district 17 | svt

ID NUMBER 359

I wasn't uncomfortable. Uncomfortable was only an understatement. The two guards were gripping onto my arms so hard it felt like they were drilling their fingers into my muscles. They locked me down to the point where my knees were digging into the hard floor. I wasn't uncomfortable; I was in pain.

The representative just shrugged, squatting down so he was eye-level with me.

"Listen, young man," he said quietly, but still in a harsh tone, "Silence can be a positive aspect. However, too much of it can bring our whole community out of balance. And we don't have any place for people who bring unbalance with their imperfections. Which is why..."

He took back up to his feet, walking away and no longer facing me.

"We're puting you in confinement."

At first, I had no clue what he meant. But then a strange guard came out of this secret entrance that just magically appeared out of one of the walls, releasing me from the other two guards' painful grips before taking me himself. As he began to drag me away and into that secret entrance, I picked up a thing or two about this so called "confinement" he was talking about. I tried kicking and wriggling my arms to loosen out of his grip, but the guard only clutched onto me tighter, causing me to yelp out in pain.

He looked a little startled at first, from hearing the sound of my voice, but he quickly continued to pull me further and further away from white room inside the Head Council Office and down a glass hallway. I was still able to see the outside, and my eyes widened at the sight of a familiar student walking into the room that I was in prior.

"Seungkwan!" I cried, my voice echoing throughout the halls "Don't go in there!"

I was a little taken aback that I was able to call out to him. I had no idea I could even say something like that to my roommate, let alone shout it at the top of my lungs. I called out to him, saying the same thing over and over again as loud as I could. But he just kept walking.

I was about to call out to him one more time, but one of the guards quickly stopped me.

"It's no use," he said, "he can't hear you."

I looked up at the guard, who had stopped pulling me and was now simply standing in the middle of the hall. His gripped had loosened, and he had been averting his gaze from mine. I tried to read his expression, but for some reason I could only see strain in his eyes.

"This hallway is soundproof somehow," he explained. "Nothing you say will be heard from out there. And the glass? It's a one-way mirror. The only thing people would see if they looked this is their reflection."

He slowly moved his gaze towards me, eyes full of agony. He tried to give me a comforting smile, but I could tell it was difficult for him.

"I'm sorry I'm the one who has to do this to you," he apologized, "Locking you up in a cell."

I only shook my head, giving him a small grin in return. He let go of my arms and placed a hand on my shoulder, ushering me towards the end of the hallway and into the elevator. The elevator went down until it stopped at an underground floor full of white walls and glass cage-like cells. He lead me over to one that was labeled "Cell No. 3."

When I stepped in, I scanned the room, looking the few things that were inside. There were two beds, a bathroom, an empty shelf, even a little white coffee table for some reason. I slowly made my way over to the bed, slowly sitting down on it.

The guard came in, bringing me a few pairs of new clothes. He walked over to the shelf and placed them on the racks, organizing them with ease.

"I have something else for you," he began, "it's something for you do read."

He walked over to me and handed me a file of papers, telling me not to open it until he left. As he was leaving I looked up at him, watching his back slowly reach the entrance to the cell. I clenched up my fists and took a deep breath.

"Your name," I blurted out, making the guard turn around surprised.

I looked down at my hands that were now folded in my lap, my fingers subconsciously fiddling against one another.

"W-what's...your name?" I managed to say.

After a few seconds of silence I heard the guard chuckle, causing my to look back up at him. He gave me a grin, one that appeared a lot friendlier that when he smiled at me before.

"Seungcheol," he stated. "My name's Seungcheol. I'm the Confinement Captain of the DPO."

And with that, he left.

The entrance closed, and there was no one else inside except for me and my reflection. I took a good look at myself, noticing my once gelled hair was now all ruffled up from moving around so much. My whole face looked worn out, like I just ran a marathon or something.

I looked down at the papers that were in my hand. Seungcheol said to open the file once he left the cell, so I did just that. I opened the file and began to read. My eyes widened and my hands started shaking as I read the words on the very first page.

As I continued to read, my vision blurred more and more with the tears welling up in my eyes. Finally, all the emotions that were welled up inside me were released as I broke out into a helpless sob, allowing my tears to stain the pages I held in my lap. I felt so distressed, powerless, and confused. Is this why I was acting this way? Is this why I found it so hard to talk to other people?

I didn't know what to do.

I didn't know who to talk to about it.

I didn't know what would happen to me.

My name is Hansol.

I'm 16 years old.

I've been occupying Confinement Cell No. 3 for almost three years.

And I suffer from an anxiety disorder called selective mutism.

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A/N: Accidentally forgot to post yesterday! Sorry about that ahahaaaa, so now i'm posting this at 2 am ('°̥̥̥̥̥̥̥̥ω°̥̥̥̥̥̥̥̥｀)