pov. Tony

"It's five o'clock, time to get up!" the tinny voice snapped me out of my fitful sleep and abruptly reminded me where I was.
Sleepily I tossed and turned, falling out of the too narrow bed and landing crashing on the hard floor. Groaning, I curled up a bit and wrapped my arms around my upper body. All of a sudden I felt a hand on my shoulder and turned around, I looked into green sparkling eyes, my roommate squatted a meter beside me and looked at me pityingly.

"You'll get used to it." she tried a grin, but failed.
I ran a hand through my tousled hair as I sat up "I don't think so." I didn't even want to know how long the girl had been here "what's your name?" I got to my feet, at the same time she walked up from her crouch and was now standing right in front of me, she was taller than me by a few inches.
She looked down a bit "Leila." she answered me shyly, then she turned her head towards the door "they are coming."

Before I could ask her who was coming, the door was already opened and two orderlies came in through the door. They were both wearing the same uniform as the men who had taken me away and each held a tray in his hand. On it was a bowl of what looked like gruel, a glass of orange juice and a plastic spoon. Silently, they both placed the trays on the table, then walked to the door and stopped there with their arms crossed. Confused, I looked toward the two men.
Leila walked over to the one chair and plopped down on it, her long red curls falling down her back "Breakfast, we have ten minutes to eat." she moved the chair closer to the table with a squeak, picked up the spoon and started eating.

One of the men jerked his head toward the table. I quickly sat down at the table, facing Leila. Not because I was told to, but because I was dying of hunger. Almost as quickly as Leila, I had emptied my bowl and downed the glass of orange juice. I put my hand over my mouth as I yawned, missing my coffee.
As soon as I finished the men made themselves known at the door which was open "Come on you two" he took a step away from the door "let's go."
I could see exactly how fear crept into Leila's eyes, but nevertheless she got up and went to one of the men, who grabbed her by the arm and left the room with her.
"You too Stark." the orderly looked at me demandingly, because I hadn't moved a millimeter yet.

Although everything in me strove against it, I pushed the chair back and walked toward the man. I pulled my arm away when he tried to grab me and glared at him. He just shrugged and closed the door of the room with a card, which he then put in his pocket. Silently, I followed him down the long, gray hallway, which was lit only by dim neon lights. There were no windows anywhere, either because we were underground or because they didn't want to risk one of their so-called patients breaking a window and running away.

The orderly, whose name tag said his name was Jared, stopped at a large door. It was massive, similar to the one in my room, but this one reached below the ceiling and must have been three times as wide. A shiver ran down my spine as Jared unlocked the door with the same card that opened my room door and pushed me in rudely. I stumbled a bit and just barely managed not to land on the floor. The room was large and spacious, a wooden false ceiling stretched halfway across the room, held up by massive square wooden columns. In one corner of the room, two dozen sacks lay on top of each other, and the floor was strewn with straw. Lifting my head a bit, I could see that there were some sacks on the false ceiling, the same as on the floor "What am I doing here?" suspiciously I looked at Jared. The director had said today would be the start of my therapy, by therapy I had imagined ridiculous sessions in which doctors would tell me that what I felt was wrong.

Jared twisted his face into a sadistic grin "That on the floor is the hay from the pasture behind the hospital" he pointed to the sacks piled up in the corner "they need to be stored for a while, up there" he pointed to the false ceiling "as soon as you get them up there I'll let you out" with these words he took a step back and slammed the door.
For a moment I stood stunned, then I ran to the door and started banging on it with my bare fists "Let me out of here right now!" I yelled.

"As soon as you've done as I told you," he said from the other side of the door.
Desperately, I threw myself against the door one last time. I yelled out and let myself slide despondently along the door to the floor. "I have to do as he says." I thought in frustration, only then would I be able to get out of this room.

I let my eyes wander around the room, a ladder connected the floor to the false ceiling. As I let my eyes wander a little further, they caught something that gave me hope. I picked myself up and went to the back of the room, which I hadn't paid any attention to until now because it was almost completely in darkness. There was a large square of wood there, with railings around the edges. An iron chain was attached to each corner, which were held together in the middle by a hook, a long sturdy rope led away from the hook. "If this is what I think it is, then somewhere here must be....." I put my head back and searched the ceiling and sure enough, just before the false ceiling, there were several pulleys anchored in the ceiling that could be used to make a deadlift. I took off my hoodie and rolled up the sleeves of my shirt. With all the strength I could muster, I pushed on the wooden square. My muscles were burning, but I managed to place my freight elevator just below the pulleys. Feeling somewhat exhausted, I dropped to the floor and took a deep breath.

Doubtingly, I looked at the many sacks of hay. But how was I going to get it all done? "One thing at a time," I encouraged myself, "first, find the beginning of that darn rope." I pushed myself up from the ground again and pulled on the end of the rope which was attached to the metal. After a short time I held a frayed end in my hand. So that I had both hands free for climbing, I tied the rope around my hips and climbed the ladder with safe, but also fast steps. There were only about twenty rungs. When I reached the top, I untied the rope again and looked appraisingly at the hinges. Even with the ledge a little longer than the rest of the tween deck, I wasn't sure I could reach the hinges.

I stood as far forward as I dared without fear of falling and stretched as far as I could. I laughed with relief when I reached the pulley and threaded the rope through. I quickly looped the rope around a beam and knotted it so it couldn't fall off or slip back out of the pulley. Slowly, so I didn't miss any rungs, I climbed back down the ladder. When I reached the bottom again, I looked at the bags with a dull feeling in my stomach. After all, building the elevator had been a breeze, unlike what lay ahead. I grabbed the first hay bag and tried to lift it up, but it was just too heavy. So I just dragged it across the floor until I arrived at the elevator. With the greatest of strength, I heaved the hay bag over the railing and let it plop down on the wood.

Breathing heavily, I braced my hands on my knees. "That was only one." thought I in despair, I still had over twenty to go. I went back to the pile of sacks and pulled the next sack of hay, which seemed to be even heavier than the first, to the elevator. The many pulleys would distribute the weight and I would be able to pull two sacks up at once, it was simple physics. My arms shook a bit as I climbed the rungs of the ladder. The hay and straw spread on the floor of the crawlspace crackled a bit under my feet as I walked toward the wooden beam and untied the rope again. I tried to stand as steady as I could and started pulling. With every bit of rope that landed behind me the hay bags came closer, but the closer they came the more my ribs hurt, which still hadn't recovered from Walker's kick.

After what felt like an eternity, the elevator finally came over the edge and I could breathe a sigh of relief. I knotted the rope to the beam and pulled the bags off the wooden square. Again and again I repeated this cycle, load the bags, climb the ladder, pull them up and then do it all over again. After a while, I didn't even notice anything else. The only thing I was concentrating on was getting the bags from A to B so I could finally stop. There wasn't an inch of my body that didn't hurt. I had long since taken off my sweaty shirt and tied it around my waist. My arms were shaking so much that I was afraid they would no longer be able to bear the weight.

"Come on, you can do it." I muttered through clenched teeth, sweat pouring down my face. I was as good as done, pulling up that cursed elevator for the last time. As fast as my feet carried me, I stumbled to the roof beam and tied the rope to it. With the last of my strength I pulled the two bags up to the false ceiling.

With the last one, I could no longer bear its weight and fell to the floor of the false ceiling, the heavy sack banging on the floor next to me and making the wood tremble. For a moment I just lay there, just breathing was exhausting enough. But then I picked myself up again. I did what they said, I did my job, which meant I could get out of here. I had no idea how much time had passed, but my stomach tightened with hunger and my throat ached with every swallow and ached for the smallest drop of water. I picked myself back up and staggered down the ladder, missing the last step. I lost my footing and hit the ground. My vision was a little blurry as I picked myself up and ran toward the door. I could have been imagining it, but I was running in a serpentine rather than straight line. With the last of my energy I pounded my fist against the door "Hey, let me out!" my voice was so rough I almost didn't recognize it myself. I almost fell through the door when it suddenly disappeared and I saw Jared's face in front of me.
I was worse than I initially thought because I saw three versions of him in front of me "Here" he held something out to me which after a short while I recognized as a water bottle "you deserve this. "

I snatched the bottle and emptied it down in one go. After that, my vision cleared up a bit. I propped my hands on my knees, my muscles aching with every little movement.
"Come on, in your room you'll get something to eat." Jared grabbed me a little on the shoulder and pushed me forward
Just the word food made my stomach rebel and I walked dutifully beside the man. Once in my room I found a plate on the table with a piece of meat, some potatoes and vegetables, a small cup with the red pills was next to it, as well as a pitcher of water and a glass.
"See" Jared pointed to the food "if you listen to the people here, it's to your advantage."

I whirled my head around to face him and glared at him. So that was it, first they were getting at me and then they were being nice to me so I would listen to them. I swallowed my insults. I was too exhausted to mess with anyone else today. Instead I just walked over to the table, before I even got to it a soft click told me that Jared had left and the door was locked. I practically devoured the food and drank all the water. I kept my hands off the red pills again and took them back to the bathroom, where I flushed them down the toilet. Longingly I looked at the shower, I turned the lever and held my hand under the water, it was freezing cold. Sighing, I locked the door and stripped off my sweaty robe, folding it neatly and placing it on the toilet lid. Gritting my teeth, I let the cold water wash the sweat of the past hours from my body.

I shivered a little as I turned the water off again and got dressed. I took my shoes and socks in my hand and trudged to my bed, my feet leaving light prints on the floor. Carelessly, I dropped my shoes on the floor and threw myself on the bed. I was just lying on the hard mattress and was about to fall asleep from exhaustion when suddenly the door was ripped open with a crash. I opened my eyes, blinking, and saw Leila being placed on her bed by her male nurse. But something was wrong, as soon as the orderly left, she burst into tears. Although every muscle in my body ached, I got up and walked over to her with shaky steps.

Carefully I sat down next to her "Hey what happened?" I asked her softly.

She turned her head, her pupils were huge "I.....I can't" she sobbed a little.
I moved a little closer to her and hugged her lightly "It's okay." i gently stroked her back, she clung to me and my shirt got wet as her tears rolled down her cheeks.
She sniffled a little "I just want to go home." she mumbled.
I would like so much to tell her that she could go home soon, but that would be a lie. I continued to stroke her back soothingly "Do you have someone out there waiting for you?" I tried to engage her in conversation.
She raised her head a little "Her name is Andrea, but it's......" she sobbed again a little "complicated."
I smiled a little "want to tell me about it?"
" We were barely dating two weeks" her eyes cleared a little and a slight smile crept onto her face "but my mum......" two tears rolled down her cheeks and she buried her head in the crook of my neck a little, which was only possible because she was half lying down.

I gritted my teeth a bit, her story reminded me so much of my own, but it made me a lot angrier "Listen to me" she looked up at me "you will see Andrea again, I promise you." I saw her pupils shrink a bit, no matter what they instilled in her, it seemed to lose its effect "You are going to get back home, we both will." I promised her.
She smiled slightly "Home." she murmured happily, then her eyes fell closed and she fell asleep. Careful not to wake her up again, I pushed her off of me and covered her up a bit since it was extremely cold in that room even though it was summer outside.

Before I went back to my bed, I briefly looked at the girl, who was sleeping restlessly in her bed. What on earth had they done to her? I stumbled back to my bed and just fell over, I no longer had the strength to lie down purposefully. Just before I fell asleep, Stephen's image flashed through my mind, bringing a smile to my face.