~A Caged Bird's Cries~

Training Day

When she opened my eyes, it was like waking up after a long night's rest. Everything in my body ached, and my eyesight blurred the dark surrondings around me. I felt the comfort of a soft blanket on my skin, smelled the cleanness of an air freshner...then I realized this wasn't mine. None of this was mine. It was all hers.

"Hello Elena. It's about time that you woke from your slumber."

Why am I still here? I screamed. I'm supposed to be dead!

"I decided to punish you eternally," she sighed, bored. She ruffled my hair- her hair- and slipped from the sheets to stretch. "After betraying me for that boy, I decided...why not show you how to do the job correctly. You see, when you 'sacrified' yourself for that human boy, trying to kill me off, after everything I gave to you...it seemed obvious that punishment would be the only way to treat your...disloyalty."

Panic coursed through me. Why didn't you just let me die?

"Because, unlike you father, you don't deserve that. Your father didn't fight against me. He was saved by your human boy toy, he didn't mean to go against me. Death was the correct treatment. He died painlessly. You, however deserve the painfulness of living within this body, this flesh made cage. I was going to let you keep him if you did as I told. But you didn't." She chuckled, like she just telled a lighthearted joke. "You will live on with the mistake you made Elena Validus. You will live and see your boy toy die with your own hands."

He doesn't need to get involved! I got him involved-it's all my fault.

"Exactly."

I watched in horror as she looked over her shoulder. I saw a silhoutte of a lean body laying on the bed, wrapped in the cover. Her sight focused, making me see. I choked back a sob, seeing the russet hair. Ben?

"Not the real thing, but close enough." She shook her head. "It's too bad. Such a good copy, yet I used him as practice..."

P-Practice?

She sighed heavily and reached for the body. I felt cloth, her fingers searching for something. Then I felt it. Warm, sticky...it choked me, gagging me. I smelled iron, rust and age.

Blood.

"I figured this would be good practice in the future." She touched the cold fake skin of its body, sighing. Chips flew around quickly, clumping together to form another copy. Another body. "Now that you're awake, I'd like to show you." I was held prisoner, watching in absolute horror as she grabbed the switchblade from the counter and flourished it. The moonlight caught a silver line of the blade and I saw the scarlet stained on the metal. No! Please! Don't do this!

"I can. And I will." Then she turned his body over, his eyes meeting mine. I froze, stuck in this body, feeling the heart pumping vigourously, the excitement she contained. I saw the raw panic and fear in his jade eyes. I made no sound. I only felt adrenline she shared with me, ready for the kill. I couldn't feel horrified, disgusted at myself at what I felt.

I felt power, control. Like nothing else mattered except for the knife in her hand and the beat of my heart. The kill.

I didn't remember her as she cut through the skin and clothing. I concentrated on the cries of pain, the horror of an endless torment. He was created to be tormented. He was still alive, still so human. But not Ben.

As soon as his last breath left his lips, he sunk into the sheets. The adrenline faded and I felt the blood on her dress, her skin...I let out a small sigh, the sound crossing with a distressed whimper. I witnessed my first murder right before my own eyes. And it was by her own hands. My hands.

"Remember that this is merely the first time you'll see this Elena. More training...then you'll be the one who causes the bloodshed."

I listened as she grabbed a remote control from the floor and turned on the TV. My old remote control from my old floor, my own TV. This was my old home...everything I had was now hers.

And she would now have Ben.

A/N: R&R? :D