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The men working with her, studying her, look around in confusion as things switch about in every room, as lights flip off, as temperature drops and lifts and drops again, as radios flip on of their own accord and blast music too loud to be a comfort.

And the girl in the dark corner, the girl slowly turning grey and white and blending into the machinery a little more every day, she closes her eyes in satisfaction and wraps her arms around herself. She lets her mouth hang open in the most undignified, unattractive way; it doesn't matter now. There's no one to see, no one to hear.

She fills the lungs that don't need it with breath and she tries to let it out again, let it out loud. Get out, get out, get out, she mouths desperately to the men she can't bring herself to go near.

But nothing comes out.

So the radios get louder, the noise gets harsher instead.

It's all she has left.