Fighting the Losing Battle

Chapter 9 - Choices

Hello again! I'm back with another chapter - although it's only a short one this time SORRY! I am snowed under with coursework and essays at the moment, but I will try my hardest to update again soon (within the next couple of weeks, if I can, but please don't hold me to that!)

Unedited - Will be edited later (may contain spelling/grammatical mistakes)

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Lukas POV

"Come in," his deep, booming voice reverberates, even through the sturdy wooden door.

I clench my fists in an attempt to quench the trembling - it wouldn't do me any good to show just how nervous I actually am. My lungs tighten, my breathing erratic and raspy. I wish I didn't always get so anxious around other people. I force the cool oxygen into my lungs. In through my nose, out through my mouth. I try to hide this side of me, in general - I don't want the others to have yet another reason to cast me out. My job demands that I am fearless, that I am emotionless. And so, with all eyes on me, I must be. They cannot possibly ever see what I really am. A trembling wreck. A broken mess. A coward.

They threaten to overpower me, my weaknesses. Every day they get harder to hide. I have to keep control. I have to build my walls up high. I can't let anyone in.

Aware that each breath is getting slightly easier, I place one hand - now barely quivering - onto the solid door. Splintering wood brushes my fingers, but I don't notice the pain. I am too caught up with nerves. I gingerly push open the door.

An immaculate room looms before me. White-washed walls. Desk in the centre. A chair behind the desk. Just as it always is. Adrian sits, waiting, in this chair. Just as it was last time. His features are blank, professional; I can't read him at all. So unlike him. Just as it was before.

Identical, in fact.

This worries me. I am instantly alert. I recognise that look on his face. The last time I was here, I was pretty much evicted from the team. That face means bad news, as far as I am concerned. And it's presence today can only mean one thing: more bad news. I take a deep breath, and brace myself. Whatever Adrian is about to say, whatever it is, it must be important.

And that scares the hell out of me.

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Kira POV

I have been keeping myself busy. Well, as busy as one can keep oneself when locked in a tiny stone prison. I would call it something more like 'occupied'. I am doing anything I possibly can, to keep my thoughts away from the one place I have promised to avoid. Unfortunately for me, that is the place that they keep wandering to, despite all my best efforts. Still, I have to try.

First of all, I thoroughly examined my prison, searching for potential escape routes, weapons, anything that might give me even the tiniest hold on them. My search proved futile, but it was necessary all the same. Next I thought back - right back to the time that they caught me unaware in my room, to when they latched onto my trail in the woods, to when I was captured, all the way up to being brought here. There are gaps in my memory, however, between my capture and being here. Of course, this could prove to be a huge problem if I ever manage to escape - I currently have no idea of where I actually am. The thought terrifies me, but if I must, I will find my way, I am sure.