The GATE Academy

Hope

   Bruises and burns covered my body. Silence accompanied Calla and I in the room. I didn't sleep at all. In fact, I had trouble even making myself fall asleep. Usually I wouldn't want to, but when I'm in here I do.

    Both Calla and I have gotten use to how things work here. We were given two small meals every other day. One in the morning and one in the evening. Each night a different torture method was used. I overheard Thorne and Jett talking about the schedule of it. That's how I kept track of time. Today's Thursday.

  "Calla..." I whispered, shifting my eyes over to my new friend. I felt horrible for being the reason she was here. Seconds passed, and I didn't get a response.

   "Calla!" I said again, but this time in a loud whisper. I saw her cuffed hands twitched and she slowly lifted her head.

   "How long did I sleep?" She asked, clearly fatigued. I was silent for several seconds as I attempted to remember when she fell asleep. It was difficult to answer considering clocks were nonexistent in this room.
"I think ten hours. I'm pretty sure it's morning now too.." 

  She nodded returning her gaze to the floor. "It's Thursday right?"

  "Yeah..Thursday." I said with a sigh. She nodded slowly, still looking at the floor. "Don't blame yourself for us getting kidnapped. None of us were expecting it to happen."

My eyes widened slightly. I was a bit surprised that Calla wasn't mad even the least bit. "Thanks...I guess I just feel pretty down about the fact that I couldn't do anything to prevent it." I said slowly, closing my eyes a bit.

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"Why'd you two follow me?" Mizu asked. Although he was still fired up and feeling many emotions at the moment, he spoke in a calm tone. Shizuo and Opal stood in front of him, both harboring a small smile on their face.

"Well, we couldn't let you go alone." Shizuo said, chuckling a bit. Opal crossed her arms, slightly annoyed. Her emerald eyes looking straight at Mizu. "Falen is important to us too. Besides, you don't know who or how many demons you're going up against, lover boy."

Mizu clenched his fists a bit, staring at the Akiro siblings who were also two of his friends. "Are you trying to say I'm not capable of doing this on my own? Don't doubt my strength. I don't care about the strength or the amount of demons I have to go through to get to her. I will save her. No matter what.."

The three remained silent. Opal was a bit taken aback by Mizu's emotions. Mizu then broke the silence. "Sorry, Opal....I just-"

His words were interrupted by Opal's. "No..I understand. No need to explain. We're in hell now, so we should just start looking."

In a matter of hours it was nighttime. Shizuo, Opal, and Mizu found a place to rest for the night. Opal and Shizuo quickly fell into a deep slumber, but Mizu remained awake. Without a sound, Mizu rose and and prepared to travel on his own. He quickly left, only one goal occupying his mind; to find Falen.

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   The crack of the whip was loud. It was followed by an ear piercing scream. My breathing picked up as I  shifted my gaze slowly to Calla. Tears fell from her eyes, to her cheeks, and then to the floor. Ark look amused with his actions. He hit her two more times, causing too more painful screams from Calla. He then backed away from her. I angrily stared at him as he approached me. My mind was full of many thoughts and feelings. I took a deep breath as I waited for him to strike me with the whip.

I flinched as I felt it hit my body. The stinging didn't go away, but instead got worse. He hit me again. This time it was harder. I felt a room temperature liquid run down my bruised and burned skin. My eyes landing on the sight of blood. Ark smirked and handed the whip to Thorne. Jett now had one of his own.
"I leave the rest to you two." Ark said, smirking as he stepped back to watch.