Youth

#1 - Day One and a Terrible Dream

Nothing really made sense.  For starters, why was she on the wrong side of the road?  The small car bumped softly along.  Then she noticed the sky; a purple hue, despite the sun being at its peak.  Or was it the moon?  She couldn't really tell.  Then, the road morphed into something like a black river of tar and [Y/n] was no longer in a car but on the back of a screaming horse.  There were six monsters crawling in the tar, their eyes red and their skin white but stained.  They reached for the horse's legs, dragging it down, down, down...

[Y/n] awoke with a start, her breathing rapid as she took a moment to calm herself down.  Her hand automatically reached for her phone on her bedside table.  Only air was in its place.  There was no phone, no bedside table, and - as [Y/n] began to come to her senses - she realised there was no bed either.  In fact, she was laying beside what appeared to be a bed, though looked more like an operating table: a slab of metal with a duvet and pillow.

[Y/n]'s head shot up as it suddenly dawned on her: she wasn't at home.  God, she didn't have a clue where she was.  At the sudden movement of her head, she felt a harsh collision with the wall behind her, causing her to yelp.

"Be quiet, would you?" a harsh masculine voice sounded from across the room, though there was still some element of softness to it. [Y/n] froze, the voice unfamiliar. He sounded annoyed, but also not. It was hard to place.  'I've been kidnapped... oh god, I've actually been kidnapped,' she thought in a frenzy.  Silence remained between them for a while before a small, amused - yet non-menacing - chuckle emitted from the presumed male.  "Hm?  No questions?  You might be the first human who's ever listened to me," he mused.  "You should get up.  There are spiders on the floor," he said, causing the already startled female to shoot up from her place on the floor. 

The pair locked gazes.  At the other side of the rather spacious (yet terribly bland) room sat a brunette male with violet-magenta eyes and skin paler than snow.  He seemed to hum to himself, placing the book he had been reading down and standing up.  He gestured for her to sit on the 'bed' which, reluctantly, she did so.

He nodded in approval, clearly satisfied that she wasn't being difficult with him. His job wasn't always... easy.  [Y/n] didn't know whether she was supposed to feel reassured or concerned by the look which erred on praise and, perceivably, threat so she maintained a poker face.  "I may as well cut to the chase as useless talk will get us nowhere," he began with a frown, "you are one of twenty other women of your age.  You have all been selected meticulously from the age of three and raised in a manner that would prepare you for this moment."

"B-but... how?  What about my parents...?" [Y/n] whispered, suddenly more confused than she was before.  What did he mean 'selected'?  Selected for what?  And what on Earth was he?  He had the youthful features of someone her age but the eyes of a monster much, much older.

"Your parents were still your parents.  Before you go getting a trust complex, all your friends and family were indeed who they said they were, so don't go killing yourself because you think your life's been a lie.  We've had far too many cases of that over the years," he sighed, pinching the bridge of his nose.  "We merely raised you by helping to influence your thoughts.  Little things like the imaginary friends you had as a child, the values you began to believe as you grew older... stuff like that." 

"Why are you telling me this...?" she asked, her eyes narrowing.

"Didn't you want to know?" the male asked, confused.  Then he understood what she was getting at.  "Oh!  Haha, no, we're not planning on hurting you if that's what you're worried about," he chuckled.  "You have a task we need you to do.  That's what you were selected for, after all."