The door swung open with a loud screech, and a boy with a brown potatoe bag over his head was tossed into a small, dark, dank room. He landed with a loud thud, and the door slammed shut with a sudden click. The sound of keys locking the door could be heard echoing off the cramped walls. Then everything was silent except for the ear piercing whistling, slowly fading into the distance from the other side of the door.
The boy laid stomach to the ground. He wore something that resembled an English boarding school uniform, with light gray slacks, and a crisp white collored shirt. With a slate gray sweater over top of it all, he looked like an average rich preppy boy. He wasn't the only one in the room. Three hungry, sleep deprived teens sat against the wall farthest from the locked door, and were staring wide eyed at the new addition.
After sizing up the kid lying unconscious in front of them, the three teens looked at each other. One, a girl with pink hair, pale skin and green eyes, held a younger boy, who was frightened, tightened his grip around her small thin waist. His large blue eyes didn't move from the lanky boy in front of him. The girl looked up over her shoulder at an older boy sitting on a high ledge, looking out the only window there was in the dark, dank, cell they called home. He glanced down at her with his piercing red eyes and then glanced towards their new member, showing no emotion he combed his right hand through his long sleek black hair and jumped down off the ledge.
"What are you going to do?" the girl said, following him with her eyes, while keeping a firm hold on the younger, shivering boy in her arms. The older boy ignored her and walked over to the limp boy lying in the middle of their room. He knelt down and nudged the kid hard with his right hand. The kid grunted and turned over onto his back. The older teen, curious, bent his head over the large potatoe sac engulfing the poor kids head and slowly untied it. The girl, and the younger boy, also curiously leaned forward. The older teen pulled off the potatoe sac slowly, and tossed it into the corner of the room, revealing a teen with black freshly cut hair.
"It's some punk ass, rich kid. Damn, even the rich are selling their kids to this hell hole," The older teen said as he stood up and nudged the kid again, this time with his foot. The kid coughed, and his dark, rich brown eyes fluttered open. Letting his eyes focus to the minimal amount of lighting there was in the room, the kid looked up and saw a tall teen glaring down at him. His jaw was tense, and he didn't look too happy, his face was thin, and though his eyes were intense, there were huge black rings under them due to lack of sleep.
"Who are you? What do you want with me? Where am I?" The kid said scrambling to his feet. The older teen backed out of the way, and smirked. The new kid stumbled in confusion and slammed into the wall.
"I'm not the one you should be asking those questions too, I don't want a damn thing from you, and before I tell you who I am, I want to know who the hell you are?" The older teen said, taking a step towards the kid so that their noses were almost touching. The new kid stared at the teen in front of him. He looked about seventeen, he wore an overly baggy, long-sleeved shirt that hung over his right shoulder, and torn jeans. He wore no shoes, but torn pieces of cloth that he had wrapped around his feet in replacement for shoes. There were also torn pieces of cloth he had tied around his left hand, that seemed to have been used to bandage a cut of some sort.
"What happened?" The older teen rolled his eyes and stepped back.
"Are you going to tell us who you are? Or am I going to have to drag it out of you," The older teen said clenching his fists and crossing his arms in front of him The kid's eyes widened in shock, as he finally noticed the two younger teens huddled in the corner. They looked just like the scary, overly aggressive one in front of him, hungry, sleep deprived and in almost rags. Except the younger boy, who looked about twelve, had clothes that looked cleaner, and the girl looking about fifteen, wore shoes, though they looked too big for her. She also wore a large sweater, which engulfed her small frame. He stared at them, frightened, plastered to the opposite wall.
"I'm Lee, my names Lee" Lee said, sliding down the wall so that he sat, staring opposite from the girl and young boy. He looked up at the older teen, petrified. The older teen looking amused turned around and hopped back up onto the ledge behind the other two teens. Placing his hands behind his head he leaned back against the wall, and looked down his nose towards the new boy Lee.
"Welcome to hell" The older teen said turning his attention back out the barred window. Lee turned his attention to the other two teens. The girl glanced up at the older boy behind her and rolled her eyes. She looked over at Lee and smiled angelically towards him, tightening her grip around the young boy's waist in her arms, who continued to stare at Lee with his large baby like eyes.
"Hi, I'm Sakura, this here's Pip," Lindsay said glancing down at the young boy in her arms. "His real names Peter, but everyone calls him Pip he doesn't talk much, actually he hasn't talked since he told us his name when he first came here. That's Itachi. Don't mind him. He may be scary at first but he's actually really caring. He just hates it here, and he's been here for so long," She said nodding towards the older teen behind her. Itachi pretended to ignore her and rolled his eyes mumbling something no one could hear under his breath. She looked back at Lee smiling and leaned her head on Pip's. Lee pulled his knees up and wrapped his arms around them. He looked cautiously around the tiny space, and saw no beds, no pillow, no blankets, no toilet or anything that could even be considered a toilet. The whole room was completely empty except for the ledge and the tiny window Itachi continuously looked out of. Sakura watched Lee scan his surroundings and decided to interrupt him.
"What did they tell you? How'd it happen?" Lee confused, turned his attention from Itachi to Sakura.
"Who? Tell me what?" Lee said hugging his knees in even tighter. Itachi turned his attention from the window and glanced down at Sakura, but kept quiet.
"Your parents" Sakura said innocently staring at him with very intent eyes. Itachi glanced over at Lee with the same look. Lee swallowed hard and took his eyes off of them staring blankly at the floor. Itachi smirked. He jumped off the ledge and sat himself down beside Sakura and Pip. With one leg straight out in front of him, and the other bent, he rested his bandaged arm over his left knee. Sakura lifted her head up off of Pip and laid it against Itachi's right shoulder putting most of her and Pip's weight on him. The three of them sat there staring at Lee like statues waiting for him to reply.
"You're not the only one, it's happened to all of us, all in different ways; it's almost always on a Sunday. Pip's parents told him they were taking him to the toy store. It was his thirteenth birthday, and they were going to buy him a nice big red fire truck. That's when he was bagged." Sakura said looking down at Pip, while stroking the back of his head. "One Sunday, I was told that we were all going on a family trip to Florida. My parents got on the plane and I didn't. That's when I was bagged." Lee looked at Sakura and saw her smiling, sadly. He glanced at Itachi who had leaned his head back against the wall so that he was staring up at the ceiling blankly. Sakura glanced up at Itachi and un- wrapped her left arm from around Pip and took Itachi's pale hand in hers. "Itachi's was different, he knew what was happening. There were no tricks. His parents told him what they we're doing. Itachi witnessed the exchange before the bag was placed over his head and his arms were bound." Lee stared at Sakura in horror, confusion, and desperation.
"What are you saying, why Sunday?" The three of them stared at Lee, Sakkura with concern. Pip like he was since Lee got there and Itachi looked more annoyed than anything.
"What she's saying is that your parents don't love you. They sold you here, because you're a convenient investment to them. You work here, and what ever money you make a nice percentage is handed over to your loving mommy and daddy. They aren't nice jobs either, I've been here for five years and I've been through it all. I bet you don't last a whole week here. When kids are taken out of this place," Itachi said, waving his free hand around the room. "They either come back or they don't, and if they don't they've either escaped or they're dead." Itachi leaned his head back and smirked, "And I bet you die." Sakura gave Itachi a perturbed look, and he shrugged. She turned her attention back to Lee
"We don't know why Sunday, but that's when it happens. It's every Sunday that a new kid is added to this cell, but only when one doesn't come back. But don't worry; I have complete faith in you. As long as you do what you're told, and you do it well they'll bring you back." Itachi chuckled, and Sakura jabbed him in the ribs with her bony elbow.
"Who will bring me back?" Lee said, leaning in towards Sakura and ignoring Itachi's rude remark.
"The people who brought you here, the men that throw the bag over your head so you don't know where you're going or where you are. None of us know, except for Itachi. He's been here so long he knows a way out. He's going to help us; all of us get out of here." Sakura said, squeezing Itachi's hand. Itachi turned his head and looked at her, and was about to say something when all four of them went completely silent. Whistling could be heard coming faintly from down the corridor on the other side of the door.
"They must have a job for one of us," Itachi said quietly. The key was in the lock and a slight click was heard before the door opened, casting a large amount of light into the room. All four of them raised their arms over their heads trying to block the light from their eyes. A tall man stepped into the room with rope in one hand and a large brown bag in the other; he walked into the middle of the small room and nodded towards Itachi.
"Let's go punk; I've got a fun job for you!" Itachi sat there and glared up at the man refusing to move. The man signaled to two other men out in the hall, they walked in and grabbed Itachi from off the ground and wrenched Sakura's hand out of his. Lee huddled himself in the corner as he watched the men bound Itachi's arms behind his back as he struggled for freedom. The other man shoved the bag over Itachi's head while the other two held him still. Lee looked at Sakura and saw her nod to what ever Itachi had mouthed to her before his head was covered. The men then dragged Itachi out the door and Lee could only see the shadows fading down the hallway before the last man turned to him. Lee glanced up at him, wide eyed, because of the light; shadows covered the man's entire face making any features invisible to see. The man began to step towards him, but changed his mind and turned to Sakura and Pip. He pulled another bag out of his back pocket and grabbed Pip's small arm and ripped him out of Sakura's grasp.
"We'll be using you too little one," The man said placing the bag over Pip's small head. He picked him up and walked out of the room, and slammed the door shut, leaving Sakura crying silently, and Lee shaking in the corner.
Two days passed, and Sakura and Leesat in the same spots. Neither one of them had touched the gruesome food that had been tossed into the room through a slit in the door every day, so both we're tired and starving. Tear stains we're visible on Sakura's pale cheeks. She sat rocking back and forth with arms wrapped around her knees staring blankly at the ground. Lee sat in the same corner with a glazed look over his face, with his legs stretched out in front of him and with his arms lying limp at his sides.
"How long does it take before they're brought back?" Lee said, not looking up. Sakura stopped rocking and glanced up at the door and continued to stare at it.
"They should be back anytime now, it's never been this long before. They'll be back, he promised," Sakura said without taking her eyes of the door. Lee looked up at Sakura, and strained his ears trying to hear the whistling.
"There! Someone's coming!" Lee and Sakura shifted quickly leaning towards the door, praying that Pip and Itachi will be tossed back into the room. The keys clanged together, and one was slotted into the lock, and the door opened with a loud bang. Sakura got on her knees with her hands planted on the floor in front of her, and she watched a small body plop into the room. The bag fell off the small body's head and Pip sat there staring into Sakura's wide eyes.
"Itachi! Where's Itachi?" Sakura said, scrambling to her feet as quickly as she could.
"Bring him back! Bring Itachi back!" Sakura fell to the floor beside Pip, with one hand on the floor steadying her and the other banging on the now shut, sealed door. With tears streaming down her face she continued to whale on it.
More days passed, and the three of them sat in their usual spots silently waiting. Lee in the corner, and Sakura held Pip close to her for warmth, and comfort as she continued to mumble to herself.
"He'll be back, he promised," She paused, and strained her ears listening to the slight whistling coming from the other side of the door. "Itachi!" Sakura let Pip go and scrambled to her feet, tumbling to the door she landed on her knees about half way and stared at the door in desperation. It opened and the light shown through and blinded Sakura from seeing the body tossed into the room. The door slammed shut and Sakura crawled over quickly towards the body, praying to see Itachi's head come out from under the large bag she grabbed the ties and wrenched it off. When her eyes finally adjusted, she could see clearly that it wasn't Itachi's eyes she stared into but a small young girl's. The girl held herself, cold and frightened. She looked around like Lee once did, but this time Sakura didn't smile, she didn't introduce herself like before, and she had no concern or happiness in herself anymore. Lee stared at her, wondering what she was going to do, what she was going to say, what she was thinking. Sakura sat there, stunned, arms wrapped around her small frame. With new tears falling down her cheeks she turned and glared, horrified as she listened to the small, once silent Pip's words,
"It must be Sunday!"