chapter twenty-eight / eeship-pal
Blood, Sweat, and Tears
(028)

I gasp, my eyes snapping open, but almost immediately, I shut them closed, grimacing due to the sudden intake of light. For some reason, my head is throbbing and it feels like I'm being stabbed behind my eyes. My body is dripping with sweat and I have a difficult time getting my breathing under control. I look around the room I'm in, but that only adds to my confusion and worry. I don't know where I am.

How did I get here? The last thing I remember was finding that boy who was injured. What happened between now and then?

I try to bring a hand to my aching head, but that's when I realize that my hands are tied behind my back. I can feel the rope burning my skin as I struggle to free my hands. This is when I start to panic, kicking and thrashing in my chair, screaming for anybody to help me, but I can tell by the way my voice echoes off of the walls, this room is soundproof.

"Hey, can you be a little more quiet, I have such a bad headache right now and you're making it so much worse," a strained and tired voice requests, startling me because until now, I thought I was in here alone.

"Y-yoongi?"

"Don't worry, I'm here."

Though the situation is still dire, relief floods through me, making my chest seize and I immediately feel sobs racking my body.

"What's going on? What happened?"

"I'm gonna tell you, but, while I'm doing that, I want you to concentrate on breathing slowly through your nose; you're going to hyperventilate," he soothingly instructs. I suddenly feel his hand grab mine, and despite all that's happened, feeling my friend rub comforting circles on my skin with his thumb is enough to ground me. "After we found that kid, some sort of smoke or gas started to fill the room. We were all knocked out by it. My guess is the boss separated all of us into groups and put us in different rooms."

"How long have you been awake?"

He hesitates for a moment. "I think it's been a few days."

I purse my lips. "You've been alone this whole time," I sadly realize. "Have you seen him? The boss, I mean, did he come back?"

It's silent for a long moment, but that's enough of an answer for me. "Yoongi, what did he do to you?" I ask calmly.

"I think we should come up with some kind of plan to escape." He completely ignores my question, and somehow, that's worse than knowing, because all I can imagine is the boss torturing him for hours, for days, and he had to suffer alone. I wish I could turn my chair to face him, to see his face, to know whether or not he was okay. I can't though, so instead, I focus on his voice, and that's when I know he s definitely not okay.

"The boss comes around two or three times a day to bring food, or to-"

"Yoongi." The air is silent, and I can tell he knows what I'm thinking just by the way I called out to him. "I'm sorry." My voice breaks and tears stream down my cheeks. He grabs my hand and leans his head back so that it's resting against the back of mine.

"Please don't cry, Wren. We'll find a way to get out of here and everything will be okay."

"That sounds a lot like a promise. How are you so sure you can keep it?"

He chuckles lightly and I can practically see the smirk on his face. "I made a promise a long time ago that I'd always protect you, and I think I've done an okay job so far."

It feels like his words are reaching out and squeezing my heart, and it hurts so bad. Even now, when Yoongi has probably suffered so terribly the past few days, he's the one comforting me when it should be the other way around and I constantly wonder when he'll realize that he's too good for me.

Our heads both suddenly lift up and turn towards the metal door when we hear keys rattling against the other side, and the squeals of the lock mechanism turning. I immediately notice how Yoongi holds onto my hand for dear life, and his breathing becomes labored. Oh Yoongi, what did he do to you?

The door swings open, and behind it is revealed a tall, burly man. He wears a black suit, and his appearance says anything except "psychopath" due to how clean and proper he looks, that is, until you get to his neck and up. That's when I notice his white hockey mask, with several holes in it to breathe and see. The eyes behind the holes are what terrify me. They look crazed, too excited for what I know he came here to do.

"You're finally awake," he beams at seeing me. Yoongi's breathing sounds worse as the boss has his attention on me and when he starts to walk my way, I can hear Yoongi struggling against his restraints.

Fear starts to build up in my chest, to the point that I feel like it's a physical object inside of my body, and at any moment I'm going to heave it up. Everytime his shoes clack against the floor, signaling his proximity growing closer, I flinch.

As he stands in front of me, I can only look into his eyes, and what I see is far from human. I think before about my shaking resolve, would I be able to kill him? I think about the things he's done to so many people, and now it feels so much more real, because he's doing those things to the people I care about. How much have they all suffered without my knowing these past few days?

His hand comes up to caress my cheek, and immediately, I struggle to move as far away from him as possible. The boss only chuckles in response, but his eyes don't match the sound. I see something dangerous flash across them, and soon after, he's grabbing a fistful of my hair and jerking my head closer to meet his face. I yelp in pain and I can feel Yoongi thrashing in his chair behind me, curses flying from his mouth as he struggles in vain to help me.

The boss bends down to my eye level and gets dangerously close. Though I can't see anything but his eyes, that's enough for me to read him. Right now, he's smiling at me, but it's anything except inviting. His head tilts to the side as he eyes me up and down.

"Me and your friend over there have had a lot of fun playing together, but I think he needs a little nap time, so what do you say we have a play date? Will you be a good girl for me?" He whispers into my ear, and I feel as if I might lurch when I feel his hot breath on my skin.

"I swear to god, if you lay a single hand on her I will cut off all your limbs and reattach them to your-" Before Yoongi can finish, I hear a hard smack land, followed by coughing and sputtering. I grimace at the sound.

"Yoongi, please don't."

The boss turns his attention back to me and starts to untie my restraints from the chair. I feel my heart plunge into my stomach and a wave of nausea overtakes me.

"I'm so excited to show you my play room," the man before me beams in almost a childlike way. A shiver runs down my spine, and as he grabs my arm to pull me along with him, my survival instinct kicks in, along with an unhealthy amount of adrenaline.

I pull against him and dig my feet in the ground, resisting his efforts to force me along with him. This only seems to frustrate him, so he grabs my hair again and drags me by it. I scream and kick, trying to ignore the pain and still fight against him.

As I'm pulled out of the room, that's when I'm finally able to see Yoongi. His skin is bruised shades of black and purple, caked blood is dried on his fair skin, and his hair is matted by sweat and blood. Tears run down his eyes, and I can see the fear behind them. He should feel defeated, but in this moment, when I'm in danger of being hurt, he stills finds enough strength to fight.

"Wait!" He yells, gaining the attention of the boss. He stops dragging me to listen. "Please, don't hurt her. She doesn't like to play. You can take me instead. Please take me instead!" After everything he's gone through, how can he be so willing to face that same pain again just to spare me. I look at the boss, who actually seems to be considering it, and I shake my head furiously, crying and pleading not to take him.

"That's why you're my favorite to play with, kitty cat!" He sounds overjoyed at Yoongi's request and that's all it takes for him to drop me to the floor.

All I can do is watch as he takes Yoongi away and no matter how much I scream at him to fight it, Yoongi has already accepted his fate and there's nothing I can say or do to change his mind.

"Please, don't take him! Please," I plead and cry and scream and kick, long after the heart shattering sound of the door to the room being slammed shut and locked.