Crimson

-Chapter 13-

It's been three months since Ozz, and I were locked inside Lucien's room. Lucien is a ruthless man. My life has never been easy, but I want to return to normalized testing. My body is covered in bruises and cuts. Ozz looks close to the same. I managed to break out of my chains yesterday. Never again. My neck has bright purple bruises in the shape of Lucien's hands. I had broken out and got to the door. An alarm started to blare, and the door was slung open. Lucien's hands were around my neck in an instant. I remember hearing chains clang as Ozz struggled to get to me. I clawed his arms and managed to break his sunglasses. I passed out from his grasp. Today is the following day. I can't speak without feeling blood and bile rise from my throat.

The chains on my feet were thicker now. They probably weighed around 140ish pounds. I was lying next to Ozz. He was massaging my back right near my wings. We made sure to spend as much time together as possible now. We knew we weren't getting out. So we decided to be together until we died from the beatings. The keypad code is like an alarm. It's almost like it's saying, "danger!". When we start to hear the keypad, we break away from each other fast, always returning to our corners.

But today, the man who walked into the room wasn't Lucien. He was masked and had tattoos all over his body. I tensed and looked at Ozz, who was trying to hide inside his wings. I did the same, covering myself, leaving only a tiny hole to see.

"Holy crap! You're more injured than I thought you'd be." The man rushed over to me. I lunged back as far as the chains could hold me. The man continued to get closer. I kept trying to get away, the chains weighing me down. I scrambled and tried to scream, but all that came out was a blood-filled coughing fit.

"Woah, woah! Calm down. I'm not here to hurt you. I'm here to help." The man's voice was kind. He seemed young. I looked towards Ozz, who nodded with his teeth clenched. Ozz was scared too. We were terrified. I stopped scrambling and wrapped my arms around my head. I was prepared to protect my skull. I wasn't going to die today.

"You guys are Crimson, right?" The man whispered close to both of us. Moving his head to look towards Ozz. Ozz nodded slowly. I slowly lowered my arms. Does that mean this guy is safe?

"You are! That means I found you! Can you guys speak?" The man stood up and exclaimed. I shook my head and pointed to my neck. The man nodded and seemed to understand.

"W-we can, but we're told not to." Ozz coughed. The man nodded and started to take off his mask. He had shaggy brown hair and pink eyes. Does he have a malfunction? On the back of his neck was the sign of a tattoo that might run down his back. He also had a tattoo that ran down the inside of his neck. His face was covered in piercings.

"Well! I'm Anubis! You guys might know me better as 87, though!"

"You're 87?! How'd you get in here!" Ozz tried to stand and run over to Anubis, but the chains caused him to fall.

"Woah! Slow down. Let me get you guys out. Then we can talk." Anubis began to unchain Ozz's ankles.

"Before I trust you, what's your malfunction?" Ozz flinched back. Hard. Fear enveloped his eyes as soon as Anubis touched his skin. Anubis almost looked sad.

"My, what now? Oh, you mean the superpower thingy- uh, I don't have one." Anubis shrugged.

"Then why th- *cough* the hell are your eyes pink!" Ozz shouted and pulled himself away from Anubis. I backed up as well. Anubis was lying. He had to have one. His eyes were pink.

"Uh- eye contacts." Anubis looked confused.

"Wh-*cough*-at *hack*" I attempted to speak, but my voice came out garbled and burned. I coughed and hacked, throwing up bile in the process.

"Hey! You shouldn't speak. Your throat looks bad.." Anubis looked at me sympathetically.

"She's trying to ask what eye contacts are...." Ozz ran a hand through his hair, removing it from his eyes.

"Oh, Uhm, they're like little films you put in your eyes. They can change your eye color and stuff, see?" Anubis stuck his finger in his eye and pinched a small piece of flimsy glass. Underneath was a normal brown eye. "I've always been a fan of pink, so I bought these." He stuck the contact back in his eye.

Ozz slowly inched forward, clearly skeptical, but at the same time, I saw hope light upon his face. Anubis undid Ozz's chains and revealed the bloody skin from the constant struggle against them. Anubis slowly started to get closer to me, and I backed away.

"Look, I'm not going to hurt you... You just watched me help your friend.." Anubis stopped walking and held up his hands. Speaking slowly so I could understand. I nodded and dragged the chains behind me. Anubis took what seemed like a long magnet and stuck it inside the cuff. The cuff unlocked and fell off. Revealing roughly scarred skin.

"Can you walk?" Anubis held out a hand. I nodded and stood up without help.

I pointed to the closed door and raised an eyebrow.

"OH- yeah, don't worry, it's unlocked. Just open it. No one's out there. I promise it's safe." Anubis smiled and gestured to the door. I was skeptical but walked towards the door, waiting for the alarm to ring. I passed the point I was yesterday and held my breath, waiting for this to all be an elaborate trick. But no alarm went off. I pushed the door wide open and felt a fresh stream of air hit my face. Ozz ran up behind me and kissed my cheek.

"It's happening! No one's here! We can get out!!" Ozz exclaimed, jumping, holding my hands in his. I smiled and looked toward Anubis for directions. He pointed down a hallway, and I ran, pulling Ozz behind me.

"Just keep going straight! His office is over there!" Anubis called after me, but I didn't turn back to acknowledge him. I just sprinted. I got to the office door and flung it open. Inside the office was a red carpet, and feather boas were hung in a nearby closet. I didn't look long. I lunged towards the back door and slammed it open. I stopped and turned back towards Ozz.

"Go ahead, don't wait," Anubis called from behind. Ozz made eye contact with me and nodded with a huge smile. I stepped outside. The wind filled my hair and my wings. Ozz took a deep breath and spun me around, planting a huge kiss on my lips. I melted into it. His touch was soft and soothing. When we broke, Ozz grabbed my hands.

"RedHead!! We did it! We're out! We're finally out! Haha! Can you believe it! We got out!" Ozz picked me up and hugged me tightly. I heard Anubis giggle, and I couldn't help but laugh. I didn't care if it hurt my throat. I was free, and that's all that mattered.

----------------------------------

I know this chapter is late, but yesterday was April fool's day, and I didn't want to post it in case people would think the chapter was a joke; I know this is a shorter chapter, but it's because chapter 14 has a lot in it.  Also, chapter 8 will be edited soon to fix the plot hole. 

Who's your favorite character? I would love to know! 

And as always, if you have any questions, feel free to leave them in the comments.