Free LOCKED by Luis DaSilva

gravely stated. I felt hopelessness bubble up inside, not just
over what he said, but the truthfulness behind it. I took one more look at
Danni, and the light seemed to diminish in her eyes, but a certain passion was
still there; I could see that she wasn't ready to extinguish the flame
completely, not just yet. 
    "So... I know it's
tough. I uh... you, well... you'll be alright. We’ll give you little jobs for
your first few weeks so you can get used to the place. We have plenty of cots
for you two to sleep in, better get a lot of rest after the hell you’ve been
through." Eddy explained. He didn't want to say just what that task would
be, but I had a feeling that I would be a janitor in addition to an experiment
for some time.
    "So... what do we do
with the rest of the day?" I asked.
    "Rest of the day? It's
already night! Get in bed!" he laughed. I was taken aback by how easy it
was to lose track of the time when you couldn’t see the sun. After the initial
uneasiness wore off, I tried to get comfy in the cot I was supposed to sleep
in. Another cot was pulled in from another room so Danni could sleep beside me.
Just as quickly as night had descended, the lights went out and Danni and I
were plunged into darkness. I closed my eyes, and made a laughable attempt to
sleep. How could I sleep in peace again? This would be my first night's sleep
after being haunted by hallucinations of demons, being in a crippling coma,
chased by helicopters, and almost losing my life. Danni seemed to be able to
read my mind.
    "Leo?"
    "Danni?"
    "We'll be ok. I trust
these guys."
    "Are you serious? They
just picked us up today and roped us into working for ‘ em ."
    "Would I let you do
anything that I thought you couldn't handle?"
    "...I guess."
    "Guess that I would or
wouldn't?"
    "Wouldn't! For God’s
sake, anything else, ma'am?"
    "Yes, a latte. Don't
make it too hot. Oh, and a back massage. Chop chop !"
I smiled, and felt safe again. My mind began slipping away once more, only it
was under my own control...
     

     
    And so the cycle of days
within the facility began. The duties that were assigned seemed to eventually
blend into one, and living became gray, monotonous. For both Danni and myself,
survival depended upon the other; our friendship became the fuel that drove us
onward through a life within the mechanized behemoth. Typically, the day
started with Eddy shouting at us to wake up; we usually had no idea what the
time was, as we didn’t have a clock in the room we slept in. As soon as we
rubbed the sleep from our eyes, we were handed the tools (although the word
“tools” suggests that they were effective in completing the job) necessary for
that day’s task. Our work was usually spent trying to clean the decrepit
facility, but every once in a blue moon it was a little more involved than
that. On a lucky day, we would give a few of the many vehicles in the hanger a
quick test drive and check-up to make sure that everything was in working
order. As soon as the check-ups were complete, Danni and I would strap on
Eddy’s old pairs of goggles and take one of the vehicles for a joyride around
the gargantuan box of a hanger (though always staying well out of reach of the
grated floors in the center; we never did trust those). Driving around at
breakneck speeds became something to look forward to on those off days, even
though our lungs would be full of dust by the end of it. Still, the average day
was much more lackluster. Meals, a shower, and rest were all that we really had
to look forward to once we were told that night fell, seeing as the sun seemed
to shy away from our sight. Once night approached, a sort of ritual had been
formed: at the end of each day of fate’s new creation, I asked a tired,
scrapped, and incensed Danni one question before turning the lights out:
    “So…still trust these guys?”
    Her reply was always a
soul-penetrating glare before taking her glasses off and turning the lights out
by her bed without