Till Death Does Us Part

Prologue

It was dark, so dark. He was alone. No one could hear his cries. No one could save him. Around the room, medical equipment surrounded him; wires, machines, and needles. He’s been there for as long as he can remember. He knew no one's name, and only one person knew his. That was the owner. Normally, other workers would do the injections and check-ups, but Arius was different. The owner personally conducted Arius’s experiments. He never told anyone about himself, he never showed his face either. The only identifiable trait of him is the sound of his shoes. The thumps are enough to silence the entire building of its sobs.

He sat alone, choking on his own tears. He was trying not to alert anyone. If he did, there would be trouble.

It had been a regular day, the injections were late. That should’ve been the first sign of something being wrong. But how could he have known?

It was so loud. The sirens echoed. It pounded into their heads. Arius gripped at his ears.

It was too loud.

He sat alone in the corner, rocking, trying to calm himself down. He was terrified but elated. Were they finally going to save him? Tears streamed down his face and his breathing quickened. His whole body quivered. He tried to stay quiet.

In a trice, the door blew open. Crowds of people rushed in. They all swarmed him. Paramedic rushing to take his vitals, officers standing with their guns drawn, ready to shoot any threat that was there. He needed to get out now. His body froze, tears streamed down faster, his breathing sped up more, and his vision blurred. Every noise was muffled, and everything was distant. There was a pulsing in his ears. He was terrified beyond belief. In his panicked state, he could hear a voice louder than the rest, a calming voice unlike the rest. It felt homely to Arius. He raised his head enough to see over his arms to look for where the voice was coming from. When his vision focused, he saw a man amongst the crowd. A tender expression lacing his face.

“Hey, kiddo, you’re alright.” He whispered softly, “Everyone, away.” The sound of the shuffling of feet on the floor made his hands grasp even tighter over his ears. Arius wanted out, he wanted to be alone. His head gradually perked up after the shuffling stopped. He calmed enough to release the grip from around his ears. He could feel the blood trickle down his neck. The red crescents stung when his hair caressed the open wounds. The feeling was enough to make him start sobbing once again. “Hey, hey, look at me, you’re alright bud, I'm going to move your hair, is that alright, mate?” The soft voice my muttered, Arius could only nod, sobs quieting to whimpers. “Alright, there we go. Is that better, bud?” He asked, scarred hands held his face, thumbs rubbing the tears off his cheeks. Arius froze for a moment, not knowing how to react to the contact.

The man in front of him smiled, watching the teen melt into his touch. “My name is Sam, what’s your name kiddo?” ‘Sam asked, voice slowly getting louder. “It’s um, I think it's Tanda, but people call me 0126” Arius’s voice barely came out above a whisper. “ Right, how about we get out of here, Tanda?” Sam stood upright, knees giving a satisfying pop. His hand outstretched to Arius, his shaking hand grabbed Sam’s, "Let's go home."