𝐓𝐇𝐄 𝐆𝐑𝐄𝐀𝐓 𝐖𝐀𝐑, 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗺𝗮𝘇𝗲 𝗿𝘂𝗻𝗻𝗲𝗿

2. all by yourself, sitting alone

The hours goes by, and not a conversation or activities exchanges between the four. It's been a long time since they have their quality time together since Thèrèse is busy all the time, and so are Bea. The girls gathered around the floor, "So.. what are we gonna do today?" Nancy asked, boringly as she lazily flips a magazine page.

Nancy's words go into Thèrèse ears like a knife to a butter. She glances up at the girl who's lazily flipping a magazine, "Do our homework," Thèrère mumbles, shrugging her shoulders slowly as her eyes follow the book cover Nancy's holding. The girl turns to Nancy, "What kind of question is that?" Bea asks.

"But Thèrèse, I already finished my homeworks." Vicky looks up to the older girl. Nancy turns to them, "No, you don't." Vicky gave her a warning, playful glare.

Vicky crosses her eyes, "Yeah I did, I'm not doing no homeworks that aren't worth no grades," she said, shaking her head to add more seriousness. Bea and Nancy both exchange glances at Thèrèse who still has eyes on Nancy's book. "You should do your homework too," Bea suggested to Thèrèse.

"I have." Thèrèse said steadily, just giving her a side glance while her fingers moving to flip the pages of her book she's reading.

Nancy rolled her eyes, "What kind of books are you even reading?" Bea asks Thèrèse who's still flipping through the book, "You'll be surprised." Nancy snickered. "I'm already surprised, you can still read?" Bea asked as her and Nancy shared a chuckle at the comment.

The girls let out a small chuckle, then silence fills the room. Bea and Nancy look at the book title Thèrèse is reading, with a bit of confusion. "What in the world- Why are you reading this?" Bea asks Thèrèse. The girl shrugs her shoulders, "Why can't I read a novel?"

"You can read a novel, Bea. You just don't want to." Thèrèse chuckled softly, looking at her best friend as they shared a laugh at her comment.

The girls share a small laughed, and Bea yawns, not even bothering to cover her mouth. Nancy grimace, shaking her head. "Cover your mouth, Bea. It's disgusting."

Bea only roll her eyes before standing up, "Let's get moving." She said, stretching her arms upwards, "Can you imagine being stuck in this place forever? I would go clinically insane," Bea says to Thèrèse.

"You already are clinically insane." Vicky comments sarcastically from besides Thèrèse as they all laughs.

Bea quickly gives Vicky a playful glare, Nancy laughing softly in the background. Then, the girls fall into a silent as Bea sits on the edge of her bed, staring at the floor. The silence stretches between the girls, Thèrèse eventually speaks up. "What if we never get out of here?" She asks out loud, looking at both Vicky and Bea with a concerned expression.

"You're not the one to worry, Thèrèse." Nancy scoffs, "Your father practically owned and take care of this place. This prison," Nancy sneer at the last part. But she's not mad of Thèrèse. No, she could never. Thèrèse sighs, "We could never get out of here. There's no world out there, no nature.. no animals.. I'm not even sure if there's humans out there, like us." Thèrèse said softly, feeling like a failure. They shared sad glances.

Thèrère's words slowly drift towards Bea's ears, then it hits her. Thèrère is right, they're never escaping this place. All those hopes and dreams they've shared in all those long conversations just... vanished. This is their reality now. Their home. The girls sit in silence, their voices barely whisper, "Is this really over?" Thèrère whispers. Bea slowly nods her head. "I'm so tired of waiting," Thèrère adds softly. Her words sting into Bea's heart, but she keeps her composure.

Vicky gently rubs Thèrèse' shoulder for comfort, "Have faith, Thèrèse. We can make it out of here. They can torture us, and treat us like subjects experiment.. but it will be over soon. We'll have our freedom." Vicky gives a reassuring nod.

Thèrèse looks over at Vicky, the girl's encouraging words slowly sink into her mind. Her smile softens, then she reaches out for Vicky's hand. Vicky smiles back, gripping Thèrèse' hand. Thèrèse looks back at Bea, who's just staring at the floor, ignoring the three girls. "Bea?" Thèrèse asks softly. The girl slowly looks up at Thèrèse, then turns her gaze to Vicky and Nancy.

"Yeah?" Bea answer quietly, looking up and stare back at the three girls.

"I have hope," Thèrèse whispers to Bea. The girl's smile slowly disappears, and her head slowly shakes to disagree with Thèrèse' hope. But Thèrèse doesn't back down at Bea's look, so she takes a deep breath, "I want to believe we have a chance. That this all isn't over." Thèrèse says confidently. Bea stares back at Thèrèse for a couple seconds, then her expression slowly turns to a soft one.

Nancy approach next, giving Bea a small pat on the back. "Don't be too hard on yourself, Bea. We can do this." She said as the girls agreed together.

Thèrère and Vicky both look at Bea with hopeful smiles, the girl's look changes from shock to disbelief as she tries to form her thoughts into words. "It's true, my head has just been filled with so much negativity," Bea admitted, "I'm tired of being in this place. It's killing me." The girl looks over at the girls with a hopeful smile, "We need to take that chance," she spoke confidently, "This isn't over for us."

Nancy nods, looking down at her watch. "Well, in the meantime, let's have supper. Who's hungry?" She said giddily.

The girl's faces light up as Nancy mentions supper, "Me," Thèrère says excitedly, "I'm starving." Vicky follows by saying she's hungry too. The girls let out a small laughter, sharing an excited look before they start preparing their meal for supper.

As they walked down the hallway, Nancy quickly remember. "Wait guys, I just remember that Janson wants to talk to me. He said to call me in his office, I'll be right back." She said, as if it was emergency.

The three girls share a curious look, but Thèrère looks the most confused as Nancy mentions the news. "What's he even talking about? What's wrong?" Thèrère quickly asks Nancy with worry, but then she thinks, "Is something wrong?" She asked Nancy more calmly, with a concerned look. Bea looks between the two, not knowing what to think.

Vicky crosses her arms, looking off to the side. "Janson always have something stupid to say to us," Vicky spoke up, "Don't let it bother you." She told Nancy with a roll of her eyes.

Nancy nods, "I know. But it won't take too long. I promise I'll be right back."

The three girls nod, "Okay, if you say so, be careful!" Thèrèse replies, still sounding concerned, but she keeps her tone calm for Nancy's sake. All this worrying and thinking is mentally exhausting for Thèrère, but she's not going to mention anything about it. She's trying to stay hopeful for everyone's sake.