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>Fifteen year-old Diana woke up in a haze
>Her head was killing her, and she felt so cold
>She was lying on her back, looking up at an old, decrepit ceiling
>She was so drowsy, it took her a moment to realize she wasn't in her bed
>She sat up with a start, looking about the room
>It looked like she was in an old abandoned house of some kind
>The walls were covered in dust with peeling paint
>The carpet on the floor was torn in a bunch of places
>The window had a large hole in it
>As she scanned the room, she heard a noise, coming from the corner
>Her eyes darted to the far corner, and the sight made her heart drop
>There was a girl that looked maybe a year younger than her, with long brown hair and braces
>She looked...haunted. Skinny, even a little bit sick
>The worst part is, Diana noticed a chain keeping the other girl's wrist attached to a pipe in a hole in the wall
>Diana didn't know what else to do, so she asked "Who are you? Where am I?"
>The other girl stared at Diana for a moment, trembling violently
>"I'm Luan, now."
>"Now? What do you mean now?" Diana asked
>She raised a hand to rub her sore head when she realized...there was a chain on her too!
>Looking around, she saw it too was attached to a pipe in the wall
>"What's going on?! Where are we?!" Diana half-screamed, trying to see out the window for familiar landmarks
>The girl who called herself Luan shushed Diana "Please, not so loud, or else..."
>As she pleaded, heavy footsteps came up from a nearby staircase outside the room
>"Oh no...He's coming..." Luan whimpered
>"Who? Who's coming?!" Diana asked in a harsh half-whisper
>But she got her answer
>The door to the room swung open to reveal a man...no...a boy
>Not quite a man, no. Diana figured he was maybe...18? 19?
>Either way, his appearance shocked her
>First was the stark white hair, which practically glowed in the dim lighting of her new prison
>Second were his eyes...
>Dark, lifeless eyes. It was like looking into the eyes of a corpse.
>"Ah, Luna, you're awake." The boy said, almost nonchalantly as he went over to Diana
>"I...Wh-What, me? No, I'm Diana." She stuttered out
>"No, don't, he'll-" Luan tried to warn but the boy stopped dead in his tracks, raising a hand and the girl went silent
>"No...It's okay, Luan. Luna's just confused. Right, Luna?" He said, staring into Diana's eyes. "Luna is just groggy, but she remembers her name...right?"
>Diana studied the boy closely
>He seemed...familiar somehow
>No, he wasn't someone she knew, but...
>She had seen his face somewhere...
>"Look...I-I don't know what's going on, but I'm Diana. Please, I have a family, I-"
>The girl was interrupted by a stinging on he face and a loud SMACK!
>Through the newfound tears, she gazed up at her captor, who had a look of tranquil fury on his face
>"Your name. Is. Luna!" He shouted the last word, causing Luan to cry out and try to push herself deeper into her corner
>Diana tried not to cry out either
>Just who was this boy? Who is Luna?
>She could find out later, but...she needed to cooperate for now. Who knew what he'd do if she continued to argue against him
>"Y...You're right. I'm Luna. I'm sorry, I don't know what came over me..." She tried not to shake too much as she spoke to the deranged boy before her
>He smiled, reaching out and ruffling Luna's hair, ignoring how she flinched at his touch
>"See? I knew you'd come around. Right, Luan?"
>He turned to the other girl in the corner, who nodded enthusiastically "Y-Yeah! I knew she'd come around too, Lincoln!"
>Lincoln, huh? That name and that face...Where had she SEEN it before? In a newspaper...?
>Her thoughts were interrupted as what sounded like a younger girl crying came from the next room over
>Lincoln sighed, running a hand through his hair
>"Lucy...What am I gonna do with her?" He mumbled, heading towards the door
>Wait, what? How many girls did this guy have? How YOUNG was this Lucy girl?
>"W-Wait!" Diana called
>But Lincoln ignored her, slamming the door behind him as he left
>There was a dead silence in the room after Lincoln left
>Diana heard the door to the room next to them open
>It was soon followed by Lincoln yelling at someone in there, with...not one, but TWO younger girl's voices sounding like they were pleading
>Despite the age of the house an the holes in the wall, Diana couldn't quite make out what they were saying
>Were they somehow soundproofed? Or at least that room?
>Diana and Luan didn't dare make a sound...they just listened
>There was what sounded like a cry of pain and then the door slammed shut again
>Heavy, stomping footsteps went past Diana's door and down the stairs again
>Diana didn't move a muscle until she heard what must have been the front door slam
>That was the trigger. Diana bolted to her feet, ignoring the slight nausea she still had
>She went over to the pipe in the wall, yanking on the chain, trying to rip it out of place
>"Don't bother." Luan called out, standing up too. "The house is old, but the pipes are surprisingly strong...no one's been able to break them..." Her voice was completely devoid of hope
>"Who is WE, anyway?" Diana shot back as, like Luan said, the pipe didn't even budge. "How many people are here?"
>Luan held herself, staring down at the floor "Nine, right now. Two to a room, except for Lisa..."
>Nine...? Nine people trapped in this house?
>"Well...What does he want? Does he...?" Her sentence trailed off.
>It took Luan a second to get what Diana meant. "Oh, no. He's never...touched us that way. But he will hit us if we step too far out of line, except for the youngest of us..."
>Diana dreaded the next question she had to ask
>"And...how young is the youngest?"
>Luan seemed like she was about to burst out into tears. "She's...She's four years old...Lisa, the one in a room by herself..."
>Diana felt like she was going to puke
>A...four year-old?
>No. No, no, no. This had to be some kind of nightmare, right? Some awful, sick nightmare!
>But...she knew that wasn't true.
>She could feel her body aching, forcing her to sit down
>What had even happened? How did she get here?
>All she remembered was walking home from a concert near her house and then...nothing...
>Then she was here
>Diana looked up at Luan, who was still awkwardly standing there, like she didn't know what to do with herself
>"How long have you been here?" Diana asked
>"Only about a month, actually." Luan answered. "But poor Lucy had the worst of it...she's been here for over a year...she was his first victim..."
>Over a year?! "Where ARE we?!" Diana tried to walk over to the window, but the chain was too short to reach it and get a good look outside
>"We're in some forest near Royal Woods..." Luan answered, finally sitting down herself "When he lets us downstairs, you can see through the windows easily. And um...don't get your hopes up, puts chains on our ankles when he lets us downstairs..."
>Diana grit her teeth. "Well that's just fucking great, isn't it?!"
>Luan flinched as if Diana had thrown something at her. "Luna, please don't curse in front of Lincoln. It really makes him mad!"
>"My name is Diana! Don't call me Luna!" The older girl hissed. "Why did he kidnap me anyway? Why did he kidnap eight other people?"
>"Y-You're Luna now...I'm sorry...And, I guess it's the way you look..."
>Diana chose to ignore the first part. "The way I look? What do you mean?"
>"Well...Lincoln has never said his reasons outright...but he likes us looking a certain way." Luan explained. "He's obsessed over it."
>"What kind of certain ways?" Diana asked
>"There's Lucy for instance. She has black hair with bangs covering her eyes. She's asked him if he could cut them away, but he yells at her when she does. He says it isn't "right" for her eyes to be showing. No one really understands it." Luan said with a shuddering sigh. "A lot of it is the hairstyle, it seems. But for me...he would comment on by braces a lot when I first came here."
>That was...Diana didn't even know which word to pick to describe it
>And then her mind wandered to her own appearance
>Short brown hair, freckles...Did she remind this Lincoln guy of someone?
>"And...All the people here...are they girls?" Diana asked, having only heard female names so far
>Luan nodded. "Yeah, every one of us. The oldest is Lori, she's seventeen, and then Leni, the two of us, Lynn, Lucy, Lana, Lola, and Lisa."
>Diana stared at Luan, bewildered
>All names beginning with "L" and four letters? That...wait, she remembered now!
>She remembered where she saw Lincoln before!