We are all standing around outside in the snow amongst a section of the community that's natural woods. Even with winter gear on it's still as cold as ever and running in this will be hard. I let out my breath and it comes out as a mist. I've just been doing push ups along with everyone else. I can tell everyone else is already exhausted. "Pst, Valerie!"
Looking up, I see the young woman who stole before and she gives me a small wave. 'What's your name?' I signal. 'Avery' she mouths back to me and then I see her stumble slightly, but she regains her balance.
Looking at everyone who's out here with us, as a few more than just us were rounded up for "fun"
Everyone is clearly starving to some degree, but Avery appears to be the strongest of them all. Okay, not the strongest, but she's doing far better than everyone else.
Clearly, she hasn't been punished much.
"12 minute break everyone!" I hear one of the security guards call out. I flop onto the snow with my friends, just letting go.
"My insides are burning!" Kelsey whinges. "Mine too!" Louis follows. I see Cloud and his just trying not to say anything, but I can tell he is in a smidge of pain.
"Water available!" I hear one of the Guards yell. I see the look on Kelsey and Louis alongside Cloud's face when they hear those magic words. They are up and joining others to get water. I heave myself up slowly when I feel a hand grasp mine and I'm pulled to my feet.
"I won't be giving you special treatment." I hear a voice snap. Turning around, I see it's Shelby. "Why-" I begin. "And Owen likes you." She says. "Does he?" I ask. She shrugs. "You aren't the first and you won't be the last. He started with Harriet, then Dana and now you."
"Who's Dana?" I ask, but she just glares at me. "You're exactly like Dana in almost every way. You're pathetic and a weakling. I can see it now, you'll be dragging people down just like she did. I've let Ricky and the others know not to give you any water. Let's see how long it takes for your condition to truly worsen and your body gives out too."
"You can't do that! That's torture."
"Oh, so it's okay to punish yourself, but I'm not allowed too?"
"W-what, no!"
"Then act normal, you freak."
"You're a psycho wearing that serial killer mask you had on, and I can't just act a normal! This is-"
"But she press her fingers against my lips. "Nah-ah, I don't want to hear it. Take this moment without water to reconsider your choices because I guarantee you my parents and brother may have said their fine with your condition, but they're actually not.
Good luck, I bet you won't last till mid-day till you're begging for some water and maybe even food."
"Is that a challenge?"
"View it however you want, Valerie, I don't care."
And she walks off. I shake my head and heave myself into the water line. I don't want to die exactly... I'll see if I can bargain with the Guards. When I make it to the front of the queue, muttering under my breath how much Shelby is a bully, I plead with the Guard, giving him puppy eyes because there is one bottle left and she says nothing, just stares at me so I reach for the last bottle only for her to smack my hand way.
She smirks and cocks her head to the side. "Fuck you." I hiss.
She flicks her fringe and shakes her head, then gestures for me to move away so I begin to leave. "And Valerie?" She calls out. "What?" I ask.
"We'll see about... hmm, afternoon tea time maybe? If you last that long." She snickers. "Or you can tell on me and Sherbert to Sebastian and Rain, but do know, if their is one thing they don't like, it's snitches." And she takes the bottle for herself, drinking it and goes off in the other direction. I turn around and prepare to head towards my friends when I cross paths with Samantha's group and Avery look me dead in the eyes. Them and the others, two guys are leaning against a wall. The guys are sharing their water with Samantha while Avery has her own.
Avery goes to step forward, but Samantha takes hold of her shoulder. "Remember who's your cousin and team leader." She says cruelly.
The look on Avery's face says it all. "It's okay, thanks anyway." I mouth to her. No doubt she feels bad though. I head onwards back to my team. They all have water.
"Drunk yours already?" Louis questions. I see his half way through his bottle and Kelsey alongside Cloud are sculling theirs. "They ran out..." I mumble quietly. Kelsey immediately stops gulping and passes her bottle to me without hesitation.
"Wow, that is just sitting on cruel." Cloud snaps. "They could have brought more supplies out."
"It's fine, really." I respond. "Valerie, have what's left of mine. Without it, you will faint... or worse." Kelsey says. Do they know? I push the thought aside and accept what's left.
When I'm done I hand the bottle back to Kelsey. "Oh, hey, look..." Louis says. I turn around and see Rain standing in an enclosed watch tower above. I see her shake her head and she turns around and says something to someone, but I can't make it out. I see Harriet come into view though and nod her head at what Rain said.
"You know usually they would have just locked you straight up for not abiding by anyone's command. You're lucky they're letting it slide." I hear a familiar voice. It's Samantha with her team behind her. "Command, sorry, what? We've done nothing to them." Kelsey growls.
"Oh, nothing." Samantha taunts. "Shelby tried to bully Valerie!" Avery speaks up suddenly. "Avery!" Samantha hisses. Hey, that's not fair to deprive her of water!" Kelsey shouts.
"Fair or not, this could have been worse for you. They could have locked her up."
"Worse, how?!" I see Kelsey yell again, throwing her arms up, becoming annoyed. "I just said, locked her up."
"And what do you mean by that exactly?" Louis questions.
I see Samantha flinch and she look scared. "They've done it to you haven't they?" Clouds calls her out on. I hear her groan. "Solitary confinement. If they don't feel you're obeying them, they teach you a lesson. You wouldn't have liked it, very cold." She finally answers.
"That's it? Okay, yes that sucks, but they would have let her out, yeah?" Kelsey asks. Samantha shrugs. "Depends on Rain and Sebastian's moods. They call the shots around here, not actually Owen, Harriet and Shelby. Might have been the whole day, but let out at dinner. Who knows really? Rain not coming down here is you getting off luckily."
Cloud scoffs at her statement. "It's very dark too!" Avery quickly adds on, but Samantha quickly shushes her. "Back to training!" I hear a Guard call out and Samantha quickly walks away, followed by her team. As we are preparing to head back to training, Avery looks back to me and mouths "Lunch" to me, then nods her head.
---
It's now lunchtime and everyone has returned the cafeteria after more strength training exercises. I feel knackered and I'm on my own. It's so unlike my friends to just ditch me. Where are they? I'm distracted from my thoughts though as a dead weight bumps into me and knocks me to the ground. "Oh, sorry."
It's Avery. She has a small grin and presses something into my palm. It's a super small energy bar of some sort. "You have only till afternoon tea time now, I heard the Guards say they're going to let you suffer a little longer. It'll come soon, don't worry." I hear whisper, then she picks herself up and heads to the food line, taking a tray of food. I hide the small bar between my hands that it can't been seen.
I hear one of the Guards tease Avery from afar that's she's clumsy. I stand up slowly. I need to find somewhere I can eat this without being seen or no doubt, it will be taken away from me. I leave the Cafeteria without issue and head down a side street of the city. Luckily no one has seen me when I feel a hand reach for mine and I'm pulled into somewhere. It's dark.
"Who-who's there?" I stammer, tearing up. I see the space around me, light up. It's Kelsey and she's holding a lantern. "Come, Cloud's so clever." and she leads me. Eventually she pushes a brick into the wall and a door opens. We go in. I end up in a room resembling a study, combined observatory. Cloud is on a platform, looking through a telescope and Louis is at a book shelf, reading a book with a note-pad sitting on-top and a pencil in his hand.
Kelsey places the lantern near Cloud. "Got her. I thought I was goanna have to go onto the streets, but seems someone snuck away."
"Where are we?" I ask. "I have never seen a star constellation system quite like this before..." I hear Cloud trail off. "No idea where we are." Kelsey rolls her eyes and Louis turns around to face me and Kelsey. "Like it?"
"What is this?" I ask.
"Hidden room that seems to have been boarded up and locked. If you look under the central table, you can see a love heart scratched underneath. Says: 'Dana' inside." Louis responds. "I think it's safe for us to talk in here."
"Cool, huh?" Kelsey adds on. I nod. "You okay?" She asks me. I see a chair near the table and take it. I pull out the energy bar to discover it's infact a candy bar and tear the wrapper off. "They feed you?" Louis questions. I shake my head. "Avery pulling more wool over eyes." I respond and start scoffing the bar.
When I'm done, Kelsey takes the wrapper. "We'll get out of this place, Valerie. I promise you, you don't belong here, don't deserve to be stuck here just because you made one bad decision based on poor judgement."
I nod. "You want a nap? You look like you need it." Louis questions, pointing to a nearby couch which has a light grey scarf with silver stars hanging over the back. "Are we done for today?" I ask. "Yeah, afternoon free now. We passed Harriet in the street and she told us Rain said everyone's working hours, well, our training hours in retrospect has been ended early. Take a nap." Cloud speaks up, interrupting, but not pulling away from looking at the sky.
I walk over the the couch and Kelsey helps me to lay down. She grasps the scarf and folds into a small pillow and slips it behind my head. "There is an old coat in the cupboard that's indigo colors with rain clouds and umbrella's on it. Give that to her as a blanket." Louis smiles, gesturing to a small cupboard. She finds the coat and brings it over to me for a blanket, then plonks her butt down next to me. "Just goanna rest my eyes and body a minute. I feel kind of nauseous..." she mumbles. "Uh-huh." I hear Cloud state, not listening to hard while Louis looks sad, but goes back to reading and writing something on his note-pad. I yawn and start to drift off similar to Kelsey.
"Oooh - the big and little dipper!"
"Cloud!" Her and me shout at him while Louis shouts at him also for waking both us, girls.
---
After having a nap, I head back to the city center with my friends as they wanted some time to think about the mysterious room. It's cool we have a card up our sleeve. The entrance door on our side is boarded up so no one can come in. When we arrive at the cafeteria, we find our table.
I notice out the corner of my eye that the leaders are all present and start heading towards us. "Valerie."
It's Rain. I stand up and turn around. "Paige said you missed afternoon-tea. You hungry? Actually... where were all of you?"
I go to speak, but Kelsey cuts me off. "It's not easy dragging our friend through the snow you know?! A fainted body is dead weight! We were exploring the woods we trained in as we wanted to see it for more than just a training zone."
"Oh, she fainted. I see, but why didn't you alert Security?" Rain responds, narrowing her eyes. "Well, you can eat anyway, Valerie. Sorry, my daughter was cruel, but I truly hope tomorrow will be better because we won't be so lenient next time with you for refusing a demand that came from us regardless if it was a cruel 'joke'" she adds on, giving the side of my face a slight clap, then leaves. Dinner is now on and we head to collect a tray each of food.
All our bodies are sores from training and I hope we don't have to go through the same thing again tomorrow, but this time I won't be stupid and actually eat and drink properly. I'll faint for real otherwise so Kelsey's lie will no longer be a lie. It'll be our reality.
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