"Azer, azer, salamander," Avril murmured in her cage, her arms folded around her book, tucked into a niche between her knees and body as she gently rocked back and forth, her glasses covered by the folded-down edge of her beanie. "Yuan-ti, yuan-ti, one, two, three." She wasn't crying, at all, which meant this was a good day. Instead, she was just sitting in the dark. The happy dark. The friendly dark.

She flinched when a flash of orange light appeared on her wall, but when the light faded and nobody had come to pull her from her cage, she slowly relaxed again. "Ogre, orc, share long pork." The darkness was comforting, even if she couldn't read in it. The white coats always had bright, white, piercing lights in their rooms, so if her room was dark, she was safe.

"Angel, unicorn, why was I born?" The rhyme made her freeze up again, and she started blinking so as not to let the tears start falling. She was stupid. Why did she have to ruin a good day with such a stupid little rhyme? It was her fault and she didn't deserve anything nice. Even her book and the beanie and her cage with room enough to stretch her legs. The first tear fell. It was joined by others.

Avril hugged her book closer, the rhymes replaced with gentle, shuddering sobs.