door, awaiting Ezra's return. I groaned, erupting into fury. "Why can't I just be a decent human being without fancying a guy?!" I yelled. "Them, I expected this from, but you? Really, Credence?" 
Credence stared me dead in the eyes, "You're the one whose freaking dating the guy! No wonder you're so triggered. This is all just a bit of banter-" 

"-his work is ruined!" I yelled. "Lyric..." I heard Kierra whisper. I looked at her, following her gaze towards the door. Standing there, was Ezra, looking so shocked that he couldn't even move. Maddox flinched at the sight of him, cursing under his breath. Isaiah brushed pages off of his lap and sunk in his chair. Ezra ran his hand through his cinnamon-coloured hair three times in quick succession and fixed Maddox in a stare that could have frozen the Pacific. He snarled more than spoke, "How dare you..." He was rigid with fury, clenching and unclenching his fists. Ezra was white as chalk. His eyes and mouth were frozen wide open in an expression of stunned surprise, and although he was staring straight at Maddox he appeared not to notice him at all.

"Ezra..." I whispered, lowering my gaze, frozen in time. The whole classroom was tense with silence. No one wanted to be the first to talk. The air was so brittle it could have snapped, and if it didn't, I might have. No-one spoke, what was there to say? Platitudes won't cut it right now. Silence gnawed at my insides. Silence hung in the air like the suspended moment before a falling glass shattered on the ground. The silence was like a gaping void, needing to be filled with sounds, words... anything. The silence was poisonous in it's nothingness, eerily unnatural, like a dawn devoid of birdsong. Silence clung to us like a poisonous cloud that at any moment could choke the life from us. Silence seeped into our every pore, like a poison slowly paralyzing us from either speech or movement. It lingered in the air, thick and heavy, like a blanket. 

The tension in the air was so thick it could've been cut with scissors. Ezra stood at the door, as still as a statue, his eyes glued to the disarray of pages in front of us. It suddenly occurred to me that this looked really bad for my case. Me standing in front of a mess of ripped pages from his sketchbook with people that had so evidently been my friends, when I was the only one who he'd shown these art pieces to. No doubt he thought I was involved in this; I longed to tell him that I wasn't but I couldn't, not now, not yet. Our first conversation and he'd shown me all of his art, and here it was, in ruins. Ezra fixed me in an icy stare, thickly coated in disappointment and I longed to tell him the truth. But I couldn't. I couldn't speak, I couldn't move. I was frozen in time, his stare was like a bullet. 

Suddenly, amidst the uncomfortable silence, Mr Allen-Blue strode in, breaking the unnerving silence with his ginormous presence. "Hey folks! Everyone in your seats please." 
No one moved, no one knew how to. We simply gave each other uncomfortable glances and stayed glued to our original positions. Mr Allen-Blue sensed this and cleared his throat awkwardly. He stood tall at the front of the classroom, "Well...this is weird. Why so glum, chums?" 

Before anyone had time to respond, Ezra turned around and stormed out of the room. He slammed the door shut behind him, causing me to jump. Mr Allen-Blue watched, shocked and confused, as Ezra ran out of the room, before turning back to us. "What have you guys done?" He groaned, rubbing his temples. After Maddox embarrassedly explained what had just occurred, Mr Allen-Blue's face hardened. His previous joyous, cheery personality had disappeared entirely, and he was now holding a rather strict demeanour. I'd never seen him so angry, it only unnerved me further.

"In your seats, now!" He boomed. Everyone stumbled to their seats and cowered in them, some shaking with fear. "Who did this?" There was silence. Mr Allen-Blue glared at every student in the room, "I said, who did this?!" He repeated. "It was me...and Credence, Isaiah, Trix and Karma." Maddox squeaked, staring at the ground. Mr Allen-Blue gave him a seething stare, "You five, stay behind at the end of the day." His voice was surprisingly calm, the fire that had been ignited inside of him was extinguishing. 

He stared at everyone else, "Ezra is our newest class member and I expect him to be treated with respect! That means his belongings should not be ruined, or even touched. The guy's been through a lot already, I don't expect you kids to understand but I expect you to at least sympathise with that. If I ever hear that he has been treated like this again...serious action will be taken." He gave us all a final death stare before retreating to his desk and taking the afternoon register. 

I couldn't stop thinking about Ezra. What everyone thought of him...what he probably thought of me now. I wasn't who he thought I was and it hurt that his impression of me was probably a bad one. I just wanted to explain myself, I didn't want him to hate me. It stung that he probably did. But I couldn't stop thinking about him. 

His face kept invading my thoughts.