They went down in a flurry of arms and legs and scrambled eggs.

"Argkf!" Mari grunted as Shwef landed on top of her, his elbow hitting her stomach. He scrambled, attempting to get up. The blood was roaring in her ears as Mari desperately tried to keep him down; she grappled at his waist with her legs. He was surprisingly light. Arms flailed as he tried to twist his torso out of her grip but Mari locked her feet together behind Shwef's back. She hadn't spent years wrestling with her brothers for nothing!

They rolled in amidst the spilled breakfast, Shwef trying to writhe free, Mari trying to pin him down. His loose robes were swishing everywhere. She tried to get leverage but her hands kept slipping on the slick, juice-covered floor. Shwef somehow twisted both their entangled bodies with surprising force-

-crashing Mari into the barrier. The impact and pain knocked the air out of her lungs, but she held onto Swhef for dear life. He was her one shot, her ticket out. As he grabbed at her feet behind his back, she pushed against the barrier with all her might and flipped them over-

-trapping Shwef underneath her. He yowled as his shoulder was crushed against the inopportune fork on the floor. Catching his arms, Mari used her body weight to pin Shwef's wrists above his head. He convulsed, but couldn't get free. She had him.

They stared at each other, breathing hard. Shwef looked pathetic, with scrambled egg in his hair and fear in his eyes.

"Mari, ein svinekha ter valto-"

"Shut it, Shwef." Mari growled. "I don't wanna hear it."

Her mind was abuzz from the adrenaline. What to do now? She needed to escape. She needed to turn this mess into her advantage before the other people came. But how? They would be bursting in through the door any second now. She needed-

Thwack.

A hard force slammed into the back of her head. Mari swayed from the impact as the cup clattered to the floor. She twisted around, trying to see who had hit her. Her grip loosened; Shwef desperately wriggled out from under her. He was getting away! Mari refocused just in time to grab his ankles as he stood up. For a second he teetered, losing his balance. Then his body stopped - leaving his arms spinning. As if his waist, and his waist only, had hit an invisible wall.

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Mari looked at the etching just by his feet. The forcefield. She looked at his waist, where her legs had been. Where her dead skin cells had been.

And she smiled. Mari knew what to do. She tensed, ready to tackle Shwef-

-and froze. A knife was floating in the air.

It was levitating in front of her face, its pointy end centimeters from her eyeball.

Mari stared.

Her mind couldn't comprehend. Shwef was looking at her, his eyes determined.

"Mari, ein svinekha erfkhan flar, toilarghan pernante."

He shook his feet out of her grasp as he said it. Mari let him go, staring at the levitating knife in shock. She shuffled backwards. The knife followed. Mari impassively watched as Shwef stripped off his shirt, dodged the squashed piece of toast and stepped outside the circle. He warily kept the knife levitated at her even as he stood outside the barrier.

He needn't have worried.

The fighting spirit had drained out of Mari the moment the knife had appeared.

It was all too much. The suddenness of her kidnapping.

The forcefield. The wierd food. The painful diarrhea. The hidden cameras and the scary hypotheticals. Not knowing where she was or what her captors wanted. The fear and insecurity of a strange, unpredictable place. And now, a levitating knife.

Mari stared dumbly at herself, head bowed. She had lost her only chance to get out of here. And on top of everything else, there was neon yellow egg smushed into her favourite pajamas. It was the last straw.

She began to cry.