Cheerios

Rulebreaker

Marcus chuckled a little as a bead of sweat ran down his forehead. He did it. He walked down the hall, reading the numbers on the door to himself.
"29, 28, ah," he said, digging the key out of his pocket. "27Z." He took a deep breath before he pushed the key into the lock and twisted it. He grabbed the cold metal doorknob and pulled the door open.
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Andrew's head shot up as soon as he heard the door click. The door smoothly slid open and a lanky boy stepped inside. That's all Andrew could make out, with tears in his eyes blurring most of the image.
"Hey," Marcus said, slowly stepping inside.
"Who are you?" Andrew demanded, backing up against the wall. "What do you want?" his voice cracked.
"I'm not gonna hurt you," Marcus put his hands up defensively. "I just, uh, saw how upset you were and I, um," he swallowed. Why was he even here? "I wanted to try to make you feel a little better."
Andrew stared at the boy as he stepped closer. He had curly, red hair that bounced on his forehead. Bags fell under his dark green eyes, and freckles spotted his nose and cheeks. An electric collar sat on his neck with the number "591" and "Marcus Bennett" etched into it. He wore a gray shirt tucked into matching gray pants under a white lab coat with spotless white shoes.
Andrew sunk down the wall, his knees tucked into his chest.
"I don't wanna die like that," he said hoarsely.
"You won't," Marcus said as he sat criss-cross in front of him. "He just does that to scare you into obeying." He felt bad for lying to him, but it's all he could think of doing to make the poor boy feel better. Andrew started to speak, but Marcus cut him off.
"I mean, you still should listen to them, just don't worry about, y'know, dying."
Andrew nodded his head, not entirely convinced. They sat in silence for a bit, until Marcus broke the silence.
"And, uh, I'm Marcus, by the way,"
"832," he said, and paused before adding "Andrew."
"I like that name," he said with a smile that caused Andrew to reveal a small smile in return. "How about I get you out of here, and get you back to your room,"
"Yeah, that'd be nice," he said as they both stood up. Marcus led the way to the door and opened it, only to see Claire standing there, her eyes narrowed and arms crossed.
"Ah!" Marcus yelped, jumping back a bit. "Claire, um, what are you doing here?"
"Do you think I'm stupid?" she snapped, her voice the equivalent of venom. "Did you seriously think I wasn't gonna wake up and see you in here talking to this freak? You knew I was supposed to press the button to tell them when he was calm, you dumbass! Now we could lose our fucking jobs!" Marcus looked down, soaking in his sister's scolding, until he'd had enough
"Didn't you see how upset he was, Claire?" he argued back. "I wasn't just gonna stand by while he lost his mind in a goddamn box,"
"It's our job to watch him lose his mind in a goddamn box!"
Andrew started to tear up, terrified that they, or he, would be punished for this. He shoved past them and ran down the hallway as fast as he could, making a left, then a right, and there his door was. He threw the door open and slammed it shut behind him, collapsing on his bed and sobbing into his pillow. He didn't want him or Marcus to go through anything that happened in those images. He didn't want those things to happen to anyone. He didn't want to be the cause of it. He didn't want to die like that.
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"Dammit," Claire said, "Now look what you've done,"
"What I've done? He was just fine until you came in here and started screaming! You could've just let me finish, but n-" Marcus was cut off by a flash of pain on his cheek. Claire had slapped him. He held his hand up to his cheek, staring at her with shock.
"You had it coming," is all she said before she angrily stormed away. Marcus felt tears gather in his eyes, she had never hit him before. He shoved his hands in his pockets and walked out of the room, refusing to let the tears fall. Before he could step into the elevator, the intercom clicked.
"Worker 591, step into my office, now," a gruff voice said.