As light and fresh air flooded the room, the ringing came to an end and I could breathe again. Tiffany and I stumbled back into the shadows. The person who had opened the door was an older man, dressed all in white. I had never seen this person before in my whole life. I glanced over at Tiffany, searching her frightened pale face for any sign that she knew this person. But I only saw terror in her eyes; there wasn’t so much as a hint of recognition. More footsteps drifted down the hall.

  I wasn’t sure if I should feel relief or fear as I spotted Miss Roberts' face appear behind the man. She was wearing a different outfit. Was it another day? How much time had passed by while I was asleep? The man stepped forward as we shrank back. Small blue sunken eyes searched our faces and looked us up and down before landing on Tiffany.

  “Tiffany… Walker,” he said. He frowned. There was something wrong with his voice. It seemed to fade in and out, like it was glitching. It was almost distorted. Were my ears playing tricks on me or was that really how his voice sounded? “I haven’t seen you since you were a baby.” What a nutjob. Maybe this did have something to do with the fumes.

  “I-I have no idea who you are. I-I’ve never seen you before, either of you!” Tiffany shrank further back into the shadows. I nudged myself forward, forcing myself between the man and Tiffany.

  “My name is Alexander Jackson.” That was a bit of a mouthful. I glanced over at Tiffany. At the mention of his name, her eyes went wide. So, she did know him? How? Why? When? She had never told me about anyone with that name. But then again, she told me very little about her past. I felt a spark of rage sting my heart. Why? If anyone could be trusted with her secrets, shouldn’t it be me? Hadn’t I already proven myself to her as trustworthy? No, I couldn’t think about that now. I had to stay focused.

  “What do you want with her?” I demanded. Tiffany jabbed me in the ribs.

  “Let us go, please,” Tiffany whispered. “I don’t know who you are. I think you got me mixed up with someone else, sorry.”

  “If you aren’t Tiffany Walker, then why aren’t you dead?” Miss Roberts' asked. “I slit your throat thirty-seven times. Anyone else would have bled out in less than twenty minutes, but you’re still breathing.” Tiffany stayed quiet, eyes on the floor, with fists clenched. Who in the world were these guys? If we made it out of this alive, I was going to have a billion questions for Tiffany.

  “What’s going to happen to us? What do you want?” Tiffany said at last. Alexander nutjob, or whatever his name was, leaned forward.

  “Answers isn’t that what you want too? Answers are all I’ve ever wanted. Don’t you want answers?” Alright, now the voice was enough to make me wish I had been born deaf.

  “W-what do you mean by that?” Tiffany looked up slowly.

  “Answers to the questions you ask yourself. Such as who am I? Or why am I like this?” Good grief, it took him forever to get a single sentence out.

  “Why’d you bring me back here? Like this? You kidnapped us!” There was anger in her voice, but now there was a new look in her eyes. It was the sort of look she’d have in her eyes when she was starting a new project or nearing the end of a loved book. It was excited, sad and slightly frightened all at the same time.

  Stolen content warning: this tale belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences elsewhere.

  “I’ve given you plenty of chances to come back willingly.” There was another long silence. “There are others.” At that Tiffany sat bolt upright.

  “What? There are? Then how come I’ve never seen them? You’re lying, aren’t you?”

  “No they’re all here, you can meet them if you want to.” Tiffany looked away again.

  “No, I don’t want to be a part of this anymore. Haven’t I helped you enough already?”

  “You’ve done a lot more than anyone else here has that is why we can’t let you go” My brain seemed to be glitching as I tried to put the pieces of the puzzle together. These people were very rich and wearing uniforms. So, military nutjobs. Had Tiffany been… part of the military? No, that made no sense at all. Nothing made sense. I must be dreaming. This was exactly the kind of thing I’d dream about. “Tiffany, don’t you want to know if you can die? what if you can feel pain? Just like everyone else. Just like your sisters."

  I despised the look in his eyes. He knew exactly what to say, what to do. He knew what Tiffany wanted to hear. He knew more than I could ever dream of knowing about Tiffany, and for that I found him utterly revolting. Tiffany turned back to the ground and didn't answer him. But I could see conflicting emotions crossing her face. During this pause I imagined to myself how delightful it would be to rip this man’s tiny eyes out of his face, shove them down his throat and watch him choke. I made sure he caught sight of my glare too. He noticed me only for a moment; we made eye contact briefly, then he turned his attention back to Tiffany.

  "Why can't you let my sister go?" Tiffany said at last. She looked up slowly.

  "If I agree to help you willingly, will you let her go?"

  "I'm not leaving you here, Tiffany!" I cried.

  "Shut up, you little fool," Tiffany hissed through gritted teeth. I was so shocked that I flinched back. This was a brand-new tone of voice. I had never heard Tiffany use this with anyone, not in all the years that I had known her.

  “No," the man answered.

  “I’m not doing anything for you then!”

  “You will one way or another.” At that, Tiffany chuckled.

  “One way or another? What do you mean? Are you going to torture me? Is that it? Good luck with that.” Anger was creeping into her eyes now, replacing the fear and excitement. Suddenly she looked less small and frail, despite the towering shadows that surrounded her.

  “Alright.” The man nodded at Miss Roberts' briefly. Then, before I knew what was happening, I was being grabbed by my hair and dragged out of the room into the hall. Well, at least now I had a reason to fight back. I twisted and kicked and screamed with what little strength was left in my aching body. My eyes were burned by even more white lights. Now I was just lashing out blindly. But I lashed out anyway. Fresh bursts of pain shot through me, burning and stinging their way across my skin, as I was pinned to the ground. I bit down hard on my lip to keep my cries from escaping. Where was I? The ringing was back…no, it wasn’t ringing. I was hearing voices now. They were in me and around me. What was happening? What were they doing to me? Was I the one losing my mind? Was I being affected by fumes? Was this all in my head? That would be great! Hopefully, I could wake up in a little bit and find myself lying in a hospital bed with Mama, Papa, and Tiffany smiling down on me. But in the meantime, I was still angry enough to yell at these imaginary monsters.

  “Bastards! Nutjobs!” Those were the only words that came to my mind. I was far too dazed to think of any kind of personal insult or thoughtful attack. Slowly, as I screamed the pain faded into more aches and sores. I fought the numbness. It was somehow even more unpleasant than the jolts of pain. Out of the blinding white lights, voices and faces began to appear. Was I waking up now?

  “What did you do to her? What was that stuff?” Tiffany demanded, turning to Miss Roberts.

  “Are you going to help us?”

  “Just d-don’t hurt her again. I’ll do anything, just don’t hurt her. Please, I’m begging you,” Tiffany sobbed out softly.

  “She’s going to be alright. No real damage was done,” Miss Roberts said.

  “Oh, shut up!” I moaned. “I bet you don’t know what this feels like!”

  “Hush,” Tiffany said gently. “You need to calm down, Tyla. Alright, please stay calm. You’re going to be okay. I’ll be right back.” She gave my hand one last little squeeze before standing up and backing away. What? I was being dragged by my legs back into the dark little room.

  “What do you mean? Tiffany! What are you doing?” I tried to fight, but all my limbs felt limp and tired. Tiffany didn’t answer me. She just shook her head slowly.

  “I’m so sorry I got you into this, Tyla, I’m so sorry.” With that the door closed and I was all alone in the darkness, listening as the footsteps faded away. I was too tired to stand, too weak to scream. There was nothing for me to do, except cry and wonder if I was ever going to see my sister or my parents or my home ever again.