Sakaki

Sakaki sat in his room, cross-legged, Haley's diary sitting in his huge hands. The diary was closed and his eyes were closed as he remembered some of the entries, forcing himself to remember them.

January 2nd, day 1. Monday?

Dear Diary,

I would like to say first of all that I am four years old. I have been for only a few weeks now, according to what my mom told me a few days ago. That was when I last saw her. That day was the last time I saw my mommy, daddy, and brothers and sisters. I miss them. I don't know where I am and I don't know who these people are. They had come to my house a few days ago and took me away from my family. All I remember from that day is the sounds of screams behind me and the smell of smoke and fire coming from my house. When we got to this place they put me into a room. They said that since I was new I got to keep my clothes. What does that mean? Diary, I have these metal things on my wrists and ankles. They make noise against the links whenever I move so it's kind of hard to fall asleep. On the way here I was tied up in rope and had something over my mouth. That cloth smelt really bad. Will I get to see my family again? I hope I do. I have to go now, those men are calling for lights out, whatever that is. Bye for now.

Haley.

That entry had several markings that hinted that Haley had been crying when she wrote it. The writing was a bit hard to read. When Sakaki had first read it he covered his mouth when he recognized immediately what was going on, and that she wasn't going to see her family ever again.

Sakaki gently placed the diary on the nearest tabletop and walked over to his punching bag. He began to punch it hard to the point where it almost fell off the hook it was hung up on.

January 5th, day 4, Thursday?

Dear Diary,

This place doesn't seem so bad. For the past three days all these people have done is ask me questions. Stuff that has to do with ink stuff, if I can swim. Then there were weird questions. Ones like what's my height, how old I was, what my parents were like, if they had any special things that they were i-mmu-ne to. Oh! And I met someone here! They had brought in someone yesterday and he was just as confused as I was. He told me his name was Saka or something like that. And guess what? He's four like I am and he was also taken away from his family. Anyway, there was something was even weirder than the questions. The men had taken me to a bath, had me take a bath by myself, and gave me new clothes. These ones looked like the ones the prisoners at Daddy's job wear. They even have numbers on them. Now that I think about it, I've seen some of the other kids here wearing them, except they have different numbers than mine do. Mine says 5. All of the others go between 1 and 6. The number 6 one I had learned arrived on the same day as me. Diary, what's going on? Do the numbers mean anything? The men also said that tomorrow the fun was going to start. I can't wait. I love to have fun! Oh, the guy's calling light's out again, I have to go. Good night.

Haley.

He kept punching the punching bag harder. It flew off the hook, through the wall, and landed outside into the rain.

"Huh? When did it start raining?" Sakaki whispered. He walked towards the opening he just created and Miu was glaring up at him from below.

"Sakaki! How many times have we told you to take it easy on those things? We can't afford to get another one right now!" she yelled.

"Sorry kid," Sakaki muttered. He jumped down into a puddle which splashed all around him, getting himself soaked. He tilted his head up and stared up into the pouring rain.

Day 10.

Dear Diary,

The fun those men mentioned? It's not fun. They had come for me, put a blindfold on me, and linked the metals on my wrists together behind my back. The next time my wrists were free and I could see, I was in a cage on top of a huge body of water. I had looked around and saw that there were triangles floating across the water. I walked to the edge to see what they were and this huge monster flew up against the cage. It had a lot of sharp teeth and was really really long. On the floor of the cage I saw this thing that they later told me to put in my mouth and keep it there. The water rose up and I put the thing in my mouth. Diary, I can't swim. I couldn't then and I can't now. The water got above my head and after a while the thing in my mouth cracked and broke. Water got into my body and I panicked. Somehow I was able to tell them to bring up the cage. I started to see a bright light at the same time things were going black. Diary, I'm scared. What's going to happen to me? Saka's going to start in a few more days. I told him that when they say fun, it's not really fun. Oops, there goes the light call. I have to go. Goodnight.

Haley.

"Shio?" the old man said, placing a hand on Sakaki's shoulder, startling Sakaki.

"Huh? Oh it's you old man, what's up?" Sakaki asked.

"I was just about to ask you the same thing," the old man said. Sakaki sighed.

"I read some of the entries. Old man, she was so young yet experienced so much that she shouldn't have. She was so traumatized I'm surprised she's alive now," Sakaki whispered, staring into the distance.

"I see. Yes, I myself have read snippets of that young woman's diary. She has a devastating past, but the most important part is that she made it out alive, is it not?"

"Yeah, I guess you're right old man," Sakaki said. "But still, where could she be? Are they hurting her now like they did back then?"

"Who knows? All we can do is continue to look for clues as to where this place could be. Did you by any chance see names in her diary, other than her name?" Sakaki shook his head.

"No one other than some Saka guy." The old man started to pet his beard.

"I see. This is very troublesome. Well, you keep up the good work and let us know if you get any clues!" the old man said, walking away and leaving Sakaki to his thoughts. Sakaki walked over to his punching bag and kneeled down in front of it.

"Haley," he whispered. He grabbed and hoisted the punching bag onto his shoulder and jumped up to his room. It came down with a thunk on his wooden floor. Instead of putting it back in its proper place, Sakaki sat down in front of the book again and kept reading from where he had left off.

Day 25.

"Day 25 huh? Looks like she wasn't able to write much for a while," Sakaki muttered.

Dear Diary,

I'm becoming very worried. But not for my sake. I have now learned how to swim after several tests. Each one is the same thing, but using different models of the same item. They finally told me what they are looking for. They are trying to see how long each type will last under water and under how much pressure. And they are using me and several others to test it. I am worried for Saka's sake. He doesn't do the same kinds of tests that I am, but he still has to do some. The kind he has is worse than my own, or at least that's what the guards told me when I asked. Saka's taking some kind of chemical test where they put a needle full of something into his arm and see how he reacts. According to the guards, those tests are more deadly. They usually pick the girls for those tests but somehow I was not chosen. Maybe I have to take the swimming tests because my mommy and daddy were strong swimmers?

Some people have already died….in both kinds of tests. More have in the chemical tests though. Sometimes Saka comes back with red patches all over his skin. Before he and I are even allowed to breath the same air the guards make him put on this white outfit that reminds me of those people from E.T. when the people come to try to take E.T. away. I really hope Saka doesn't die. He's my only friend here…

Haley.

Sakaki shook his head and rubbed the area in between his eyebrows.

"Damn, what the hell have those kids gone through?" he whispered. He kept on reading, but before could Akisame knocked on the door.

"Come in!" Sakaki yelled. Akisame opened the door and walked in.

"Anything yet?" he asked. Sakaki shook his head.

"No, all I'm finding out so far is that there are two different types of experiments these kids went through," Sakaki said.

"Experiments? I thought she called them tests?" Akisame said, slightly smirking but also grimacing at the same time. Even the usually calm and collected Akisame was having trouble holding his anger down with this.

"Come on man, they are obviously experiments! Anyway, apparently she had found a friend in this place. But he's been doing the chemical experiments. Akisame, I've got a bad feeling about this," Sakaki said.

"You should. Skip ahead to Day 3285. It's practically a tear jerker," he said. Sakaki did so and was shocked at what he was reading.

Day 3285.

Dear Diary,

What am I supposed to do now? He won't move and they are trying to take him away from me. But I won't let them have him! They can't! He's my best friend! Why did he give me his weapon? Did he know he was going to die? No. No! NO! He's not dead! HE'S NOT DEAD! Why won't he wake up Diary? Why? Why is he leaving me all alone? I don't want to be here anymore! I've been in this torture place for over nine years now! Why can't they send me home? Haven't I done enough experiments? Saka! Please come back! PLEASE! Now the men are trying to take you, my diary away from me. But I won't let them have you. You are my only place of sanity now. You help me keep track of the never-ending days. Nothing good has happened since I was brought here outside of meeting Saka. Please, someone, anyone…help. I don't know where I am, but I know that I'm still in Japan somewhere. I only know this because sometimes we pass by a TV where the news is on and the language is Japanese. Sometimes I can see the world outside and I see a lot of snow. There are also some really big mountains not too far from where we are. The snow is really bright, and really white. Saka's pupils are turning white now too. Please Saka, don't leave me alone! Please!

Haley.

P.S.: if Saka is dead, then I hope I get to die soon too. By now it seems like the only way out of this torture chamber.

"What the hell?" Sakaki muttered.

"Her only friend and he died. According to later entries, we find out that he died during one of the experiments. And that weapon she talked about, he stole it from one of the guards after being hit with it. Can you guess what weapon that is, Shio?" Akisame said, sitting next to him.

"No," Sakaki muttered in disbelief. Then he looked over at Akisame. "Does she have amnesia or something?" Akisame shook his head.

"No, I had already checked her for that when I first healed her during her first training session. She just repressed her memories and can no longer tell that they were real instead of just dreams," Akisame said.

"I see. Did she ever see this?" Sakaki asked.

"No, she didn't," Allie said from the doorway. "We always kept it hidden from her. No one should have to live through the things she's been through more than once. Heck, no one should have to be through them at all."

"But such is our world. There are good people with morals, there are bad people who still have morals, and then there are those people Haley talked about in her diary. Evil, cold hearted, with no sense of morality or childhood at all. All they care about is getting their data," Akisame said. Sakaki closed the book.

"Well, we know where she is in general," Sakaki said.

"Yes, somewhere where there is usually a lot of snow and in a mountainous region. But that's quite a few places. How will we know where to go?" Akisame said.

"Not sure. Let's consult with the old man on this. He might know of a few places to check first," Sakaki said. He stood up quickly, completely forgetting that he had just placed the book in his lap. It landed with a thud on the wooden ground and something came loose from it.

"What's that?" Allie muttered. She kneeled down and removed the item. She stared at it and after a few moments her eyes went big. "No way, it's that place? I've passed by it several times when trying to find it. I would have never thought…" she trailed off.

"What is it Allie?" Akisame asked, kneeling down next to her. He took the photograph and Sakaki and he looked at it together. It looked like an ordinary hut. They flipped it over and saw something scribbled in Haley's handwriting: I'm finally free of this place. No more experiments.

It was the lab where she had been held for most of her life.

HELLO!

HERE IS THE NEXT CHAPTER FINALLY!

THE THANKS!

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