𝐒𝐓𝐑𝐄𝐄𝐓 𝐊𝐈𝐋𝐋𝐄𝐑 || 𝐉.𝐉𝐊 ✓

⊘ • ❸❽ • ⊘

𓆩・༺ ꔫ ༻・𓆪

It's silent after the echoing ring of the gun vibrates throughout the room. I stand frozen in my spot as I watch her body lay still on the ground, never moving.

I don't do so much as blink from the sight. I've never seen it before, never witnessed death until this very moment, and now that I have experienced it all I can do is stare.

She was fine seconds ago. She was alive. Her heart was beating, her lungs were filling up with air, and her eyes were blinking. She was alive one moment, and now she's not.

I never realized how sudden death can come. In an instant, she left. There were no goodbyes, no final words, glances, hugs, or apologies. We never got to makeup after coming here, and then everything else hits me.

Twix will never be free from this place. She'll never grow old, never marry, have children, never do anything that she may have one day wanted to do. The worst of it all is that her father knows nothing about it. He's probably still working at the hotel, never thinking about Twix because he knows how tough she is... was.

As sad as it is, her toughness stayed with her until the end, but what killed her was her lack of self-control. I can't believe it, but if I don't get a grip and wake the rest of these girls up, then they'll end up on the ground with her. There's no time for sorrow at a time like this. She's gone, and it hurts, but the least I can do is prevent any more deaths.

When everything comes back to focus, I hear the loud, painful cries. A girl next to our cell is puking, another girl downstairs is screaming, and when I glance behind me I see Barbie's eyes are wide, never moving. She's in shock.

"You get out here and shut these girls up before they kill someone else," Claire rushes up to our cell, speaking fast despite the girls who cuss her when she unlocks our door and pulls me out. "If you don't do something right now more people will die,"

The shouting never stops as Claire urges me downstairs, but when I walk by Twix's body, I feel everything in my body stop. When I see her eyes are open, I turn the other way and vomit on the ground.

I can't control myself and can't contain it. "You're cleaning that up," I hear one of the guards behind me yell to another guard. "Hurry and shut them up as you did earlier, or I'll have to lose another bullet—"

"That won't be necessary," I wipe my mouth and stand up straight, forcing my sickness down for the moment.

I look at the guards but don't look at Twix. If I do, I know I'll puke again.

"Everyone listen to me," I can hear how weak I sound already, but thankfully, some people stop yelling. Although, the cries are still loud. "I know you're scared; I am, too. This isn't right, and one day, we'll be free, but for that to happen, you'll have to listen to them."

"Why the fuck would we listen to them! They killed Twix! We won't be silent!" The girl in front of me says through her cell, holding onto the black bars. She's angry and has every right to be.

A couple more girls agree with her, but I yell loud enough to stop their voices.

"If you want to end up like Twix, then keep acting out like you're doing right this second. Otherwise, if you want to live, you will keep your mouth shut and do as you're told. We are no longer free; we are prisoners. Don't you all understand?" I let my eyes flick to each person who offers their eyes to me.

"Listen and live or revolt and die in this place. Those are our only options. They've already proven to us they don't care if anyone dies. They're only protecting people like Ghost, like Jungkook—names who are well known. We are not known. Our deaths can be swept under the rug." I end it there, but I give them a pleading look for them to listen.

The guard who killed Twix comes up to me and shoves me up the stairs, "Get a move on—"

"Don't you fucking touch me, or I swear on my father's life I'll rip your tongue out, you shitty cop." I've never snapped so fast at someone before, and I don't care to show it. "You want me to calm down these girls, then you can start by getting your hand off my shoulder," the threat is not empty. My emotions are already high, so if I'm pushed, I won't hesitate to push back, despite me trying my best to calm myself, as well as the girls, down.

"I'll clean up the mess. We need to hurry before anyone else sees." Claire steps up, changing the topic before the guard can reach for the gun and shoot me, too.

The guard, with a grim expression, looks at me hatefully, then leaves. Claire guides me up the stairs and into my cell. We say nothing as she locks me in, and I'm glad. Although I know she's helping us, I don't think I can take the sight of seeing someone wearing that uniform at the moment.

"Vee, we should—"

"No," I put my hand up to Barbie, shaking my head as I climb to get to my top bunk. "I can't talk right now. I'm sorry. I just can't."

I grab my pillow and hold onto it, burying my face deep inside where I imagine I'm a little girl again and back at home afraid of the monsters under my bed instead of the real ones surrounding me. I pretend, even if for only one night, that this is all a bad dream.

I ignore the whispers, cries, and sounds of the guards talking about cleaning up Twix's body. I ignore it all.

Instead, I think about a time when I truly felt safe and wasn't afraid of the world. A time many years ago that I can barely remember—a time when I was an innocent child and had such bright eyes for my future, never once knowing the horrific experiences I would face in the years to come.

𓆩・༺ ꔫ ༻・𓆪