When the boy is struck by cupid And treats her like an angel The boy becomes a man

When a man fights his fears Tears without a sound The man becomes a hero

When the hero gets defeated He hurts his himself so The man becomes a failure

When he fails so hard And blames his lover Thats when a man becomes a monster

Part 6- Burts perspective.

 “Here we have Roger Taylor, our beautiful piece of art. He’s about 17 years old. We rescued him from his abusive parents 3 years ago, so all we could do was alter his vision a bit and add night vision powers!” I told the crowd, reciting the exact speech I practiced in front of the mirror many times. “He’s sassy and will fight you, so we ask that he goes with someone who can keep him from escaping.” The men at the cage readied themselves, and with one nod of my approval, they turned the lights off. The stadium went dark and only a few people in the audience gasped at the sight. Rogers electric blue eyes glowed under the black light in his cage. 
 “Turns out playing around with fluorescent lights and chemicals payed off for us.” The audience was oddly quiet and still… “we will start the bidding!” 
 But no one even offered the least. I scowled and ordered the guards to grab the next exhibit. Now this one will have to be a money maker! The guards wheeled the cage out and now Kate was on the large stage. Without wait, I started the speech. 
 “This one here is Kate McCrady! She is 16 years old and born here in our labs! She is one of a kind because she can float in place whenever she pleases” the audience didn’t clap. I hisses under my breath and continued angrily. “Also she is immune to pain, and ITS REALLY DANG COOL!!!” I scream at the audience. “WHY ARNT YOU CLAPPING?” I kicked the stage and the guards shrugged their shoulders. FINE.
“BID?!!” But no one did. Heck, are they in shock from my experiments. Hah, finally a group who loves my work so much so that their speechless! I smirk and signal for another experiment. But the smile on my face disappears before I can notice. They bring out Abby and I see her, a look that could kill. She clenches her fists and bare her teeth at me, heaving heavily while she swears. For only a second I am lost for words, and images of her run through my mind. 

It seemed like just yesterday she fetched me my clipboard and prepared my coffee. She wouldn’t be nosy and ask about my work, but she’d love to listen to my stories when I had time. Abby was an optimist when things seemed bleak in the lab. But it’s over. And the power I hold by one nod of my head shows there’s nothing left. “This hear is Abby Archer, a relative of mine. Now, pay close attention when-“ but I am rudely interrupted by a crash backstage. To my absolute horror, a decapitated head with a shocked expression is rolled to my feet. “What the-“ I begin to say, and I stare at the audience. It’s nothing but necks. No- NO!!! How will I get my money?? My buyers are dead! How did this happen?! My veiny dry hands are shaking as I gather my keys and turn to run out the doors. But I make it only a step before a child is a few feet ahead of me, his shape flickering like a candle. Laibele. I needed to leave, but not before I get my experiment back! “Oh, baby! I haven’t seen you in a while, we missed you tonight…” I try to hold out a hand, but he holds a gun and points it in my direction. “Oh Burt, I’ll miss you to…” and he shot. The bullet hits me in the lungs and I instantly feel numb. I grasp my wound but I’m drowning in blood. I fail to breath and thinking was beyond my abilities right now. "𝘏𝘦𝘭𝘱 𝘮𝘦 “ i stagger a bit but I’m hit with another bullet. I didn’t feel it, but I heard it. And it killed me the second it shot.

To be continued…

Part 5- Rogers perspective:

 “I would first like to welcome you all to today’s auction! As you all read in the invite, this is a secret trade and anyone who dares says a word, you will be prosecuted, understood?” The audience of 30 clapped and grinned. “Bidding will go up in 10,000 dollar increments, highest gets the child…”
 “No- stop!” I heard Allysa say to the guards. They were moving her out of the shared cage and into a “exhibition enclosure.” 

I couldn’t believe this was finally happening. Alyssa kicked and screamed but it was no use, they had her chained up in moments. Suddenly a large hand grabbed me by the wrist. “Your second! Quit fighting!” A guard yelled at me. My tics went out of control and I knew every rich guy in that audience could hear me struggle. Finally him and his backup got me in. “Alyssa!” I hear Ella whisper. “Whatever happens, I love you!!” “I love you to, all of you. You’ll all be my little babies forever, you hear?” She replies and blows us all a kiss. At the sound of Dr. Burts call, they wheeled Allysa out the curtains and onto the stage. “Who’s gonna but this piece of misused trash?” A man and his ugly buddy said pointing at me. I hisses at him but they laughed. “IF I ONLY HAD A HELPER!” Dr. Burts voice rose as the guards embarrassingly scrambled out on stage. I tried to look out the curtain but everything seemed to be paused. I saw Kate in the third Exhibition crying and making a mess of her hair. “ROGERRRR” a quickly turn to see a blonde haired little boy taping my cage. He seemed to blink between visible and ghostly. Laibele! The boy who escaped! “Roger, I’m going to get you all out of here, but you have to do what I say!” Ella had perked her ears and was listening to. “Laibele you have to hurry- Allysa is- out there now and she will- be- taken after being- sold-“ I say, not letting my tics make me angry. “Shut yo yammerin’ boy” a suited man whispered to me. Laibele quickly faded into the walls. He didn’t notice Laibele’s aggressive movements behind him, but the guard didn’t leave. “30 MILLION!” An angry mans voice boomed from the now silent crowd. Allysa is worth 30 million!? But then they started moving me. “Roger!!!” Ella screamed at me, her hands trying to hold me back by my shirt. But then a guy with a knife stepped between. “ENOUGH” he argued, and when Ella still refused to let go, he raised the knife and sliced her wrist. Shrieking in insane pain she let go of me and held her wrist back together. I know what it feels like, and that is no minor cut. I could only glance once before being pulled out and she was in a pool of blood. No, no, no she could die!! But before I could tear up, I found myself on a stage looking out to a dark audience. “Now, before we get to a more impressive experiment, we’ll get this one over with” he smirked. But as he was reviewing bidding rules, I notice a shadow moving along the back wall. And he was silently killing members of the audience with one slice of the neck. It could only be one boy. Laibele.

Part 4- Darius’s perspective

 Im not mental. Im not mental. This isn’t who I am. Did I make it clear?! My eyes twitch in the dark. I can’t sleep again, insomnia is too much, but also the least of my problems. It must be about 5 in the morning and I’m counting the squares on the roof. Every day I get a different number and it drives me insane- I mean no it doesn’t!
 “Darius ya gotta chill out bro” Roger tells me from the other side of the room. Curse his night vision! Leave me be, I want to shout. My mind is scattered with other thoughts and I’m not sure if I can take it all in. Kate still isn’t back yet and the auction is in a few hours. Who will want me? I’m just some boy they stole from a mental hospital. I bump the skull of a rat across my cage. 
 “AAARRRGH!!” I yell, snatching the head  and throwing at Roger. My hands hurt and I so badly want to escape again. I’d done it before, made it to the back gates of the lab. However, they caught me and I had gotten in big trouble. 
 “Ok Darius, you wanna- hfff- play pass?” Roger says interrupted by tics. I have had it with him. He’s crossed the invisible mental line I’ve put down in my head. 
 “WHY DO YOU TREAT ME LIKE IM INSANE??!” My angry- no, infuriated voice roars. With my sudden mood swing, Kate falls from her sleep. 
 “Darius what’s wrong?” She says wiping sleep from her eyes. Abby is up to now, and I can see her face angled in my direction. I hate the attention! I hate being mad!! WHY.

With a loud click, the metal doors open and guards with guns come inside. “Time to get up! Auction is in 6 hours and we need to get you looking fine! No ones gonna buy a child looking like a hurricane wreckage.” They walk over to Ella’s cage. She gets out on her own, a knot of wires following. I hate her right now. She’s programmed to listen to what’s being told. Pushover Ella. “Eww she’s ugly, should’ve given her extra hours! She’ll need more time to get half as pretty as the others!” The guards laugh at her and rudely poke at her belly. Ella looks at the ground in shame and a guard escorts her out. They take Allysa by her stumped hand and Abby while she’s pushing and screaming. Suddenly, a gal dressed in black points a tranq gun at me and pulls the trigger. Dang, that- that…kinda… hurt…..

 “One hour! Auction in one hour!” I bitterly wake up for the first time in ages and shake my arms. I’m dressed in a hideous dark blue velvet coat and grey dress pants. What the actual living heck. 
 “13 richies in here now” Allysa says squinting her eyes through a crack in the curtain. Oh great, lucky number 13. I am startled to find I’m in a large cage with Allysa and Kate. Kate? She’s back! 
 “I thought you’d be out forever Darius,” she joked. Her red hair was curled nicely and she had a tight red dress to match. It was honestly the prettiest Darius had ever seen her.
 “Kate got a new power-“ Alyssa began before she was cut off by Dr. Burt walking in. 
 “If any one of you wrecks this, I will kill you. I’m looking at you Mr. Quick Temper,” he says to Roger. He tells every superhuman what to do in seemingly panned out- descriptive actions, and breezes past non important Darius. “You just stand there and look smart since hyper-intelligence is your only power.” Darius wanted to shove his fist into Dr. Burts ugly bulging face as he walked out. 
 “Umm, Allysa?” Ella calls from the second cage. Allysa looks over at her friend. “Ching is in the bidding crowd…” Alyssa’s whole face lights up. 
 “Who’s Ching?” Abby asks. Alyssa pauses as her tears fall down her fake army suit.
 “He is my military commander-“ Alyssa strains to look out the curtain. “He’s here to save me!”

Part 3- Kates perspective:

 “How did you guys get here?” Abbys question burns through my mind. Alyssa is busy telling her story about being a clone and all while I float here trying to come up with an explanation. I’m not a cool soldier like Alyssa, or a mental patient like Darius, heck I don’t even have birth parents like Ella! At least her parents loved her. 
 “Kate your next,” Allysa says to me. “Tell Abby about you.” My palms feel tingly and I bite my dry lips. Abbys big green eyes meet mine. 
 “I didn’t “get here.” I’ve never even entered this building-“ I stutter and curl my red hair with my fingers anxiously. “I was created in a test tube. The doctors made me, and a lot went wrong, which explains why I’m experiment 3, they couldn’t get my genetics to work.” My eyes suddenly got watery and my surroundings became blurry as the tears fell. I’m nothing. Just a few chemicals in a tube that turned out ugly. 
 “You can float” Abby said with so much curiosity, I didn’t even think she heard my story. “It’s so cool!” 
 “Thanks Abby. It don’t feel cool though.” Just then, the doors open and a dead rat is thrown into each of our cages. 
 “Eat up money makers” the doctor said sneering. “Today’s special. I made it myself.”

The white rat with red eyes did not look appealing but it’s better than the sewage like soup they fed us a week ago. “Ugh no thanks, I’m vegan now” Roger said throwing the dead rat at the doctors face with incredible aim. I snickered as the doctor did a chaotic panic dance. “Stop messing with me!” He yelled slipping on the rat and smearing more blood on the tiles. He stands upright and glares at Roger with such hatred, I thought he would shoot him right then. “Shut up or ill abuse you even harder than your family did!” The man shouted so loud, it echoed off every white wall. Roger twitched and whistled, the subject of his abuse making his Tourette’s act up again. With this, the doctor seemed satisfied with his impact and resumed a calmer manner. “Kate,” he turned to me. Shivers crawled up my spine as I was now the topic. I stopped hovering and listened. “Dr. Burt requested you for examination.” Wait, what? I thought. I’m fine right? He began to unlock my cage, and I threw a lame punch. He chuckled and tasered me with his gun. I let out a whimper as he chained my arms and legs with the help of the guards. “Leave her be!” Abby shouted but was cut off by my screams. They had me by the neck and pulled me out of the room.

 I woke to the hum of large machines. I blinked blearily in the bright lights of the operating room. This is the same room I practically grew up in. 
 “Examination complete” a helper robot notified the doctor in the chair. He turned around, his medical goggles and mask hiding everything but his brown hair. 
 “Good. Maybe she’ll be worth a bit more now” his young voice replied. What did they add to me??! Almost answering my question, he says “I have given you the most extraordinary gift in the science industry. You can thank me later. Now Kate, you will be unable to feel physical pain.”

Part 2- Allysa’s perspective:

I woke up from another bad dream last night. I was tossing and turning in my metal cage and making a huge mess with my water bowl. I hear one of my friends- Darius, insanely rocking against the bars from insomnia. “Allysa, are you ok?” Kates voice said coming from her cage next to mine. Ok??! Am I ok!? No, I’m a prisoner, a test subject, just like my other 5 friends. I don’t answer Kate, and she falls back asleep. I can just make out her floating body as she stills. I envy her. She has the power of levitation and is able to control her dreams! Meanwhile I get immortality. I don’t want to live forever, it is the worst thing to never age and to be stuck on earth til it stops spinning! But slowly, my nightmare pulls me in again, and I relive everything that got me here.

 I remember the day I was cloned. There are hundreds of other me’s and I know I’m not special, just another clone for the Chinese military. They decided instead of drafting humans, designing a new army would be more beneficial and “more humane.” In the midst of a war, I was cornered by doctors. They sliced my hand off and took my gun. 
 “Get her in the van” “Grab the needles!” “Don’t knot the chains!…” I was taken to an underground lab. I remember everyday surgeries to get me immortality, no food, trauma and no friends, until they brought in other children to alter. They told me I’ll never die, and their not even sure of my age but I look at lest 18. I am up against impossible odds and there is no way of escape. 
 I shake the same nightmare off and sleepily open my dark brown eyes. I’m stiff against the bars as three guards walk in carrying a limp child. The bluish lab lights burn as they turn on and spotlight our cages. I quickly look at my friends to make sure their alright. Kate is floating and stuttering in her sleep still, Ella’s puddle of tears have risen over night and and many wires are still connecting her to a machine. Roger is alert but trembling, watching with sharp blue eyes, and Darius is smiling like a maniac counting numbers with his brown fingers and rocking back and forth. There all here, so who is this child their holding?
 “Experiments wake up!!” The guards tired but deep voice booms. Kate drops out of her levitation sleep and listens to the men. I can now see a little girl they carry. 
 “This here is a new subject! Dr. Burts own niece, Abby! She is here to be sold at the auction tomorrow. Since invisible boy Laibele escaped, Abby will take over the unfortunate position!” The guards cackled as they ripped off her clothes and stuck her in a white lab dress. She whimpered quietly in her sleep and was thrown  into Laibeles old cage. They slammed the bars and left. 
 “Her own uncle betrayed her!” Ella the pushover gasped. We looked at Abby while she woke. She is really pretty, Alyssa thought. She had burgundy hair and green eyes with many freckles on her pale skin. The first thing she said when she woke was, “I’m sorry.”
 The words meant a lot. She never wanted this for her or us. She didn’t have a rough past like the rest of us but she certainly had to be cared for. 
“Don’t get comfortable,” Darius warned. “Auction is tomorrow.” Abby stiffened and Darius went back to twitching. 
 “How did you guys get here?” Abby asked us, wiping a tear. I sniffled and told her about myself, though it was hard to remember what really happened vs all my nightmares. The auction was tomorrow and soon all of us will part. We will never see each other again and now our friendship will come to an end. 

 

To be continued…

Part 1-Abbys perspective:

 “So we don’t have all the victims anymore?!” Dr. Burt grabbed his soldier by the neck. “How could you let this happen?! The auction was set for tomorrow and now we’re missing an experiment!” In the meantime I, Abby Archer, was sitting in Dr. Burts lab chair listening in. Dr. Burt is my uncle who took me in when my dad died in a car crash. He loves me, I think. 
 “It wasn’t my- faaaaault!!” The soldier mustered painfully from my Uncles grasp. “You gave him invisibility!” My Uncle grabbed the soldiers gun. I plugged my ears, knowing what was about to happen. It’s not new, every week a doctor or soldier disappoints the boss, and now this soldier was going to pay. The shot rung through the secret underground lab and I could feel the floor shake as the soldier dropped. 
 This morning, one of the 6 human experiments got out of the lab right before the auction. Dr. Burt was going to make so much money, illegally, but he was going to give me some. I am only 15, but I’d like to call myself innocent. I don’t have a job around here so I can’t get in trouble, right? 
 “Abby come over” my Uncle snapped. With my programmed lightning quick movement, I zipped over in less than a second. He frowned and grabbed my wrist, examining the screen imbedded in my skin. 
 “Heart rate: normal. Health: normal. Energy: normal. Blah blah blah” he looked at me closely. Gross, he smells like antiseptic. “Since my little invisibility boy went missing, i need another superhuman to sell” he grabs a long needle from a drawer and fills it with liquid. I think nothing of it, my Uncle loves me. He slides his chair back to me and holds the needle up. “People will love your lightning quick ability, so I will need to use it.” And with that, he injects the needle in my arm. I try to pull away in fear, but his chubby hands hold tight on to me. 
 “Uncle Burt what is that!” I say but feel suddenly drowsy. I know I could probably kick him faster than he could ever believe, but sleep washed over me and I could barely move. “You said you’d give me money! We were a team!” I closed my eyes.
 “Why share when I can sell you for more money! I’m a genius! Your my first ever successful superhuman, Experiment 1. Finally, you can meet the other test subjects since your one of them now” uncle says and beckons a guard to pick me up. I feel rage, pure anger. What a traitor. And now I’m going to be sold to some creepy millionaire. My last thoughts were murder, until I fell asleep for a while. 

To be continued…

Dang bro, this ain’t good Nah I must have just misunderstood I can’t believe the crime I’ve witnessed This villain will have to beg for forgiveness

Who could ever mistreat it? Beat it, bend it, tear and hit? Now that its blemishes are major I can’t use this piece of paper.

Alright, pull your hatchets out, chop, chop, chop, chop, swing, swing, swing, swing Now murder.

Swing, swing, swing, swing, uh oh, here come the popo, too much murder! -by insane clown posse

In this little community, our doors define us. The colour of our doors are painted according to who we are perceived to be. All our privacy is exposed as soon as someone looks at your door. The city council comes around to paint new colours once they find new information about you, and you are forbidden to take it off. As I walk through my neighbourhood at dusk, I glance at the doors I always look at, just to see if anything has changed. The only difference is my old school teachers door. It has BROWN (not a lot of money) ORANGE (old age) BLUE (stereotypical male) and WHITE… for dying. It is rude to knock. I don’t have to know about why he’s dying, so I sadly continue. I walk up my tiny rock steps to my door. It is simply PINK (stereotypical female) and PURPLE (single). I hate that people can see this- and I know I’m not alone. I’m not sure why others need to see everything about you. It’s almost like “judging a book by its cover.” Suddenly I get I weird shiver that crawls up my spine and I whip around to see a man dressed in a black suit walking up to me. “Uh- Hello?” I jump and subtly grab my house keys from my purse. My hands are sweaty. “Hello Sadie” his voice is a quiet but familiar. He pulls his hood back and his dark brown hair almost reaches his shoulders. His eyebrows are scarred and his green eyes are piercing but- weirdly trusting… “Greyson!” I say shocked. “I haven’t seen you since school” I can’t believe I’ve come across him. We used to be in theatre together. He was always so funny and dramatic and… happy? “Well I haven’t seen you since last month when you performed at the coffee place by the ocean” he responds grinning slyly. He was there for that? I didn’t even tell him I had pursued singing. “Well, how did you know I live here?” I ask releasing my tight grip on my keys and phone. He shrugs. “Just saw you walking around here. Followed you to say hi” he backs up when I raise my eyebrows. “But- I see your doing better than your neighbour..” I try to remember her door. BROWN, YELLOW (children) and PURPLE. I have to agree. “Her husband left her after she had twin boys.” He looked down. “I’m sorry to hear that.” I turn to open my door. “Wait- do you want to come over for tea?” he asks me before I go inside. Who drinks tea at this hour? I roll my eyes, but I guess it wouldn’t be bad to catch up with a very old friend. “Alright then, only for a few minutes, it’s past my bedtime” I reply locking my door. He laughs at me. “You don’t have one. Only children have specific ‘bedtimes’.” I roll my eyes for the fifth time tonight and he leads me down the road. It’s so quiet out- not even a cricket makes a sound as we enter a trail in a field. I get a shiver when the street lights end at the trail head. “How long of a walk just for tea?” I say wincing as thorns brush my bare legs. “Not much longer. Why? Are you cold?” He asks and I shake my head. We finally get onto a muddy road leading down a hill. The stars are not in the sky tonight, and I feel a slight raindrop on my shoulder. We finally start to see some houses come into view. “I have never been in this area before” I saw squinting to see the doors colours. I can make out one with a light on outside. It has PINK, GREEN (recent birth) and TEAL (city council or leader). I spot another one. RED (for rich) and BLUE. Greyson watches me.
“Please don’t look at every door” he says with a slight pain in his voice. I was about to ask ‘what the heck’ but he turns into a long driveway and beckons me to follow. It’s a lot darker over here, and the woods crowd the starless sky. We walk up to the door. And then I see something I wish I hadn’t. His door was strait BLACK. The colour means he has committed a murder, and served his time in jail. But before I could run, he pushed me inside…