Silence Falls

Bam couldn't sleep for the hour and a half it took to wait for Bert and Otep to drop by for another one of their nightly escapades. Hell, he couldn't even close his eyes long enough to fall asleep anyway. You would think he'd be a little more relaxed after having already gone through this already the night before, but that clearly wasn’t the case. Bam could feel the sweat forming too heavily on the back of his neck and reached up behind him to wipe it off with his hand for the second time that night in the last few hours. Damn, was I this jittery the last time I went out with them, he wondered to himself? With a heavy sigh of defeat for not being able to get any sleep tonight before their arrival, Bam sat himself up in bed with his back leaning against his headboard, drawing one leg up to his chest to rest his arm on and leaving the other to stretch out along the length of his twin size bed.

On his bed across the room, Cris was silently leaning against the wall watching their cell door for Bert, Otep and Alexis, who also wanted to come with them tonight, when he heard his roommate shift around on his bed and let out a sigh of what sounded like to him was disappointment. “Are you ok, Bam?” Cris whispered softly, thinking Bam was getting impatient having to wait for Bert and the others.

Bam shook his head in response before realizing it was too dark for Cris to see him clearly. “Nah, I'm fine. I just…I don't know.” Bam ran his fingers through his silky dark hair and sighed wearily again, leaning his head against his wall and peering at the dark ceiling above as if he were looking at the night sky once more. He’d actually prefer to be staring at the stars in the night sky again right now instead of a dark cement ceiling. “I'm kind of freaking out about what we're going to do again tonight. I guess you could say I'm worried we might get caught for good this time around, or something.”

“That’s definitely a possibility for sure. But…Bam, if you don't feel up to it you can always stay here, no one is going to make you go if you don’t want to. It’s true you won't get in trouble if we get caught snooping around out there while you're in here though the staff will go as far to question you to see if you were involved in any way at some point, or were aware what we were planning tonight since you and I are roommates. But other than all that you still don’t have to go with us.” Cris smiled softly to himself, still relieved that he got himself a roommate after Connor was incarcerated in Solitary Confinement down below. It was nice not being locked up in this dark eerie room by himself, even if his roommate had serious anger issues that needed to be dealt with by a professional.

“Yeah, I know you guys won’t force me to go if I don’t want to and all. But still…do you want to know what’s so weird about all that?” Bam asked him, turning his head to his roomate’s direction as he shifted his position, so he was now sitting on the side of his bed, and facing Cris's side of the room with his arms resting on his knees.

“What?” Cris asked him, tilting his head inquisitively as his blue eyes remain on their cell door.

“The weird thing is, is that ever since last night when you and Bert were first planning on sneaking through those vents and past all that security bullshit, I had WANTED to come along. I wanted to join you two on that fucked up adventure into the deep confinements of this underground prison complex when I knew fully well it could mean my life in the process. My entire life, everyone and everything I remembered, hated or held dear to me would die with me down there if I was caught. I was aware of all of that back then, yet I went with you guys anyway. It's definitely something that THE Bam Margera would do, but at the same time it feels like something else was pushing me to go down there with you two, like I was being influenced to solely make that decision by something. Whatever force that was somehow doused the fires of hatred within me, all my fears disintegrated, and my misery was reduced to a dull ache just, so I could be able to have the fucks to give to go with you guys last night. It sounds crazy I know, but…is anything I’m saying making any sense to you at all?” Bam asked, trying to express what he had been feeling as of late the best way he could in hopes that he made any sense to Cris. It wasn’t a feeling he’d notice at first when he came here because all he was focused on was getting right back out. But tonight, he allowed his mind to wander in the peaceful silence surrounding him and felt as if something or someone was watching him. Not Cris, though it was true he had been awake this whole time because he was keeping an eye out for Bert and the others. No, it felt like someone else entirely. It was someone who didn’t belong in this room and wasn’t supposed to be here, and yet was unseen. It was strange sensation to experience at first, but now that feeling of another presence didn’t feel at all threatening to him. In fact, he didn’t feel at all alone because of it as if someone else was watching his back from harm. Bam didn’t know if it was a hallucination that the medication the staff was feeding him every day and night was causing, or not, but it felt…okay.

“Actually, it makes perfect sense to me, Bam. Since I've been thrown down in here from the beginning I've been feeling the exact same feeling!” Cris revealed in awe, surprising Bam. How could they both be feeling the same eyes on them? Could it be just this place that gave everyone a that weird feeling of being watched or could it be the results of the medication?

Just to be sure, Bam need to know more. “What do you mean you've been feeling the same way? Are you saying you've been feeling tugged every which way by something that feels almost…out of this world?”

“In a way, yeah.” Cris admitted before explaining further in a more passionate tone. “Take the situation I am in right now for example as being my first night here. I should be losing my freaking mind! As in ripping my hair out, curling into a ball on the floor screaming and probably pissing my pants off out of fear of what is going to happen to me. It's strange because despite that being how I would normally react to being in a terrifying situation like this, I hadn’t ever acted that wat. I'm somehow still myself even after all the numbers of pills I've swallowed and the traumatizing things that I have seen down here with my own eyes. How is that possible? How am I still sane while everyone else around me is insane except for my few closest of friends? How is it possible that we have held on together as a team of SANE survivors meanwhile everyone else has pretty much lost their complete minds?” Cris questioned him, looking to where he believed Bam was in the darkness.

Before anything else could be shared between the two, their cell door opened to reveal from the light in the hallway their leader Bert slipping in and closing the door behind him. He whispered out to the others from where he stood with his hand on the cold door. “Is everyone prepared in here or do I have to wake you girls up?”

"We're awake and ready Bert.” Cris answered him as he and Bam both got up from their beds and navigated their way towards him in the dark. From what Cris could recall, Bert had entered the room alone. Once he and Bam were standing before him, Cris asked him. “Where are the girls?”

“They're fine. They're hiding out in the vent waiting for you two.” Bert assured him before asking sarcastically. “Are we going now or does anybody wanna say their prayers before we head back out again?” Bert asked sarcastically, spitting out the word prayer like it truely disgusted him rather than give him holy strength of God.

Bam noticed the way Bert spat the word ‘prayer’ as if it truly disgusted him to mention it rather than it giving him any form of comfort from the Lord. It was clear he wasn’t the religious type. “We're ready.”

“Alright, let’s go. I knocked out the cameras again so we don’t have to worry about slipping and sliding all over the damn hallway. The guard that’s supposed to be on duty is making some coffee in the security room at the end of the hall, so he’s occupied for some time. On this floor alone we're cleared all the way through until we get to the cafeteria, so don't start panicking away just yet.” Bert explained the rundown first, before leading the boys out into the hallway in their usual white patient uniforms and only wearing sock clad feet towards the vent nearby.

Popping the vent out, Bert watched Cris and Bam climb up in first before scrambling in himself and closing the vent behind them. Squeezing his way to the front passed the two other guys, Bert lead them down the first slide where the girls were both sitting waiting for them all. Otep gave Bert a nod from where she was leaning her back again the wall of the vent, no fear evident on her face or her pose. Alexis’s eyes were wide with fear at first when the three boys slid down the vents to meet them but then her body relaxed when she recognized them. “Oh, thank god it’s just you three!”

“How did everything go while I was away, Otep? Was there anything we need to worry about?” Bert asked, his eyes flicking over to Alexis when he said 'anything'.

Otep shook her head to assure him his concerns about Alexis panicking weren’t going to be an issue. She decided to go ahead, and call Alexis an ‘it’ just in case the idea of them talking about her made her feel uneasy. “No, so far so good with this one. A bit jittery and hesitate I’ll admit, but I think it’ll relax more after we get to the water tunnel.”

Smelling something fishy, Alexis slowly turned her head in their direction as she listened in on their conversation, immediately realizing they were talking about her! Her eyes narrowed as she crossed her arms across her chest and addressed the two. “Excuse me you two, but I know your asses are talking about me. You don't have to try and make it seem like it’s some big secret, you know? I think it’s safe to say that I’m definitely scared about what I’m getting myself into down here and that’s fair for me to feel, but I promise you I’m not about to start screaming my ass off, okay?”

“Yet.” Otep muttered, making Alexis eyes roll at her one worded comment.