Complete Control

Chapter 1 - Darkness

Chapter 1 - Darkness

Seven, twenty-four, fourteen, five, twenty-six and two, I kept on repeating it in my mind. Seven... it was the only way to keep me sane, twenty-four. The door to the dormitory opened. Fourteen I didn't want the nightmare to continue, five. Footsteps echoed through the big hall. Twenty-six, getting closer, and two and closer. Before I could start over a voice that sounded more like a growl ripped through the silence in the hall.

"WAKE UP YOU SKANKS. AND START ONE TWO AND THREE."

No... My mind wouldn't or couldn't accept those numbers. The only numbers that I need are...

"RIGHT NOW!"

Before I could realise what happened, two claws disguised as normal hands ripped away the pathetic excuse for a blanket and a loud bang sounded in my ears, not realising that I had made the sound by falling on the floor. From the top of my bunk bed. Okay, okay... I slowly followed the other girls, who were smart enough to not need the second warning, towards the showers.

One, clean yourself. The first time I had showered together with over twenty other girls, my head was a tomato, now my head went into this trance, not even acknowledging the other girls. We rushed out as soon as the water stopped dripping from the shower heads and went into the next room.

Two, dress yourself. I walked to my usual spot, not even paying attention to what exactly I was putting on my body. I had been here for too long to even care. I was always one of the first ones to finish getting dressed so I walked back to my bed and stood ready for inspection.

Three, after inspection, walk to the bidding stage and wait for your number to be called. The inspection started after another warning to the girls that were too slow. I stared straight ahead as a man started walking by. My heart started racing, I never liked this part... Seven... The man was at the girl next to me, whispering something in her ear. Twenty four... Silent tears started to make their way down the girls face. Fourteen... My turn. Five... They could read my thoughts so I stopped counting as a being with a pale mask as a face stood before me. I looked at everything but the creature. The floor was made out of woods, I wondered how long it would've taken to cut down all the trees needed for all the planks. Something white started to lean towards me. I looked at the ceiling through the lashes of my eye, not daring to move my head properly. White concrete looked down at me, scary, white concrete, just like the concrete in front of me.

"You..." A venomous voice started to poison my thoughts, "are worth nothing. You have always been nothing and you will always be nothing."

Twenty-six and two. Oh no...

The creature let out a sigh like he was disappointed in me.

"You, darling," he was dragging out the 'a' "are going to regret that."

My mind went still. I almost started shaking, but I didn't want to give him that satisfaction. I kept still, staring straight ahead. Cold fingers grabbed my wrist, I didn't know what a normal body temperature would be, but it's not this. I already knew what was going to happen. We were going to go straight ahead, second door to the left, that would take us to another hallway, and then it would depend on the vampire dragging me with him. The further we would go into the dark long hallway, draped in spiderwebs, caked in dust and barely lit candles that hung high from the blackened ceiling, the worse my punishment would be. The walls were once covered in a black wallpaper, but through the years claw marks (from humans and vampires) had ripped it and in certain places it had started to rot, starting around dark red stains. The white creature was wearing a normal outfit, blouse, trousers, shoes. I wasn't able to see the different colours, though I am certain they were there.

One door had passed, a second and a third. How far were we going to go? My heart slowly started to beat faster. I lost count of the doors, but it couldn't have been very far, as I could still see the first door behind me and a long hallway stretching out before me. A dark wooden door sealed the chamber that would contain my punishment. See, here punishments work differently. We are not chained, beaten or whipped, no... We endure something worse, something that not only weakens your body but your will. Here they use mental abuse. How would that work? It differs on the room. I have been punished before, but for some reason, I couldn't remember what it was, all I knew was that I never wanted to endure it again, never. The door opened, by itself. The vampire just nodded towards the room, not going in. My heart was in my throat and I was only able to take shallow breaths. Suddenly fear rushed through my system as the vampire had made the most terrifying growl. I entered and slammed the door behind me. Big mistake, the lock clicked.

Darkness. Seven, twenty-four, fourteen, five, twenty-six and two... Darkness wouldn't... Seven... go away. Twenty four... Voices surrounded me, screaming at me. I couldn't understand a word they were saying, but I knew every word. The voices turned into an agonizing pain in my head. Fourteen... Closing my eyes, even though it wouldn't help, I tried to drown out the noise. Five... The pain got worse. Another sound joined the voices. It screamed the same numbers I was thinking. My hands were in pain, it came in beats. The pain and the voice had a sickening harmony.

BANG BANG BANG

"TWO!"

BANG BANG BANG

"SEVEN!"

BANG BANG BANG

"TWENTY FOUR"

Everything stopped. The darkness went away, the pain was gone and all the voices stopped, except for one, mine. I was the one shouting, the pain wasn't a devilish drum, it was my own hands beating on the door. Two pair of hands lifted me, taking me somewhere. I was thankful, they brought some coolness to my sweating body. I smiled, or something like that.

"This one is delusional."

"Just put her down here, she can fix herself. Come to the stage when you're finished"

The cool hands left my skin, I was sitting on a stool or a chair, I was too unfocused to find out. I looked up to see a window. A girl was sitting on the opposite side of the window if you could call it a girl. She looked completely normal, but if you looked closely, which I did as my eyes couldn't focus on anything else, her eyes held horror. Absolute horror. What has she been through? I moved away from the window, I couldn't stand looking another moment at her. The white concrete stared once again at me, it was better than staring at her. I looked down at the table, where did it come from? I looked to my right, at the stool I had been sitting on, the table was in front of that too. A wooden stick with soft spikes on it attached itself to my hand, no wait I picked it up. It was like my brain wasn't in control of my movements, my muscles had a mind of their own. The spikes move to my head and down, on repeat. To the top of my head and down, head and down, head and down. The movement stopped and fingers made the same movements, just slower. A white thing moved under my eyes and became wet. It took a while for my brain to catch on to what my hands were doing. I was fixing myself. I had just brushed my hair and dried my tears. Okay, what now? My thoughts were only now recovering from the punishment. What was it again? Something with darkness... I shrugged it off. A whisper commanded me, "Come to the stage when you're finished..." My feet walked, step by step by step by step. Footsteps were all I heard, my footsteps. The same dark hallway as before appeared before me. A door opened to my right, without thinking I walked through it.