The Dark Blood

1

Kids are often told the same stories.
Some of them are soothing bedtime stories that are comforting to fall asleep to, but the others, they are told to control them.

'Don't go too far into the forest or a troll will steal you away' or 'If you're naughty, Santa won't bring you any presents' are common ones. These stories are thought to be just silly fairytales, and most of them are.

An old folklore taught a lesson about how your decisions affect your life forever. Everyone knew about this one. It was told to scare the population, which were at the time, quite easilly controlled by fear.

A story that told about how every time, in the northen part of a land a human would sin, their blood would get darker. It would start by small, stealing and cheating, but as their blood got thicker and darker, became the symtoms stronger as well. These people were told to complitely lose themselves. The origin of how only the certain part of the land had to deal with consiquenses of their actions was because of a witch who had cursed the place.

All though everyone knew about the story, people were lacking the proof of the sinful blood existing. That was not something anyone wanted to mess with.
But the evidence was there, quite a lot of it actually.

The place is called Aldermere.
When you walk in through the big locked iron gates, you see a big castle like building. The place stands tall in all of it's pride, taking care and trying to find a cure for the sinful ones.

See, nobody had thought that the blood would affect others, but they had forgotten one extremely important part, the children.

These poor kids were brought to this world already ruined by it. They had the same darkness in their blood as their parents did, and sadly, the symptoms of it were even worse.

Shaking uncontrollably and having to fight against the instinct to cause harm as their eyes got inky was something that is dealt with in Aldermere almost daily.

***

Aldermeres gates had now been opened and nurses were rushing around, the long hem of their uniforms flowing around in the gentle wind.

Jungkook was sitting on a rocky window sill, curious to see what was going on outside.
The gates were rarely opened and usually when they were, a new child was brought in.

The children were in complite isolation from the outside world, so having a chance to see a new face was extremely refreshing.

Keys rattled on the thick wooden door, causing Jungkook to jump down and hurry back to sit on his bed.

An old lady, Mrs. Bawden, who had worked in Aldermere almost all her life opened the door and looked down at him.

"Dear god, boy," she grumbled in disappointment, "You were supposed to be ready ten minutes ago."

Jungkook stood up sharply and walked to the small cabined with his clothes in it. They only had a few outfits including a nightshirt, casual clothes, formal wear and white shirts that could be tied. They didn't need much.

In a loose natural-white shirt and straight pants he followed Mrs. Bawden through the long and depressing hallways to the dining hall, where everyone else had already gathered.

The hall had five long tables and each and everyone had their own places where they had to sit. Jungkook sat down in his seat and tried to sneakily catch Jins attention.

Jin was much older than him and he took care of Jungkook like they were brothers.

Junkook often thought about his own first day here when they had met, how desperate and miserable he had felt from being stolen away from his parents, but in a way Jin was more like a guardian than they ever were. He had taken him under his wings and taught Jungkook how to survive in this asylum.

He often wondered if Jin had someone like that when he first arrived in Aldermere.

Lunch had been served. It was souplike with slices of potatoes, carrots and meat.

Food never tasted like much, but nobody ever complained. It was better to shut up and eat than to go hungry.

"Jin..." Jungkook whispered, still trying to get his attention, but Jin was too busy pushing the food around in his bowl.

"Jin," He tried again, slightly louder after looking at the nurses, who were eating in their own table.

"Shut up," Yoongi shushed him, "You're gonna get us all in trouble."

Yoongi was sitting right opposite from him and they made eyecontact for a second before Jungkook lowered his gaze again.

The rules of Aldermere were very strict, no talking at breakfast or lunch,  do not try to go outside the fences and no visiting others rooms unless it's free time were just a few of the most reasonable ones. But just as strict was the schedule they had.

7am - wake up

7.30am - breakfast

8-9am - lesson of the day

10-11.30am - treatment

12-12.20pm - lunch

1-3pm - free time

4pm - dinner

5pm - treatment/experimental treatment

7pm - bedtime

This was followed most of their lives there without failure.

If you broke rules, you would be punished for them by being locked in the small basement chambers where you couldnt even see yourself in the darkness or to be tied to one of the poles outside in direct sunlight, without food or water.  These harsh punishments kept the children on their best behaviour.

Yoongi, who was just a little younger than Jin glansed behind him at the Angels table. The nurses were named Angels in Aldermere for symbolic reasons, but none of the kids liked to call them by that, preferably the opposite. Yoongi then turned to Jin and poked him on the arm.

Jin turned his head and raised his eyebrows slightly. After noticing Jungkook, he leaned in, his warm and caring eyes focused on him.

"What?" Jin whispered.

Jungkook looked at the nurses again before answering, "Did you see the gates being opened?"

Jin nodded slightly, "Was anyone brought in?"

"I don't know, I didn't see much."

They all continued eating even though the soft carrots felt slimy when swallowed and the meat took a while to chew. The free time would begin in five minutes and if they wanted to finish their plates, they would have to do it on time.

Suddenly loud footsteps were heard from the hallways. The fast-paced steps echoed through the walls and seemed and get closer. After ten seconds, a boy was pushed past the doorway, just to disappear again. All the children were now left staring at the empty hallway.

The boys looked at eachother, eyes widened. Jungkook smiled in disbelief and nodded in the doorways direction to make sure the all the others had seen it too.

"They brought in a new one," he whispered with pure excitement.