Harry could feel himself wake up before he opened his eyes. He was aware of his surroundings without even peeking out from between his eyelids. He couldn't tell what time it was but he knew that he should probably get up soon, get an early start to the day. Then again, did he even want to get up? All he knew was that this day was just going to be filled with lessons and torture, nothing good was going to happen. After some serious deliberation, he opened his eyes and sat up in bed. The dim sunlight shone through a crack in the curtain and Harry realised that it must've been early in the morning. Going back to sleep was tempting but he knew that it would be difficult because once he was up, he was up. Harry sighed, pulled the covers off his legs and headed downstairs to the kitchen, making sure that he was quiet so he wouldn't wake the others. He made himself some coffee and sat down by the table. He'd been doing this thing recently where he would retreat into his own thoughts and become distant from his surroundings. Things hasn't been good, Harry knew it would get to this point but he didn't think it would be this soon. The teachers had been popping up more to teach their hellish little lessons and each one had gotten more and more aggressive. On Monday, the little notepad, Sketch, had taught them about the colours of the rainbow. At first the lesson was seemingly innocent but it ended with them cutting each other open and ripping out their organs to see what colour they would go when separated from the body. On Tuesday, Tony the talking clock took them back to the French Revolution where Manny almost decapitated Robin with a guillotine. That was not fun. Then on Wednesday, some butterfly and his cult tried to sacrifice Manny to their weird love God but failed. Harry was starting to see a repeating pattern. Manny seemed to be the main target, the one who was treated the worst. He had been guessing that Roy was trying to punish his son, probably from some stupid reason. Harry wanted to get out of here but a Robin said, they were in too deep. There was no chance of them escaping anytime soon. It made him feel angry. Angry with the teachers, angry with himself, angry with-
"Harry?"
He looked up to see Robin standing in the doorway of the kitchen, leaning on its frame. He still wasn't fully awake because he was slouching when normally Robin would walk with his back straight. It was a little thing but Harry always seemed to notice the little things.
"Oh, hey. Did I wake you?" He asked his feathery friend.
"No, I was already awake. Don't think I even slept," Robin yawned and rubbed his eyes, an attempt to free them from sleep.
Harry knew that Robin didn't sleep well, there were many nights where he would hear the duck get out of bed and not come back for a while. He was concerned but he never questioned his friend, after all, they all had trouble with sleep. Manny had his nightmares, Robin got barely any rest and Harry didn't want any at all.
"What kept you up?" Harry asked.
"I was thinking about what happened yesterday. This is the second time that damn cult has come after Manny, I don't get why it's always him," he answered, boiling the kettle probably to make himself some tea.
"Well, there's some kind of pattern. He's Roy's main target," Harry could feel the disgust creeping up his back.
"But why? What has Manny ever done to that prick?"
"I don't know but that doesn't matter right now. What matters is us escaping," he said, standing up to wash his mug.
"Hah, yeah, don't remind me," Robin said, almost begrudgingly.
As he washed the coffee stained mug, he took a quick glance out the window. The sun had almost fully risen, casting it's golden rays across the grassy hills in the distance all the way to their garden by the woods. Manny would be awake soon and then they would have to prepare for the hell that was surely to follow.
"Do you think we'll ever get out of here?"
Harry turned to Robin, who was now staring into space, and smiled as warmly as he could.
"One day. One day, we will," he said, hoping that would make his friend feel better, if only by a little bit.
"I hope so," the duck answered, taking a small sip of his tea.
They were all sitting at the table, playing their favourite board game, Question Fun. It was a thing they normally did on a Thursday, something to distract them from their inevitable suffering.
"Oh, I guess it's my turn to choose a card," Harry said, reaching over to pick up the card at the top of the pile," what is the biggest thing in the world?"
"Hmm, that's a tricky one," Robin said, thoughtfully.
"A mountain? The sky? A windmill?" Manny tried guessing.
"No!" Robin stopped him in exasperation.
Manny looked a little hurt so Robin quickly patted his knee to reassure him that he wasn't angry.
"If only there was a way to learn more about the world?" Harry strongly indicated towards the globe perched on the shelf.
"Yes, if only there was a way to learn more information," Robin too looked over at the globe.
They waited for the globe to start singing but as it spun round, it was interrupted by something else. They looked around in confusion.
"I'm a computer, I'm a computery guy!"
It turned into insanity pretty quickly and Harry was looking into the screen as his friends were lured closer and closer to being brainwashed by the computer. He tried turning it off, pressing all the buttons, anything to get them out but he could tell it was too late. He caught a brief glimpse of his friends, minds already being controlled by Roy. That's when Harry noticed a thick red wire leading to the door of the room. He followed it, ignoring the loud noises emanating from the computer behind him. He held onto the handle, unsure of what to expect and flung the door open to...
Harry could feel himself wake up before he opened his eyes. He was aware... that it was early and that he should get up. He sat up and saw his two friends asleep in their own beds, wait, Robin was awake.
"What the hell?" He thought, getting up and quickly going downstairs to make himself some coffee.
What was going on? Was that all a dream? No, it couldn't be, it felt too real and he remembered every detail so vividly. The computers song, the digital world, the conversation he and-
"Harry?"
Robin. Harry looked up at his friend, who looked as tired as he felt.
"Wow, you don't look so good," Robin seemed to wake up a little," are you okay?"
"Yeah, I'm fine. Rough night," Harry yawned.
"You wanna talk about it?"
"No, it's fine. Just want to forget about it," Harry dismissed Robin's question.
"Oh, okay then. If you're sure," Robin went to make himself some tea.
Harry returned his attention to his thoughts. Yep, this had definitely happened before, he remembered this conversation. They were gonna start talking about Manny in a minute.
"Are you sure you're okay?" Robin asked again," you're shaking."
Harry looked down to see his hands quaking, almost dropping the mug they held. He put the cup down and wrapped his fingers around both wrists to stop them from shaking.
"Yeah, I'm just having a weird deja vu moment," he said, staring down at the table.
"I have a theory about deja vu," Robin sat down next to him, cup of tea in hand.
"Oh really?" Harry raised his eyebrows in intrigue and got up to clean his cup.
"Yes, it's very interesting..." Harry started to block out his friends reply as he washed his mug.
He didn't understand what was happening and he knew that he should probably listen to Robin's theory but he was overwhelmed. Admittedly he was a little scared but he remained calm as he-
"Ah shit!"
He'd managed to burn his hand with the water.
"What did you do?" Robin walked over to him.
"Just fucking burnt my hand with the water," it still stung.
Robin sighed and turned on the cold tap. He held Harry's hand underneath the cool water.
"You need to be more careful," he said, frowning," does that feel better?"
"Yeah, thanks," Harry watched as his friend held onto his hand. He felt a little flustered. Robin seemed to realise this and let go.
"Um, w-we'd better wake Manny up," he said.
That's when Harry realised that the sun had risen and the day had finally started. He knew exactly what was going to happen, he hoped it wouldn't.
They were all sitting at the table, playing their favourite board game, Question Fun. It was a thing they normally did on a Thursday but Harry knew today's game was going to be different.
"It's my turn to pick a card," he said with as much enthusiasm as he could muster," what is the biggest thing in the world?"
"Hmm, that's a tricky one," Robin said.
"A mountain? The sky? A windmill?" Manny tried guessing.
"No!" Robin stopped him in exasperation.
Harry felt nervous. Either the next events would happen or not happen and they were inevitable. He could see the hurt in Manny's eyes that disappeared as soon as Robin comforted him.
"If only there was a way to learn more about the world?" Harry strongly indicated towards the globe perched on the shelf, wishing it wouldn't get interrupted.
"Yes, if only there was a way to learn more information," Robin too looked over at the globe but he had no idea what was about to happen.
They waited for the globe to start singing but as it spun round, it was interrupted by something else. Harry sighed, accepting that this is it. He just hoped that the door would still be there.
"I'm a computer, I'm a computery guy!"
