Running • Iggy

James

I gasped, but wasn't able to breathe much. My eyes refused to open, something painful was holding them shut by force. I could feel the rough touch of hands around my bare arms, the rags the School gave us to wear snapping against my sickly pale skin. It must've been Winter, because I could feel the hard shock of snow beneath my feet as I was practically dragged to a destination I knew was coming.

The Box.

Well, I thought it was a box. It was always slightly too small for my body, always making me curl up into uncomfortable positions to avoid the cold surfaces as much as possible. I wasn't even sure what I had done to receive the Punishment this time, maybe they were just planning an experiment and needed me that little bit more traumatized so I wouldn't try to break free. Whatever it was for, I knew I was going to wake up in the morning with some form of hypothermic symptoms.

I was shoved into the seemingly glass box, or it could've been metal. Whichever one, it was frozen. Genuinely frozen, slippery to the touch. I felt The Box lock behind me, and I instantly took my normal position, curling up into the tightest ball I could, making sure as little skin touched the ice below and to the sides. I just wanted Iggy then, I had always been his protector, but there were moments I needed him too. He had always been cold to the touch, but as my body temperature dropped I knew he would feel like the human incarnation of lava to me.

This time, I didn't scream. There was no use, the only pain I felt was the stitching that held my eyelids shut and the nipping of the ice against my stripped skin. I knew that would be gone soon too, numbed to the point where I couldn't tell if that body part was still there. I just shivered, my emerald eyes relaxing from when they had been darting around, trying to find any mistake in the way they had sown me, any gap or flaw that would return my sense of sight.

I could feel my hot tears rolling down my cheeks, but I knew they would freeze before they ever hit the floor. I wanted Iggy. I wanted to be curled up with Iggy and Nudge in Recess, holding them close as we played random games we had come up with. Nudge was always so warm and fuzzy, like a big teddy bear. It was better off I was out here than them. I didn't know what to do, seconds felt like minutes and minutes felt like hours, and all I could think about was the strawberry blonde boy and the dark-haired girl I had left back in the school.

Who knew if I would ever go back. Would they leave me to freeze in here? No. They would never push me that far, because I was their prized possession. An object to them, a weapon maybe. The first and only ever successful tri-DNA experiment. Their little trophy. The proof they needed that they were doing something right, or at least whatever they thought was 'right'.

I shuttered, even my eyes felt like they were frozen. Maybe they were. I opened my dry mouth, breathing out the freezing cold air I was forced to inhale. "Iggy..." I murmured helplessly, my voice small and young. "Iggy... I'm sorry if I don't come back." I didn't know why I was speaking aloud, maybe to feel like he could hear me. He'd never be able to hear me if I was thinking. "I tried... But it's cold..." I sniffled, not from the tears though. The cold was making my nose run. "I don't know how long I can keep taking this," I admitted in a soft whisper, knowing whatever white coat that placed me in here couldn't hear me. I would never admit out loud that I felt weak. To them, I was a tiger girl. Fierce. Uncontrollable. Uncaring.

"I felt snow though." I found myself giggling. "And ice. It's cold and slippery, I don't think I could get up if I had the room." I ran one hand over the ice, before extending my claws, wincing in pain. I carved out shaky letters I had seen on Iggy's file. I didn't really know it was Iggy's, not really. I just saw his photo. I didn't know how to spell or read.