I know I'm insane

the hero

They took us back to to the white room in the basement. We all struggle against them, but then stopped to help calm down Dylan as they dragged us away. When we were there, they threw us down on the white floor.

"What did we do?!" Rose screamed at them. A tear ran down her cheek. "What did we do to have this happen to us?!"

"You know what you did," said a familiar voice. It was the voice of the man who put the gun to my head. I was finally seeing his face for the first time. He was about an inch or two taller than me, with a buzz cut and a permanent frown etched into his face.

"No, we don't!" Noah screamed and held onto Rose.

"Shut up!" the man screamed viciously. I stood up.

"Don't talk to them like that!" I screamed. The man looked at me. Then he looked at the guards.

"Get her and the boy. They need to learn their manners."

Soon enough we were being captured by the arms and dragged over to the two white chairs. They slammed us into the chairs and secured the straps around our limbs a little tighter that needed.

"Give the boy 30 and the girl 40," he said with the flick of his wrist. "Actually, make it 45 for the girl, just because I don't like her."

The chair started heating up and the guards were holding back Eli, Dylan, Rose, and James from running over to us. Soon the shocks started. My fingers started to shake at shock number 13.

"You ok, Noah?"

"W-what's happening?" he asked fearfully and looked at me. He flinched as another shock hit us.

"We are getting shocked," I told him calmly. A tear ran down his face.

"Why?" he asked quietly, his voice cracking.

"I don't know," I replied, trying not to let a tear slip. Noah whimpered at the shock number 21.

"W-who are you?" he asked through grunts of pain.

"I'm Alec," I told him, my arms straining against the straps.

"Can I trust you?" he asked, then cried out loudly.

"Yes." Truth.

I blinked hard a few times when my vision started blurring at shock 32. By then I could hear my heart in my ears. The shocks had stopped for Noah, and he was sitting in his seat, his head low, his eyes streaming with tears, and him limbs numb and hanging loosely off of the seat.

At shock 39, the door burst open. Lots of men with lots of weapons piled in, all of them pointing their guns at the guards and the man. They all piled into the room, outnumbering the Yester workers times two. The shocks were stopped and someone had started undoing the straps on my seat. I couldn't see who, though, but I heard them tell me that the police were there and that everything was going to be alright. I nodded weakly and let them examine my eyes with a flashlight and check my heartbeat and do other medical things as I laid on the ground, my eyes closed and my mind racing.

After about ten minutes the pounding in my head was gone and I was able to sit up. Someone gave me a blanket and I took it and wrapped it around my shoulders. I took a moment to study the scene:

The Yester workers, including the man, were in handcuffs and were being pushed out of the room. The man looked back at me one more time, and I smirked weakly at him, which probably didn't help his attitude. James and Dylan were talking to a group of cops, and Noah and Rose were crying in each other's arms. I spotted Eli talking to someone who I couldn't recognize all that well until he turned around.

It was Stephen.

Eli noticed I was sitting up and started walking over to me with Stephen following him. I managed to stand up and I dropped the blanket onto the floor.

"Hey," he said gently, with the most sincere smile I have ever seen him have. "I'm guessing you know Stephen already?" I nodded.

"How's it going?" I asked with a stupid grin on my face.

"Mighty fine," he said with a smile and pulled me into a hug. Dylan and James were done talking to the cops and the made their way over to us, along with Noah and Rose. They all hugged me and checked how I was feeling.

A cop walked over to us. She was a stout lady with long brown hair and dark brown eyes. She stepped over to me.

"Are you alright, Miss?" she asked. I nodded.

"What's going on?" I questioned her.

"This Yester facility was a big pile of bull crap that we weren't monitoring enough, and Stephen here was the one to show us that. Many people working here are going to get arrested and you will not be having to stay in this abusive place anymore," she explained. "I am sorry that you had to go through all of this. It's sick."

When she was done, another officer called her over and she walked away, saying that they will need some more information from us later. We all stood there, dazed from what she said. Well, all of us except for Stephen.

"Guys?" he asked, getting out attention. We all stared at him.

"What did she mean?" James asked.

"You're free."

My eyes widened. My throat closed. My eyes welled up. We all stood there for a few moments, looking at each other with happiness and disbelief.

We are free, I thought over and over again inside my head. I looked over at Dylan and James, who both had snapped out of their dazes. They were looking at each other, and not even a second later Dylan smashed his lips onto James', and she kissed him right back.

I looked over at Noah and Rose, who were in a tight embrace with tears rolling down both their cheeks. I heard Noah whispered 'I love you' repeatedly into Rose's ear, and Rose was beaming through her tears.

Then I looked at Eli. He looked at me. We kissed each other like our lives depended on it. It felt like they kind of did, though. All the pain was removed from my body, and the only thing I could think about were the same three words: we are free.