Their Reserve

Dark

The door opens. She only knows because the light appears. And stays, that's not normal, it means he hasn't shut the door. For once she can see her lap, see her pale hands, she doesn't dare look up, he doesn't like that, even if today is already weird.

She stares at her fingernails as the footsteps come down the stairs, closer and closer. Donk, donk. Steady. Measured. Different. Quieter.

Donk. Five more steps before the noise reaches the floor. Donk. Four. Donk. Three. She can see her bare legs are well, so pale, so thin. Donk. Two. Donk. One. One more step, then she has to follow whatever instructions he/they give her. She takes one last deep breathe, she never knows what he will tell her to do, it's a good idea to make sure she has plenty of oxygen before he gets here. Donk.

The steps stop. A voice speaks.

"This is Volto. Beta is good. Beta test one achieved!" her head snaps her up, that is not his voice, her head snaps back down. This person is scarier, if that's possible. The voice doesn't speak again, but the person doesn't come closer. She risks another glance.

Dark purple and black across their entire body. No skin visible, apart from their lips and chin, a mask covers the rest of their face. She doesn't know if it's a boy or a girl, a man or a woman. The black and purple is shapeless, but practical, even she can tell that, covered in pockets, but it looks flexible, easy to move in. Totally different to the scrap of fabric that she has wrapped around her.

This person looks at her, still not moving, she doesn't understand, her hope is shoved so far down that she can hardly believe what's happening.

Is this person here to hurt her?

Or to...help her?

Is that possible?

The person holds something out in a gloved hand. It looks like the things he wore, the things that he would leave on the floor before he would come at her. The figure doesn't come closer. They stay standing, holding the things out. She doesn't quite understand, she doesn't know if this is a dream, but she wants those things, so she might as well try them on, even if this is a dream. She reaches a hand out, without standing up, stretching for them. She takes them.

She's not entirely sure how to use them, she never has before, but it can't be too hard to figure out...

She figures it out. She has to stand to put the leg coverings on, but this person obviously wants her to put them on, so she does. This person hasn't hurt her yet, this person has her fragile hope growing. It's dangerous.

She knows that's dangerous, so dangerous, to put any kind of hope in any other person but herself. Purple and black takes half a step forward, she does her best not to cringe back, this is when the pain starts. The hope starts to die. Purple and black instantly stops, pulls back, the hope grows, along with the confusion.

"You are free." Three words. She doesn't fully understand them, but Purple and Black is moving up the stairs, they turn, gesturing, telling, no asking her to come.

Free.

She is free. The way this person said it. They meant it. She is free. The door is still open. Purple and Black goes up the stairs. She waits for the door to close. Waits for the trick. The door stays open. The light stays.

Free.

Eight stairs. The person has walked up them all, they are up there, somewhere. She steps up the eight stairs.

Free.

No one stops her. The stairs are hard, the come up to almost her knees and she is so tired, so weak. Her legs hurt. Her side hurts. Purple and black waits at the top.

On the other side of a room she barely remembers. Her hand goes to her side, Purple and black's mouth gets tight, but in a way that doesn't make her scared.

"Your side hurts." It's not a question. This person knows somethings wrong. She has no idea what to say, so she nods. The mouth narrows further. "Come on." Their hands twitch again, gesturing to follow. Holding her side, she follows. "I'm taking you to the hospital." Again statement, not question. she nods again, what else can she do. The mouth smiles, but it's not a cruel smile, not like his. "You are never coming back." Again statement, this one she likes, this one she loves, this one almost makes her smile.

Purple and Black's smile widens a well, just a fraction. She nods. Purple and Black makes her feel safe. She gets in the car, what else would she do?

She wakes up in hospital. Purple and Black is gone, she's hooked up to hundreds of machines, ones that she doesn't understand.

None of the people that come to see her make her feel safe like Purple and Black did. None. Though the strange old guy and the young blond one's come close. The blond one has a cast on one arm, he looks hurt, his eyes dance though, half pain half amusement. She doesn't understand him properly, but the blonde one is nothing like him, nothing like the one that hurt her so much.

She doesn't really trust any of them. It feels like she's trapped somewhere else, though no one hurts her here. She likes it here more, a lot more.

She still wants Purple and Black back. She knows they will come for her at some point. She doesn't say a word, she knows they are coming back. They told her so themselves, told her when she was falling asleep in their car.

"I'll be back for you, when you are healed, promise me to get better and I'll be back for you. I promise." They told her that, she knows that it could be a while, they told her that too, so she waits, patiently.

The others, the unsafe ones, ask how she got to the 'Hospital' she says nothing. The old guy never askes-she thinks he knows already.

She meets other children; they all seem like her. Their eyes are like hers in the mirror. Then she finds the paper. The unsafe ones have been teaching her how to read, she wants to make Purple and Black proud, so she learns. It's a number, they have been teaching her those as well, there is a sting of numbers, she knows what this means, she knows this means that she needs one of the devices the other one's use.

When you need me, call!

That's what the rest says. She realises that she doesn't need Purple and Black yet, she is going to continue to learn, to get better before she goes to see them.

They have given her a way out. A no holds barred, way out.

A way to be truly free, which makes her free here.

The number is memorised.

The next day she smiles slightly at the old guy.

He smiles gently back at her. 

I hope you liked this rather short very confusing chapter . 

Tell me what you think!!!!

Happy Christmas!!!