Deep In The Woods

Prologue

YUKI

Yuki takes a deep breath. The feeling of canes and whips on his back with the stinging feeling of blood welling up was still relatively fresh, just like the deep bite that sat on his calf. He missed Ace, missed his family, missed his brother.

Tap tap tap.

The coagulated blood on the gashes stretched as the skin on his back moved. Every movement caused a new tugging sensation, putting his brain and his senses into maximum overdrive. The smell of his blood... Yuki looks around the dark and windowless room. The endless tapping of his roommate next to his bed — truthfully, it was more of a cellmate. Even then, he didn't understand how or why the tapping was never-ending.

Tap tap tap.

Yuki has tried to escape. Key word: tried. There was no escape. Stage one, stage two, stage three, graduation, release. Seeing it everywhere in this place is what really made him freak out. The possibility that he was finally at stage two after so many full moons just being lost and trapped.

Tap taptap tap.

What day even was it? He was usually able to smell the change in the seasons — the uptick in sweat and warmer air was summer, the sweet smell of nuanced perfume meant spring was arriving, the fresh, warm smell of soil meant fall and the sudden onslaught of crisp air and the sting in his nose meant winter. Yuki didn't smell right. Besides, his room was something like a concrete room and he didn't even know how thick the walls were for him to not be able to smell anything.

Taptap taptap taptap.

The sound of the tapping was starting to grow impossibly louder, if that was even physically possible. Yuki stares off at the wall. Almost immediately, the tapping stops and Yuki looks at the floor. He takes his seat on the floor.

Cool concrete met his dirtied clothes and seeped through them. Granted, his clothes were essentially just scraps of fabric clinging to his body.

Yuki's eyes move from his scraps of clothes to the window that was pretty high up on the wall to begin with. He was barely 5'7", he wasn't going to run out of the "room" he was locked in by using the window. He couldn't even pull himself up onto the window sill!

Soft whistles seemingly fill the room that Yuki occupied.

"Shut up," he hisses. "You've been making shit noises like this all day!" Yuki's voice gives out in the middle. Not because he was physically upset. Because it felt like his vocal cords were being ripped out of his throat. Sharp, fiery pain was flooding his senses, running up and down the middle of his throat.

The whistles stop before the feeling of a thousand voices flood Yuki's head.

"Kill him."

"Wake up."

"Kill her." Yuki grabs onto his head, tightly covering his ears enough to block out the voices.

"Wake up."

The room door flies open and the bang reaches his ears first before he notices the steel door hitting the concrete. Yuki quickly stands up before he crosses his arms behind his back. He'll be okay. A rather rugged looking man makes eye contact with Yuki.

Any and all sounds stop, a ringing taking place in Yuki's ears. "Come on!" The newcomer stares at Yuki as though he had been saying things the entire time. The light glints off the door as he catches sight of his neighbor. Gray flashes in Yuki's eyes before the newcomer pulls Yuki to his chest.