Expo The Brightheart Files

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Lyrica was ten when they moved her into the same room block as Ethan and Jasper. Both boys had watched with interest as this small– even smaller than a ten-year-old girl should be, they thought. But they were all smaller than they should have been. Jasper was skin and bones, except for the muscle they had forced him to put on. You could count every single one of Ethan’s ribs. But this girl, she was even smaller. All of her joints were emphasized. She looked like a walking skeleton.

As they had walked her in, Dr. Russo had been close behind. Both of the boys had shrunk back into their enclosures as she passed by, averting their eyes. But that didn’t mean they could miss what was being said.

“Don’t worry, we’ll get some weight back on you. That experiment was unsuccessful, so it won’t be repeated. I think you’ll do well being back in gen pop with the other kids. Now, we’ll bring your things at some point, you just get settled in for now.” Ethan knew that on the other side of the wall, Jasper was also quietly listening while pretending to be occupied. Dr. Russo thankfully paid them no attention on her way back out.

There was a sigh of relief from Jasper’s side, and Ethan finally turned his eyes on the small girl– only to find her looking back at him. Her soft blonde hair was wavy, and her blue eyes were hollow when he looked into them. He knew that look. She’d been in the isolation room, then. He sighed and settled in on his bed, watching her.

“Hi. I’m Ethan. Were you in the deprivation room?” He got straight to the point, and the girl blinked.

“Yeah. Yeah, I was. How did you know that?” A soft, lyrical voice filled his head. The only issue was her mouth never moved as she spoke.

“That’s a neat trick. Are you a telepath?”

“Something like that. Sorry, I’m Lyrica. I haven’t talked to someone in years. I forget I need to use my voice.” She hopped up on the bed and curled in on herself. Her sweatshirt was almost long enough to cover her legs entirely as she pulled it over her knees. “I’ll try to speak verbally. That way you can both hear me.”

“Don’t worry about it. We understand. How long have you been in here?” She looked up and sighed at him, lowering her head to rest on her knees.

“What year is it?”

“Nineteen ninety-nine. I think.” He sighed softly at that. He was ten, he knew for sure because Dr. Russo made sure he knew, and he’d been born in nineteen eighty-nine.

“Ninety-nine? About six years, then.”

“Oh, you’re the same age as we are.” Jasper’s voice came from the next room over, and Lyrica’s eyes flashed over to him. She smiled faintly at him. Ethan could only imagine he was waving at her. “I’m Jasper. Nice to meet you. Even if it’s in this place.”

The rest of the day, the three of them had talked, and talked, and talked. Slowly, but surely, Lyrica began to unwind. She even started to laugh at their jokes as they tried their hardest to cheer her up. Some light came back into her eyes. It made something in Ethan’s chest lighter as she came back to life. Maybe there was hope for all of them yet, if they stuck together.

Maybe.​
 

He was floating in a void. It was empty and cold, and he had no idea where he was. He was so tired. God, he was so tired. And the void cradled his body in a way a bed never could. Maybe he could just rest here. Whatever existed above knew he deserved it. Why try and fight it when it was so comforting, when it was so tender and welcoming? He could just float in the darkness and let it carry him away, let it wash him away like foam on the shore when the tide rolls in. He could–

“He isn’t waking up. Jasper, can you reach him? He’s right next to the bars. Yeah, just try– yeah, you should be able to reach him like that.”

A hand reached out in the darkness, accompanied by a familiar voice. It touched him, and he instinctively reached out for it. It was warm. It promised warmth and a way out. If he took it, he knew something would happen, but he couldn’t remember what. If he stayed in the darkness, he knew it meant an end to his suffering. But then that voice would be sad, wouldn’t it?

He reached for the hand, and warmth began to flood through him. It swirled through his body and filled him with coils of energy. It felt like water running smoothly into his body, a trickle at first, and then a roaring wave, and it left the impression of green behind his eyelids.

Ethan gasped in a breath and his eyes shot open. There was a hand on his chest, and he was drawing from it. Where was he? Whose hand was this? What was happening? He looked around, gasping for air in short gulps. Then he found Lyrica’s blue eyes, saw the worry and fear in them, and saw it turn to relief. Tears slid down the girl’s face, and she whipped them away on her grey sweatshirt.

Then the hand on his chest was–

“Jasper? Jasper, stop! That’s enough!”

“Ethan, you almost died. Let me help you. You know I have plenty to give. Take it.”

The red-haired boy swallowed hard against the cries that were climbing up his throat. He nodded, even though the boy the hand was attached to couldn’t see him. “You know the deal. Uhm, pull away when you get tired. Don’t let me… please, don’t let me hurt you, Jasper.”

There was a chuckle from the other cell, from the boy he couldn’t see. The boy that he knew had warm brown waves, cappuccino-colored skin, and light brown eyes. “When have I ever let you hurt me? You couldn’t even if you tried. You’d be full before I was empty.”

Ethan smiled, his eyes still full of sadness. He looked down at the hand on his chest and he put his own pale hand, with its sparse freckles, over Jasper’s. Jasper’s hand pressed harder into his chest, acknowledging his gratitude without words. They stayed like that for a few minutes, and as Jasper gave him more and more energy, Ethan came back to life.

His dulled senses began to clear, his eyes picking up colors again and his skin tingling. He could hear more than just his slow thrumming heart and the muffled sounds of Lyrica’s soft cries. His head cleared and he could think again. He breathed in deep, feeling his lungs fill in his chest. After a little while, Ethan tapped Jasper’s hand.

“I’m full, Jasper. You can stop now.” The hand withdrew and he heard a soft sigh from the other cage. Ethan looked over at Lyrica, whose blonde hair was sticking out in every direction, whose eyes were damp, and whose pale skin had tear stains. He gave her a weak smile, a reassurance that he was fine. The girl wiped at her face again and shuddered, curling in on herself.

“They’re going to kill you, Ethan. You’re going to die if they keep doing this to you. You’re starting to need more and they aren’t giving it to you unless you hunt. They need to increase the frequency they let you.”

The two kids shared a look. A look of mutual understanding. They had to get out, and soon. There were only so many more pieces of them the kids could bear to lose before they died on the table. There were only so many more invasive tests they could take before they wanted to die on the table. Ethan broke eye contact first, his expression hardening. Sixteen. They were all almost sixteen now. Three more weeks and Ethan would be sixteen. They’d been there, together, for almost twelve years.

Ethan stood and started pacing his cell. Lyrica tracked him with his eyes as he moved, and the weight of his gaze was soft. Jasper and Lyrica were the only family he had. Ethan knew he could escape. It was just a matter of getting them out with him.

They knew by now several things. The cameras didn’t have microphones. The kids had managed to catch the guards off guard several times already with various planned actions. They had planned several of these things while shouting, just to test it. The guards never expected them to use their powers during escorting. Lyrica had used her thought implantation for several minutes without detection. Jasper had turned to several different materials without notice.

All Ethan had to do was finish planning everything.​
 

“Hello, Ethan. How are you today?”

Dr. Emily Russo stood just outside the glass of Ethan’s containment room, a clipboard in hand. She had yet to actually look at the kid as she scribbled out the basic information on her form. Then, when he was silent, she looked up. The tall red-haired boy was sitting on his cot, knees drawn up to his chest. He was looking away from her, pretending he didn’t hear her. She sighed and held the clipboard to her chest.

In recent days, Ethan had gotten more resistant and more defiant. It was slowly growing to the point where Emily was considering implementing a particular device to make him more cooperative. It would be difficult to convince the board that the preteen boy needed a shock collar, but not impossible. He was, after all, the most dangerous of the kids they kept in the facility.

“Ethan, I asked you how you are today.” Ethan looked up at her, and she smiled slightly, the kind of polite smile you gave someone who you had only just met. The boy’s face twisted into a scowl, and he threw his pillow at the window.

“Where’s Lyrica? What did you do to her? Why hasn’t she come back to her room yet?” There was a moment of silence, and then Emily tilted her head to the side and frowned, as if puzzled.

“Lyrica? Lyrica, Lyrica… Oh! You mean Seven-Three-Twenty-Six! I’m so sorry to tell you this. She died. She didn’t make it through her last round of tests. Really unfortunate that, but we learned a lot from her death. And those mistakes won’t be repeated.”

Ethan went still. He couldn’t feel his own heartbeat, couldn’t tell if he was breathing or not. Lyrica… was dead? The sweet, crybaby girl who had shared the hall with him and jasper for the last twelve years… was dead? He pushed his hair up and off his face, where it had started to grow out from the last cut. “You killed Lyrica?”

Emily shook her head, her lips pursed a bit. “No, that would imply we meant for her to die. We had no intent of letting her die. She just reacted very poorly to the medication we tried on her. I think it did something to her brain. It was an unintentional side effect of the enhancer… it needs to be tweaked a bit before it’s ready for someone like you.”

Ethan’s breathing picked up as the doctor spoke to him. Lyrica had been the one who was so sure they could escape. She’d been the one who was so upset by what they were doing to all of them. She’d been the one with the plan. What was he supposed to do without her? She was the creative one. She was the one with hope and belief and she was the smart one and she– and she–

“I hate you.”

His voice was soft as he spoke, but the trembling in his hands told it all. He curled in on himself, trying to hide his tears from the doctor as she tilted her head further to the side, as if trying to figure out what was happening. “What was that. I’m not sure I heard that clearly.”

“I said I hate you! I hate you, and I hate this place, and I will kill you if I ever get out of here!” His voice was hoarse from crying, but he still managed to find the volume to make Emily back up a step from the glass. He narrowed his eyes on her as shadows prickled across his skin. She nodded her head slowly.

“I see. Well then. I think I’ll come back another time. This news has clearly upset you.” Before Ethan could even respond, Dr. Russo turned on her heels and walked down the hall. In the next room over, Ethan could hear Jasper’s hiccuping cries. He’d heard the news as well.

Ethan looked up at the ceiling and, as Emily got further and further away, his breathing turned harsh. When he could no longer hear the sound of her footsteps retreating, he tipped his head forward into his arms.

And he screamed.​
 

In the end, it had been the day they were being transferred.

The boys stood in the security room, flashing red lights illuminating the area. There was a body on the ground, one completely drained of energy. Ethan was buzzing as his hands danced over the keys of the system. He’d never seen it before, but they had taught the boys how to use complicated enough systems in their tests that he was able to decipher most of what he was doing. And what he couldn’t, Jasper could.

Ethan hit enter and the lights stopped flashing. It left them with only the backup lights going, dull yellow lights that made the halls just navigatable. Then, Ethan took over the keys and started fiddling more with the system. A prompt came up and a genuine smile of relief passed over the teen’s face. He hit enter, and all the cameras died. Several cards were spit out from the machine to their right.

Jasper quickly grabbed the cards and ripped them free, pocketing them in his sweatpants. The three kids looked at each other and then out in the hallway. The lights out there hummed softly, the sound of freedom close at hand.

They started running.

They ran down the halls they had cleared on their way to the security room. Bodies lay limp and broken across the floor. They had given the boys all the tools they had needed to free themselves. They had given Jasper power and training. They had given Ethan rage and strength.

This was all their own fault. Brightheart had made these monsters, and now these monsters were going to leave.

On their way out, they found another hall. Younger kids, younger than them, curled up in their respective rooms. Ethan had been so full of rage that he had laughed. He turned to Jasper, who nodded and turned himself to steel. They ran through the hall, breaking the locks off the cages, and freeing the other children. And when they were all out, they kept moving.

Ethan himself picked up a young boy, maybe seven years old, with the blondest hair and the most serious bronze eyes he’d ever seen. He’d whispered that his name was Franklin. And he’d clung tightly to him as they all began the long run through the facility, his little hands fisted in Ethan’s shirt. He never looked away from anything that happened after that.

Jasper had acquired a gun from one of the guards on their way out, and he took point, taking out anyone who came their way. All that hand and eye coordination had paid off in the worst ways possible. They blew through the halls, Ethan and the older kids carrying the younger ones as they made their way out of the maze of a facility. Every time that Jasper ran out of bullets, he lifted another gun and kept moving.

Then, they found a hall they had never seen before. Thick doors, with key card scanners. Ethan turned around and ran back to lift a key card off a body. Finding one that had the highest clearance listed, he turned around and returned to the doors. He hesitantly scanned the card, but the doors opened. It led to another hallway, this time with an empty desk off to one side, and a pair of normal doors at the far end.

There was silence from the pack of children for a moment, before Ethan started walking. Natural light was pouring in from the glass that was laid in the doors. It shined off the blood splattered on his arms and clothes. He kept walking, and behind him, he heard the feet of the other children moving. He put a cautious hand on the handle and then pushed it open.

It swung easily open, a bell above his head dinging as it did. The door opened to a parking lot, followed by fields as far as the eye could see. There were dozens of cars in the parking lot, and as they walked out, no one appeared. There wasn’t anyone else around.

Ethan dropped to his knees as he looked around them. They were outside. That was the sun, shining bright without glass or bars between him and it. There was grass, tall and blowing in the faint breeze. The air ran like silk across his skin.

They were outside.​
 
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