Chapter 8

I am back in the training room at school. My teacher standing there, her nose buried in the clipboard she carries around all the time.

"Get your weapons ready!" she yells. "We're opening the doors in five minutes!"

I run into the blood-scented weapon shack, covering my mouth to avoid breathing in the foul stench and pick up my bow, along with as many arrows I can carry. I sprint out of the shed and run back into the back door of the school, already out of breath. I grab my breastplate, my arm guards, shin guards and my helmet and put them on as fast as I can.

"One minute!"

Just when I fasten the helmet on my head, the huge metal doors rumble open and all of the students run into the training field. It isn't a field; it's like a different world. It stretches five kilometers in all directions and offers good hiding spots. I head towards the forest area, my bow ready. Suddenly a stocky six-foot boy come crashing towards me, an axe gripped firmly in his hand. I dodge his first swing and arm my bow with an arrow. I let go and the arrow hits the boy's helmet. He swears loudly and his helmet lights up. I take this opportunity to run away, deeper into the bushes. I stop for a few seconds to catch my breath. Bad idea. Someone shoves me from behind and I crash face-first into a nearby tree, crying out in shock. My attacker flips me around and I stare at the pointy knife that's being held at my throat. I kick my opponent in the shins and dive to the ground rolling on impact. I jump back up and arm my bow with another arrow and pull it back, ready to fire...but I have no one to fire it at. I scan the area, perplexed, as I search for whoever attacked me before. Suddenly someone squeezed my sides from behind and I scream involuntarily. I jump around and see a grinning Kevin.

"I win," he laughs, relaxing completely.

"Nope, not yet," I snap back, grinning.

I tackle Kevin and we fall to the floor. We wrestle for a while until somehow, I pin him down. "Ha!" I boast. Kevin smirks and literally flips me over and I collide, once again, with the ground. Quickly racking through my brain, I come up with another strategy. I moan, staying immobile on the ground. Kevin jumps off me instantly and sits beside me.

"You okay?"

Taking advantage of this moment, I pounce, like a cat, and just when I'm about to land on him, someone flings a sharp rock at my face. I cry out in pain and fall beside Kevin, instead of on him.

"Hey!" yells Kevin. "You're supposed to aim for the helmet, not the face!"

"Whoops. Guess I didn't aim properly,"

I know that voice. Penny. I glace up at her, and notice that she is holding a slingshot, along with a handful of sharp pebbles. "Damn it Penny," I grumble, massaging my jaw.

"Damn what girl? You should actually apply what you learn. Ass," she adds in the end. Fury is cursing through my veins and I can no longer contain myself. I am about to punch her until I stop, cold. I take in another deep breath of air, and catch a whiff of smoke. Panicking, I look around me and I see it. Thick orange flames, traveling swiftly in our direction. I bolt, running towards the door. When I get there, I find out that its jammed shut.

"There's no escape now dear," rings out a voice, unmistakably belonging to Chad.

Fear is taking over as I kick the door; punch it, trying whatever I can think of. But it's no use; the door won't budge.

"Help! Help!" I scream, my eyes watering from the smoke. I throw my whole body at the door repeatedly, but there's still no luck. I scream as the flames approach me and suck me in a swirling pit of darkness.

I wake up in a cold sweat, shivering from the nightmare that I just experienced. I seemed so real, so realistic. I swear that I can still smell singed hair. I open my eyes slowly, unsure if what I'm about to see. A dark room; lighted by a single, solitary light in the middle of the concrete ceiling. I am in a prison cell. I sit up, slowly, taking this in. I feel like I'm an animal, captured against its will, looking at the solid metal bars separating me from the world. I am alone. A scream from somewhere above me makes me jump, giving me goose bumps. This isn't an ordinary scream. It's a hardcore shriek, like when you run your fingernails down a chalkboard, interrupted by constant bawling and pleads of mercy. Someone is being tortured.

I shudder and get up, trying to drive my mind away from the awful sounds this person is making. I remember that something happened before I got here, something painful. It felt weird, like something was going through me. Like a bullet. Now that I think about it, I think that it was. I look at the place where it hit and find layers of bandages. At least it doesn't hurt as much now. I put my fingers around the cold metal bars, and look though the gaps; the tenebrosity is killing me. I see a figure lying down peacefully on the ground in another set of bars.

"Nickie!" I whisper loudly.

He perks up immediately and turns around. "Centa!" he runs towards me and holds onto the bars, like I am. "Where are we?"

"I don't know," I answer sadly. "Have you seen Kevin and Penny?"

"No,"

My heart sinks. I try to picture where they are right now; for all I know, they might be in line, waiting to get the same treatment as the person above us. I kick the bars, I don't know why; I guess that I'm hoping to achieve something. In fact I did; a bruised toe.

Footsteps, echoing through this gloomy hallway. One after the other, each one louder than the next. The distinct ringing of keys. I see a shadow, coming closer and closer. A man, tall and muscular, takes a step into the light and stops in front of me.

"What's your name?"

Logically, if you are in the position that I am in, and a scary looking guy with a mohawk asks for your name, you don't give it to him. But after some experience with Chad, I learn not to lie.

"Centa," I reply, matter-of-factly, trying to hide my fear.

I sneer passes by this man's lips and he proceeds to unlocking my cell. "Good, good. Master Chad has been anxious to see you,"

Oh crap. Should've lied. I know deep down what's coming and gulp. The man opens the prison cell and yanks my arm, pulling my along. I see face, after face, staring right at me as I pass by. Some chubby, some skinny, and some bloody. Then I see a face with bright blond hair, sticking up all over the place. Kevin gapes at me as I pass by and he suddenly looses it. He starts kicking and puling at the bars violently, with all of the strength that he can muster, yelling at the top of his lungs.

"Let go of her! You can't do this! No!"

His desperate pleads are useless, but they persist long after we enter the actrolator. The door swishes open and I see a long white hallway, the brightness hurting my eyes. The man continues to pull me forcefully and I catch a glimpse of what's through each room through the windows. In one room, I see two people wearing suits, washing the blood off the walls. In another I see a man, his stomach cut wide-open, wires sticking out. I start to shake uncontrollably and the man laughs pulling me faster. Finally we stop. The door opens robotically and the man pushes me in. I shiver when I see Chad lounging comfortably on a chair, playing with his knife. My gaze flickers towards a table with many different instruments on it. Torture instruments.

"Come Centa, sit down, get comfy," he said a little too warmly, gesturing to a metal table to my right. I am weaponless, defenseless, and I have no choice but to obey him.

"How can I get comfy on this thing?" I joke, trying to stop my legs from shaking.

Chad smiles at my pathetic joke and get up, reaching for a familiar remote on the table. He pushes some buttons and claws snap out of the bed, grabbing both my arms and legs. Chad pushes another remote and ropes pop out and tie me to the bed, quickly. There's no escape now.

"Better?" he smirks cruelly. "Now Centa, let me tell you why you're here. You see, after that little scene with you destroying my clock tower, you delayed my plan quite a bit I might add," He slashes my cheek with his knife and I wince. "Without that clock tower to mess up with their brains, I had to come up with another idea right? So," he cuts me again. "I invented a new way of getting to their minds, I simply have to remove every single path to the brain. And by doing that," another cut, deeper this time, on my leg. "I succeeded. I replaced their veins and nerves with wires so I can tell their brain exactly what to do. Smart huh? I've got to admit, I've inherited my father's brains, he was a scientist you see, and my mother, well, she was a softy, and pretty dumb, like Kevin, my stupid excuse for a brother,"

"Kevin's not stupid!" I spit menacingly at him. And it's true. He's figured out things that I'll only figure out in my dreams. "You should look at yourself dumbass!"

Whoops. I kind of got carried away there. That was not smart at all. I'm venerable in this state. He can do anything to me. Anything. Suddenly pain zips through me like lightning and I scream. This is worse than anything I have ever experienced. Worse than the taser, worse than the bullet. Blinding flashes of light cross my vision, bruising knuckles strike me, hurting me. Sticky red blood is all around me. Everywhere hurts so much that I want to explode. I take another quivering breath, Chad laughing his thick-tongue laugh, the room spiraling around me, and everything is gone.

(Transition)

"Centa! Wake up!"

I groan lying on the damp floor in my prison cell. My body is aching and I'm still in pain. I somehow manage to turn towards the voice and open my eyes. Everything is blurry but I recognize my little brother's voice. I blink several times and my vision clears up. I can see dried blood on my eyelashes. I ignore this and look at Nickie. He looks like he's been crying, his eyes are red and puffy, and clutches the bars.

"Nickie," I croak in a voice much lower than mine.

"H-he...I heard you screaming a-and I thought-" Nickie covers his face whimpering. I can see his body shaking from sobs.

"It's okay," I console. Truth is, it's not okay. I hurt in a million different places and I think that I'm still bleeding. I can feel dried tears on my face but I can't wipe them away. I can barely move.

"T-they took him," blubbers Nickie, raising his head up. "After they brought you back, he saw you and he thought...I thought, and then they took h-him,"

"Who did they take Nickie?" ask solemnly.

"K-Kevin,"

Nickie breaks down again, but I can't hear him. The thought that Kevin might experience the same amount of pain that I experienced chills me to the bone. I'm pretty sure that Chad will torture him worse than he did me, because Chad hates him. He'll probably kill him.

I brush this thought away. No, Kevin's strong. He can do it. After what seems like an hour, I don't hear anything. No screams. No begging for mercy. I wonder what Chad is doing to him right now. On cue, I hear the actrolator door open and I hear footsteps, and the distinct sound of someone dragging a large object. Kevin.

I can't move a muscle. I don't know what's happening right now. Nickie is watching this scene unfold before him with a look of shock on his face.

"N-Nickie?" I mumble, trying to enunciate properly. "What's happening?"

"Nothing. It's just that...he seems...I don't know...different,"

"What do you mean?" I pursue.

"He's walking funny and he looks like he's seen a ghost,"

My fear has been realized. I suspected it as soon as Nickie opened his mouth to answer. Chad has done something that we can't see. Something to Kevin on the inside, probably in his brain. I hear the rattle of keys as the man locks Kevin's cell and I wait until the actrolator door closes until I speak.

"Kevin?"

Nothing. Not a sound. I wait a few moments before I try again. Still nothing. After a few minutes of calling his name, I give up and close my eyes, hoping that this is just another nightmare. That we will wake up, safe in the forest, Penny cooking breakfast. Speaking of Penny, where is she? I haven't heard a word about her or seen her since that...scene with Kevin and I. She's probably in a prison cell, somewhere, waiting for her turn to see Chad. Suddenly a cry of fear erupts several cells away from me and I hear a murmur of disproval coming from the other captives.

"No! Mom! Dad!" yells Kevin. He kicks the walls desperately, trying to find an escape route, but he's unsuccessful. "Wolves! Wolves!"

I understand what's happening now. Kevin is basically replaying his parent's death over and over in his mind. If I was in his position, I would be going crazy too.

"Dude there aren't any wolves here," laughs a raspy voice in a cell beside me.

"Mom...it's okay, you're going to be okay," consoles Kevin worriedly.

"No honey, listen to me," my eyes open wide. Kevin is playing both parts. I can't do anything but listen in horror. "Be strong. I know that you'll find the way,"

"No! Stay here, I'll get the doctor-"

"It's too late, listen. I want you to go to school, go on with your life. And promise me that you'll keep the tree alive and never tell anyone about it, otherwise bad things will happen, promise me,"

"I-I promise,"

Silence again. I feel a tear slide slowly down my cheek and glace at Nickie. His mouth is open in horror and I feel the same way. I never knew this. Kevin, unknowingly, has told me a secret that he has contained for many years. I remember the sadness on Kevin's face when he told me that the tree burned down. I now know in depth what he was thinking. He broke his promise to his dying mother when he showed me the tree 8 years ago. He didn't do it to break it intentionally, he probably forgot, or didn't see any harm in it. And the light in his eyes when Kevin told me that the tree would live on when he found the seed. Those moments seem so far away. They seemed to only happen in my dreams.

The distinct sound of footsteps make me shudder. Who are they coming for this time? Nickie? I can't see Chad hurting him; he hasn't done anything wrong to upset him. Or at least, anything I can think of.

"Bed time," grunts the man with the mohawk. "And you better fall asleep, or you'll get it tomorrow,"

Wonderful, more threatening. I can't move much so I just curl up where I am, and close my eyes, but this time, sleep never comes. I try my best to calm myself, considering the fact that we're trapped, we never completed our journey, and that Chad is still alive. I hear the actrolator door open and close my eyes, trying to fake the fact that I'm asleep.

"Did you find her boss?"

"No. Damn that little girl!"

Curiosity takes over and I squint. Chad and the mohawk man are talking, no whispering to each other. The way they're talking seems peculiar, like its something I shouldn't be hearing. All the more reason to eavesdrop then.

"You checked the whole forest?"

"Yeah! I wonder where she is...according to Kevin, she's smart, and really good at fighting, so we'll need to surround her when we find her..."

That's all I need to hear. I can't actually smile, so I smile on the inside and sigh gratefully. There's still hope. They didn't get her. I don't know how she did it, with Chad and all of the glass-eyed people around her. But she did it. Penny is going to rescue us, I don't know how she's going to do it, but she'll find a way. I'm certain of it.

"Kevin?"

"Yeah?"

"Why are there so many stars in the sky?"

Kevin laughs at my question and looks at the damp night sky. "Well, you can only see 6,000 stars with the naked eye. There are trillions of other stars in the universe. But remember, one star in every solar system, millions to billions of stars in each galaxy, and billions of galaxies in the universe,"

I process what I just heard in my brain, and even proceed to mouthing the words, but I don't get it immediately. "Nerd," I joke, covering up my stupidity. "How do you know all of these random facts?"

"They aren't random. These facts create up, make us who we are, and it's important to know them,"

I can't believe that those words are coming out of a ten-year-old boy's mouth. Most ten-year-old boys don't just automatically know these things. No one does and from what I know, Kevin hasn't had any classes, lessons or anything, so I have no idea how he knows this. "You still didn't answer my question,"

"It's hard to explain,"

"Kevin," I wear my mock seriousness face. "Remember? We promised never to keep anything from each other,"

On cue, we hear a distant booming and see a jagged flash of lightning, splitting the sky in two. "We can't stay out here, it's dangerous," yells Kevin, as the wind begins to pick up. "Here, I'll walk you home,"

"Okay, but you have to stay tonight,"

"No, I don't think so...not tonight,"

"But you said yourself that it's dangerous! Come,"

Without waiting for a reply, I tug his sleeve and start running home, Kevin following me. The wind is roaring, the rain is pouring, and the tree's branches wave at us as we run by. Within several minutes, our clothes are soaked and I shiver, but I don't stop running. I hear a loud piercing sound, but it's not the lightning. Wolves. I feel bad for them, having to bear this cold weather without a roof above their heads and a cup of hot chocolate. Kevin freezes looking at his feet, his face contorted with memory. "Kevin?" I ask, pulling his arm. "Come on it's cold!"

He remains immobile, listening to the eerie howling, wearing an expression of fear on his face. I didn't know that he was afraid of wolves; I didn't know that he was afraid of anything. "They're far away, they won't get us," I reassure him, but it's not working. The howls stop as another flash of lightning ruptures the night sky and Kevin snaps back to his senses and his eyes dart up to mine. "You okay?" I ask.

"Yeah...I just felt, a little...d-dizzy that's all,"

"Some hot chocolate will do you some good," I smile as we continue running towards my house, the house with the willow tree beside it.

I open my eyes. This flashback refreshed my memory. Kevin was not afraid of wolves, like I thought that night. He was watching his parents die, once again. And I didn't know it. Kevin broke his promise to me; he kept this secret from me, for all these years. Knowing that he had something to hide, something to conceal makes me feel...weird. How much more is he hiding? He could be hiding countless things that make him who is his, like the stars. And it's important for us to know them. That's why we made that promise to each other in the first place. The promise that was broken, shattered. I think about how Kevin is now, driven mad replaying the horrors of his life. Chad. Chad is responsible for all of this. Every single obstacle in my life is originated from him. Chad. If only he was normal, if only he didn't murder his own parents in cold blood, if only he didn't destroy everything we had in the fire. If only. Heck, this is all from the past, and we can't change it. It happened, and we have to accept it. Accept it for what it is. Now that I think about it, life would be different if Chad didn't do those things. First of all, they would still be living in South Merricrest and I probably would've never even met Kevin. That would impact my life, greatly. So even if I could, I wouldn't change the past. It makes us who we are. I lie there and listen to the loud snoring from numerous prisoners, until I drift off myself.

Author's Note: I FINISHED CHAPPIE 8 IN 2 days! That's a record for me :D. Yeah, no worries, later on Kevin shalt regain his mental health and blah blah blah. AND since I have 2 WEEKS OF MARCH BREAK, I'll write (after my stupid march break hw -_-) like crazeeeehh! Well, I already am, but yeah. Stay tuned!

~Layne