If Only We Could Be Us

Once dinner time was over, a new guard that we hadn't seen before came to find us, and take us to our rooms. If you could even call them that. Each room has a single bed, and the walls are muddy brown. The only thing inside the room other than the bed is a dresser, where they have several variations of the same uniform that they forced us into earlier. Also, there is a bathroom attatched to the bedroom. It is quite possibly even less welcoming than the room. The walls are a putrid green color, and the toilet and sink are rusted and gross. Ew.

The best part however, is that when they walk us to our bedrooms, they lock us in for the night. I suppose they do this so that there is no chance of us sneaking into other rooms or what not, but really? And when I tried to kiss Munro goodnight, the guard broke us apart, slapping the both of us as hard as he could across the face. Munro's eyes had filled with tears as the guards hand came in contact with the not quite healed scratches on his face. All I wanted to do was gather him in my arms, and hold him until he felt better. But I didn't get to do that. I lunged towards him, but the guard was faster than I was. He grabbed me, and shoved me into my room, landing a blow to my stomach before he locked the door.

I'm sitting on the bed wallowing in my misery. Tonight would be the first night basically since I met Munro that we would be sleeping apart. And I just didn't feel comfortable not knowing whether he was safe or not. This place was obviously going to be dangerous for us all.

Suddenly, the silence was interrupted by the sound of the lock being opened. I immediately became frightened. What were they going to do to me now? But just as I had worked myself into a panic attack, a head of fiery red hair popped into my line of sight.

"Hey there Shayne! I figured you might be missing your boy toy right about now, so I figured I would bust you out of here, and take you to his room." she said with a smile.

I couldn't help but grin at the girl in front of me. She was still wearing her combat boots, but now they were accompanied by a pair of black shorts, and a black My Chemical Romance shirt, which I assumed were meant to be her pajamas.

We headed out of my room, with Red holding a finger to her lips in a signal to be as quiet as I could. We tiptoed down the dark and eerie corridors taking many twists and turns before we reached a door which Red pointed out as Munro's.

She gave me a sly grin before she knelt in front of the door, inspecting the lock. With a grin she stood back up, and pulled a huge key ring from the purse she had over her shoulder. She flipped through the keys momentarily, before stopping on one and grinning.

She slipped the key into the lock, and smiled triumphantly when it turned. She signalled for me to head in, and then followed after me. As soon as Munro saw who it was, he launched himself into my arms.

"I missed you too Munro" I whispered, kissing the top of his head, as he had yet to release me from his embrace.

"Alright boys, have a nice night. I'm gonna go bring all the other love birds from your little group together. I'm gonna assume Mitch and Louis want to be alone together, and then I will put the last three, Jack, Liza, and Asher together. Sound good to you?" she asked.

I just nodded, in complete awe of this girl. I didn't know who she was, but I was damn greatful to have met her. She was clearly going to be a good ally to have.

"I'll be back at 5:30 sharp to bring Shayne back to his room in the morning before wake-up at 5:45." she stated, and with that she left, the lock clicking behind her.

Munro and I slid into his bed, which was just about as comfortable as mine had been. Like sleeping on a bed of nails. But this time it was okay, because Munro and I were together again.

"Nuh-night Shayne. Love you so much." Munro whispered, already half-asleep in my arms.

"Night love. Love you more than you can imagine." I whispered back, before drifting off to sleep.
***
What felt like mere moments later, I was being shaken awake. As my eyes opened, and adjusted to the lighting of the room, I recognized a fiery head of red hair entering my line of sight.

"Let's go lover boy. Time to get you back into your room for wake up!" she giggled, grabbing my arm and dragging me away, doing her best not to wake up the sleeping Munro.

She locked his door behind us, and we headed back through the dark corridors. This place was dark and creepy, made even more so by the total lack of windows. I hadn't seen a single one since we set foot on the premises.

When we reached the door, Red said her goodbye, whispering that I should be cooperative when they come to wake me. I nodded, and settled myself into my bed waiting.

About five minutes later, the door to my room was roughly flung open, and the guard from last night was barging in. I closed my eyes, feigning sleep.

"Wakey wakey little fairy." his gruff voice boomed, before he was ripping the blanket off of me, and roughly grabbing my wrist.

He used his hold on my wrist to quite literally drag me out of bed, and across the floor towards the dresser.

"Get dressed now." he stated. But he didn't leave the room, nor did he look away.

"You're going to stand there and watch me get dressed?" I asked him disbelievingly.

"Yup. But I'm sure you're used to stripping for men, eh Fairy? Maybe you could put on a show for me little whore." he stated, a sick grin making its way onto his face.

"Yeah right fucker. Now turn the fuck around." I growled out, growing angrier by the minute.

"Fine, we'll make a deal. You get dressed like a good little fairy, and I won't bring you to the dungeon and beat the shit out of you? Sounds fair right?" He said, grinning because he knew he'd won. "And trust me when I say, I'd make the beating your little friend took yesterday look like a walk in the park."

I sighed, and opened the dresser drawers, knowing that I couldn't put Munro through watching me take a beating. I pulled out the black slacks, white dress shirt, blazer, and tie they had for me to wear. As I got dressed, I could feel the security guards eyes raking over my body, making me want to vomit.

"You know, I think you and I could be friends. Sexual favors in return for me not beating the shit out of you." he growled out, his face twisted into a sickening grin.

"No fucking way." I stated, feeling the bile crawling up my throat at the mere suggestion.

"I give you a week before you're changing your mind." he stated.
***
The guard walked me to the cafeteria, and to the same room where we had all eaten together yesterday. Everyone else was already there, looking about as miserable as I felt. That is, everyone but Red.

I took my seat next to Munro, and sighed, wrapping my arms tightly around him.

He buried his face in my neck, and I could feel tears dripping down.

"What is it love?" I asked him, concern seeping into my tone.

"I don't like it here Shayne. This place, it's wrong and twisted. The guard kept touching me while I was changing." he stated, his voice shaking.

At that, Liza burst into sobs, and hurled herself at Munro and myself.

"Me-me too" she whimpered.

A growl made its way out of my throat. This was so wrong, on so many levels. And I wished that there was something I could do. This place was going to be the end of the people I loved most in the world, and I couldn't take it.

I was about to cause a scene when Red bounced into the room.

"Good morning my newly acquired friends! Oh crap, everyone looks sad already. And I haven't even told them yet, what to do? What to do?" she babbled to herself, "I could tell them, but that would make it so much worse. Or I could let them walk in blindly. No that's not right. I suppose I'm gonna have to tell them. How though? How, how, how,-"

"Tell us what?" Asher deadpanned, interrupting Red's rambling to herself.

"Well, uhm you see," she said squirming "today is a death day here at Gem Creek."

"A death day?" Jack asked, confusion and fear written all over his face.

"Yeah. Basically, they pick two contestants from all of the students, and they shift, and fight to the death."

I think my heart stopped in my chest at that. What if one of us got chosen to fight?