The Hole of Death

We meet Damien.

My head snapped up as there was a scratching to my right. I stared as part of the wall was removed, and the boy's anxious face peeked in.
"Oh, my God, I'm so sorry! Are you okay?" he blubbered, and I just stared at him.
"You're dead!" I finally erupted.
"Oh." he frowned. "Really?"
"Yes!" I nodded. "You got shot in the head, and electrocuted...."
"That?"
"Yes, that!"
"That's ridiculous."
"No, it really happened!" I insisted.
"Yeah, I know, but that wouldn't kill me." he explained. "I'm basically indestructible, super strong; the works."
"What?" I asked, disbelieving.
"Yeah." he said, rolling his eyes. "Everyone here has a gift of some sort. That's why we're here. For experimentation."
"For what?" I yelped.
"Not too loud!" he said quickly. "I said 'experimentation'. They try to enhance our gifts, make us more powerful, take away our powers....no one really knows why."
"They could kill us!" I exclaimed.
"Yeah. They know that, and have already killed thousands in the time I've been here." A look of sadness engulfed his face. "They even killed my brother."
"Oh." I shut up, and stuck my arm through the hole, placing it on his arm in an attempt to comfort him. He turned a dazzling smile on me. God, he's hot, I thought, but quickly pushed it away, blushing.
"I'm Adri." I told him.
"I'm Damien." he replied. "So, is this your first day?" I nodded. "I'd give you the grand tour, but I'm a little tied up right now." Surprised, I snorted with laughter until tears ran out of my eyes, and suddenly I wasn't laughing, just crying.
"Whoa, hey!" Damien said, and scooted closer, holding my hand. "What's wrong?" I laughed again, through my tears. "Right. Stupid question." he grinned sheepishly.
"They took her." I whispered, and he stared at me.
"Who?"
"My sister, Auriela. They took her. I know she's not dead, I can feel it. I can't get in her mind, but I can tell they're hurting her." I tried to stop crying without success. "My life just sucks right now."
"I don't mean to be insensitive or anything, but I can't relate to that. My life rocks!" Damien kept a straight face. "I get breakfast in bed, complete privacy, and five star service." I laughed again.

"Thanks." I told him.

"For what?"

"For making me laugh." I smiled at him, and he flashed his dazzling grin in return. We talked for the rest of the day, chatting about our past lives. Damien had only been here for two years, and he had been tested seven times.

"If it wasn't for my gift, I would be dead seven times over." Damien grimaced, as if remembering something painful. He refused to say anything more, except that seven was the record for being experimented on and returning alive.

We talked the rest of the day, pausing when guards jogged by, chatting about things like our past lives and things. Damien was comfortable enough to talk about his brother, Peter, who had been taken away from the cages months ago, and the rest of his family, an older brother who was never home and his parents, even how they died. His parents were killed at their house, as Peter and Damien were taken away, while the other brother, Vincent, was tracked down and shot.

All the talking was really comforting; he was only a year older than me, and it felt wonderful to have a friend to spill my guts out to.

My grief was still too raw to speak about my family and most memories, but one topic I was glad to talk about was Auriela. 

"She's perfect." I said simply. "She only cried a few times when she was a baby, she never fussed, complained, or was rude. She was every parent's dream, and I was a little jealous at times." I smiled at the memory.

"She's telepathic, like me, but much, much stronger. I can only project thoughts, read minds....she is more than that." A dull ache throbbed in my chest. 

"Pete was the exact opposite." Damien smiled halfheartedly, but I could tell how sad he really was. "My gift showed itself when I was seven, so I didn't have too much of a problem adjusting to a life of secrecy, but he got his gift when he was ten, and it was hard for him to abandon all of his friends and life. He called us freaks and said he wished he'd never been born." The sadness in his blue eyes made me want to cry. I reached through the hole and took his hand.

"They took him a year ago." Damien continued sadly. "He didn't come back. I don't even know for sure that's he's dead." An idea began to form in my mind.

"I could-" I hesitated, unsure if I should give false hope. "I could see if he's alive."

"What?" Damien's eyes widened. "How?'"

"Search for his mind. I've done it before. I would just, um..." I blushed. "I need to know everything about him."

"I can tell you!" his excitement was obvious.

"No, I would have to know everything." I said slowly. Realization dawned on Damien.

"You would have to read my mind?" he asked. I nodded.

"I've done that before, too, but sometimes, I, uh, find things that some people want to remain hidden." I admitted. Damien stared at me.

"Adri." he said clearly, and slowly. "If there is a memory that is so embarrassing, that you would give up the chance to find out about your lost brother, I will pay you a million dollars. Now, hurry up and try to find him! The suspense is killing me!" I giggled at his expression, and took a deep breath.

"Okay, then. I might not even see anything bad, anyway. Now, focus on Peter, and only Peter. Try to make it the cover on your book of thoughts. Ready?" Damien's eyes were closed, and he nodded. I dove into his mind, and quickly found all of his memories about Peter, pulling them into my own mind. Damien cracked open his eyelids.

"Is that it?" he asked me. "You got it all?"

"Yeah." I replied, studying the new memories. Nothing bad yet.......oh, wait. Oops.

"Anything bad?" Damien was grinning. I smiled back.

"Just the time you wet your pants in the school play." I told him, and he laughed out loud, then quickly smothered it. We waited in bated silence, but no guard came running.

"So, can you see if he's here?" Damien asked finally broke the quiet.

"Hold on." I focused my mind, and thought of Peter, and everything I knew about him. How he worked, what he did, and what his mind would feel like. Getting a general idea, I spread my consciousness out, searching for Damien's lost brother. I cocked my head, as if hearing something. There was something, faint, weak, but alive. I examined it closer; it was definitely Peter, but I couldn't get in his mind to confirm offer a few words of consolation. It was blocked off, somehow, protected from me. With a shudder, I realized the block was chillingly similar to the block in the black-suited man's mind. I withdrew, and opened my eyes to find Damien staring anxiously at me. 

"Well?" he asked. "Did you find him?"

"Yeah." I replied, and forced a big smile. "He's alive, but I can't actually talk to him. His mind is blocked off." Damien looked so happy, smiling with his adorable dimples, that I couldn't help but feel guilty. Because when I found Peter, I found something else, a feeling so strong for him that it basically blocked out every other sense.

Pain.

It wasn't recent at all. Peter had been hurt, really bad, and put away somewhere, where everyone forgot about him, like a broken toy. So he just sat, wherever he was, pain his ever-present and only companion. 

 "What about Auriela?" Damien's concerned voice broke my thoughts.

"Huh?" 

"Is she okay?" Damien asked, and I bit my lip, unable to block the tears that leaked out of the corners of my eyes. Saying nothing, Damien just squeezed my hand, and I brushed away my tears. 

"I can't reach her." I told him tearfully. "She's blocked off from me, like Peter." 

"It's okay." Damien said comfortingly. I brushed away my tears and smiled at him.

"I'm okay." I told him, and we both flinched as footsteps came. Damien quickly re-patched the hole, and we both looked towards the sound.

It was just the servers again, meekly shuffling in between the gunmen, slopping a pinkish mush in the bowls. Frankie gave me a creepy smile as he passed, but made no move to torment me, and I sighed with relief. Before I got my share, I quickly dumped the morning's food down a hole in the corner of the cage, probably intended for-ahem-'waste' purposes.
"Hey, Damien." I tapped on the wall after the guards had left. He removed the boarding and looked at me. "Has anyone tried to escape through that hole?" I pointed.
"Yeah." he frowned. "Everyone knows that there are motion detection things down there, and they shoot everything that goes down there. Some of us think the detectors shoot bullets, and they go down to die a quicker death than on the operating table. What most don't know is, the detectors only shoot darts that incapacitate the runaway, and at the end of the day, the unconscious bodies are collected to be experimented on." Damien looked bleak. "There is no quick deaths here."

"Well, aren't you just a ball of sunshine!" I said with fake cheeriness, trying to mask the utter defeat I really felt. We both started again, this time at a loud click that echoed the walls. It must've been the light switch, for the halls suddenly went pitch dark.

"Good night." I said softly.

"See ya' tomorrow." Damien replied, and replaced the wall. I refrained from saying his comment might not be valid, and curled up against the wall. Without Damien to chase it away, homesickness and grief overtook me, and I silently cried myself to sleep.

Author's Note

I hope I described Damien well enough....tell me what you think!

Reviews

[CrimsonBlaze]

Dont worry, i can picture Damien perfectly....which reminds me. Tell me when you want me to whip up a fanpic! You deserve it for the pure awesomeness that youve been incorporating in your books and chapters. Anyway, my insight on Damien is like super cute and although the two are one year apart, they seem to have some thing goijg on. -Cupids and hearts enter the scene, swirling around Damien and Adri-