A Lost Sibling

The light from the ceiling flickered every now and then in the silence of the night. The sound of footsteps approaching, and a splash of cold water on her face— that's all it took to make Anastasia's eyes shoot open and leave her gasping for breath. The cold water soaked her silk dress and trickled down her body, making her shiver in the chilly, dark room. She groggily raised her head and studied the room with a wavering and blurry vision. The room had no windows or openings, just a bulky grey metal door closing off her exit. She realized she was tightly bound to a wooden chair.

"How are you doing, Ms. Hacker? You put up quite a good fight out there." A deep voice of a man startled her and she instantly snapped her head in his direction to see a figure looming in the doorway.

Ryan smiled at her with his hands inside his pockets as he approached her. From the corner of her eyes, she could see one of his men that splashed water on her bow to him and leave.

"What did you do to them?" She spoke through gritted teeth.

"Ouch." He winced, placing a hand over his heart sarcastically, "If you keep glaring at me like that, I'll probably die."

He glanced at the chains bound to her hands and snickered, "Well, not like you can do anything else anyway."

"WHERE.ARE.THEY." She demanded again.

Ryan rolled his eyes and sighed. "You might die and they're all you care about?"

She kept glaring at him silently. Countless horrifying theories to what could've happened to them flooded her mind. She was desperate and wouldn't rest in peace until she was informed if they were alive or not. She also needed to get out of there somehow— but that was far from what concerned her at that moment.

Why was she brought there? Why wasn't she killed yet? Several questions were left unanswered.

"And please, don't even try. Those chains are too strong for your fragile hands.Even if you do escape, which of course you wouldn't," He smiled again in that infuriating way of his, "then it'd take you a thousand years to find the exit and another thousand years for you to get past the traps without getting torn to shreds. This is a specialized section of my lab prepared for...wild people."

"Does that mean he keeps humans encaged after turning them berserk?" She thought.

It was a useful information so she decided to keep it in mind. She tried to be hopeful; Perhaps, she would come across many other clues as well.

She tried her best not to get intimidated by him. She looked at him dead in the eye, demanding an answer..

"Fine, I'll tell you a little about your friends. I'm not that cruel, you know." He continued, "Noel escaped. He's alive...probably."

She sighed with relief, but her anxiety bubbled up again when she realized she hadn't been told about Rai yet.

"Rai. What did you do to him?" She asked.

He shrugged. "He escaped, but I'll catch him soon. Besides, you're falling in love with him, aren't you? You're a hacker— you should know that someone like you can't involve anyone else in their life."

She felt a pang of guilt in her chest. She tried to avoid people her whole life but she had lost track of herself after meeting Rai. She forgot the reason why she'd actually joined the Peace Blossoms Orphanage and almost began thinking herself to be Hazel. She kept reminding herself that she didn't deserve to be happy— she belonged in the dark room, hiding her identity her whole life behind a computer screen and doing other people's dirty work until she was hunted down by her opponents.

She tried to mask her vulnerability and changed the subject, "If you're going to kill me anyway, why keep me encaged like this? Go ahead and do it already."

He looked at her for a moment in shock before chuckling. "I don't know if you're being brave or a complete idiot. Nevertheless, I didn't bring you here to kill you. That'd be a waste, right? Like you said, I'm encaging you."

"Why?"

"I'm not obligated to answer you, Ms. Hacker. You will know when the time comes. Besides, I thought you would like to know about your dear brother."

Anastasia's heart stopped. "What?"

"Your brother— Sam and Aleck promised you to let you talk to me, right?"

Her blood boiled in anger.

"What did you do to him!?" She yelled, anxious to know what happened to her brother.

Ryan leaned forward with a smirk and spoke in a mocking tone, "I tortured him until he died and then ripped off his organs for experimental purposes. Those screams were definitely music to my ears."

He laughed, reminiscing the moments again.

Her eyes widened and tears streamed down her devastated face.

"I'LL KILL YOU, YOU BASTARD!" She cried, jerking and squirming on the chair, trying to break free, "YOU'RE A BLOODY MONSTER!"

Despite her screams and curses, he found a strange satisfaction from her reaction— or atleast a part of him did.

He smiled, lips curling into an eerie expression. "You can't. You will never."

She was not only heartbroken after knowing everything but also couldn't understand what could have possible turned him into the monster that he became. She loved him like her own father. She thought it was the same for him as well.

He had turned around to leave but halted in his tracks when he heard her whimpering.

"We trusted you—cared for you. Why...why are you doing this to us?" Her voice was soft, begging for a reasonable answer.

A tugging feeling bubbled in his chest and he clenched his jaw.

"No. Stop yourself." He quickly whispered to himself.

He masked his expression and turned to look at her with a cold smirk, devoid of empathy.

"Ironic, isn't it? Well, let it be a lesson to you for never trusting a stranger." He remarked lightly.

Her eyes widened at his words and she felt a stab in her chest. She could do nothing but watch him speechlessly as he left the room and locked it behind him, leaving her broken and betrayed.