Rebuilding Reality

Chapter Three

TIME SKIP: Mason and Maya are age 13 here. Max is 16.

Mason's POV

Life is so depressing. I should be at school and hanging out with friends. I don't have friends. I have never stepped foot outside this house. I am isolated in a crappy room in the basement. I haven't left this room in thousands of days. All I have is a beat up mattress and a couple of blankets. My twin sister refuses to see me because she hates me. I don't know what I did to make her hate me this much. I loathe her for that.

I am on an even stricter routine than I was before being confined to isolation. A plate of breakfast is delivered to my room at 7:00 AM. The food isn't even tasty. Meals consist of cold grits and plain bread (sometimes stale), along with a cup of milk.

After breakfast, I slide my plate and cup outside a slot where my food is delivered. I am then expected to start my school work. My textbooks are for Colorado History, Algebra Foundations, Middle School Chemistry, an English textbook with reading and writing assignments, an Italian language textbook, and a Geology book. I have other books I am allowed to read, but I have to focus on my academics up until 3 PM.

After 3 PM, I can do what I want in my room till 4:30 PM, which is punishment time. I hate it. My guardians beat me senseless just because they can. I am not allowed to discuss it with my siblings. Why? Because I never see them. And even if I said something, they would not believe me, and my beatings would become worse. My guardians constantly have eyes on me through a camera in my room.

Punishment time lasts as little or as long as my guardians want it to, it's a surprise to me. After punishment time is over, I am served a non-appetizing dinner. After that, I stay in my room until I fall asleep, until the next day comes.

I am lucky enough to have a clock in my room, so I know what happens at what time. My mind wanders off to other thoughts easily, which makes it difficult to complete my assignments. The one fact that keeps my attention straight is fear. If I don't have enough work done by 3 PM, my punishments will be worse.

Once in a while, Max comes down to see me for a short amount of time. I haven't seen Maya in so long. Even though she hates me, I miss my twin. But if she doesn't care about me, I can't do anything about it. Oh well. I'm thankful she doesn't have to experience punishment time like I do. I cannot imagine her being hurt like that.

Today's punishment was awful. I was beaten to a pulp. They beat me harder than usual. I am currently lying on the cold floor, in excruciating pain. I wish I wasn't treated like this...

Maya's POV

I've been locked away for as long as I can remember. I don't remember the last time I've seen my twin. He hates my guts. I hate him for that. He REFUSES to see me. I have asked them to deliver letters to Masey, but he never responds. I stopped writing to him. They also have said Masey doesn't want to see me. If he wanted to see me, he would come to my room. Which he hasn't. I thought he and I would always be close. He's proved me wrong.

Maxy however, he still is my friend. He comes to see me every so often! When my big brother comes by, the emptiness on my inside is replaced with a peaceful feeling. With everything else being horrible, Maxy is my one ray of sunshine. Masey would be too, but he hates me.

When time passes, my routine stays the same. I wake up, am fed breakfast, try to focus on my school work and finish right before punishment time. I hate punishment time. I am punished because I was a mistake and I am not worthy of being loved. My own twin brother hates me, I don't know why he does. My other brother likes me, it seems. I can never understand others' emotions.

After punishment time is over, I can read my books that I've been supplied with. Occasionally, I'll draw in my notebooks with my pencils for school. Sometimes, I will just do nothing but lay on the beat up mattress I'm lucky to have, and stare off into space. The blankets I have bring me comfort. I cannot sleep without them. They may be tattered, but I don't care. These blankets have been mine for as long as I can remember.

Today, I had the same meal for breakfast that I've had my whole life. Plain bread and grits, with a cup of milk. I am working through my second lesson of the day, Italian. I have already learned the Spanish language; I can read and write in it fluently. I want to learn more languages. I have to accomplish a lot today or punishment time will be worse.

I wonder when the next time I'll see Maxy is...

Max's POV

I'm the big brother to Maya and Mason. I think of myself as their protector. They are the reason I keep myself alive. I would do ANYTHING to keep them safe. They don't know this, I would never tell them this, but I have been taking punches and beatings from our guardians for the longest time. They told me if I cooperated and accepted their punishments, they would NEVER lay a hand on the twins. I'll take their word for that. Anything to keep my baby siblings safe.

A few years back, we were all separated into different rooms. I do not know the exact date when it happened, but the twins were around nine years old. It was after dinner, I was telling them a story I made up, and all the sudden, our guardians showed up out of nowhere. They grabbed Maya and Mason, and took them away, without any explanation. Later on, I was told that the twins had new separate rooms, and I did too. They gave a reason I cannot remember, it probably did not make any sense. I do not like this arrangement. However, if it means Maya and Mason do not get punished like I do, I'll take it.

I'm lucky that I can see Maya and Mason. It's not an everyday occurrence to see them, but I get to see each twin separately, on different days. It usually happens once every other week. Being around Mason, I've observed him portraying a "tough guy, I don't care" persona, but I know my baby brother better. I can tell he's hurting, and he's exhausted. I don't know why though. Maya does not try and hide her emotions, I can tell she's exhausted and hurting. Mason and Maya have each other, they love each other, and I am so glad they have each other.

I'm hurting as well, being the punching bag for our guardians. I wouldn't tell the twins, they don't need to be burdened knowing I'm getting hurt for them. Those two are the light in my dark life.

Every so often, I hope that we will be free of our guardians, and we can spend more time together like when we were younger.

AUTHOR'S NOTE:

Thanks for tuning in for chapter 3! We have so much planned for the next chapters, get ready! Also thanks Maryam for drawing the room diagrams for each one of our characters.

Fun Fact: Maryam and I were originally going to write this book with ChatGPT, because when we were talking through story ideas, she had it generate 3 chapters for her initial idea, which were decent chapters. However, when we wanted specifics, it was not helpful. We told it to write 2000 words for chapter 2 based on 200 words I wrote, it expanded the chapter and then repeated itself later on. So now, this is our pure work. Even after it helped us with the first two chapters, we had to go back and rewrite or add information to fill gaps it left. In conclusion, ChatGPT can be an idiot.

We will be back with another chapter in two days!

Adios! Bryn and Maryam.