CH2: The Punishment

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"You're late… again. Didn't I tell you last time you'd receive form of punishment for being late?

Ashelin was silent.

"DIDN'T I?!?" He demanded.

"Yes sir."

"Then why are you late? Specifically 15 days in a row each past weekday."

" I… I… do not know. The monster attack in the weapons storage?" She replied with her best excuse.

"Really? You're willing to miss the beginning of my class just to stay away from some little freak running around?

"Um… yes, I guess so."

"That is unacceptable and pathetic. This is the last time I will put up with that. For punishment, you have to clean the cells and experimentation room. I'll be there tomorrow. And when I get there, I want everything to be spotless. We have a new 'guest' coming in tomorrow. No breaks."

"Yes sir. When do I start sir?" she asked angrily.

"Now. And clean yourself while you're at it. I'm tired of you coming all dirty here. What have you been doing? Crawling around in an airshaft?"

He sneered and walked back into the gym and slammed the door.

Ashelin saluted and headed back to the elevator and cursed at Erol silently in her head. The elevator door opened again and she stepped inside. She hated cleaning and she hated the prisoner containment area and experimentation room, so cleaning the place put icing the cake. The room was always dirty, and even after you cleaned it, it was just as dirty as before. The doors closed and the elevator dropped three floors down to the second level of the Fortress where the cells and experimentation rooms was. The doors opened and Ashelin looked around, but the place was completely empty. No one was here. It looked almost the same since the last time she came to clean the center table. She remembered how exhausted she was the last time she came here and fell asleep in here. She remembered waking up the next morning in the palace, of course. She swore to herself to never do that again, because after that, nothing was really the same.

She walked out of the elevator and opened up the cleaning utilities closet and grabbed an ultraviolet mop and started moving it along the floor and walls, sterilizing everything the light went over. About 5:00 AM in the morning Ashelin started to fall asleep and dozed off unexpectedly.

Two hours later, Erol's voice woke her up and she got to her feet.

"Ashelin, I expect the place to be perfectly sterile for our new visitor by the name of…"

It was silent for a few seconds.

"… by the name of 'Jak'. Your father is here to see the work done too."

Ashelin knew the chamber wasn't completely clean so she panicked and grabbed the mop and ran over to put it back in the closet. Her heart started throbbing hard when she saw three shadows coming up behind the corner and there was nowhere to hide. Well, there was one place, but it would be a tight fit squeezing in the closet. She thought quick and hid just as Erol, her father, and the new prisoner who was infront of them in cuffs popped around the corner.

"Ashelin? Is the place clean? Ashelin? Ashelin, respond now!"

"Don't worry about her. She's fine. She probably left already to her next duty." Said Baron.

"Right. Let's just get started."

Erol pushed the kid named Jak over to the experimenting device. Then Ashelin realized what was going to happen to him.

"They wouldn't…" she thought in her head.

"Don't worry Jak, this won't hurt… actually I was joking. Yes it will."

Jak started backing off really scared, but Erol grabbed him and strapped him to the table to where he could hardly move. Jak was really scared and was struggling to get out, but it was hopeless, so he gave up. Then, the switch to the side of the table was pulled and a needle hooked up to the machine shot towards Jak. Sparks of dark eco flew everywhere as Jak screamed over and over, and Erol just stood there and smiled an evil smile for the next five minutes.

"That's enough now. You can shut it off. We'll increase the amount of time for an hour each day until they add up to 23."

"Yes, as you wish."

Erol shut the machine off and Jak lay on the table in pain and misery, breathing hard. Then, Ashelin recognized him.

"He's that blonde guy with the rat who supposedly shot down from the sky… At least that's what Jinx said… I wonder what he's doing now… probably not something important…" She thought.

After Jak was put into his cell, the Baron exited the room and went back to the palace. Erol looked into Jak's cell and felt no pity for him, but only hatred and said, "You'll be up bright and early tomorrow because you'll be getting special treatments every day until the day you change, or die!"

Ashelin remembered those words and they shot a cold shiver up her spine.

"That was not very nice at all. Ah, he'll be out of there in no time." She kept thinking.

Erol stopped mocking Jak and headed towards the elevator which Ashelin was near.

If she were to be caught by Erol, she would be forced to quit the KG training and probably be killed.

Erol stood and waited for the elevator impatiently when suddenly a hair fell from Ashelin's head and started floating silently towards to the ground in front of Erol. Ashelin opened her eyes just in time and saw this, and her heart skipped about two beats.

The closer the hair got to the floor, the faster and heavier her heart started beating. Erol saw the hair right infront of his face and grabbed it with two of his fingers.

"Hmm? What's this?"

He heard a small creaking noise above him, which got his attention.

He looked up.

Nothing was on the ceiling or walls above him, so he turned his attention back to the elevator door, which had just opened. He stepped inside and put the hair in one of the zipper-pockets of his jumpsuit. Just as he was putting the hair away, Ashelin saw it change from a dark-grey, back to the normal red color. The door closed and the faint sound of the lifting elevator was heard.

"Oh boy."

Ashelin started to slip from her spot and accidentally let go of the pipe she was holding onto and fell to the floor.

"AHHHHHHHHHHH!!!" WHAM. She hit the floor flat face down. She heard a slow twisting creaking sound, and she flipped over onto her back, and when she heard a snap she opened her eyes and looked up, seeing the pipe she was standing on a second or two ago coming flying down towards her. She rolled back over on her side and the pipe hit the ground with a loud bang and bounced once. She froze and turned on her opposite side and looked at the pipe. She sighed with relief and got to her feet again, a little wobbly and uneasy after the fall, and walked to the elevator and stepped inside.

After that morning, Ashelin didn't know how to spend the rest of her weekend away from guard training, so she headed back up to the palace; the casual way this time.