𝐏𝐀𝐒𝐒𝐈𝐎𝐍 》TMR, Minho

046

The days soon turned into months. I had accepted my new life was awful and contained torture sessions at least three times a week if I didn't obey. Taking children had become what Janson would call 'normal', and the feeling of the torture wasn't unfamiliar anymore either, of course.

Two times I had to go through torture because I failed to kill the parents. With one of them, I just couldn't get it over my heart.

It was about two weeks ago, in another abounded town. Except for the house I had to visit, which obviously wasn't abounded. The smell of cookies hung in the air, a warm fire lit up the house, and voices talked loud enough to hear from outside.

When I got in there, I was welcomed happily by a chubby, dark-skinned woman. She asked me if I were okay and if I needed help. Her husband offered me food and even a bed to sleep in, but before I could reply Janson had already noticed it was taking too long, so he killed them all.

With another house, I got scared to kill and almost believed the man that opened the door was actually a criminal. He was so strong I wondered how his muscles didn't rip through his shirt. A few small tattoos were made on his body and his face wasn't the kindest, though he was quite gentle with me.

The guards ran in again, killing the man with a bullet through his head and his wife, who must've been a businesswoman.

And while all that happened, my heart turned... well, cold. Any other emotions than anger and fear were harder for me to create. Sometimes when Mary helped me I couldn't help to give her the tiniest smile, but that was all she would get from me.

I knew I desperately needed some friends to save me, otherwise, I would never make it through. The torture sessions were draining me, forcing doctors to drag me out of bed or make me talk.

Emotionless tears had dropped from my eyes multiple times and I didn't know from what. The sadness of losing my parents ebbed away from all the other events happening, and I simply just got over it, knowing they wouldn't come back to life and save me. I was on myself now, though I hoped so badly I could finally communicate with some kids sometime.

So, about half a year later, Mary visited me again. I lay in my bed, staring at the boring ceiling and dreaming about nothing. She sat down next to me and forced me to get up.

"Honey..." Mary started. Her smile was soft and her eyes stood warm. It sent a wave of comfort over me, but not enough to make me any happier. "It's over." She announced quite quiet compared to her usual tone. "It's all over."

My face twitched, eyebrows furrowing. "Over?"

"The killing... visiting houses." She summarized. "You won't have to do that anymore, Lenora. There's no more drawing monsters, training with your bow... it's over."

I stared straight forward, my blank face hiding how confused yet excited I was. It was over. It was finally over! "What now?"

"You get to take classes with the other kids, have meals with them in the cafeteria, and talk all you want." Mary was almost whispering by now as she gently stroked my arm.

I blinked a few times, trying to get the thoughts through my head. "Janson said the girls and boys would be apart from each other except for one girl and one boy."

"We figured out you would fit with the boys the most."

"I'm not a transgender if that's what you think." I snapped, feeling anger boil in me for no reason. "Is it because of the skirt incident?"

"No." Mary laughed. "According to the tests we did, your personality, and way of communicating... we know you fit better with the boys. The chance is big you'll get in lots of fights and arguments with the girls."