Youth

#6 - Day Six and Some Fun and Games

They were escaping; [Y/n] and her horse - or, at least, a horse. [Y/n] didn't recognise the animal. She had no idea what they were escaping from, but their pace increased bit by bit and her chest thudded desperately. Then, she heard it. The ring of a bullet. Once, twice, three times... again and again and again until the sixth strike. Each bullet had embedded itself into [Y/n]'s mount; the horse let out an excruciated wail and fell to the floor. She knelt beside it, trying to stop the bleeding, paying little attention to the red liquid that began to stain her clothes also. The horse's eyes rolled back and soon after she felt a pressure on her face, something covering her eyes-

    [Y/n] shot awake, her breathing uneven and hasty. 'The hell?' she thought to herself, blinking a couple of times. Her forehead felt damp and heavy. It took her a moment to notice the cold, wet flannel that had fallen on her lap when she'd awoken. Her eyes widened and she looked up. Laion stood beside the bed, his expression concerned.

    "You sounded scared and you were sweating. I thought you might have a fever so I... I gave you that," he explained shyly, pointing to the flannel. [Y/n] forced a small smile - she was still nervous after the bizarre nightmare.

    "Oh, Laion, thank you so much. You didn't have to," she said gently. He looked away bashfully.

"How do you feel now...?" he asked, still not meeting her gaze.

    "Much better," [Y/n] reassured, picking up the flannel and swinging her legs over the side of the metal bed. She'd grown totally used to the lack of comfort - it no longer bothered her.  Slowly and steadily the [h/c] haired girl got up, pushing back her bedhead locks and stretching her arms.  'What a weird dream,' she thought with a sigh.  It wasn't dissimilar to the nightmare she'd had on her first day at the house. 

    She held the flannel in front of her for a moment, smiling gently.  Then, looking over at the wall clock, she realised it was 1pm - the kids still hadn't been fed.  "Oh goodness, I'm so sorry!" she said quickly, looking from Laion to the door.  She pulled herself out of bed, grabbed some clothes from the small metal bar that had been placed in the room when Nyais had gotten her clothing, quickly dressed herself in her small en-suite bathroom and rushed out to the kitchen.  When she got in, however, she noticed the key she'd absentmindedly left on the table the day before was missing.

    'Crap... they're tall enough to reach their food now,' she thought morbidly, walking over to the container.  She went to pull on the handle of the container but nothing happened.  It was locked.  'Ahh, great.  They've hidden the key, haven't they?' she exhaled mentally, looking back at the table where the key had previously been placed.  To her surprise, it was back.  Next to the table stood Mitzu, pushing the key back into the place it used to be.  [Y/n] frowned.

"Did you steal the key, Mitzu?" she asked softly yet demandingly.  The silver haired boy immediately, and rather aggressively, shook his head, retracting his arm and staring up at [Y/n].  She raised an eyebrow in scepticism.

    "Aytsa took it!" Mitzu said defensively, "I wanted to give it back."

    "Aytsa?" [Y/n] echoed, letting out a sigh. "I'll have to have a word with him later," she added. Mitzu seemed to smile at this.  Clearly [Y/n]'s children skills were... nonexistent, but she was trying.  She picked up the key and unlocked the metal box, pulling it open and revealing the blood packs inside.  She passed one to Mitzu; he took it with a very smug grin, presumably glad he'd gotten Aytsa in trouble.  From what [Y/n] could see, the two were like fire and ice.  They didn't get along at all.  Though she wondered whether Mitzu got along with anyone...