Return Of The Madness

Chapter 23

>>DARK THEMES: READ AT YOUR OWN RISK<<

The cell was dark, and cold. Moisture in the air chilled Yuma to the bone as she sat on the thin, ratty cot she was given. Bruises and cuts riddled her pale flesh, and dried blood flaked off the wounds as she shifted.

In the cells around her, she could hear voices, but seeing as she never saw any of the sources, she was unsure if the voices were from real people or her imagination. They'd often cry, sobbing about the life they led, locked away. Some would laugh, the loud hysterical laughter of one meant for the chopping block. Sometimes she would hear scuffling, the sound of a body hitting the concrete floor. She would smell the metallic scent of blood...

But it was common for kids her age to have overactive imaginations, right? Or was she too old for that?

Her throat was raw as she hummed to fill the emptiness of her cell, a soft, eery tune that the cruel guard outside her cell had told her on numerous occasions to stop.

"Shut the fuck up, ya creepy brat," the cold man spat through the bars, glaring at Yuma's back as she sat on the floor in the center of the cell, facing the back bars.

She hummed louder, just to spite him for being the bastards he's been.

"Ya asked for it, bitch."

The door rattled as he unlocked and opened it. It creaked as he swung it open, and the voices around her began to chatter excitedly, just like every time prior. She heard his heavy footsteps approach, but continued humming. He grabbed her shoulder, viciously twisting her around before grabbing her by the throat and lifting her off the floor, his hand cutting off her oxygen and thus, her humming.

Yuma bit her cheek to keep from giving a sound as her back was slammed against the rough wall, and she found herself face to face with the man who regularly enjoyed causing her pain. 

"Maybe you'll cry for me today, ey, little bird?" He grinned, his breath hot and foul against her face. "Been here three days already, an' yer still a stubborn thing when we play."

Three days...

His fingers tightened around her throat when he saw the small smile twisting her lips.

"Better men... than you... have never broken me..." She gasped, grabbing his wrist and pulling herself up to get the oxygen to speak. "But I... have broken... far better men..."

The man scowled, throwing her to the side. The rough floor tore at her shoulder, spilling her blood as she pushed herself up slightly, turning to taunt the man more. She was met with a foot to the cheek, and felt her head crack against the floor painfully as he leaned over her.

"Yeh've broken far better men?" He growled, glaring at her as she continued to smile up at him. "Stop yer damn smiling!"

The excited chattering grew, in volume and speed, and Yuma supposed maybe they were real, because her new best friend looked about irately.

"SHUT THE HELL UP, 'R ALL O' YA ARE NEXT!"

But the chatter continued, growing louder and louder, and Yuma could see the man beginning to lose it. His foot began pressing even harder against her skull, and she felt the rough surface of the cell floor break through the skin near her temple. Still, she smiled, a small, wicked smile that the guard couldn't seem to look away from.

His foot retreated, and once again, his fingers wrapped around her throat.

"It's about time," he panted, leaning over her with a sick sort of excitement gleaming in his dark, twisted gaze. "That you cry for me, little bird."

Yuma, with blood dripping from her temple, met his gaze, laughter in her own as she began to hum again. She didn't stop, humming louder as he drew a kunai, pressing it to her right clavicle vertically. He drew it upwards, lips pulling into an unstable smile as blood poured from the wound that stretched from her collarbone, up the side of her neck, up her cheek, past her eye.

The pain was blinding; fire spilled into her veins as her blood spilled onto the concrete, her body jerked and spasmed in the man's grip. She could feel every inch of her own flesh tearing as the knife slid through it like butter, occasionally sinking in enough to click against bone.

Had she been anyone else, Yuma would have screamed, she would have cried, she would have pled for mercy as her vision was cut in half. But she hummed, her twisted mind allowing her to continue the haunting melody as the knife withdrew, moving to her left hip and dragging up her ribs.

White was starting to edge about what was left of her vision. Her body was close to shutting down. Vaguely, over the shrieking of the other prisoners, the shouting of the man over her, and her own humming, she heard footsteps thundering nearer.

"WHAT THE HELL IS GOING ON HERE?!" A harsh voice barked, and like a switch had been flipped, the shrieking around them ceased like a record that'd been abruptly stopped. Her assaulter seemed to snap back into reality, starring down at her in surprise. Yuma, however, continued to hum, grinning twistedly, even as the man was thrown away from her, and a familiar figure knelt over her, eyes wide as they tried desperately to stem the bleeding.

"Send Medic Nin!" Gaara's sensei yelled over his shoulder before turning to continue checking vitals.

Yuma stopped humming, and his single visible eye snapped to her face, as if to ensure she were still alive.

Her smile fell away, but her unharmed eye shone with twisted amusement.

"You'd be... surprised... who you think... is normal..." she whispered softly, taking in ragged breaths as she spoke. "We're all crazy... in one way... or another... The only difference... is some fight it... and some embrace it..."

"Yuma, stay awake," Baki said sternly, seeing her intact eye begin to droop as blood loss and pain began to surround her in a blanket of darkness. "Stay awake! Stay-"

Darkness.