The 7th Child

Chatper 3: The New Kid

Jennifer's eyes soften upon seeing the confusion in his, "Legai-" She began, reaching out to him. He stepped back, "Don't lie to me again." He growled. Jennifer's voice shook, "It's an off-shore facility-" She began, and Legai cringed, turning away, "Legai these people are more equipped to take care of you then I ever will be! They'll be there for you in ways I can't, I won't let you waste away here anymore." She pleaded. Legai couldn't believe what he was hearing. First she makes him waste his life in this stupid house, now she wants to ship him away to an island where they can disect him or whatever they're gonna do. "Is that it?" He asks, defeated, "You give up on me?" He shrugs, not even able to look at her. Jennifer's heart skipped a beat, "Legai no! No, I would never give up on you." She says, rushing to his side, "I will be with you the entire time. Nobody is ever taking me from you. But these people can do things that we can't. Know things we don't." Jennifer begs Legai to understand as he walks to his room, "I can't believe you." He muttered as he slammed the room to his door.

          Elsewhere, The Doctor is in a secret facility, and he goes up to talk to an agent, "She's bringing him in, prepare the room." He says, and the agent nods and walks off. The Doctor walks into a room with 6 children in it, each in their own little world within the room. Upon his entering, they all lined up in a single file line shoulder to shoulder, some more energetic than others. One of the kids mockingly saluted one of the guards in the back of the room. The Doctor says, "Roll call," pulling out a sheet on a clipboard, and goes back and forth with each of the children, "Apollo?", "Here", "Jackson?", "Here", "Ikemi?", "Here", "Aajiah?", "Here", "Levia?", "Here", "Lenani?", "Here". The Doctor puts down the clipboard and looks up at the children, to see Aajiah, a relatively tall, thin brown girl with magenta colored eyes and pink sparkles in her hair raising her hand, "Yes?" He says. Aajiah answers, "If you can clearly see us all here, why do you need to do the roll call?" She says in an uninterested tone of voice. The Doctor replies, "I know, its-" He says but is interrupted by Aajiah, "'Just a precaution', we know." She says, rolling her eyes. The Doctor sighs in disappointment and irritation, "Anyway, We have an exciting event for you all coming up." He says. Jackson, a fit yet slender light skinned boy with buzz-cut hair and gray eyes blurts out, "OOH! Is it Mardi Gras again!?!" He said excitedly as his eyes widened. The Doctor looked at Jackson, "No Jackson, we have about a year until that again. You know this." He says. Jackson slumps defeated, and Apollo, a taller darker toned, broad shouldered boy with green eyes elbows him playfully, "Idiot." He said under his breath, Jackson elbowed him back. The Doctor continues, hoping to not be interrupted again, "The news is that we are getting another child in our program. One that is like all of you." He says. All of the children's eyes widen in shock as they begin murmuring with each other. "I expect you to treat this child with respect and kindness just like we taught you. Lenani come with me for your examination, the rest of you," The Doctor continues, "Dismissed." He ordered. The children are all excited.

          Lenani looked up at Ikemi nervously, "You'll be ok." Ikemi assures her, "We're almost there, just hold on for me ok?" She says, fist bumping Lenani. Lenani nods and walks away with The Doctor. "A new kid, it's been a while since we got one." Apollo said. Jackson nudges him on the shoulder, "I just hope whoever it is is fun. Not some square or hard case like some people."  He said, giving a mocking side eye to Levia, a dark skinned girl with dark blue colored short hair and sparkly blue colored eyes who stood about 2 inches under him, who responded by punching him in the shoulder. Ikemi, a tall, light skinned Hispanic girl with short brown curly hair, sits down on her bed, which was a top bunk with Levia, kicking her feet with a smile on her face and a glossy look in her eyes, "I hope it's another girl." She says with sparkling eyes. Levia plops down onto her bed and opens up the book she was reading, "I just hope they're quieter." She says in a flat tone. Ikemi hangs her head upside down over the bed, her curly hair flopping down to reveal her ears, "Come on Vi, this is a chance to make new friends, it's been like 2 years since that happened. Aren't you excited?" She said with a warm smile trying to get Levia included in the group. Levia folds her book, looking up at Ikemi with a mocking smile, "#1, My name is Levia, #2, Did it ever occur to you that I never wanted my old friends? Let alone new ones." She said with a sarcastic tone as she went back to her book. Ikemi is defeated and goes back up to her top bunk as the blood rushes down from her head. She thinks to herself before getting a smirk on her face, "Did you just call us friends?" She says to Levia. Apollo, Jackson, and Lenani give a small chuckle from across the room, that's immediately shut down when they all get a menacing glare from Levia. Ikemi surrendered and turned back in her bed, "We're making progress." She says to herself.