viridity |•| t.s daughter (1)

burn

♡mara♡
age nine

2005

The sensation of not being able to breathe became familiar to Mara, but it wasn't anymore pleasant than the first time. The way her lungs burned for oxygen was one of the worst feelings she had ever felt before, she couldn't even control the way her body convulsed in desperation to come up from under the water.

Just as she began to feel herself drifting away, she was pulled from the water. She spat up the water that had filled her lungs, desperately trying to fill them with air before she plunged into the water once more. A firm grip was on her hair, holding her neck back at an uncomfortable angle. It hardly helped her with supplying herself of oxygen, but she didn't complain.

She had somehow became the mans favorite to torture, something about her intriguing him. Perhaps it was the scars she had, the way he touched them was in pure interest. Maybe it was because he wasn't allowed to leave any marks on her, leaving him with fun ways to torture her without making her bleed.

And he had come up with ways to torture her. Depriving her of oxygen was his favorite, but he also had fun beating the shit out of her. He couldn't mark her permanently, but bruises were fine, perhaps even little scratches that wouldn't leave a noticeable scar. This man had become Maras newest nightmare.

From where she was placed in the room of torture, she could see the other children she was here with. A couple had mutated, including two of the girls from her academy. Those who had mutated were brought elsewhere, not even to the rooms where everyone was left to rest at night.

Before she could think of anything else, her head was plunged back into the cold water. She didn't struggle for the first thirty seconds, being able to hold her breath that long. Soon enough it became harder and harder to not suck in for a breath of air, and then her body shook. She heard the man above her laugh, using his other hand to restrain her arms as she flailed. Mara felt pathetic.

Part of her hoped she would mutate quickly, but that was the weak part of her. The other part of her wanted to endure the pain, to come out on top. Were the others weak because they had mutated so soon? Or was she the weak one for not mutating soon enough?

Once again she was pulled from the water, once again gasping for air. How much longer would this go on? Mara wasn't sure, but as the hours passed her lungs only strengthened. She was able to hold her breath for much longer, something that irritated the man. Finally she was done being drowned over and over again, but now she would be moving on to something much worse.

The man sat her in a chair, tying her to it. She watched as he pulled out a tool, something she knew to be a pair of pliers. Her eyes widened as he clamped on to one of her toe nails with no warning, pulling it from her toe. A scream ripped through her throat from the sensation, a moment of weakness. The next couple nails she kept silent, only wincing as the man harmed her. Then she showed no sign of discomfort at all.

The man slapped her across the face in anger, staring down at her in confusion. He enjoyed when she was in pain, but what he didn't enjoy was her showing no sign of it at all. He wanted her to scream. He wanted her to bleed.

What seemed like days could've only been hours, the bell rang. It was used to signify it was time to give the children a rest, Mara almost felt relieved to hear it. Relief wasn't something she should feel though, she wasn't supposed to feel anything. Mara was meant to be emotionless.

The man wasn't gentle with bringing her bruised body to the room where the others were. He threw her to the floor, then locked the metal door behind him. The room smelled horrible, and looked even worse. It was just as grimy as the rest as the building, build up of dirt and other substances on the walls and floor.

Mara examined her scrapes that she had just earned, trying to push the dirt out of them. It was of no use though, her hands were just as dirty. Perhaps she will die of infection, or maybe even the infection will trigger her mutation. It wasn't worth it to dwell on, instead Mara walked to the corner where she would sleep.

Rough breathing is what Mara woke up to, even though it wasn't time to wake up. In the dimly lit room the girl could barely see a thing, all she saw was the sleeping bodies of the other kids. But having been trained to see things others might not, she saw the shaking boy not far from her.

Mara pondered whether or not she should check on the boy, after all it wasn't her job to worry about anyone else. But it wasn't worth that coaxed her to crawl to the boy, it was curiosity.

  The boy was covered in multiple deep wounds, along with sweat. His hair was plastered to his forehead, and his eyes that were full of fear, stared up at the ceiling. Maras movement caused his eyes to flicker to her, both of them now feeling cautious of the other.

"It hurts," It was only a whisper, but Mara heard the words. Reaching forward, she went to feel the boys forehead. Heat radiated off of him like a fire, and when her hand touched his skin it burned. His skin burned her.

That was when Mara realized the boy was mutating, and she was sure it had something to do with fire. Where her skin had touched his, there was a burn. The skin was raw and sensitive, as if Mara had touched a frying pan.

  "I think I'm dying," The boy admitted, looking to the girl he had only seen during his time here. He was so scared, something didn't feel right. Everything felt wrong, he only wished for some type of comfort.

Mara hadn't a clue what to do, was she supposed to get someone?  Was his mutation not agreeing with his body? What if that happened to Mara?

  She had no time to worry about herself, instead she would have to take care of the boy in front of her. Mara remembered, very vaguely, of when she was still living with her mother. Mara had been sick, but her mom was there to make her feel better. She was was so miserable, but somehow her mom made it all alright.

Despite the pain she would endure, Mara lightly grabbed the boys hand and held it. The pain was horrible, but she had learned how to make peace with pain a long time ago.

"What's your name?" Mara asked, speaking in English just as the boy had. She made sure to speak in a whisper, she wasn't even supposed to speak English. It was one of the first rules she was given at the academy. Don't give anything away about who you truly are. Mara was truly an American girl named Maggie.

"Parker," He tried to focus on the girls hand instead of the pain, but it was the worst thing he had ever felt. There were many times he was scared he was going to die, but right now he was sure that he was going to.

"It's going to be okay, Parker," Mara wasn't sure what else to say, so she lied. It wasn't going to be okay, but sometimes people needed to hear that it would be.

For moments they sat in silence, but then Parker began to struggle. His body convulsed and soon he started to scream. Mara could feel his hand increasing in temperature, burning her hand further.

Mara could hear footsteps approaching, and she knew she couldn't be caught with the boy. She would get in trouble. Retreating back into the emotionless Mara, she let go of Parker's hand and went back to her corner.

As men burst into the room, Parker burst into flames.

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I know I said I wasn't bringing Parker back, but then I just decided to bring him back for a chapter.