“Just close the door as you enter please.”

I nod and close the door, she explained to me some things on the way to her house, it seems that I have to be paying some quantity of money each month and I should help her with making food and cleaning the apartment. When I asked her, how long would this money last? She told me that not long, so I needed to get a job. I don’t quite understand what a job is but I'll try yo get one in the end.

“Make yourself at home, I have to go to work. Just don’t make a mess, please.”

“Ok, bye.”

She grabs some kind of case from the couch and goes out of the apartment. I look around… this place seems pretty orderly, there are three rooms and a living room connected with small kitchen. I think one of the three rooms is Lynda’s room and one of the other two will be mine so I’ll just wait for Lynda to tell me.

I see a big magic box in front of the couch so I take one little thing that it’s in front of it. As I touch all the buttoms I see the magic box show a lot of things. After some time I got what this thing does. I think I am quite smart . I’ll just play with this until Lynda comes.

…

I hear someone opening the door, I look at the entrance just to see Lynda with a frustrated face.

“What happened?”

”It’s nothing.”

“Ok. So… come with me I learned something.”

She follows me to the living room. I tell her to sit on the couch and after I sit with her. I grab the little thing and turn on the magic box. She just looks at me with a lost face.

“As I waited for you, I learned how to use this magic box, impressive isn’t it, and I didn’t need someone to teach me.”

“Have you never used a T.V.?”

“Oh, so this thing is called T.V., it seems right for its mysterious powers.”

“Where are you from?”

“I’m from the island in front of the beach.”

“That island!! The private island from White Ink?”

“Yes”

“I’ve heard rumors about that island, some people say White Ink. makes inhuman experiments, they also say that if you get a job there, you have to be prepared to never go out of White Ink. Sometime ago somebody found a dead body floating in the beach, so everyone thinks that it was a worker who was trying to escape.”

“That sounds quite like them”

“So, you know them?”

“They are my parents”

“What do you mean?, do your parents worked there?

“Yeah, well just some of them took care of me so I wouldn’t know if I should call all of them parents”

“What?”

I think she is acting a little strange… Am I that strange?

“Yeah, don’t you remember, you told me that the people who took care of me were my parents”

“So, you mean that you don’t know who gave you birth?”

“What’s birth?”

“Hhmm… what if you just tell me how was your life there.”

…

I have ear against the door, I’m hearing the talk of the guards, it’s the only way I get to know things so I put a lot of attention. There’s a knock from the door, I go to my bed, sit down and look around, this room is as boring as ever, just four white walls, a bed and a door.

A man with a lab coat opens the door, there’s some metal looking tools going out of his pockets. He is carrying a metal table with some metal parts. He looks like he’s bored. He takes a look at me and smiles.

“Well, Chrys, it’s time to continue your treatment. Just don’t move too much or it will hurt more.”

“It’s easy for you to say, you don’t know how much it hurts!”

“I don’t need to know, so just shut up or I’ll make it more painful.”

This man is always the same, he talks to me with the intention of making me talk just so he can enjoy causing me more pain; Some time ago I decided not to respond to him but when I see his happy face, I just can’t keep my words inside.

I lie down on the bed, he ties my legs and arms to the four corners of the bed. He takes a one of the metal parts and puts it below my leg, takes another one and puts it above the same leg, close the two together with some screws. He does the same with my other leg and my two hands. He grabs a plier and begins to turn a screw in above the metal part in my left leg, some parts inside the metal part begins to move and they press my legs intensely, the man continuous closing the screw until a “crrggh” sound come out

“Aaaghhh.”

Tears begin to fall from my eyes… I don’t want this, this is painful, but I know that if I make more sound than this, it’ll just get worst.

“You know… I’m quite impressed for how much you’ve resisted, the other children just look at the ceiling with lost eyes, they broke a long time ago, we don’t even know if their bodies feel anymore, but you… you keep crying and crying no matter how much pain you feel, I have to give you my congratulations for making it this far. The other kids are not as fun to play with as you, so continue like this.”

I look at him, that man… he is just smiling… should I give up. The other kids have given out and even though they don’t look happy it seems like they don’t feel pain anymore.

Yeah, maybe it’s just better to give up.

A light comes from the ceiling, it’s the brightest thing I’ve ever seen, after the light, white, everything around me is pure white.

“Chrys… Chrys…”

There’s a voice which gives me an ominous feeling.

“I know you want to give up, but you can’t, there is someone waiting from you outside.

“Someone waiting for me”

“Yes… and they have something they need from you.”

“Something from me?”

“Yes”

“What it is”

“A hug”

“Whaat!! Someone wants me to give them a hug?”

“Yeah, that’s why you can’t give up yet, if you give up who’s going to give them a hug?”

So… someone needs me, if that voice its right then I can’t give up. I know how it feels to never have someone to give you a hug, so i can’t let them go through it. If keeping this pain can give someone happiness then I have to do it.

“Crrggh” another bone breaks, I look at the man, he’s still smiling.

“Don’t worry if our hypothesis is correct, breaking your bones makes them recover even stronger than before, if it is not correct, you don’t have to worry, we’ll dispose of you fast. So, you better make this hypothesis work because we have a lot more things, we want to try on you.”

He says while making a big smile. I return the smile at him while other bones breaks.

“Alright, if you say so.”

From that moment I noticed something I’d never seen in a person before, their heart, now their hearts are visible for me.