Etta POV:
I am awoken by screaming, I look over to the neighboring cell to find it empty. Uh I guess my new friend is experiencing initiation, poor sod. On the plus side it seems my ears have finally healed. I hate days like yesterday when a single area is their focus as demented as it may sound it better when there doesn't seem to be any rhyme or reason to their actions even going from eyes to reproductive organs in a single session. The pain is so spears out over large areas eventually it is like a sensory overload and some part of you is able to just shut off. I am not talking about flipping the "switch" as I've heard it described no this is more like there is so much pain that even advanced vampire neurons can't process it all and then suddenly there is this static like on the radio just a white noise. I've learned how to find solace in that white noise but when they focus on one thing there is no other pain you can switch your focus to there is no distracting and no escape, the white noise never comes there is no break from the pain it is relentless. It is disturbing I am wishing my new friend greater amounts of pain but that is my wish for him I hope he finds his static.
Enzo POV:
Dumped in my cell again, I have never been more frustrated. The hate and anger I am filled with is consuming and yet I am unable to exercise any of my rage at those deserving hell I'll take undeserving right now the distinction is not important I could wipe towns off the bloody map and yet my body my SUPERNATURAL body is failing be all due to a fucking herb!
"Try counting" a voice says, I snap my eyes over to my "friend" as she sought fit to deem herself.
"Counting?" I bite out.
"Yes, the number of bars around us, dust particles in the air... the hair on your arms..." She goes to continue but I cut her off.
"Are you fucking kidding me? I am not a child who can't fall asleep don't tell me to count sheep!" I scream at her.
"I never said sheep, are you having hallucinations because there certainly isn't any sheep around here." she asks
"Are you mad? Do you have any form of sense left in your head or has it all been cut out?" I scream again at her but her eyes pin me with that last one and I start to feel badly... not enough to apologize but there is a small amount of regret there. A silence hangs in the air between us fore a while and I wonder who will break it.
"Two months," she breaks first, I don't know why but that gives me a small amount of satisfaction.
"It took two months," she continues "before I stopped pacing the cell, spitting piss and vinegar at any one who came within my sight, even the guy who comes by with blood once a day... cost myself quite a few meals that way. It took two months before I stopped behaving like an animal caught in a trap desperate for escape," she chuckles to herself at this mumbling something about how she wishes all it took to be free of here was to chew through a limb. She takes a breath before continuing "and accepted where I was and that no one was coming for me and that all I was doing was just getting weaker, there is no escape the only thing to do is endure to not let them have the pleasure of seeing you struggle. I am just trying to help you get there."
I think about what she has said but I don't want to get there, there seems like giving up and that is something I won't do. Two months thats all the fight she had in her? I feel any respect I might have had for my "friend" start to slip away at that realization.
Etta POV:
I saw the look he gave me after that, it was disappointment, I can't remember the last time I disappointed someone. I didn't like it. Over the next two months we rarely spoke they would switch off taking turns getting us on one of their tables dumping us in our cells. He got used to my screams and I got used to his and slowly I saw the fight that consumed him those first couple of days slip away. It tore at me seeing that happen to someone else, It had happened before I had other cellmates but it never really effected me this way before, seeing someone be broken until it happened to... to... my goodness is it possible I don't know his name? Do I really only know him as 12144? I move myself closer to the barred window on the wall dividing our two cells and I gently place my hand on his shoulder. He quickly shakes it off clearly not wanting any of my comfort.
"Don't, don't do that." He mumbles at me.
"I am sorry," he chuckles at that before he starts to work himself up.
"Sorry, sorry, yes I know. You think I don't see it? The pitying looks you've been giving me. I do! I do and I hate it. I hate what I have become, I am a sad excuse for a vampire, a sad excuse for a man! Do you know what I first thought of you when I got here? And now look at me every bit as pathetic as you. I hate... I hate it... I hate it, I hate it, I hate it!" He keeps repeating he hates it as he starts to pound his fist into the ground I try shouting at him to stop he is desiccating his hand, bones are splintering off... I have to stop this.
"Hey, hey, look at me. Just look at me...please. Your NAME! Your name, whats your name?" This halts him and he slowly looks over to me.
"My name? All this time and you don't know my name?" He asks me looking confused, he actually has a very cute look on his face suddenly he starts laughing and not the sardonic chuckle I've only ever heard from him but really laughing and I start giggling too and soon we are both laugh hysterically. After what felt like hours he finally gives me my answer.
"Lorenzo, but friends call me Enzo and lucky for you I am your friend." He finishes by throwing a little smirk my way that doesn't fail to put a smile on my face.
