The Lost Boys and The Missing Kids

Chapter 2

In the basement, there was the body of a girl. Her ginger hair, which was matted with blood, fell over her pale face, and her olive green eyes were wide open.

"Oh my gosh, it's Amber!"Mariella shrieked, stepping back.

"Im hallucinating, right?"Matthias gabbled.

"Wish I could say you were,"I blinked.

We just stood there, staring at the body.

"What the hell are we doing? She's dead. We need to tell Mr Pan,"Crystal whined.

"I have a feeling he knows all too well,"Ali gulped.

"What?"Elsie glared at her.

"I mean, I don't think he's stable...mentally. We all know he's eccentric, but I think he's gone too far. And you know the outside world is locked away. It has to be someone in the school, doesn't it,"

"You have trust issues, Ali,"Dina shook her head in disbelief.

"I'm just being realistic,"Ali shrugged, closing the door. There was a second of silence. None of us knew what the right thing to say was after discovering a dead body

"Maybe you're right, but I just don't know,"Anna said.

"Just...please don't tell him yet,"

"Fine,"Mariella crossed her arms and walked up the stairs. Everyone exchanged looks, nodded and followed her.

I trailed behind, thinking it was weird that we were walking away from a dead body so casually.

They climbed back into their beds solemnly, silently, but I just couldn't sleep. I watched the ceiling for hours, whilst everyone else snored. The clock ticked steadily as I counted the seconds. Tick, one. Tick, two. Tick, three.

"Are you asleep?"Nancy asked, lighting a lantern with her contraband matches, that she'd stolen from the staff room.

"No."

"Did you see her? There was so much blood and, her eyes were all glassy- like a doll's."

She shivered, her unruly brown curls bouncing on her shoulders.

I looked over to the empty beds in thee middle of the room and they suddenly seemed so much emptier.

"Nancy, I don't know if this is going to end well,"I admitted quietly.

"All endings are happy really, aren't they? The freedom of finally escaping life or anything else just seems so liberating"she gazed at the ceiling wistfully almost as if she was waiting for the ground to swallow her. Nancy had always felt that death was just a part of the life cycle and nothing to be afraid of; I wasn't as sure.

"Where do we go?"I sighed, "When we die?".

"I don't really know, but I like to think its somewhere really nice, sort of like an upgraded version of this world."

I laughed at nothing at all but the way she was so calm, so collected. That was just her, I guess. She was the brave one. I was just the one with the ideas, but I didn't really mind. I mean, she was kind. She never abused the fact that I cared about her. She was perfect, and part of me hated her for that. Another part of me just admired her.

"Yeah well I reckon the moon is shining really bright out there"I gabbled, not wanting this conversation to end. We made eye contact for a second before she looked awkwardly at the floor.

Nancy was the opposite of awkward so seeing her nervous was a rare occurrence. Only I had ever seen that look on her face but after being her best friend for 12 years I still didn't know what it meant.

"Goodnight Ash"she whispered.

Suddenly, I could sleep easily after talking to Nancy.

In the morning, I was the first awake. I heard my best friend's gentle snores as it was only 5:34 am, but the dormitory was filled with a restless energy. I couldn't explain it.My brain just felt foggy; as if whole chunks of my memory had been ripped from my head. I made my way over to the bathroom, turning on the tap and feebly splashing my face with water before opening my wardrobe and taking out a freshly-ironed school uniform.

"This is why no-one likes school," I sighed groggily.

I hated our uniform. The skirt and cardigan were the brown of milk chocolate that has been left for so long it's hard, and the shirt, or blouse as we were to call it, was white, with our initials on the breast pocket. Setting it out on my bed, I locked the bathroom door so I could take my shower. From a magazine Nancy found, I discovered that in the Outside they had scented soaps and shampoos. The advert was a picture of a woman's flawless hair floating around her face. Next to it was a little image of a shampoo bottle that said 'Stunning Strawberry'. In here, however, we had boring products that smelled of nothing. We were only allowed to wash for 5 minutes each, so as to not waste water. I counted the time and stepped out of the shower in a brown towel.My clothes were still pristine and creaseless, but ironing didn't improve much. I reluctantly put it on, and scooping up my brown school pyjamas. They were a bit dirty as I chucked them in the dormitory laundry basket, but I had the image of Amber's pyjamas sodden with blood imprinted on my brain. Tears pricked at my eyes like little needles, which reminded me that today was injection day -Friday.

The time was now 6:04, so I knew everyone would be up in 6 minutes.

I sat on my bed, tired and a bit nauseous as I thought about what I'd seen. I knew though, that the post-injection productivity and calmness would keep my mind off of it. No-one actually knew what the injection was but we knew it was to keep us focused. It was said that it was a drug that hadn't been shown to the world that made it so we worked harder and had higher standards of work than any other school. We were all very good at the work we were set, and we were 3 years ahead of other children our age.

As I looked in the mirror, I almost couldn't recognise myself. It felt like walking past one of the new kids like a Year 1 who I hadn't seen before. I didn't think I looked out of place, just unfamiliar I suppose.

"Ash?," I heard Elsie's voice whisper, being considerate of those still sleeping,"How long have you been up?"

"Oh, only like half an hour, I couldn't sleep all too well after yesterday."

Silence filled the space for exactly 7 seconds.

"Well, you were enrolled in the Advanced Class. That's where all the smart kids from 10 other schools go and I heard they're really strict. There's no room to be unfocused at a place like that. Ash, let me do your hair, please. First impressions are super important-"

"Fine, but will you stop lecturing me for just a sec? I'm not your sister! I'm not Mariella," I snapped, feeling the rage flood out and the guilt seep in.

She pulled the brush through my hair.

"Mariella's not talking to me. Um, she feels the same way as you. Guess she also got tired of my 'lecturing'," Elsie croaked, feeling tears build up.

"Shit. Listen, Elsie, I didn't mean it. It's just that I'm proper nervous for today and I'm stressed about other things."

"We're not meant to swear"

The hairbrush tugged at the sensitive skin by my ears as the others began to wake up, one by one. When I heard Nancy's weary 'Hi's and 'good mornings' I rushed to sit on my bed and chat to her as she got ready. As she changed, I looked intently at the ceiling making sure my gaze didn't slip. I tried to seem normal when she had finished getting dressed, but she managed to look pretty in our uniform. I wished I could be Nancy.  Soon, she was ready, and looking way nicer than me, as always, so we walked to breakfast together, arms linked.