My head slams repeatedly against the back of this cursed chair I’m bound to. The boredom is killing me. You’d think that after five years stuck in this lab I’m forced to call home, I’d get over it. My head slams again. However, I’m not the one who’s doing it. 

“Verin, stop.” 

A chuckle voices in my head, showing me that Verin is very much the one doing this. 

Let’s show them a little fun. Abaddon voices.  

Verin and Abaddon, the main ‘demons’ in my head. I don’t know much about them, I was never allowed to look these things up. There’s many more but they have very little control over what I do or say. Verin and Abaddon command them. You don’t know how many times I would be in school as a young girl, and would hear their voices and I would respond out loud. 

You thought that was normal? Verin says. 

Anything they say is voiced inside my head. No one can hear them. Unless they speak through me. More sounds resound and bounce off the walls of my mind. I hear the silent screams of the others. The door to my room opens. 

Dear old dad. Abaddon snarls. 

My father has never been the affectionate type. In fact, he locked me in here.

“You’re not showing any progress, Sera.” He frowns. The saliva on my tongue finds its way out and onto his shoe. Verin and Abaddon wildly burst into evil laughter. My father chuckles, slowly taking the handkerchief out of his pocket and wipes his shoes. He makes a hand gesture and a group of men march inside the room. The laughing stops. 

“My dear Sera, seeing as you haven’t shown any signs of opening up to us and showing us those little powers,” he lifts my face towards his. “You are no longer needed.” 

He’s going to kill us. They voice.

As the men come closer I hear an indescribable sound escape my throat. Pain crawls out of my body as the room is filled with creatures that would only appear in my nightmares. Screams erupt and at this point, I can’t tell if they’re mine. The shackles break off of the chair, my body slumps forward only to be caught by one of the creatures. The creature forces my mouth open as the rest of them find their way back into my body until only two remain by my side. One glance around the room revealed the corpses of what used to be described as men. I stand up and catch a glimpse of myself in the reflective glass, a smile finds its way to my lips. 

A hand grabs my ankle. “Sera.” The man chokes out, spurting blood. I recognize him to be my battered father. I crouch to his level. 

“Hurts doesn’t it?” 

His hands slip from my ankle. 

I can’t exactly explain what I feel at the moment. 

All I know is I’m smiling.