Chapter 1
I was on the cold floor, drawing. Dad was just lighting the fire, and Mom seemed impatient… I wonder what she was waiting for.Soon, a stranger came. I had never seen him before. He was watching me from the doorway, and his gaze gave me chills; I felt that something was wrong. Dad didn’t seem to notice the stranger’s presence.Soon, the man approached me, but I didn’t have time to react. He pressed a piece of damp, cold cloth over my mouth, and then everything went dark. The last thing I heard was the sound of a small bag of money.
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When I woke up, I was in a stone room, and the air was cold. There was a smell there that I didn’t understand at the time, but I would later learn it was blood.It was dark; only the light from a few torches in the corridor seeped inside. Soon I realized I wasn’t alone—four other children were sleeping on top of each other to keep warm. I was cold, and the place terrified me. I looked around, but I couldn’t see them, and I wondered: where is my mother? where is my father?I called out for them, but all I managed to do was attract the guards, who beat all of us until we could no longer cry and fell asleep. The others were upset that they had been beaten because of me, but Luna was always on my side. She took care of me, as well as the rest of the children in the cell we were in.She was also the one who revealed to me that I had been sold to this place, a fact later confirmed by the guards who watched over us.
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I felt alone, but the others stood by me even on the days when we were beaten. Luna seemed to be the first one brought there; no matter what happened to her, she always helped us.I was the one most often taken to that cold place, to that thick chair with metal straps, where I lost so much blood. The substances they injected into me burned from the inside; I always felt lifeless, and sometimes I wondered: “Will I survive? Will it end? Will we escape?”
S… so much suffering just because I have these marks on my arms …. Now I wait for Luna’s arrival, who seems weaker with each passing day.
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But when I saw her… she looked horrible. She seemed completely powerless, and the wounds on her arms and legs looked like marks of torture. H… how can someone be so… so cruel? I didn’t do anything wrong… is it really wrong to want a better life?
I helped her sit on the small straw bed, and Kano brought a cloth with water so we could clean the blood off her body.
NUKE: “Everything will be alright, I promise…” (I say, tears in my eyes)
She gave me a weak but sincere smile, then fell asleep, clearly exhausted.
NUKE (IM): “I wish it was me instead… I can’t keep seeing her like this…”
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But while I was watching her, one of the guards arrived with two others who monitored our reactions to those horrible substances. Heartless people. After all this suffering, they never once showed us mercy; to them, we were nothing but objects. Now they point at Luna, who lies injured on the straw bed, and say with disgust:
GUARD: “She is no longer useful. Dispose of her.”
They said it quietly, but I heard it. My heart stopped. Something inside me shattered. My chest ached, my hands were shaking. I see the guard walking in slowly, and everything feels like it’s moving in slow motion. Something inside me tells me I will never see her again. But… but I can’t let her go… she is… she is t… all I have left.
I jumped with all the strength I had left, hitting him in the chest as hard as I could. I feel my wrist give out, but I feel no pain — it’s like everything is a dream. The guard kicks me, throwing me against the bars, but all I feel is the need to protect her. Crying, I jump again, but the other guard hits me in the head with the wooden stick they’ve used to beat us since we were children.
Everything goes black.
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NUKE (IM): “This is all I can do… a… after everything she did for us…” (crying)
???: “YOU ARE WEAK, CHILD!”
NUKE: “W… who are you?”
???: “I AM YOUR ONLY CHANCE TO SAVE YOUR LITTLE FRIEND.”
NUKE: “Can you help me?”
???: “YES… BUT EVERYTHING HAS A PRICE.”
NUKE: “A price?”
???: “I CAN GIVE YOU THE POWER TO TAKE REVENGE, BUT YOU MUST GIVE ME SOMETHING IN RETURN.”
NUKE: “Something… in return?”
The dark figure steps closer and says:
???: “I want the souls of your parents.”
As he speaks, he opens his palm, and a strange flame appears. Inside it, I see my parents — the ones who sold me here — sitting peacefully by the fire… while I… I…
???: “Tick-tock.” (he says, showing me in the flame how Luna is being taken by those monsters)
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