"...Shut up."
"What?"
"Just shut up!"
"Oh. Right. And you're going to make me?"
I glowered at the three standing over me, cowering in the corner of the big warehouse they had lured me into. "Where's Lir?" I demanded quietly, fighting off the tears that threatened to give away my fear and anger.
"Lir? Oh, right. The girl you like." I cringed at the painful truth, pulling away when one of them reached down to touch me. The older boy snatched my shirt collar, pulling me to my feet and pushing me against the wall. "See, she doesn't like you. And she never will. Who could like a shrimp like you, anyways?" I glared down at them hatefully, unable to retaliate. Each held a weapon of some sort; a bar, a chain and a knife. Today wasn't my day, and it sure as hell wasn't going to mold into a good night.
"So, is there something you want to say, kid?" the one holding the bar asked, hitting it into his palm. The one holding the chain held it in both hands, his right holding the end and the left holding it taut between the two hands, the rest trailing onto the ground. My personal captor held a knife in one hand, sheathed for now.
"Not in particular," I growled, glaring at them.
"No?" I knew them each, but in my current hazardous position could only recall my personal captors name; Lak.
"Come on, Lak," I said, trying to reason with him as well as myself, searching for acceptable reasons for them not to beat me within an inch of my life. "You know they'll notice I'm gone. I'm small, but it makes me stand out. They'll--"
"Assume you're on holiday, since you take so many," Lak cut me off, flicking his wrist and letting the blade slide out of it's little liar. I winced, the little light coming into the warehouse reflecting off the blade. My mind flashed an image of me meeting the blade brutally, embedding itself in my chest and letting the blood cascade down my body, my entire form numb with fear and pain as well as paralysis that came to me in my visions, the inability and weakness of fear. I shoved it aside, not before I shuddered. Lak grinned, holding up his knife and waving it tauntingly before my face, my eyes following it nervously. "Are you sure there's nothing you want to say? Or admit?"
I felt my body give, another shudder finding my spine. If I admit to switching the test scores, I'd get skinned alive. If I didn't say something... I'd get beaten to near-death. What to choose...
I closed my eyes, getting dizzy from watching the knife dance in front of me. I wasn't really the one who had switched the scores, though. Lan had. My best friend, Lan... And I sure as hell couldn't turn in my best and only friend. This was going to end badly, to say the least...
"Rim?"
I opened my eyes, looking at the now frowning face of Lak. "What's wrong with you?"
My racing mind slowed down and I felt my breath quicken slightly, his vision blurring.
"Lak, he's having another of those attacks," one of them whispered, eyeing me cautiously. The one with the bar. Kan... That was his name. My mind focused painfully, everything coming into vicious clarity. I shut my eyes tightly, slowing my breath before daring to open my eyes again. Lak glared at me; he had dropped me to my feet, standing over me now.
"Freak," he growled, grinning again. "Scared yourself into a panic-attack." I shut my eyes tightly, lowering my head. "Oh, no." I felt something sharp under my neck and gasped a quick intake of breath, lifting my head away from it. It matched my motions until my head was held high, as though proud, and opened my eyes, Lak's knife under my chin. "You're not getting out of this that easily, kid," he growled, another cold smirk forming on his face. "Now say it. I want to hear you tell me you did it. Or that friend of yours..."
"It wasn't him," I snapped quickly, glaring at them. "I... I did it. I switched your test scores."
Lak glanced back at his buddies, flashing them grins that they returned. Saj (that's his name, Saj,) pulled his chain taut, taking a step forward. Lak waved him back for a second and turned back to me, sliding the knife away from my neck and pressing it against my chest. "So, you're going to change them back, right?" he said quietly, glaring down at me.
"I can't," I replied just as quietly, glowering up at him with fear and anger raging inside my skull. "They're already posted and recorded. They would notice the change."
"..." Lak glared down at me, but it changed viciously. I jerked and pressed my back against the wall, staring up at him in wide-eyed fright. His face had borne a murderous, empty stare, his grip on his knife tightening.
"L-Lak," I stammered, but he paid no mind. He swung his arm up, spinning the knife in his hand into a stabbing position and plunged it down towards me.
"AHH!!" I dove to the side, avoiding the blade by mere inches. I scrambled to my feet and raced towards the door, my mind racing. If I didn't get out of here I'd be killed. That was obvious now.
I cried out as something grabbed my ankle, jerking it out from below me. I tumbled over, spinning into a sitting position quickly and finding a chain wrapped around my leg.
"Saj!" I cried in despair, grabbing the chain and wrenching at it desperately.
"Present," Saj said solemnly, standing over me with an empty glare. I trembled, crawling backwards before an explosion of flares appeared in my vision. Everything was bright, like fireworks, before black ate away my vision.
Kan...
My eyes shut slowly and I fell onto my side, unconscious.

Pain throbbed in my head and I whimpered quickly, opening my eyes slowly. I tried to touch my head, only to find my wrists bound to something cold above me. My eyes snapped open before shutting tightly, a low groan escaping my lips.
"He's awake," someone mumbled. My eyes opened painfully and a bright light glared down at me. A dark shadow blocked some light out suddenly, standing over me.
I tried to mumble but felt something pressed against my mouth and I shut my eyes, trying to turn my head away feebly. My attempts were met with a soft touch pushing my head back to the side, the bandana being pulled away from my mouth. I mumbled again and groaned, struggling to pull my arms from above my head. They were bound together overtop my head, and I was lying horizontal. My legs were tied together too, and strapped to the ground or table or whatever I was on.
"Lak, he's up."
My eyes snapped open and I stared up at Saj. He averted his gaze, refusing to meet mine.
"A'right." I heard Lak's voice from the side and a small clatter.
"Saj," I begged quietly, my eyes wide. "What's going on?"
"Keep quiet," he said quietly, looking at me now. "I hit you up with some morphine when no one was looking. It won't... it won't hurt as bad now," he finished pathetically, regretfully as he trailed off, looking up to Kan as he walked over.
"He set?" Kan asked, looking down at me as I struggled to free my painful wrists.
"Yeah," Saj replied quietly, looking away.
"You don't have to stay," Kan reminded him, putting a hand on Saj's shoulder.
"...I think I'll go," he whispered, looking ill as he looked up to where Lak was walking towards us. He turned away and left the room through a door at the end. I struggled to crane my neck and found Lak standing on my other side now, looking down at me.
"Wh-what's--"
"Shut up," Lak snapped and I winced, obeying. "Seeing as you're useless to me any other way, you're going to help me in my other classes," Lak growled and leaned on the table, over me. "Biology and mechanics." I felt my face pale as he looked up at him, fear wrenching my gut.
"Wh...y- you.."
"I said shut up," Lak said, but with less authority. None-the-less, I obeyed. He stood and turned his back on me. A low scraping noise came from his other side and I felt myself shudder at its foreboding sound. He turned back and something caught the light, flashing in my eyes. I shut them tightly and blinked them open when the flash went away. A scalpel was held in his hand, a rather large and sharp one. I felt my body turn cold as all my energy flooded out of me.
"Y... you can't be serious," I whispered, my eyes wide with terror. He pressed the blade against my lower gut and I twitched against the cold metal, a quiet moan escaping me.
"Damn right I'm serious," Lak growled angrily, sliding the scalpel up my stomach slowly until he reached my collarbones. I whimpered and gasped through the tracing, feeling tears in my eyes. This couldn't be happening…
"You done playin' with him, Lak?" Kan asked, sounding impatient.
Lak stared down at me emotionlessly before grinning. "Yeah."
He brought the scalpel back down to my lower gut and pressed the tip into my fresh, shallow wound. My gasp gave way to an agonized moan as he pressed it deeper. Red invaded my vision and my body trembled violently, my wrists jerking their binds taut.
"This is nothin', kid," Lak said quietly before plunging the scalpel into my stomach. My scream echoed in the room. It was nothing compared to the ones that followed for the next seven hours...