Finding Jay ⚡️

Chapter 5- The Anomalies

The Anomalies department was a place straight out of Jay's nightmares. He had only heard descriptions of the place whispered throughout the Administration's halls, but the image his mind had produced was scarily accurate. Before entering the department, Jay had been told to put a mask over his nose and mouth. The mask was black and sinister looking, designed to purify the air he breathed. The agent that had given Jay the mask had explained that it was to ensure the agents would stay awake during a breakout. According to the agent, the entire department would flood with sleeping gas strong enough to knock out an elephant if one of the Anomalies escaped.  Now, breathing through the mask and gazing down the eerie hall with cells of glass, Jay was glad for the mask because it concealed the horror on his face that if seen by anyone else at the Administration would get him in serious trouble. Screams echoed through the halls, the glass doing next to nothing to muffle the cries. It was the sound of pain that filled his ears. The sound of people being tortured. Being in that hall gave him a strange feeling of deja vu, as if the sounds of the screaming almost pulled something from the depths of his memory. The screaming stopped abruptly and so did the memory he had so desperately been trying to hang onto.
"Agent Walker." greeted Agent Crimson, who had been assigned to teach Jay the procedures of the Anomalies wing.
"Today your assignment is simple: patrol the halls and make sure none of the Anomalies leave their cells." Jay nodded and began pacing the long hallway, trying to avoid the eyes of the trapped people inside. He spotted some odd looking Slyrtherin and Skulkin, as well as beings he didn't have a name for. There were some people that looked human just like him. He tried not to think about the fact that he could just as easily be behind those glass walls if the Administration found out about his powers. He tried to stamp down his nerves, scared that he might accidentally spark as a response to his stress. Many of the inhabitants of the cells seemed to be defeated, their shoulders sagging and their heads hung low. Jay felt a sharp twist of pity and guilt in his gut, but he felt helpless to do anything for them. Any attempt would only land him in the cage as well. Other prisoners seemed to still have some fight in them, they glared at him definitely behind glass walls. One girl in particular stood out to Jay. She had bright red hair and a look of murder on her face, and he had the feeling that if she was ever let out of that cell he would be facing a bigger threat than the Administration. Still other prisoners had seemed to have lost it all together, rocking back and forth or banging senselessly on the walls of their confinements. Jay shuddered in horror and avoided looking in the cells as much as he could. After a torturously long shift, Agent Crimson came to retrieve him.
"I know today was probably a bit boring," she told him. Jay thought that boring wasn't exactly the right word for it. "Tomorrow you'll take a more hands on approach," she informed him, smiling wickedly. "You'll show these Anomalies exactly what punishment they will receive for being the abominations to order and logic they are." Jay's skin crawled, and all he could think of as he walked toward his room was the faces in those glass cells.