Monsters

Four Tortured Souls: Beginning

"Hello? Is anybody there?"

Ishka looked around the cage, startled. Her purple eyes flashed in the darkness, looking for the source.

"Kirg, quiet--they might come back!"

Ishka slipped from Mom's strong embrace and crept over to the bars, staring into the cell in front of hers. For as long as she could remember, it had been empty. Now, however--

Two startled peeps met her ears, and the kids backed away.

She blinked, curiously tilting her head to the side. "Why do you look the same? Why does your hair look like the dark creatures' eyes?"

One of them had deep red hair, and the other had hair a much lighter shade. It was...pretty, though she didn't know the name of that color.

"It talks," the one with red hair whispered, eyebrows rising. "Look at her tail!"

Ishka tucked it behind her self-consciously. She knew most people saw a monster when they looked at her. She didn't think she was one, but so far it had kept her safe.

The one with pretty hair took a tentative step forward, "We're brothers. Twins."

Those were words she hadn't learned, and her face must have shown that, because Pretty Hair explained, "We have the same mutter..."

Mutter? Like a mom?

Then his face grew sad. "...had the same mutter."

"Did she die?" Ishka wondered.

His voice was full of emotion when he said, "Yeah. They took her to get the baby out...but she didn't come back. And the baby didn't either."

Ishka nodded, "That happens a lot. Mom said that happened to the female that had me."

She felt the air change in her cell and knew Mom was awake. He drifted to stand behind her, eyeing the new neighbors intently, suspiciously.

"Ishka, you shouldn't speak with them. They're males," Mom said with a growl.

Pretty Hair stepped backward, and Red stepped in front of him protectively.

"But they're kids, like me," Ishka said, her voice confused.

Mom shook his head, "They'll grow. They'll be breeders one day. Dark Lady will use them to make more monsters. Like us."

The twin males shuddered at the thought, and Mom's eyes softened as he said, "You don't want to be breeders?"

Both of them shook their heads.

Pretty Hair answered, "We saw what happened to our mom. We could never..."

"Ever," Red nodded, eyes haunted.

Mom looked sad, "It's good you won't force a female...but it's hard to resist the drug, and you'll be punished if you don't do as Dark Lady says."

Mom turned then, showing his scarred back, and the boys' faces paled even more.

"We're not that old yet," Red said quickly, pointing at his armpit. "We don't even have hair yet. Mutter said we would be safe until then."

"I'm Kirg," Pretty Hair said. "And this is Bram. Who are you?"

"Ishka," she said. "And this is Mom."

Mom inclined his head then went to sit in the back of the cell, resting his head against the wall. Within seconds he was asleep. That didn't surprise Ishka, though. Mom had fought Dark Lady's orders again, so they weren't getting a lot of food or water now.