Chapter 29 - by Jouley

Slash

When the doors to the cell opened, I turned, my heart beating rapidly as I prayed for the arrival of my girlfriend. I hadn't seen Beyonce in over a week, and part of me felt dead at the loss.

To my dismay, the body that the guards began to toss into the cell wasn't my longed for lover. It wasn't even female..

"Troy!" I shout, the name sounding wierd on my lips. I hadn't seen the boy since the raid.. Infact, I hadn't seen any of the guys since they'd captured us.

And truthfully, I hadn't wanted to.

Only, as I stare at the writhing figure before me, the fear and intimidation dies down, only to be replaced by pity. I can see he's been hurt just as bad as the girls. Just as bad as me.

I turn to look at Bonnie, wondering what she's thinking. The girl looks ashen, apparently not as over her fear of men as I am now. I try to reassure her with a look, but she's not even turned to me, her eyes still locked on the boy.

Sighing, I turn and begin to crawl towards the figure.. "Troy..?" I whisper this time, stopping next to his trembling body. "It's okay.. You're safe for now.." I try to assure him, but he doesn't seem to register my presense.

After a few moments of silence, he turns his head to stare up at me.. The skin around his eyes is tinted purple, though obviously not from impact with anything. "Sleep.." He whimpers at me, his body still trembling and coiled into itself.

Blinking in confusion, I tilt my head and place a hand on his shoulder. He doesn't shrink back, just continues to look pleadingly at me. "If you want to.." I didn't know what else to say to him.

"No! NO!" He suddenly cries, jerking away from me and rolling a few feet until he hits the wall. "I can't! No!"

Startled at his outburst, I shrink away myself, afraid he would suddenly snap and try to hurt me. It's a crazy thing to think, about someone I used to consider a close friend. But I can't help it.. I've been conditioned. "Why, Troy?" I finally ask, still keeping myself a reasonable distance from the lad.

The boy begins to wail, draggin his curled fingers up and down the cement floor in anguish. "They'll hurt her.." He cries, and it's then that I notice the blood appearing from wounds on his hands.

"Troy, stop it! You're hurting yourself!" I hadn't even registered his previous comment, to wound up in the all too familiar site of blood on the ground.

"Can't sleep!" Was his response, his hands continueing to claw at the rough ground.

"Why, Troy! Why can't you sleep?" I shout at him, infuriated that he was acting this way. I could hear Bonnie crying behind me, already set over the edge by the boys presense. I knew I would be next if he didn't stop acting this way.

"They'll Kill Her!"

My fear catches in my throat, blocked by the words that no longer can form. He can't sleep because he's afraid someone will die. Oh god! My mind begins to reel at the unimaginable thought.. This is something new.. A means of torture I hadn't even known existed.

They fixed it so that the boy would torture himself, for fear of harming another.

Whimpering along with him, I close my eyes and pray that it won't get any worse.