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Chapter Three: Home, Dark and Terrifying, Home

A/N: hello! *evil laugh* I've finished another chapter! Please ra view and enjoy!

"Darkness cannot drive out darkness; only light can do that. Hate cannot drive out hate; only love can do that." -Martin Luther King Jr.

The first thing I notice is how smooth the ground becomes. It's no longer rough and poking. It's gentle and clean feeling. The next thing I notice is the new voice. This one sounds older than the others.

"What- oh...my...god! Jayden!" The arm around me lets go, leaving me alone in the dark. I whimper and flinch as two arms are suddenly around me, squeezing me against the owner of this new voice. I whimper louder, wanting him to let go. When he does I feel him take my head in his hands. I jump and try to pull away. "It's ok," he says quietly. "It's ok. Dammit Jayden. What happened to your eyes?"

"Freaky, right?" one of the voice says.

"Mike, make yourself useful and get some water. Antonio, Kevin, take him to the infirmary room."

"Alright," the Antonio-voice says. He grabs one of my arms, the other person, Kevin..., takes the other. They walk me slowly across the smooth ground. Soon I am being pushed down again. I jump when I find myself sitting on something soft. A bed, I think. Yes, this is a bed.

"Lay down," Antonio-voice says to me. I do as I am ordered and lay down on the bed.

"Leave," says the voice who told them to bring me here. "I'll take care of him. Go rest with the others." The must not leave because then he says, "Go on. You're not doing a lot of good just staring there." I hear them a walk away. The man begins touching my arm gently. I flinch at his fingers. "It's ok. I'm not going to hurt you. I'm just checking your injuries."

I squirm away from him. He suddenly grabs me and I yelp. "Careful!" he says. "You almost fell off the bed." I start shaking in fear of a punishment. His grip becomes looser and he pats my hair. "It's ok. Jayden, I'm not going to hurt you. You can trust me. I swear."

"I'm not got in to hurt you." Empty promises. Everything hurts me. All beings want to hurt me. They should. I'm nothing. I tense again as he rubs something on my cuts. "It's just some water and soap," he says. "You really need a bath. Not only are you covered in dirt and blood, but you stink." I'm not sure what to do with this statement. "It's ok," he says, continuing to talk to me. He pushes gently in my ribs, making me wince. "Broken. Most of them. Sorry.

"I need you to turn over now, so I can look at your back." I recognize a command in his soft vice and roll over so I'm laying on my stomach. I hiss as something stings my wounds. No, no more please! I didn't do anything! "It's ok, it's ok. I'm sorry, but I have to clean these or they'll get infected." I lay with my head to the side, facing the voice. "These welts are deep. Sit up." He helps me to sit up so my my legs are sitting over the edge.

"Ok, so now, I'll get one of the others to make sure you get cleaned up. Then I'll wrap your torso. Ok?" I nod to show understanding.

"I can do it," Antonio-voice says.

"I thought I told you to leave?"

"You told me to leave the room. I'm standing in the hall."

The voice sighs. I wonder if Antonio-voice will get punished for talking back... "Don't talk back to your betters," the monster said, whipping me again as I screamed...

"Jayden," the voice says. I blink in the darkness and shake my head. "It's ok. Antonio's going to make sure you get a bath."

"Come on Amigo." The Antonio voice grabs my arm again with his gentle touch and leads me somewhere else. I follow submissively, wanting to keep them contented. Antonio person pushes me down onto something. I jump when I hear a loud sound. "Hey, I'm got in to be right back, ok? Don't move a muscle." I sit, completely paralyzed while I wait. I listen to the sound of the water. Water... I lick my lips, suddenly realizing how thirsty I am.

When's the last time I had water? I can't really remember. I bite my lip. I'm alone, I think. I slip off of what I'm sitting on and crawl in the dark. I crawl towards the sound. I reach out and feel the smooth surface of the tub. I pull myself up into my knees and reach into the water. It feels cold and fresh. I raise my hand it my mouth and sip at it.

I drink it gladly. I'm so thirsty, I forget about the fact I was told to stay put. I drink another handful. Most of the water falls beaten my fingers, but some makes it to my mouth.

"Hey! What're you-"

I jump and scrambled back. I run into a wall quickly and stay where I am. I curl into a ball and whimper. I hear the footsteps approaching. Anticipating pain, I whimper and cringe. "S-s-s..."

"What?" Antonio-voice asks. "What did you say?"

I shook my head earnestly. Now I've done it. "Sorry," I choke out. I'm so scared I start to cry. "Sorry."

"You have nothing to be sorry for," Antonio-voice argues. He holds my head in both his hands and lifts it up. I flinch and cringe, waiting for him to hit me. He doesn't. "Jayden, it's ok. I'm not going to hurt you. I was just a little shocked when I saw you. That's all. I'm not mad. You're not in trouble."

"I-I v-very s-sorry," I stammer.

"I know I you are. But you're not in trouble. Ok?" I nod for his benefit. "Ok then. So now, I'm gonna say something very awkward. If we weren't in these circumstances the others would laugh at me. I'm gonna take you're pants off, ok?" I nod again, wanting to please this voice. Just because he doesn't punish me the first time, doesn't mean he won't.

"Alright then." I feel him carefully remove me jeans. "I should burn these," he mutters as he does. When I'm naked, I sit in waiting. "Ok, now, you need to stand up so we can get you in the tub." The loud noise stops, presumably he's shutting of the water. Next, the voice picks me up. "We need to get you some food, Jay," he says. "I'm not supposed to be able to pick you up like this."

I cling to him a little as he places me in the water. I start shaking...My lungs burned with a lack of oxygen, as the monsters hold my head under the water... "It's ok, relax. You're going to be fine." He started pouring water over my head with a cup. I sputter a little bit as it runs down my face. I feel the Antonio-voice start putting something in my hair. He hums as he does. "Don't feel weird about me seeing you naked," Antonio-voice tells me. "I love you in a purely platonic way."

I turn my head at him, keeping my eyes down. L-love me? Why? I'm nothing. Why would you care about me? It's probably a trap. He pours the water over my hair again; tilting my head back a bit, keeping the soap out of my eyes. His humming continues as he works his finger carefully though the knots in my hair. "You need a hair cut, Jay," he tells me. "Add it to the list of things we need to accomplish." He sighs and finished rinsing my hair.

He then splashes something in the water and begins scrubbing me. "Wash, wash, Jayden. Make him nice and clean," he sings. "Squeaky, squeaky, squeaky, squeaky, make him nice and clean." I frown and slash the water a bit with my fingers. He continues to scrub me gently. "Sorry," he says when I flinch. "Ji wants me to clean your wounds very well so he can put some ointment on them. Plus there's a lot of dirt and dried blood on you."

I flinch again as he scrubs the wounds on my back. "Ji wasn't kidding, these are pretty deep." He pours water over my body, rubbing it in some areas to clean way more dirt. "Hey look, I found your skin. And bruises, yikes. No way to hide all of them I think." He sighs and pulls me to my feet. "Ok, now, just step up, alright. Now the other foot." I stand shivering as he warps a towel around me.

"Ok, now comes the fun part of trying to get you dressed. I picked out your favorite red pajamas." He chuckles a bit and makes sure I'm dry. "Ok." I feel clothes in my hands and put them on. I almost lose my balance as I do, but Antonio-voice is there to help me. I shy away from his touch. I don't like touch. Touch means pain. It's what I'm used to. But not with him. He is very gentle.

I jump as the water drains and try to get away. "Hey!" He grabs me suddenly. "It's ok. I'm not going to hurt you. Come on now, Ji's probably waiting for us." He walks me back carefully, guiding me around a couple corners. I soon find myself back on the bed.

"He looks...better."

"Yeah. I guess. Maybe if you don't look at his face." I look down and he laughs. "It's ok Jay. You'll always be as handsome as you used to be to me."

"Why don't you leave for real this time?" Ji-voice suggests. "I'll take care of him from here."

"He gonna..um...socialize?"

"I don't think that's best right now."

"Yeah probably. The others are in a bit of shock right now."

"It's understandable. They did think he was dead a few hours ago."

"Don't remind me," Antonio-voice snaps angrily.

"Antonio," Ji-voice says comfortingly. "You have to understand-"

"You know what, I'm going to go see about dinner." I hear his footsteps leave and Ji-voice sighs.

"You know, I never would've thought you going missing would have this effect on the team." He begins pulling off my shirt. I know better than to fight back, but I whine in protest. "I need to look at your back again and warp you middle up." I shiver a little in fear, it's too warm to be cold. "This is going to sting," he warns me, his voice now coming from behind. I nod into the darkness. I'm used to stinging. The whip that caused the gashes stings like fire.

I still gasp at the feeling though. "It's ok," he says. "You're ok." He finishes and starts wrapping something around me. I tense, waiting for whatever it was to suffocate me, or worse. But it doesn't. I realize it is just a bandage to help me. I wonder even more when this will end. It scares me not knowing when or how they will hurt me. They're playing mind games, I think. Making me put my guard down so I feel more pain when they hurt me.

I can't trust them. I can't trust anyone. "Ok," Ji-voice says when he's done. "Go ahead and put your shirt on." I do it quickly, eager to have a shirt again. I don't deserve one, I think. I'm a bad, bad, samurai. "Now, I'm afraid I can't ignore the elephant in the room any longer." His voice is in front of me now. I feel him take my head in his hands. He turns my head left and right.

"Second and third degrees burns," he says. "Peeling skin, that's a sign of healing. You're pupils, and entire eyes are bleach white." He touches my skin gently, making me pull back. "Sorry. Ok, now, I need you to answer me. If you don't want to talk, that's fine. What you've been through, I know it can't be easy. Just...I need to know what's wrong. Now, tell me what you see."

I hesitate, not wanting to talk and be punished, but I don't want to disobey and be punished too. "Dark," I say, almost silently. "Darkness."

"Darkness," he whispers sadly. "Oh Jayden. Jayden, Jayden, Jayden. I don't know how they did this, but- I just don't know. I'm so sorry." He brushes back my bangs. "You need a haircut. I'm going to get you some food now. Just stay here don't move. I don't want you to hurt yourself or something." I nod and sit back.

I hear his footsteps leaving and run my hand over the soft blanket. I want to cry from the happiness I'm feeling. It's been so long since I've felt something like this. Cautiously, I lay down; sucking in my breath at the feeling body a pillow. My heart starts pounding as I wrap my arms around my face. It feels safe. Safe and warm. Warm is something I miss.

I wait in anticipation of food. It's never a lot, but my stomach always hurts with hunger pains. I can feel all my ribs through my shirt. I sit up when I hear footsteps approaching. They stop and I tense. I wonder who it is. Is it a monster? I start shaking a little; each tremor rocking my body.

"What're you doing?" Ji-voice asks.

"Sorry," says the other one. It's a girl's voice. "I just...I just wanted to see him." I hear the footsteps go away and Ji-voice sighs.

"They're a sight to see, Jayden. Anyways, here's some soup. You're really thin, so I don't think you're able to handle anything too solid for a while." I feel a bowl being pressed into my hands. "Careful, it's a little hot." My hand is guided to a spoon. It wrap my fingers around it; using my other hand to grasp the bowl. I trust there is food in my spoon and raise it to my mouth. In lower my head to meet it in anticipation and sip. It's warm and tasty. I take another one, swallowing another spoonful. I start crying, tears slipping down my face.

"Jayden," Ji-voice says, putting his hand on my arm. "Are you ok?" I nod. Then, I feel him taking the bowl away. Earnestly, I shake my head and whine. I wanted to eat more. I wanted more than two spoonfuls of this heaven. I grip the bowl and Ji-voice stops pulling. "Jayden," he says. "It's ok. I'm not going to take it from you." Liar. I continue to eat the soup, spoonful by spoonful. It feel weird in my stomach. It's warm and wonderful. I never thought I would taste something like this ever again.

I continue to eat, waiting every second for when I find that there's no more food. When I do, I feel sad. But I feel something else as well...full. My stomach doesn't hurt because its empty, and its not growling with hunger ether. I start feeling overwhelmed. Clean; warm; full...it all felt like a dream. That's what this is, I think as Ji-voice takes the bowl from my hands. A wonderful dream. Soon, I will wake up in the cold. I will feel the hunger pains and the monsters will come and hurt me.

I find myself wishing I could never wake up. I want to stay in this dream forever. Ji-voice puts his hand on my shoulder. "I think it's time for you to go to bed," he says. He pulls me off the bed, and leads me out. Floor is nice, I think. I can sleep easily. I'm feeling tierd after walking, and eating so much today. Ji-voice lets go and I stand in place. "Alright," he says pushing me down. I find myself sitting on another bed. "It's nice to see you in your room again."

My room... "Lay down." I do what I'm told and he covers me with a blanket. "You're safe now," Ji-voice says, brushing back my hair. "You're safe." He says it like he's just convincing himself of it. Like a reassurance. "Sleep well." I hear him leave and pull the blanket tighter. I had missed blankets. Warm food and blankets. Just a dream, I think bitterly. Just a dream.