*Possible trigger warning - abuse. Please proceed carefully.*

"What if I wanted to break? Laugh it all off in your face? What would you do?"
30 Seconds to Mars

Ah, silence.

Anna Baker basked in the quiet that had settled over her makeshift surveillance room as soon as her benefactor had left, muttering about getting to work before his absence was noted.

As if anyone would care.

She, for one, was enjoying his absence immensely and wished he would stay away and let her continue to watch the kids in peace.

She sighed as she looked back at the screen, the angry one still trying to get his restraints off and swearing at her. Did he not realise how lucky he was to even be here?

The dark haired girl was still unconscious. Anna felt something close to worry. She needed the girl to wake up. Surely she shouldn’t be out for this long?

If she didn’t wake up then how was Anna going to continue documenting the effects of the serum? She needed to ensure that the hallucinations would start again. Anna checked the time, it had only been a few hours and one of them had already succumbed to their visions. She would wait for the others to do so as well, before questioning them on what they had seen. Surely the girl would be awake by then.

She couldn’t wait to find out.

The sound of wood splintering stopped that thought in it’s tracks. The angry one had managed to break free from his straps! Rage filled her like boiling water as she watched him go to the blonde one and start freeing her.

That stupid, insolent child!

Did he really think that being free would do them any good? If anything, they would become a danger to themselves. And how could she go in there now if they were all running loose? He was ruining everything like the insipid insignificant teenager that he was. He would have to pay for his lack of respect.

She took a deep calming breath, determined to get her anger under control. Emotions were a burden that everyone had to bear, but Anna truly believed she was above all of that. Therefore, she would have to look at the situation logically, the way she did best, and not let some bratty little child irk her.

So she couldn’t go in now. So, what? The results were already positive. She would have to wait until after the serum had worn off. Maybe pump some sleeping gas in under the door to knock them all out again so she could put them back in their places. But it would be a simple matter.

Anna smiled as the angry boy froze, looking at something that wasn’t there. At almost the exact same time the curly haired one’s eyes glazed over his expression turning to one of horror. She pulled her notebook closer, ready to write down the effects that Phobia would have on them.

She felt a strange desire to laugh, allowing a soft cackle to escape her lips before jotting down the time of their reactions. Soon, the angry one would be begging for her to put his restraints back on.

And she would laugh once more.

Fear was quicksand.

It held you tightly in it’s grasp, choking you. Consuming you until there was no room left to breathe. The more you struggled to get away from it, the more it pulled you in, sucking you into it’s deep, dark depths.

Unlike the others, Aaron knew exactly what he was about to see. He was no stranger to fear. In fact, it had been his constant companion for years. Basically crawling into his childhood bed and cuddling up to him every night.

Much like the man who waited until Aaron’s parents were asleep before visiting him in his room.

It was his deepest secret, a demon that lived inside him, eating away at every good memory prior to the first night when his life had changed forever. His parents were the only ones he had told, and that was after two years of torture and sleepless nights.

If the others knew, if Noah knew, they would never look at him the same and the happy, jovial mask he had worked so hard to build over the years since would crumble to ash, leaving him exposed with nowhere to hide.

And now that psychotic woman named Anna was about to dig up the secret he had tried to bury and force him to confront his demons in a way that was both cruel and terrifying.

He hated her with every fibre of his being.

When the sound of snapping wood filled his ears, Aaron didn’t feel anything close to relief. Instead, as he saw Ryder stand up, blood trailing from his wrists, he wished that Ryder had remained strapped to the chair. He watched Ryder rush to Savannah’s side, grateful that he had gone there first instead of releasing Aaron from his restraints. Aaron was terrified of what he was capable of when the hallucinations started.

Feeling panic begin to rise up in his throat again, Aaron tried to catch Noah’s eyes across the room. Noah was his hope, his guiding light in the storm. But Noah was not looking in Aaron’s direction. Noah had been freed and was holding Kayla as though his life depended on it. Maybe it did.

Though it hurt like hell, Aaron wasn’t foolish enough to believe that it was part of the hallucinations. Noah and Kayla had a history together, much more than a few stolen moments and secret rendezvous in Aaron’s bed.

So he closed his eyes, waiting for the vision he knew was coming. When his name was spoken by someone who hadn’t previously been in the room, he wasn’t even surprised.

“Aaron.”

It was the voice that Aaron had spent years in therapy trying to forget. One that had haunted his nightmares. One that still managed to make Aaron’s breath catch in his throat and shivers dance up his spine.

After all, you never really forget the worst thing that has ever happened to you. The memory dulls with time like a brass trophy that has been tarnished with age, but it’s still there, and using a little bit of polish restores it to it’s former glory.

With one word, it all came rushing back. The terror he used to feel lying in his bed, hiding under the duvet as the door to his room slowly creaked open. The shame and humiliation that settled on him after the man would leave the room. The grief he felt that someone who was supposed to love and take care of him could inflict this kind of pain on him.

Yes, he had known it was coming, but that didn’t stop the sweat from breaking out on his forehead or the tears from falling. It didn’t stop the fear that constricted his chest.

He died in prison. He’s not really here. You're imagining it.

But it was hard to convince himself of this, as the apparition that had appeared in front of him seemed so real. He was here, standing in front of Aaron, solid and immovable. Every single one of Aaron’s senses begged him to believe it.

He could smell the putrid stench of stale whiskey that seemed to wrap itself around him like a noose. He could hear the ragged breathing he had become all too familiar with. He could taste the fear and regret that lingered on his tongue like cigarette smoke. He could feel the rough fingers trailing up his arms, eliciting goose bumps in the most horrific way possible.

Worst of all, when he looked up he could see the dark dead eyes that had haunted his nightmares.

He was really here. The man that had brought Aaron to his breaking point. The one that had stolen his childhood out from underneath him. The man who thought it was okay to abuse an eight year old.

Aaron finally opened his mouth to speak, the words getting caught up in his throat, his voice shaking uncontrollably.

“Uncle Nihil.”