We Need To Find A Better Way To Communicate With Each Other

Tom wanted to go home.

Being locked in a windowless confined room with only the humming of fans for an entire day had been bad enough, but as if it couldn't have already been more treacherous, it all had to be played out via Tord. It made Tom gag thinking that he was in the selfish hands of Tord, the ones that would normally throw punches at him had they been fighting months ago. The same hands that would occasionally accompany him in a hug had he been upset. And maybe it was strange for Tom to have focused on every bit of Tord, but when he had talked to him in this very room, they seemed different -trembling, clenched, sweaty. Was he even the same person anymore? Was Tom himself even the same person either? It was probably best not to dwell on it.

But he did know for a fact that his friends were notably different. Matt was all sorts of messed up; Getting aggressive far too easily, refusing to take the blame for even the littlest of things, but he was also confused on why he was like this, and it really showed in the way he looked at his own reflection. That normal, wide grin was now merely a small smile, sometimes with his eyebrows knit together.

Edd was the kicker though. He froze at the slightest mention of Tord. He seemed almost slower now, not being quick to react to anything or talk if he had been thinking about what happened a few months prior. After a tedious week of therapy, he was quickly diagnosed with Post Traumatic Stress Disorder. He shrugged at the diagnosis, but kept even more to himself afterwards. Sometimes he was the most smiley man Tom or Matt had ever seen, other times, he was like a ghost, in a manner of being sad, slow, confused, but also in a manner of scaring Tom beyond any other worries he may have had at the time. It was terrifying to see his best friend clam up and become unresponsive, and all he could do is let it pass. He couldn't even help him.

Tord did this. And here was Tom, playing into his game, into the game of the bastard that destroyed his best friends. It was enough to make him shake with anger beyond what he's ever felt towards him.

But he couldn't do anything about that. He was a mouse in a cage and all he could possibly do is wait for someone to come in that door. Almost as if waiting for that thought to swish around his head, someone opened the door. Tom's shoulders immediately tensed up as the door made a loud creaking noise, in relation to the swings that he and Matt had played on when they were only kids. "Hey," Tom relaxed at the familiar voice. Paul and Patryk.

The two of them had been feeding him and checking on him to an endless extent, which of course, is nothing to complain about. These two men were the only friendly things down here and Tom ravished in their presence. He felt a sense of safeness as if being approached by a friend, although he doesn't think it would be appropriate to call either one of them that. "Hi." Tom replied, still staring forward. He didn't smell food so he assumed that had just been here to check up on him but when a hand starts to pull at the rope around his wrists, he freezes.

"What are you two doing...?" His breathing is heavy. They were letting him out. Were they taking him somewhere? He didn't want to see Tord again. He'd rather die than see Tord again. Oh god, what if they're taking him somewhere else so that he can be executed? Okay so maybe seeing Tord didn't seem too bad in this case. After he didn't get a reply from either one of them, he began to shove them both back by crashing his shoulders into them. "Stop! I'm fine here!" Patryk grunted and Tom could hear Paul him mumble "Baby, are you okay?" in a worried tone. After the two had most likely checked each other one more time, the hands were back on the ropes.

"Stop it!" Tom barked. And then he realized that the two had been shouting something, but they sounded far too drowned out. Was their water in his ears? He took a deep breath, as if getting ready to plunge himself into said water, and finally, his surroundings came into clear. The two men had been relentlessly wrestling his tied up body but sighed in relief as Tom himself had calmed down. It was worrying how often this sort of ordeal happened back home too.