Hollow Point

Noire stood next to the gate, making sure no one was around. Sneaking around the gate to try and find a way in, she smiled before humming the Mission Impossible theme song. Not too much later, she saw the gate leading into the building, the doors open. "Wow, great security at this place." She rolled her eyes and continued towards the building.

She snuck along the wall, looking for windows or anything that she could look into. With no luck, she was about to give up until she saw a very small window slightly above the ground. She bent down and saw that it wasn't a glass window, but just an empty space with bars. She shone the flashlight into the window, seeing only concrete floors and brick walls. "Hello?" she whispered. "Is anyone in there?"

She heard nothing, but tried her hardest to see into the murky room. "Hello?"

After a few minutes, she heard faint footsteps coming closer, before a head appeared in front of her. Her heart skipped a beat and she fell backwards, not expecting someone to appear. When she finally regained her composure, she sat back up and looked back at this strange guy. "Hello," she said timidly. "I'm Noire."

The man tilted his head suspiciously, staring at her. Under the skepticism , there was also shock and confusion. "Why are you here?" he asked bluntly, voice laced with astonishment.

Taken back a bit, she answered, "Well, you see, no one would tell me anything about this place, so I just had to come check it out myself." Noire tried her hardest to smile, but it was difficult when a small shiver of fear was running throughout her body.

He grimaced, not looking like he trusted the story. "You can't be real." He shook his head. "I've gone mad. Finally."

Suddenly he walked closer to the window, staring up at Noire. "Or are you lying? Is this a test?" He squinted at her as if he could pull the truth out of her just from looking at her features.

A look of frustration appeared on Noire's face. "I am very real, thank you. And this is not a test." She leaned closer, trying to get a good look inside of the room. "Beautful place you have here," she said sarcastically.

The man dropped his gaze, ignoring her. "Of course, you wouldn't just tell me it's a test...I don't believe they would do this though, not after leaving me to rot for so long...Maybe they knew I would think this way, so they can shock me. Well, I won't fall for it." He glanced back up at Noire. "It's dangerous here. You should leave now." His eyes remained trained on her face, watching for her reaction.

Noire laughed and rolled her eyes. "Please, I've been up here for about 20 minutes and I'm not dead yet. I want to talk to you." She got as comfortable as she could and crossed her legs. "So, can I know your name?" Noire gave the man a sweet smile.

His eyes narrowed in response. "You don't seem to grasp this simple concept. Either that or you're suicidal. I'm the danger you have to watch out for."

"Yeah, okay. Seriously, you seem like a really nice guy, sir. I don't really want to offend you, and I'm sorry if I am. I don't think you belong here. It doesn't seem like a place you would belong in." Sorrow filled her eyes and she suddenly felt sympathy for him, being stuck in this dark, cold place.

There was silence as he stared at her. Was this part of the test? But her face just seemed so sincere...

"My name's Daelen." He seemed a bit reluctant to relinquish that information but felt it would be rude not to.

Noire's face lit up as she held out her right hand. "Nice to meet you, Daelen. What a nice name you have."

His dark gray eyes softened. "Thank you," he said quietly. Hesitantly, he brought up a pale hand, as if he expected a trap. He grasped her hand for a short moment, retreating it swiftly afterwards.

"I'm not going to hurt you. I can promise you that..." Noire looked at the patch of grass in front of her before asking, "Can you tell me a bit more about yourself? I'll understand if you don't want to," she said, a bit too defensively.

Daelen bit his lip, trying to figure out what would be safe to tell her. "I...was put in here for the town's protection. They say I'm insane."

Noire frowned. "That doesn't make any sense. You seem perfectly normal to me."

He grimaced. "If I was normal, I wouldn't be here."

"Oh..sorry then." Noire looked off to the side. After an awkward pause, she finally spoke up. "I still don't think you're insane."

"Thank you." Daelen looked down awkwardly. Suddenly, the sound of metal scraping came into the room, and his head whipped around. "Get down," he whispered, and went to go sit down on the floor.

Noire ducked out of sight, listening closely.

"Talking to yourself, Mr. Ezra? No surprise." The doctor flashed an evil grin before throwing Daelen a few slices of bread and throwing a bottle of water his way. "You'll be fed in the morning, freak."

Daelen grunted, tearing off a piece of bread and greedily shoving it into his mouth. He placed the rest of the bread on his knee, taking a quick swig of water. He kept his eyes on the retreating figure as he capped the bottle and placed it beside him.

When the man had finally left Daelen's room, Noire sat up with a smile on her face. "So, your full name is Daelen Ezra? That's so cool. I'm Noire Aurelia."

Daelen just nodded in response, his mouth full of bread. He seemed irritated by the interruption, but reluctantly grateful for the food.

Noire smiled again, before pulling out her cell phone to look at the time. "Whoa, it's getting late. I should probably go home soon. Do you mind if I come back tomorrow night?"

Daelen nodded again. "Do you...?" He faltered, shaking his head.

"I definitely want to come back. I like you, Daelen. You're nice."

Daelen ducked his head, blood rushing to his cheeks. "This is too good to be true," he muttered.

Noire giggled and once again reached out her hand. "So, see you tomorrow?"

The blush grew more pronounced as she giggled, but he found the dignity to reply. "Yes," he said, his voice just over a whisper. He lightly took her hand, giving it a slight shake.

She smiled, holding onto Daelen's hand a bit longer than she should have, before retracting it. "Well, see you then." She turned around, running back around the building, out the gate, and down the hill.

Daelen got up to the window to watch her go, feeling suddenly lonely. He found himself looking forward to the next night. Wait...what was he thinking? If this was a test...then he shouldn't trust this girl, no matter how genuine she looked. Still....he felt a glimmer of hope in his chest. If this was real, if she was actually innocent, not just part of some experiment to play with him...He could use her to get out. He could run away from all this. But first, he'd have to figure out a way to prove to himself her intentions were sincere.