"You really think so?" Lucas said taking in all of the information explained to him. I nodded my head in agreement. His expression shifted to a look of worry, cupping his mouth with his hand as he began to grow nervous.
"It makes sense, why else would that wall be there?" I added to prove my point. Yuugo stood up crossing his arms while I sat on the bed where Lucas's feet rested giving him space.
Yuugo then groaned.
"Plus, I wanna check what's over that wall anyways... if it's just more land or... something else." He said looking outside the window and staring at the entrance of the gate from far away.
I hummed in agreement, putting one of my arms behind my back and leaning back to look at the red-haired boy.
"Come with us, I'm sure you can stand up now." I smiled warmly at him as he smiled back.
He nodded as he began to sigh cracking his back from side to side.
"Alright then, let's get going!" He said with enthusiasm making Yuugo roll his eyes while laughing slightly.
—
"[Name] just jump, I'll catch you OK?" Lucas said reassuring me as I stood on the branch of the tree.
Earlier, Lucas had convinced Mother to let him play outside with the other kids. Using this chance, me and Yuugo brought him to the end side of the forest by pretending to play tag. The children around us began to question as it was very rare for me and Yuugo to be seen together—let alone be even around each other.
We ran straight into the forest as we disappeared in sight from the house. Just as me and Yuugo explained earlier that there was a wall, he was face to face with the grey concrete and now this time the three of us decided to climb the nearest tree to the wall to jump off of to reach the top of the structure.
Yuugo and Lucas had already made it over to the other side, as they had better physical strength than mine. It took me a few minutes to climb the tree with the help of Lucas as Yuugo only complained about how slow I was.
My legs shook on the tree branch, scared I might fall. Lucas took notice of this and instantly tried to distract me from my thoughts.
"Hey look at me OK? You're fine see? I know you can do it." He smiled in an attempt to calm down my nerves.
Yuugo had been what seemed like hypnotized as he continued to stare off into the distance almost mesmerized.
"Lucas I— don't know." I said as my eyes shot back and forth from the ground below me and his eyes, noticing how far up I was. Surely if I fell I would break a limb.
The red-haired boy took notice of the branch's tears, realizing it could no longer withstand my weight.
"[Name] jump!"
My eyes quickly darted towards the branch I stood on, feeling the sturdiness of it greatly disappearing. My heart dropped at the last second while I jumped reaching for Lucas's hand that instantly grabbed mine while I screamed loudly.
The branch ended up hitting the grass loudly while he began to pull me up the wall groaning. Lucas stood up catching his breath and smiling at me as he helped me stand up by lifting my arms.
"See, I knew you could do it."
My breath was still shaken from a few seconds ago, but regardless I smiled back.
"Yeah..." I said as my eyes wandered what was over the cliff.
Only this time, instead of the rapid beating in my heart I grew abnormally sick to my stomach. My heart stopped for a split second.
A cliff.
—
"This place is not a house, it's a prison to keep us here from ever escaping." Yuugo said holding his face feeling stress and fear overcome him.
The three of us stood in the storage room, we decided to make it our secret spot to discuss these types of topics to prevent other children from finding out. It was dark outside, we lit a lamp to brighten up the room. We still had a few minutes of free time left after doing our chores.
Silence filled the room.
"Surely Mother has been aware of all of this."
"And she's been keeping it away from everyone." I added.
"The cliff is to prevent us from escaping."
"Our training is to produce more muscle mass for the demons."
"And the tests to strengthen our taste."
"We're not children." Yuugo suddenly said.
"We're food."
Fear began to overtake us all, finally understanding the truth about our lives.
"But then what's beyond the wall? And I'm talking about the whole world that we live in." I said making the two question my behaviour.
"If it's true that there are demons, then wouldn't that mean nearly most of the population are demons? They're just keeping us here as..." My mind wandered off trying to find the correct word slightly shaking my head in doing so.
"Cattle?" I said looking up and making eye contact with Yuugo who seemed to be already staring at me.
The three of us silenced for a moment. Yuugo blinked away shifting his posture to rest his back against the table kept in the storage room.
"We gotta' get outta' here." He said turning around and facing his back towards me and Lucas.
"What about the others? There's too many of us to br-" I said now making Lucas go into distress.
Yuugo whipped his head around to face me, staring at me with one of his cold dead eyes as if he was a predator and I was a prey, sending shivers down my spine. He was always a tease, never a menace. Seeing him react like this was the first time in my life I witnessed him actually being a threat.
"We are bringing everyone. I don't care what the hell yer' thinkin' about."
I gulped in shame, feeling stupid for even thinking about leaving the rest behind while the three of us escaped. Lucas noticed the shift in Yuugo's mood and the static between us. Quickly he broke the tension to calm his friend down.
"Well, I think we should head to bed right?" He said moving the topic somewhere else. Lucas quickly grabbed my shoulders moving me towards the door as Yuugo grunted in annoyance, taking out the flame in the lamp.
As I began opening the door I was met face to face with Mother staring at the three of us making our breathing hitched.
"What are you three doing in here?"
Our breathing stopped but none of our eyes widened. In fear, she would be on to us.
Momentarily, Yuugo put on a smile.
"Sorry 'bout this Mom, we were just grabbing some extra cloth in here. The younger kids just wanted to use it for their pillow fort." He lied on the spot already grabbing the material in his hands. Before slickly walking out grabbing Lucas's shoulder and making him let go of mine.
"C'mon let's go, they're already waitin' for us." He said not daring to look back. Lucas grabbed my hand last minute dragging me away with the two.
"Cya Mom!" Lucas said not looking back either.
The three of us began walking away and for a split second, I decided to look back only for me to make eye contact with Mother who's eyes pierced into mine.
—
"Hey, big sister [Name]?"
I turned my head to the child standing beside me with other younger children behind her. It was the next day after having a conversation with Lucas and Yuugo inside the storage room. I had told them the incident I shared with Mother before we left. Although very little information was taken in that instance, the three of us took it as a precaution to become weary of her.
We came to an agreement that Mother must have some sort of reason to be suddenly around us, almost as if she was keeping a close eye on us. Because of this Yuugo and I decided it was for the best we wouldn't be seen around one another, otherwise the children would grow suspicious of us along with Mother.
"Yes?" I questioned Maria who stood at the tip of my feet standing on the grass while I played with one of the 4-year-olds, Natasha.
Behind Maria stood Stacie and Mike, all three of them were known as the 'newbies'. Usually, children who are the age of 4 and under are prohibited from practicing muscle mass training. By the time they turn 6, they are obligated to start sparring.
"What's wrong?" I asked again now raising a brow. Out of three Maria had an unusual look on her face. Her normal straight brown hair had been nuzzled, some hairs sticking out as other kids in the background played with each other.
Yuugo and Lucas had been watching me from afar. Dina who was near me peered in our conversation.
"Yuugo ruffled my hair again!" She said with tears nearly leaving her eyes. I sighed unimpressed at the boy's behaviour toward Maria. Everyone knew Yuugo always teased her.
The plan was working.
Dina groaned in annoyance before gently placing the 4-year-old in her arms before angrily calling out Yuugo's name already noticing Lucas had been trying to catch him by running after him. I began to lead Maria inside the house to fix her hair. She always came to me whenever her hair was messed up, and so did other kids.
"Why are we brushing my hair in the storage room big sister?" Maria questioned looking around confused as I began to put her hair back into the space buns she wore.
"It's more quieter and nicer here no?" I said facing myself in front of her face smiling.
She hummed thinking for a bit as I finished her hair, "I guess you're right..." She trailed off thinking about the emptiness. At last, once she felt my hands leave her head she swung around so I'd look at her.
"How do I look?!" She said enthusiastically.
I smiled warmly at her before answering.
"Lovely."
She smiled deeply before running out of the room and screaming a quick thanks as she ran down the halls to go play outside. Seconds later, Yuugo and Lucas walked in sweating.
"Geez..." Yuugo said out of breath.
"I thought Dina would've torn me apart, and I wasn't the one who did anything..." Lucas said sweating.
After the two of them caught their breath, we finally began to discuss.
"So if we want to escape, we have to think about two things, Mother and the other kids." I said crossing my arms and looking Yuugo dead in the eye making him question me as if he was interested and conflicted.
"I get Mom and all, but what d'ya mean the other kids." He said pestering me returning back a cold stare. Lucas noticed the change in our demeanour. Even though the three of us were on the same page and side, me and Yuugo still failed to get along.
I looked at the black-haired man intensely with my eyebrows raised.
"You're joking right? Do you understand that there is 36 children? And half of us are age 5 and younger. Do you really think we can escape with the younger ones?" I stated.
His eyebrows furrowed for a split second as Lucas pondered. Taking in the information, Yuugo had been already aware of this factor.
"Then, we'll come up with a plan."
"What plan exactly?" Lucas said placing his hands on the table in the storage room.
Yuugo took a ripped sheet of paper and a broken pencil scattered in the room placing it on the table catching me and Lucas's attention.
As he began to write down the both of us understood.
"First, let's start off with this." He pointed at a specific section on the paper.