Refresh (Stray Kids Hwang Hyunjin)

Sixteen

Apart from the place being dark, Hyunjin didn't know what to expect of 'the darkness'. So he didn't expect anything at all. This was a big mistake on his part.

He was led down a series of stairs on a side of the palace his father strictly forbid him from going. And once he got to the bottom, he understood why.

There was dry blood all over the wooden floor and an electrocution chair on one side of the room, hundreds of grim killing weapons on the walls including stuff like an eyeball scoop, and on the other side was a guillotine. Hyunjin gulped as his rubbed his neck.

Lucky for him, he wasn't taken to any of the devices but rather to one of the small jail cells at the back of the room. There was no bed, no toilet, no windows  just a long plank of wood and a couple of tin cans with sandpaper beside it (I'll let you figure that out).

Three nights and four days he stayed in there with no visitors. The only person that went down there was the cook, well, she was a zebra now, and all she ever brought was a piece of stale bread, a cup of vinegar to drink and a whip. That's right, everyday he was whipped at least thirty times.

It was a week before the next person was shoved into the cell beside him. Correction, the next animal. It was a duck.

They stayed in silence for half a day. Hyunjin angry that no one had bothered to ever visit him and the duck because he was just so tired and depressed to speak.

"It's been a while, Fifth Prince," the duck finally uttered sadly and Hyunjin's eyes widened.

"Sungjin? Is that you?" He asked.

"Yep... In fact your lucky to still be human. Everyone except that stupid Queen and her daughters are animals. Even Chan is."

"She turned the royal family into animals?"

"Yeah... Most of them are either cats or dogs except Changbin. She caught the poor boy with Hyuna and turned him into a cockroach."

"Wow..."

"Things up there have only sucked since you were sent down here."

"Things down here suck too."

"Could tell. You look horrible! Your body is all swollen and you have a pair of black eyes."

"Each day I get about fifty whips, yesterday I only got thirty since the cook felt bad. She was told to aim for my eyes whenever she can too."

"Yikes," was all Sungjin said before trying to find a comfortable stop of his  wood plank. "How do you sleep on this thing?"

"You wait until you're too tired to care," the Fifth Prince shrugged then turned and stared intensely at the staircase which, from what he could see, let up to the sky. "Hey, Sungjin. What's JB doing up there?"

He didn't want to seem desperate but he really did want to know. Any of his friends could betray him and he'd feel at worst furious but JB was different. He was his father's best friend, on of the people that brought him up. And he just watched as they pulled him away, not even the slightest bit of emotion showed. As if they were just strangers to each other.

It hurt to say the least but that was only because he cared too much.

He heard the witch scoff.

"That two-faced devil ratted us out. He's on her side, I swear by it. He didn't just betray you, Your Highness. He betrayed the whole royal family and the kingdom. And above it all, he betrayed the King. He's following all the Queen's commands. Next week he's even going to hang Queen Ari and the rest of the queens for her!"

"What? That lady is a lunatic!" Hyunjin shrieked.

"That lady is your beloved Queen! How dare you address her in such a disrespectful manner! You deserve to be decapitated," the cook marched in, throwing Hyunjin's bread on the dusty floor and spilt half of his drink before handing it over. Then she turned to Sungjin and smiled, going back up the stairs and then returning with a tray of a freshly baked loaf of bread, butter, jam and a jug of cold water.

Hyunjin watched in disbelief. Seeing the Prince's envious state, the cook pulled the whip out of her pocket.

"So you want the Queen to reward you with good food after attacking her place on the throne?" The cook spat on him. "You deserve fifty... And I'll add the twenty I forgot yesterday!"

The last thing Sungjin heard from Hyunjin that day was his whimpering that lasted only less than ten seconds. He knew it wasn't because they didn't hurt that much but because if he made a noise he would get more. He watched the Prince silently crawl to the plank of wood. He didn't sleep. He didn't eat. He didn't make a sound.

He just lay there, staring at the stone wall in complete agony, silently crying and praying for mercy.

What the heck? I'm on chapter sixteen and I've barely even gotten to the main plot! How the heck am I going to finish this before Christmas...

~SpicyThaiChicken