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Chapter Two: The Lost One

??? POV

The cold stone pressed against her check as she lay in the corner of the small white room.

The white painted stone bricks dripped with green and black mold. Rust clung to the white metal door, turning the paint red and orange. The tiled floor cracked and crumbled from age, leaving holes and discarded piles of tile and stone.

Curling further into herself, she shivered from the cold draft that made it's way through the thin glass window set high in the wall. Her rags of clothes clung uselessly from her thin frame, doing nothing to protect her from the elements.

A slight stream of light shone through the grim encrusted glass panes.

The soft patter of footsteps could be heard outside her door. She froze in fright and tried to disappear in the shadows, only relaxing when they passed. She closed her eyes and listened to the constant pattern of the steps.

She tried to find that familiar darkness that was sleep. The only escape she had from her mind. The comfort of the steps lulled her into a deep slumber. One she had been craving for weeks, and one she may not get again for months. Relishing, she lost herself in the nightmares that plagued her mind.

****

Alex's POV

Fewer and fewer lights illuminate the already dimly lit halls as she continues down the unknown part of the institute.

As she was wandering in the dark of the night,she had found a hidden door she had never seen before and having nothing to do, Alex deemed it enough to satisfy her curiosity.

She flips the knife she held in her hand over and between her fingers. A familiar reassurance sweeps over her mind and she smiles slightly.

Wood creaks as lightning flashes outside the small windows. Briefly illuminating the gaunt planes of her face. Her hollow cheeks and sunken eyes. Her thin lips and tangled hair. Her gleaming teeth as she smiled and her shining eyes as she wondered.

Lifting a bony hand to brush her greasy hair out of her face, she paused before a door that looked odd. All the doors down this hall had look strange and ancient, but this one looked...different.

It was towering and made entirely out of metal. It wasn't painted white like the others and had no handle. There wasn't that little window the others had to look through, instead there was a slight slot at the bottom for what she assumed was a food tray.

Alex looked around, brushing her hand over the door and grim covered walls beside it searching for a clue to as what the door was hiding. She halted the flipping of her knife when her fingers came in contact with a small metal plate only slightly raised from the wall.

Metal on metal was the only sound as she worked the knife edge over the plate, cutting away the years of dirt and rust coating the surface. Finally able to see the etched markings, she brushed her hand over it, feeling the bumps and indents of letters and numbers.

Lightning flashed outside the windows and for a flicker of a second, Alex could read the name on the plate.

CONSTANTINE

Even when the light faded again, she could still see the name, like its own light in the dark.

Alex's eyes flickered to the slot at the bottom of the door. I wonder...she mussed.

Slipping her knife through one of the loops in her pants, she quietly lowered herself to her hands and knees. Peering at the metal slide, she noticed that it was closed. Not wanting to startle whatever was on the other side of the door, she waited for the boom of thunder before carefully sliding it out of the way. A loud screech sounded as the rusted metal scraped against each other.

Grimacing, Alex got onto her elbows and lowered her face to the opening.

The space beyond was dark, darker than the black of night. An unnatural darkness that seemed like it oozed from the room. Her eyes flickered across the room, hoping to catch a glimpse of something.

Lightning flashed, bursting from the cracked glass and lighting up the dark room.

For the briefest of moments, the shape of a form could be seen curled up in the corner of the room. White clothes draped across the body, white hair tangled in their face.

Even after the light faded, she kept staring, memorized by the mystery and beauty of the being in the room.

Thunder boomed outside the walls of the institute and Alex flinched, memories flashing through her mind, and when she looked back, she couldn't seem to remember what the person in the room looked like.

Not the color of her hair or how her clothes hugged her body.

Glancing back into the room, she searched for the girl again, hoping to catch one more glimpse of her. Thunder shook and rocked the hall; rattling the windows.

Alex flinched with each loud echo; images best forgotten flashing before her eyes, lingering in her mind.

Pushing herself up again, she stood on shaky legs, bracing her hand on the cold door. Her eyes made their way to the name plaque once again, as if they were trying to engrave the letters into her mind, so she'd never forget.

Smiling slightly, she turned and started making her way back through the dark, ever so slowly.

****

As she lay in on the thin mattress called her bed, Alex thought of the hidden room and the mysterious girl locked away behind the door.

The storm crackled and roared outside the stone walls; lightning occasionally lighting up the darkened skies, filling up her small room with brilliant blue light.

With each crack of light, a boom of thunder followed close behind, and the ever persistent torrent of rain hailed down on the roof and windows. A constant pitter-patter of drops that filled the silence.

But Alex didn't hear the sounds filled with horrors, she didn't hear much of anything at all.

Only the constant thump. thump. thump. of her heart as she her thoughts were filled with the girl behind the door—

Constantine

Her name—

Such a beautiful name—

Not a name for a place such as this.

Not a name for a place so filled with monsters and nightmares.

Not a name to be locked away.

A name that deserves more—deserves better.

Puling her blanket to her chin, she clutched her blade in her hand, feeling the familiar relief it brings.

She felt the stinging pain as the edge dug into her palm, the warmth as it pierced her skin, the satisfaction as she got the hurt she was owed.

She stared into the shadows lurking on her ceiling, to afraid to close her eyes.

To afraid to face her demons

As the sharp edge sunk further into her flesh

As the warmth of her blood grew cold and stained the white bed she lay on

As her mind was corrupted with the things that haunted her waking hours

And ruled by the thoughts that plagued her days.