Uneasy Lies The Children's Heads.
" Ok this is really hard, then you do it,"
" Oh no no no, I'm literally out of energy juice now, those people were more wicked this time around,"
An uncomfortable silence rested upon them suddenly.
•••••••
"They only gave me a break when I was vomiting, and when I didn't have any food in my stomach, they just kept me on, round and round and round and...." Morani stopped.
"... round,"
" Well, now I'm not s-sure which one got it worse....." Kage mumbled.
Morani raised her eyebrows at him.
Kage took a deep breath. " They faced the hydrant at full pressure directly to my face, they kept it there, it was so cold I couldn't breath..." His breaths started deepening.
"...I couldn't breath....."
They all let him.
" Go on," Ramone whispered.
" I.... Couldn't...." He took a few more deep breaths then cleared his throat.
" They'd stop for sometime while I finally got air, then they suddenly left the r-ro-room, I thought I was free when they also released my arms, but soon water started filling up the room.... " He trailed off, his eyes straight ahead with a dark haze.
A silence settled in their midst again.
"So... What did they do to you two, anyway? Both of you look well compared to us skeletons," Morani made to laugh but felt a sharp pain in her stomach.
Both kept quiet.
"Ok, I think you should leave them, they might murder us in our sleep," Kage whispered to Morani.
"Ohhhh, so that's how it is huh? The silent treatment again, ok now did I ever tell you about the time I..... "
" Morani, "
" Yes, Moriah, " She answered in a high pitch voice.
" When you've been vomiting the entire day, and do not have any thing to fill the void, the best option is to conserve your energy as much as you can, "
" Hmm, ok," Morani nodded wearily.
Time passed.
" Ahem!!" It was Morani.
" Morani! Could you just....." Moriah stopped when she saw the troubled sleeping face of Morani.
She sighed.
" Ahhh, finally she's asleep," Kage had been waiting for Morani to sleep before he did.
Soon only Morani was left awake in the semi dark room.
She turned off the torchlight then laid down besides Ramone, covering Kage before she did. He was the one the cold temperature would affect the most here.
As sleep drew her away from the world at now, the last thing she saw was Ramone's face scrunched up in pain.
Underground, it was almost devoid of all living. The boy was now aboveground, the casket of Elliam's body laid still underneath the bright moonlight.
All was still and quiet, nothing moved and nothing was heard.
But the 24th hour neared, The chest began to move, a slow sudden rhythmatic thump.
•••••••
The next day as early as 4 o'clock, the same routine from yesterday continued.
Except to different rooms today.
Morani was led to a normal looking room, with furniture and everything.
She looked around surprised but before she ask, the door shut behind.
She frowned as she noticed everywhere was deathly silent but not a kind of silence where human sound was absent the eerie kind were everything was absent and yet everything was present.
She could hear the steady flowing of the liquid inside her veins, the loud thumping of her chest that had gotten louder as she'd entered the room, the pressing of flesh against flesh, the grinding and creaking of her bones against each other when she moved.
And sound she heard exploded loudly in her ears. She covered them and cowered on the floor as she tried keeping still to avoid the noises. This might seem like an easy thing to get through but it was extreme on the girl's mind.
____________
__________
____________
"Owww!" Groans leaked from her lips as she tried to keep it in, but her groans grew into loud shouts that made her feel like her ears were bleeding.
As if things weren't already bad, she heard water seeping into the room, it was seeping quietly yet quickly and soon the water was already near her lips, she didn't fight for air, she only kept her ears closed to keep away the noises.
•••••
They took Kage to the spin chair room, where inside a large bird cage like cage was a chair. He was strapped in the chair and the cage was locked.
Kage steeled his heart and braced for what ever would come.
He closed his eyes tightly and waited.
Soon he felt his surroundings spinning, it was slow and gradual at first but soon started gaining momentum.
Round and round and round he went, until he lost all sense of direction, his eyes were still closed but due to the pressure of the wind on his face, he opened them to find all around him a blurry twirl of confusion. The colors in his very were plastered all over the place and faded into one another like a __ painting.
While it continued he started loosing his breath, and soon was breathing hard and fast.
He held his head on with his neck but due to the intense dizziness lost it, as he twirled still his head lagged and bounced.
Then it came slowly, like a large group of snaky veins, it came suddenly and without warning, clung to his underbelly and squeezed it out, making the small water and food particles in it to come exploding through his throat and out of his lips.
Then the ride came slowly to a stop, and leaving him open mouthed breathing like a dog, without any breath left to beg, it continued on, repeating the nightmarish ordeal on an intense scale.
The chair spinned away, Kage's head lagging, spittle running from his lips and aware of his helpless, helpless situation, he let out a loud, painful cry of despair.
...
In the other room, Morani, tired of holding in her breath, yelled, an angry, helpless, deperate shout, from the depths of her soul, a shout that exploded through the high water, the density of the water minifying the true loudness and intensity of this cry.
However her oxygen finished, her eyes closed up slowly, her body becoming lighter floated towards the ceiling. Just then the water level started lowering, coming out of the room until they were but splatters on the floor.
Morani dead cold on the floor, in a sudden jerk, sat up and coughed up a mouthful of water. She was still coughing and simultaneously was taking up mouthfuls of air needily when she started feeling water all over her again.
"Oh....Come on!" She laid on the floor in resignation, knowing there was to stop it.
••••••
The end came in the night, they all went back to the room, Kage's and Morani's looked from last night exchanged.
Today was the same. Except tonight, tonight was different.
Except Ramone and Moriah looked shrunken and hump backed today. Their eyes were swollen and around their eyes were huge dark circles.
Tonight everyone was tired, no one talked. Tonight Morani laid down facing the wall, not looking at anybody, not talking to anyone.
That night was silent, and everyone slept uneasily.