Our Peculiar Ways - Stray Kids

5- Too Much

Every story deserves to be told, truthfully. No matter how peculiar.

Rory was a known as a troublemaker to her sister but she knew she was just a girl with a strong want for justice. Something she was going to get. She knew she was breaking the rules but she couldn't just let her sister carry on the way she was. She needed evidence, for herself and for the world to see.

That was why she found herself tiptoe-ing through the massive building she lived in at 2am in the morning, desperate for answers. She had a destination, a room labelled as out of bounds for all the logical reasons but still, a label wouldn't stop her. Nothing would stop her. She slowly pushed the creaking door (that was barely hanging on to his hinges) open, allowing herself into the room that once housed The Peculiars.

The long room was almost pitch black but she could still make out the faint outline of eight beds across the room once her eyes adjusted. They looked... odd, however. Rory fumbled to find the light switch, sliding her hand against the unevenly textured wall until she found the switch and turned it on. The room lightly illuminated with flickering lights including a chandelier, a bare difference but enough to make the objects more visible. The beds weren't just beds, they were basically cages made of steel. From where she stood, she could almost see the doors that were small but large enough for kids and teens to climb through. It appeared as though Ellissworth would lock them tightly shut every night so they couldn't escape. Her gaze then wandered to the walls.

A hole seemed to be burned through the wall on the left, not too large but large enough to fit through. 'Must've been Sam trying to escape.' Rory thought to herself as she stepped carefully through the room. She then looked towards the right wall. Blood stains. Rory shivered, she could barely imagine what they've been through and that was never known about. Nor could she let herself process that her very own sister was the mind behind this literal torture. She could see a large chest of drawers at the end of the long room, beneath two large windows. One window was shattered, like something had been punched through it. Another seemed to be open, Rory learnt that the hard way. She jumped at the sound of the wind whistling past the curtains, past her and out the door again. It seemed haunted, not with ghosts though. Not haunted like someone had been killed. Haunted like someone had been nearly killed. It was, honestly, terrifying.

She took another step, attempting to approach the drawers but winced when she felt something sharp beneath her foot. Briskly moving, she peered down at what seemed to be the small claw of a kind of animal. 'Chris, it must've been.' She thought, feeling deeply sorry for the people she kept naming. She quickly moved, keeping an eye on the floor in case she was to step on something again. Until she reached the drawers. The majority of it was destroyed, falling apart or just hanging open and empty. All except one drawer, the bottom one. She bent down, putting all her weight on her toes and slowly pulling open the drawer. A book. A small, tattered and old book. She gently lifted it into her hands, blowing the dust away and revealing the letter 'L'. She opened it up to the first page and read the words:

Lewis Seo's diary, started 25th March 2008.

Her eyes drifted along each of the words, what Lewis had written seemed hopeful. At least until she read two words that caught her eyes. The thoughts noted down onto the paper that were about how Lewis seemed happy to be around other kids like him were soon turned into thoughts that displayed true fear. Right from the words:

Help Me.

Rory felt a tingle go straight down her spine, he was 8. Eight.

All of a sudden, she saw the large chandelier flash with light in sync with the loud lightning strike in the distance outside. She was shocked, until the chandelier came crashing down and smashed to pieces on the floor before her eyes. Frozen, she stood frozen without a clue what to do until she heard her sister's footsteps thundering up the stairs towards that very room.

"Shit!" Rory whispered looking for a place to hide until she laid eyes on a door, it seemed to be a cupboard so she ran into it and shut it swiftly behind her.

No, she did not expect to find a room drowned in plants and flowers that circled her. No, she did not expect to find herself being lifted by said plants onto an old rocking armchair and be surrounded by the vines. It was almost like it was protecting her though, like Felix was protecting her from all the way in South Korea subconsciously as he could sense she was there to help them. Maybe she was thinking too much of it but she also knew how Felix had the ability to control the nature he creates from wherever, whenever subconsciously or by thinking about it.

She forced herself to try to breathe as quietly as she could. She listened to the sharp clicking of her sister's heels in the room before they soon faded, cueing that Rory was now alone again. 'That was close.' She thought to herself, watching as the plants moved away and the vines cleared her path again.

"Thanks, Felix." She whispered, appreciating the help and hoping he would sense her gratitude or maybe even sense that someone was out there trying to help them.

As she tried to stand and leave the closet-like room, she was stopped by the vines again. Confusion swarmed her mind and slight fear but she trusted her instincts and trusted Felix. It quickly made sense, anyway, when a vine pointed and poked at something beneath the chair. It was almost like they had a mind of their own and they did, Felix's. She was given the space to stand and look under the chair at whatever she was being directed to, it was another book. Another diary. Felix's diary. She placed it in her hands, with Lewis' and smiled. These were gonna help her so much.

She then quickly and quietly searched the room for anymore diaries, avoiding the shattered chandelier and somehow she found the other six. In order of Rhino's, Sam's, Skylon's, Kylo's, Chris' and Peter's. She was incredibly thankful to have found them and thankful to Felix for, although without realising, helping her. These were eight first-hand documents of the lives of The Peculiars, written by the boys themselves. This was going to help her tell their story right.