CHAPTER FOUR

When he woke up, he was clean. Completely dressed in white scrubs, his body buzzed with a slight numbness. He lifted his back a little, quickly slamming them back on the bed when he felt pain lash against his spine. He groaned, shifting slightly, trying to get back into a comfortable pose. His eyes trained on the wall, noticing the feel of the scar caused by the loose chain wasn't bandaged. Still scratched on his arm, no blood though was streaming out. He sighed deeply. He wanted out. He wanted to hug himself, wrap his arms around his legs and curl into himself and watch an action movie. Maybe even mow on some popcorn. His dry mouth ached for something to drink, his stomach too abused to even comprehend food. The young EVO wanted to get a whole buffet of food, relax in a queen sized bed and eat and sleep all day.

Memories flooded him of the day before. He swallowed thickly, feeling a slow melancholy sadness seep through his skin, burying itself deep inside his chest. He didn't want to breathe anymore, the weight on his chest felt to heavy to breathe under. But he decided to watch the wall, watch as figures danced within them, the turning gyre slowly churning into a white dove. A hint of blackness swooped in, its long claws scratching at the little bird as it tried to fly away. But his wings are clipped, feet broken. It tried its best to hobble away, wiggle away from the large predator. The shadow creäture swooped in around the dove, slowly closing in on it, eating it alive. And the young EVO fell into unconsciousness. He was spinning around in a large white room, spinning and twisting with the circles that formed shapes. He was thrown into this carnival ride, slowly losing himself. He felt his body jerk up, pulling against the restraints as he leaned over, burning eyes opening up as he leaned his head farther to the side of his bed, his stomach convulsing as he threw up. Sweat beaded his body, dripping all over his body. He leaned back into his bed, gasping for breath, the weight that sat on his chest felt even heavier than ever before. It made it even harder for him to catch his breath, and made him sicker. He estimated that he had only been asleep for around an hour or so. He heard feet walk closer to him, but he was too weak to even move now. His mind spun, confusion wrapping around him like a soft blanket. And he drifted back to sleep.

Waking up, he felt hands on him. His eyes opened up, widening at the site of Kleiss. He wanted to scream, his throat was too cracked. Then confusion melted over him, why was Van Kleiss even here in Providence? Where was Holiday? She was giving him an exam right? No, no. He trapped, Kleiss did it. His nemesis... He suddenly didn't want to remember anymore. The older man was on him again, again torturing him. But the young EVO couldn't pay attention, his vision swirled and shook, tears burned his eyes as he felt as though he were on fire again.

"Stop!" He finally screamed, feeling more pain convulse through him.

"You want this, it's so easy to tell. Your body is telling me too-"

"Stop it! Let. Me. Go!" A wave of nausea swept over the young teen.

"And what if I do? You'll run back to Providence?" Kleiss laughed. "They don't want a broken toy like you. They'll be disgusted by you. I bet they would even lock you away forever in a white, cushy cell just like this one!"

The young teen EVO spat at his face, earning a hard slap to the face from the older man. The teen fell back into his bed, still dizzy, still so tired. He wanted to drift off, but the pain wouldn't let him fall asleep. So he imagined playing ball with Noah instead.

Noah was bouncing a bright orange basketball against black smooth black top, aiming and shooting over the teen EVO's head and straight into the net. The young teen complained about his skills, at which Noah replied with;

"Don't hate the player, hate the game."

Then the teen smirked as he turned around, quickly grabbing the ball, scheming. He planned on using his abilities to fly over the other teen and dunk it in. But turning around, Noah was gone. And he was back in the white cell. The large black shadow was torturing the dove, turning it black. It's body morphing into an ugly grey raven. The things infected; it's body not completely black nor white. It wasn't pure anymore but damaged. Tears stung his eyes, but he held them in. It was the only thing he could do to make sure Kleiss didn't feel that he won. He didn't want to show weakness.

But here he was again; here he was ripped apart limb from dirty limb. He didn't want to seem or feel like this. He just wanted to go back to Providence. Hell, he would rather be washing BoBo's feet than doing this. Kleiss slowly slipped off the boy, savouring every little touch of the boy's skin on his own. The young EVO glared at him, feeling another wave of nausea crawl up his abdomen as the trend of hot, sticky goo warmed his backside. He watched his nemesis walk away like the coward he is, unable to look him in the face. Bastard. The young EVO turned his head away, a wave of dizziness filled him. He decided to wait it out, see how long it would last, how long he had until he drifted into sleep.

"Rex" a distant voice said. "Rex, wake up!"

The young EVO lifted his heavy lids just enough to peak from under them. There was an image of Six. The boy closed his eyes again. Just another hallucination, he took in a deep breath of air. The hallucinated Six moved around him, un-buckling his restraints. The young EVO slipped into darkness.

Images appeared to him, vivid dreams perhaps? At first he could hear the sound of helicopters chopping the air, people were shouting commands into little head pieces. Six was holding Rex's shoulder, pressing a hand to his ear.

"Holiday he isn't doing to good!" He yelled.

More darkness with the distant cries of "we're losing him!" rang like an alarm bell in his ear drum. He felt his body stinging again, twitching as a smooth voice erupted from the dark.

"He seems to have gone some horrible trauma. His physical scars will heal but I'm not sure about...the mental ones..." The voice cracked.

"Holiday" Six sounded alarmed, almost concerned. Rex wanted to laugh at the nearly out of character action of his superior.

He drifted deep into black, swimming in calm warm trenches. He felt his body twitch suddenly, his heart beat becoming faster as he pulled his conciousness to the surface.

Exhausted, heavy eyes slowly blinked open. Bright florescent lights burned his eyes, he felt his body slowly moving, trying to wiggle itself away. He was half shocked to find his hands and body unshackled and rather energised. Looking at his wrist he noticed an IV dripping some weird gooey liquid into his arm. And for a moment he thought the incident was only a really bad dream, but reality came crashing through this short girl of piece. His hand went up to his temple, grimacing as he slowly sat up.

"Rex!" Holiday nearly ran over Six, her dark eyes glowed brilliantly as she hugged him gently. The EVO stiffened at the contact. She pulled away quickly, a sympathetic smile touching her lips. "I'm sorry, I was..."

"I know" The teen half smiled.

"I-"

"Let him get some rest, Holiday" Six interrupted. "He needs to be at his finest tomorrow, Snow wouldn't want a half awake teenager on his hands."

"Fine, see you in the morning Rex. Call for me if you need me" Holiday lifted up the corner of her lips, forcing a smile.

The teen simply nodded his head, watching the two leave the small white room draped with white curtains, but the ground was metal. He was still in Doc's lab, maybe in a make-shift patients room. He curled into himself, his sore body screaming at him as fire burned his nervous system. Grimacing, he adjusted himself into a comfortable place, trying to fall asleep.

Sleep came at a sluggish pace, and with it dragged in nightmares. He was back in the white room, sleeping and breathing. He played his usual fun game of staring at the wall. Images of Van Kleiss's character materialized out of the wall. He swaggered over to the young EVO, a smirk playing on his lips. He swung his leg over the young teens figure, his hands feeling up and down the young EVO. He gasped, starting to flail around. But he had been pinned down, being touched by this man, he knew seeing Holiday was only a dream. Tears slipped down the side of his face as he struggled,twisting and pulling. Pain slapped him in the face as he blinked, waking up to find himself on the ground. So...he was safe? He really was home, on the cold familiar metal ground.

Struggling up, he felt someone gently pull him up. The young teen flinched, backing away from the soft hands. A quick turn to the side and he noticed the hands belonged to Holiday. She smiled softly, sympathetically. She helped him back into bed, pulling the white blanket over his thin body.

"Rex...I'm sorry we couldn't find you in time" she had lost her smile.

"Hey, you got me out" his voice was dry, cracked. "You found me in time."

"But not before..." Her eyes darted to the corner of the room, the young EVO simply nodded in understanding.

"I was...yeah" he smirked. "Don't look so glum, doc. Sad doesn't look good on you."

"Rex, tomorrow Snows going to try to dig into your skin-"

"That old crow can't touch me."

"W-what with I'm saying is that he may pry you too open. Look, we both know Snow is not a nice guy and he will open your emotional wounds."

"I can take him."

"Just be careful, Rex" and with that Holiday turned and walked away, disappearing behind the white curtain sheets. The young teen smiled as he rested his head against his pillow, feeling better knowing that Holiday had been worrying for him. Sometimes it was better that someone worried excessively over him, it felt comforting. He knew he could deal with Snow, it all was just a matter of whether he would ever be the same sassy-pants, smart mouthed kid again.