Void 05

Children

 The routine continues as normal. file25595 was replaced yesterday. he had tripped in the aredern compartment and got caught between two turning pipes that spit him into 200 large turning cogs that were sharp, blunt, and all of the in between. needless to say, his poor, neglected, small little body was ripped to shreds and crushed into small fragments of bone. the entire vicinity was covered in blood and had to be cleaned up. Naturally, we were sent in to clean and discard of any body piece or clothing item left behind. It was especially hard to do this time because of Milo. Her presence on site was especially disturbing, even without the death of an ally. Milo is still fresh in the system, only joining us for one week, this was the first time shes ever seen any person dead and shes being forced to clean it with a group of people with dead eyes. slowly, her demeanor became more and more broken, distorted and tortured. Up until this point, i've been able to shield her from most things, kept her from stepping out of line, showing her how to do certain thing and mostly taking the heat for beatings. i have over 100 scars on my body, but it was worth it to keep her innocence. She brought us light and humor, everyone loves her. But now that light was dwindling and it was becoming pitch black, and i could not do anything about it, we were being watched. as we cleaned up file25595, each of us took a small piece of his clothes and shoved it through the small slots in the buckles of our crappy brown belts. we finish the job and all retreat back to our stations as sector 5 file25595 came walking through and finished the boys job. The middle of the night returns to plague us with the idea with no escape. i sneak to the others to hesitantly shake them awake and we go to sector 5 to find their supply box. the grassdour's go home for the nights and leave us to our devices, obviously  confident that we wont escape. the kids from sector 5 wake up and go hug file25595, or their previously known file865. they say their good byes and lead us to their box. it was located right next to the aredern compartments they worked in, convenient. we take out the previous file25595's pieces of clothes from our belt slots and place it in that chest. with that, we all quietly head back while i hold Milo, to comfort her. "at least he's gotten out of this shit hole, you've no reason to be sad for him, but to be happy for him" I tell her.

"Thanks Chillie, i know, i am happy for him, its just that he, died the way he did" her need to pause made it very clear that she was truly disturbed by what she saw that day. but all we could do was sleep on it. we quietly snuck back under the bit of cloth that was given to us to sleep under like little mice and slept without dreams.

 the next day comes and we do our usual. 

we had no casualties today. but something i never heard before started to turn my cogs. must've the most brutal beating ever because the sound of the whip lashing around was the loudest i've ever heard it. to even hear it from my station from quite a few halls away made me feel some of the scars on my body burn. it made me most uncomfortable, the others probably felt it too. whoever's body that metal covered in leather rope hit, their body had to be little but flesh and bone by the time it was over. at least it wasn't our job to clean up after that grassdour. whoever's department that was, they where going to have a hell of a time trying to stomach that shit.

 children are curious souls, very much like cats. and curiosity kills.

Another secret of mine. there's a small space that i can fit through, just barley, that goes from sector to sector. i haven't had the audacity to explore it in its completion, there was simply not enough time to do so. sure, the grassdours go home for the night and we have basic free reign over our sectors, but the arderen compartments are dangerous in the night, more so than in the day. the pull from the voids become extremely strong during the night, making it almost impossible for any living being to be able to stay alive in the arderen compartments for even 12.10 seconds before being crushed limb to limb, bones to ashes. the metal was built to withstand such forces but not living things. but today, i had ample time to see what was going on. i check my surroundings, jack was distracted with something or other, his back was turned, it was unusual but probably something that has nothing to do with me. i move fast, but carefully deeper into the arderen compartments and reach the opening. crawling in this musty tight space gives me a lot of anxiety but i made it to the sector where the lashing was. it had a distinctive smell, fresh blood and death. i refused to look at the body, of course i did, but i was tempted. were they alive? i try my best to call over whoever's compartment i was in. it was hard, very hard. this sectors grassdour, sector 12, was not one to mess around with. he was strict and very watchful. not to mention brutal, as exhibited. if he caught me, i would surely be dead and it could be by anyone's hand. honestly speaking, it would be hard to even get them to pay me mind without getting aggressive. i just hoped the person that came to me wouldn't be too dead.