Her mother. Or… a shell of what her mother once was. Beaten and bruised, strapped down heavily to a specimen table similar to what Meena was on, but this one was raised up so that Nanako was perpendicular to the ground. Her mother's head hung tiredly and Meena wasn't sure if she was conscious or not.

She swallowed the huge lump in her throat and padded up to her mother as her bare feet tiptoed on the cold, white tile floor. "M…Mommy?" her voice choked out in a squeak.

Nanako's eyes fluttered open as her head stirred. It took several painstaking moments for her to gather the strength to hold her head up and she finally landed her gaze onto Meena. Her black hair was stuck to her face, slick with sweat. "Rei?" she croaked. When Meena's face fell in anguish, Nanako knew that she was wrong. "No, it's Meena. Of course it is, my strong girl." Nanako smiled faintly, but winced as a crack on her dry lip split open.

"H-hold on, Mommy. I can get you out. We need to get out of here." Meena turned towards the computer and quickly found the program to release her mother. Nanako fell to the ground with a quiet, pained groan. She shook her head hopelessly.

"No, Meena. I'm not… I'm not strong enough to leave." Meena's gaze trailed down her mother's battered body. She was right. It looked like Nanako had a broken wrist and her right ankle was swollen to about twice its original size. There was no way she could make an escape with Meena.

Not only that, but Meena's father was being held in the basement below them and Meena didn't think she could get to her sister either as there were several scientists and doctors in the direction of her room. Meena bit her lip so hard that it bled and Nanako's eyes glazed over with tears.

Meena's mother took a deep, ragged breath. "Meena. You need to leave alone."

Meena's heart dropped into her stomach. Alone? How could she do that? "Where… do I go?" she asked, her little body shaking nervously.

"Do you remember last year when we went to visit my sensei at the dojo?" Nanako asked and Meena nodded quickly. "When you leave, find somewhere quiet and think about Sensei. Think really hard about him and try to show him what you're feeling. Sensei can sense when people feel things strongly. I've been trying to call for him too so he might even be nearby. He'll find you, okay?" Nanako pressed her lips together so the tears wouldn't fall from her eyes as she reached up to cup her daughter's face with her good hand. "I love you Meena. We all love you, so much, okay? So go… and live for us."

Meena's voice hitched as she replied and placed her small hand on top of her mother's. "Okay, Mommy. I'll come back, okay? I won't leave you here forever. I promise."

Stolen from its rightful author, this tale is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

~~~

"What if that bastard is doing something bad to her?!" Meena heard Adam's voice as her eyes sluggishly opened. Niko was pulling his forehead away from hers, his expression unreadable. He seemed… stunned, maybe? He wasn't showing any reaction. Meena felt her hands shaking and knew it was because of the memory she had suppressed for so long.

Adam noticed Meena awake now and shoved Niko out of the way to crouch next to her. "Are you okay?" he asked anxiously with a hand on her shoulder, then threw a glare at Niko. "What did he do to you?"

Meena shook her head. "No, I'm fine. It wasn't his fault."

Adam scoffed. "Yeah, right. He just happened to touch you and suddenly you were unconscious and crying your eyes out."

Meena's eyebrows furrowed as she reached up to touch her face. Yup, definitely streaked with tears. She wiped her face quickly and laughed awkwardly to try to diffuse the situation. "It's really not his fault. My thoughts must have been a lot for him to handle. The memory was pent up for too long and Niko just… let it out I guess."

Adam helped her up, face showing his skepticism clearly and his sharp jaw tensed. "He looked at your memories? That seems a little too intimate, don't you think?" He directed that last part towards Niko, who stood silently staring at the ground.

~~~

Niko looked up at Meena finally. He felt so ashamed, but tried his best not to show it. He regretted letting that memory break free of Meena's mental chains. She was probably feeling so much pain right now. And he wasn't feeling too great about it himself. His eyes glanced at Adam's rough hand still clutching Meena's after he'd helped her up and felt a pang of annoyance at the man. For some unknown reason.

Suddenly, Aida clapped her hands together to break the uncomfortable silence. "Well! I'm really hungry, Ayano. Do you mind ordering food for us? My treat!" She nudged the duffel bag on the ground with her foot and winked at Ayano.

Ayano closed her eyes and pinched her nose, holding up her other hand in the air. "I don't want to know where that came from. Don't tell me. I'll just go order food now."

As Ayano left towards the front of the creepy building, Aida looped her arm in Adam's and said, "I'll show you guys the guest rooms. Follow the leader!" as she pulled him out of the room.

"You're not the leader, you're barely even an adult," Adam protested and they pushed through the beads hanging in the doorway. Niko smiled weakly at Meena as they followed Aida out.

"I'm leading you guys upstairs so that makes me a leader," Aida argued smoothly with a smirk. Adam rolled his eyes at her.

Upstairs, there were four doors in a long hallway, two on each side. Aida stopped in the middle of the doors and waved her hand in the air like a showgirl in a car commercial. "Here we have the bathroom!" Her voice was overly happy as she gestured to the first door on the left, then the second one on the left. "And this is Ayano's room!" She switched hands to gesture towards the other side of the hall. "And these are the guest rooms! Do we want to do a girl's and boy's room?!"

Adam laughed curtly. "Me? Stay with him alone? Pass."

"Agreed," Niko piped in, with more of a bitter tone than he was expecting to let out.

It was quiet for a moment before Meena broke the tension with, "I'll stay with Niko."

Everyone whipped around to look incredulously at her. She only blinked back and shrugged. "What? We slept in the same bed before anyway."

This time, everyone's mouths fell open at the bomb that Meena so casually dropped on them. Including Niko's as he spat out, "We did what?!"