𓆩・༺ ꔫ ༻・𓆪
In an instant, his eyes light up once they recognize me, and so do mine. We both look so different from one another.
I watch the way his eyes briefly glance around my cut-up face, unevenly cut hair, and the look of despair in my eyes, but his are no different.
The once sunny tone in his eyes' reflection has vanished—overcome by the dark storm instead. His hair is gone, growing back slowly from the top of his head, and he looks so pale and so very weak. The eye bags underneath his eyes tell me he doesn't sleep at night, not enough at least.
Soon enough, he's breaking the silence with his chapped lips. "Where is she? Where's my girl?" He stops what he's doing, flicking his eyes around the room as if ready to start running to find her, but I grab hold of his wrist as tightly as I can before he can leave his position.
"Jimin, stop it," I clench my jaw, carefully glancing at the guards in the room. I look down the line, seeing how Barbie's a few feet away, getting something else. She must have gone back down the line without me noticing. "She's right down there. You need to be calm and careful." I urge, removing my grip and letting him go.
"If you cause a scene, you'll get hurt, or she will, or they may even use her against you. This is not the time to show weakness, and I understand you are worried about her, but I promise you I will protect her—"
"You don't love her as I do. You can't protect her, and you can't possibly understand how I feel, Vee—"
"Do you know how much I wish Jungkook was here beside me? I haven't seen him in hours—I haven't seen him since they showed him what they did to me. Don't think I don't understand because I do, and you're wrong; I will protect her. I've already made sure she wasn't searched, so they didn't harm her or the baby. I will protect her the best that I can." I tell him, pointing at something randomly to put on my tray before the guards take notice of me standing here.
"You can't keep promises in this place, Vee," he adds while scooping more food and placing it on my tray.
"Then take my word," I interrupt. "I won't let anyone lay a finger on her or the baby. I know you would rather be in my place, but you're not, and you need to have faith that I can make sure she's safe." I admit, slowly moving down the line. "Talk to her, but be quick; they're watching," I add one final comment before I leave the line and take an empty table where I wait for Barbie to join me.
I may have been a little brutal, but we can't afford to be sentimental during a time like this. It's not safe. The guards here don't care. If we show weakness, they will take advantage of it.
I glance up from my tray. I watch them from my spot, seeing the discreet way they brush over each other's hands, the way their lips move silently, and the way Barbie looks when she finally walks away.
She comes to me, sits down, and covers her mouth. She cries into her palm, tears rushing down her cheeks while I wrap my arm around her to comfort her. Jimin watches her from across the room every chance he gets, and then he gives me that look of agreement.
With one look, I know he's trusting me to watch after her, and I nod slightly, letting him know that he can trust my word.
𓆩・༺ ꔫ ༻・𓆪
Before we know it, we're walking back to our cells. Barbie's small fingers tighten around my arm, burying her face into my shoulder, and her tears stain the fabric above my skin.
I whisper soft words to her, trying to calm her before anyone sees. In her case, she doesn't need any extra attention on her while here.
I already know I'm going to have to keep a good eye on her. If it wasn't for me urging her to eat something, she never would have, but I reminded her she's eating for two, and as much as she may not want to eat, her baby is hungry, too. I know how badly she wants this baby, and I know she wouldn't be able to handle it if she lost someone else in here, so as I promised Jimin; I'll watch over her and their baby. I'll do it with my life if it comes down to that.
As we take the metal stairs up to our cell, I move Barbie in front of me for her to go first. Once we're inside, we both sit on the bottom bunk where she starts crying again after the guard locks us in.
"He looks so awful, Vee..." I can hear the crack in her voice, and it's enough to break my heart, but I turn off my emotions for the sake of her. I shut down every ounce of fear, worry, anger, or sadness that I have in my body and focus on her instead.
I move from off the bunk bed until I'm on my knees in front of her, clasping her hands in her lap with my own. "Look at me, Barbie," I whisper, watching her teary eyes slowly meet mine and her quivering lip tremble uncontrollably.
"Jimin is going to be just fine, okay? He's going to be fine, and so are we, and everyone else. We're going to find a way out of here and leave. I know it hurts to see him that way, but trust me that he's strong. If there was anything wrong with him that needed any medical attention, he wouldn't be working in the cafeteria. He hasn't slept a lot, they cut his hair, and he hasn't been eating a lot of food, but he will survive. I saw him sneaking food back with him when he left, so I know he got a hot meal tonight." I twist the truth for her sake.
I don't know if he's hurt or not, and I don't know if he stole food, but I hope he did. I hope my lie is believable to her. She's already under so much stress, and she doesn't need to be under any more of it.
I add in a quick joke that might help. "Think about him eating a chicken leg in his cell,"
I pause when she suddenly snorts from the image. Moving her hands, she wipes her tears with a sad chuckle. "You're right, Vee. I just... I need him here with me. I'm scared,"
Placing my hands on her knees, I let her know I'm there. "I know you are, Barbie. We all are, but we can't afford to lose hope. None of us ever thought we would end up here, but if we can somehow find Ghost, I know he'll have the plan to get us out of here. I know it,"
When I say that, Barbie looks at me as if she knows something.
"What?" I whisper, knowing exactly what that look means. "What is it?"
"Ghost isn't here, Vee." She pauses, wiping her nose with her sleeve. "Jimin told me that he's seen everyone else in our crew, but he said Ghost isn't here. He hasn't seen him at all—"
"What about—"
"Jungkook's safe, and he's here. Jimin said that Taehyung was bunking with him." I don't know what horrible idea I had in mind, but I'm thankful to know he's safe. I am terrified of what happened to Ghost. I'm assuming they transferred him to another prison away from us.
"Did Jimin say anything else?" I find myself asking.
She shakes her head. "That's all I was able to ask, and the last few words were us saying how much we love each other." She admits.
I stand up from the ground and sit down beside her again. "Is there any chance your brother could help us? Maybe keep them from being so brutal?"
"No," she admits, "Niles would never help us." She says with a sad tone. "He cares way too much about his job to risk it, so he wouldn't do anything—"
"What did you say to me, cunt!" In an instant, we're standing to our feet and coming to the edge of our cell, hands grabbing the black bars while hearing the commotion from downstairs.
Soon, everyone is talking, while Barbie and I are trying to see what's happening.
I take off my shoes and stand on the edge of the bunk where I lean over and grab the bars at a higher angle. When I see what's happening down below on the first floor, I all but lose faith entirely.
Twix is being held back by two guards while one cop punches her in the gut and face repeatedly, hitting her over and over again, but she takes it, hiding her pain.
"It's Twix again, and she's going to get herself killed," I sigh, not being able to do anything, and step down from the bunk.
The whole area lights up with shouts and nasty words directed at the three guards in the room, but Barbie and I sit on our own beds in silence.
I can hear Twix's voice from here. "Fuck you, you ugly bitch. I'll kill every last one of you!" I don't know why she can't hold it in until she gets out of here. She's making it worse for everyone by acting this way.
Barbie starts talking from below in her bunk. "Vee, I'm going to bed. I don't want to listen anymore—"
In a second, I'm holding my ears in pain and the screams that come right after. I grit my teeth from the loud echoing noise but force myself to hold one of my ringing ears while jumping down from my bunk.
"Stay down," I yell to Barbie over the constant ringing and screams.
I step on the edge of her bed again and lean over to grab the bar where I look down below, but when I fully register what's happening, my eyes are wide.
Twix is on her knees, holding her stomach where a large amount of blood is seeping through her prison jumpsuit. She's silent, eyes in shock without saying a word as the guard before her points the gun at her head.
"Don't you fucking touch her!" The shouts around the room are loud, but I stand frozen, watching when the guard pulls the trigger, and Twix's lifeless body hits the ground.
𓆩・༺ ꔫ ༻・𓆪