Syndicate of tribulation

Chapter 20

Domo's POV

Jumping out the window sounded like a wonderful plan.

"Dudes and dudettes, I think it's time we actually start taking Dax seriously," I say, in such a grandiose way that makes Dax roll his eyes and mumble, "£10 says you won't wake up tomorrow with all your toes", "pipe down Daxie boy, I was only playing around" I rebuttal.

I was trying to relieve some of the tension. It wasn't working.

"Ok guys, as you may or may not know, I am the Queen of escape plans. I have got us covered, all you lot must do is chill out and let the master do her work, ok?" I voice loudly, trying to capture the attention of all the sulking children around me, who cares if they are 17/18? Not me.

I looked around me, trying to meet my fellow companion's eyes. They looked heavy with sorrow, some with fear. They didn't trust me. But I would certainly prove myself.

I hastily dragged Amo to my room, leaving my friends confused in the living room. "I need to think of a plan. I have escaped numerous places before, surely escaping the government can't be too much harder" I ramble, whilst pacing the length of my room, nervously. Amo looks at me dubiously, like I'm stupid for even trying. He let out an exaggerated sigh then put a hand on my shoulder, "Fine, I'll help you", I looked at him incredulously, "since when did you have a choice?".

I took one of Amo's maps from his room. It was an extremely large map of England, and very detailed too. "So, we are here, and we need to be anywhere but here, and we have few days to do that, any ideas?" I ask my audience of one, Amo, he looks deep in thought and shakes his head slowly.

At this rate, we are never escaping.

In a moment of sheer genius, I call up my other teammates to my room. I asked them the same question I asked Amo but they also provided no answers. "We could always trash our house again and pretend we were kidnapped, they couldn't find us the first time who is to say they will find us the second" Dax says, "ok, that's an idea. Do we have any more?".

After about 2 hours, we had come up with 3 ideas and all were as trash as the ones before. "So with our collective IQ of probably a big number, all we could think of is: Pretend to get kidnapped – which wouldn't work because there are cameras and we have no means of transportation or destination, Jump out a window – which wouldn't work for the same reason as the first idea, and lastly, set the house on fire – which makes no sense in aiding our runaway".

For someone so smart, it is surprising that Tyro would suggest such a dumb idea like 'set the house on fire' maybe he doesn't care for running away.

"Let's just sleep, we aren't getting anywhere with this and there is no point pretending like we get a say in our lives" King announced, then walked away without waiting for a response.

She looked... strange.

I want to say sad, but she is too much of an extraordinary person to use such an ordinary word. Only big words could describe her. Like despondent.

She looked despondent.

Everyone scattered soon after her, following her actions and heading to bed. To the untrained eye, it would look like they were giving up, and it seemed like my eyes weren't as trained as I thought.

I lay awake in my bed. Peering into the darkness, merely existing and not thinking. What is the point of trying to escape when it seems no one else is willing to put in the effort? Maybe I will pray to God that our destiny isn't to die an unnecessary death. How disappointing would that be?

It was around 2 am, and everyone fell asleep a while I go, I presumed until I heard shuffling and muttering. It sounded like someone was in pain.

Was someone getting kidnapped? I creeped out of my room, carrying a wooden plank that I found lying around during our clean-up a while ago after getting kidnapped. I held it like a pro league baseballer, reading to swing mercilessly at anyone who dared try to invade us during the night.

I stealthily followed the noise; it was coming from King's room. I opened her door slightly, so I didn't alert any unknown persons. Once I peered inside, I found no one but King. Lying in her bed, writhing, and fighting the covers.

She looked... strange.

I want to say distressed but surely that is not an emotion someone like her can feel. Even though she is the one lying and writhing in her sleep, I feel as though I am the one in a nightmare. This nightmare consists of one of the strongest people I know being thwarted. I ambled a little closer to hear what she was muttering. As well as my eyes, it appears my ears are untrained to as the words she was saying didn't align with the person I knew she was.

She looked – no, is – tormented.

"I'm sorry, I promise I won't disobey! Give me a chance!" She repeated. Sobbing, crying, and pleading. Whoever was in her dream was unforgiving, evidently. A nagging feeling within me told me this wasn't a dream but a memory.

I shook King awake, she shot up with a sense of urgency and an air of fury. As soon as she saw my frightened face, a string of vulgar words escaped her mouth. Every curse, from A to Z, left her mouth as she held her face in her hands.

Tyro appeared at the doorway. "King, you know you cry really loudly" he muttered. I gasped at his insensitivity, but King replied, "Oh shut up, you only came because you wondered why I stopped", he nodded with his hands in the air as if he had been caught in a lie, "You're right it was like a soothing lullaby. I thought I would be finally getting to sleep" he admitted with a sadistic smirk. What the hell is wrong with this guy? "Hey Domonic, you can leave now, I got this" Tyro voiced, turning to me. Although I wanted to refuse, the look he gave me filled me with fear and I quickly nodded and left but not before I saw him sit on her bed and rub her back even though King's face was still in her hands.

I hope King will be alright. I have a strange feeling like something important just happened like me seeing one of the strongest people ever fall and break has changed my perspective. If the strong can fall as hard as she did, then the weak have no chance.

And just like that, I gave up on escaping too.