We Didn't Do It

CRASH!

In one sudden movement, the door burst open. Red barely had time to see what had happened before they came in.

He couldn't tell who they were; not with how quickly they moved. But they were dressed in all white, from head to foot, and they carried large rings in their hands. He wanted to wonder what those rings were for, but he hadn't the chance. They shoved him up against the wall before he could see any of their faces and strapped something hard and metallic around his neck.

He shrieked.

He heard himself shrieking-- or was that his brothers? Pain crackled up and down his body like electricity (because it was electricity, he knows). White flames burned every inch of his skin. What little urge he had to keep himself alive vanished in that moment.

For a second, and only a second, the pain dispersed into small pockets of discomfort, and he managed to catch sight of the humans who had invaded. They were crowded in the room, dressed so that he couldn't see their faces, dressed like they were entering a contamination zone and were afraid of death. As soon as they noticed that he could see, they stabbed one of their weapons into his side, and he...

He does not want to remember it, really. The blaring light of fire that had coursed through his body is too much agony to recall all at once. How had he survived the moment?

How had any of them survived the moment?

They were at the will of their captors. They would not have survived a moment longer. The humans ripped them away from each other, secured the collars around their necks, and dragged them out of the room.

He hates this collar. At least he has recovered enough sense to be able to hate something. Every time he reaches up to try and remove this cold metal, it sends waves of shock throughout his body, and him and all his brothers have given up on trying to get it off. It only causes them more pain.

Why did the humans put these collars on them? They should find out soon enough. A close group of the humans stands just a few feet away, chattering to each other in their low voices.

He used to feel like he could walk up to them and stick his head into their conversation. He used to feel important. But that was before they had undermined him by strapping this collar to his neck and torturing him with their light-devices. Now, if he walks up to them, he might as well be asking for pain. Every move he makes causes their heads to turn.

Red stares at the floor, chest heaving for breath. The events of last night still swirl in his head.

"What are they talking about?"

He turns. Christopher is peering at him with wide purple eyes. Clearly he, too, is still frightened by the earlier events of suffering.

"Red? What are they saying?"

Red slumps against the wall. He feels like shrinking. "I don't know," he slurs, his mouth sloping into a frown. "I don't... I don't care."

Chris straightens his back, crossing his legs. "I hear them talking," he says, "but I don't understand what they mean."

Red doesn't respond. His eyes are pupil-less. Blank. Desolate.

At least Blake is asleep in the corner. He shouldn't have to experience such suffering and humiliation.

"Come on, Red," Chris begs. "What's wrong with you? I hear them saying that we killed Roget!"

The humans look over. Red freezes in fear, a black statue against the white wall behind him.

He sees one of them smirk. A button is pressed. No matter how hard he clenches his teeth, he does not keep himself from shrieking in pain as the collar shocks his body. The humans smile at his performance, and he sees them turn back to their conversation.

Red stares at them, unblinking. He would be afraid-- and he is afraid, but what older brother would he be if he admitted such a thing?-- if not for the smiles on the human's faces.

They... smiled. They smiled when they pulsed electricity through a hollow Shadow child.

His mouth curls into a snarl. What is so wrong with them that they like torturing him? Do they have enough defiance to enjoy inflicting horrid pain?

He mutters to himself. "They're evil."

No shocks. He breathes out a shaky sigh.

Christopher scooches toward him, stopping to be sure that the humans haven't noticed, and whispers. "Brother, they said that we killed Dr. Roget."

"Did we?" His memory is so clouded with swirling events that he isn't sure. His brothers and him could have pounced on their very creator just before the humans came in.

But... he doesn't remember tasting fear. No blood on his hands. None in his mouth to satisfy his bloodlust. Nothing says that he killed Dr. Roget.

And he would have no reason. Roget had been the kindest out of all humans. He treated them humanely. He never strapped collars to their necks and tortured them! He let them dance and sing and be children... for however long their childhood was destined to last.

He has a feeling that he'll never be a child again.

"No, we didn't!" Christopher confirms his thoughts. "We never harmed him, but the humans are saying that we..." He swallows.

"They're saying that we did. They say that they have... proof... because we had talked about trying to kill something just before we 'did'."

Red nods his head. "I do remember talking about that." The taste of blood in his mouth is now long-gone; but oh, what he would give to have at least one drop. Just one to satisfy his ache for it. "You still haven't killed anything yet, have you?"

Christopher shakes his head. "Blake and I haven't."

They both take a glance at Blake. He looks peaceful, quiet. Hopefully dreaming of better things than this harsh reality.

They look at each other. And then they look at the humans.

Red leans closer, whispering in Christopher's ear. "Do you think we could kill them?"

The two brothers stare at all of their possible victims. Red's eyes light up when he considers the idea of all the blood that could come from them. And their fear, too! So many people gathered in such a small space would be easy to murder-- they could cut their throats, choke them of air, or return the favor and stab them with their formable talons.

They hadn't killed Roget. But if the other humans are talking about his death, then he must be dead.

Red narrows his eyes. They wet with tears.

But now is not the time to mourn. Later, when they escape from this horrible situation, they'll have the time.

"Could we do it?" Chris whispers back, eyes sparkling and shimmering and very wide.

Red clenches his sharp teeth together. A few of them, maybe. If all three of the Shadow children worked together, they could rip a select few of these cruel humans to bits.

He pulls his hands into fists. They could do it.

"Go tell Blake."

Chris scurries over to his sleeping brother and relays to him the news. Red vaguely hears them discussing how blood and fear taste, especially together, but he pays no mind. He focuses on his plan to tear these humans to pieces.

They think they can control him using this collar? They think they can destroy his will?

He narrows his eyes, blood-red.

Poor Roget.

But if he didn't kill Roget, and his brothers didn't, then they did. They did it so they could blame it on the Shadows. They did it because they're cruel.

And it wouldn't be a sin to take all their lives in one fell swoop. In honor of Roget (and perhaps he's still alive, Red thinks, although the odds are slim). And because that's what he was created for. They want him to kill.

It just so happens that he enjoys it.

Red pushes himself to his feet.

*Part 6 coming soon...*