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Chapter One

Inside of the destroyed world, the compound was all Jasper had ever known. Her earliest memory was opening her eyes and seeing Roland in front of her. The man who would end up being like a father to Jasper. A really bad father, but one nonetheless. From then on, the only thing Jasper really knew was that she wasn't like anyone else. She wasn't made with emotions, her skin tone was an odd pale color, and her attributes didn't seem normal. When she was told to join the rest of the kids in the compound, Roland insisted that she wore glasses to hide her eyes and to tell everyone that her neon orange hair was the result of a testing accident. Jasper didn't know why, but she listened.

There were many things Jasper took time to understand, but out of everything she discovered, emotions seemed to be the hardest to understand. She wasn't made to have feelings or anything, but they developed slowly throughout the years anyways. The first emotion Jasper could remember having was joy. She didn't remember what she was doing, or who was with her. She could only remember laughing. Guilt came maybe a week after, followed by sadness and other small, non important emotions. She noticed that all the other kids in the compound had emotions like pain and fear, but she's never felt those things before. Part of her wished she could feel what the others felt, but seeing what it did to them made her glad she couldn't feel anything other than the basic emotions. It all just seemed too complicated to deal with.

Spending time with all the normal kids made Jasper more aware of what being human really was. She understood what was socially acceptable, and what wasn't. She learned through trial and error, mostly error, but caught on very quickly. She was called strange for maybe a year before the kids noticed that she started to act more normal, and the nickname disappeared. She successfully became human, without really being human.

After ten years of being in the compound, out of everyone she met, Jasper chose to hangout with one specific group of people who she really enjoyed calling friends. She stayed in that group for years, and never had second thoughts about the people she chose to surround herself with. Sure, some were a little rough around the edges, but Jasper would rather stay with the rough cuts than the clean cuts. They had more fun that way.

The first kid Jasper ever met, would later become her best friend. Diane Weathers. Diane was pretty well known in the complex for not caring about anything because it wasn't worth her time, but if you got on her bad side you would regret it. She's fun enough to hang out with, even if she doesn't seem invested in what anyone else is saying. Jasper met Diane a few years ago, by bumping into Diane and knocking her books all over the floor. Jasper helped helping pick the books up, and as a thank you, Diane punched her in the face. Jasper started bugging her after that to be friends. Jasper is pretty sure that Diane likes hanging out with her now.

Noah Rodgers was a bit of a wild card. To this day, Jasper still isn't sure about what kind of person he is. From what she's gathered, he's kind of the emo of the compound. He stays in his hoodie, and refuses to comb his hair out. He leaves it wild and covering half of his face. He used to be bullied, but Jasper and Diane helped put a stop to that by defending him whenever they could. Noah always said that he didn't need their help, but Jasper could tell that he really appreciated it. He started hanging around them more and more, and eventually just stuck with them.

Beau Wright was the dad of the group. He's kind, caring, and honestly, a little shy. That part seemed strange to Jasper, because Beau was built like he would be able tot take down anyone who messed with him. But really, he would just shrink away from any conflict. Jasper learned to not immediately assume that he's a doormat. Beau is willing to fight, but he just hates it. He's only been in two fights, and won both of them. But he apologized every time he hit the opponent. Jasper and Diane would tease Beau about this all the time, and he gets defensive every time saying, 'I don't want to hurt anybody!'

Stacia Alders was, kind of in the same role as Beau, the mother of the group. She always dresses the nicest out of everyone, and is really picky about the decision making. She always makes sure everyone pays attention in classes, and resolves conflict by being the one voice of reason. If someone in the group talked back to, or made a passive aggressive comment about anyone else in the group, Stacia would pounce and talk their ears off. Stacia was willing to protect anyone and everyone in the compound, and everyone liked her. No matter how hard Jasper tried, she couldn't think of one person who would ever have any need to hate Stacia.

Finally, there was Kate Conners. One of the youngest kids in the compound. She's fourteen, but her personality matches the personality of a six year old. She would hang out mostly with Beau, who treated her like a little sister. Kate was clingy, but she was so cute that no one in the group could say no whenever Kate wanted to be included in their conversations. After a while, she became a real part of the group.

These kids would get themselves and Jasper into trouble every once and a while, but Jasper never minded. She didn't mind listening to the guards, teachers, or Roland, but she couldn't help the feeling of joy whenever Diane wanted to sneak into the kitchen, or when Noah wanted to cheat on a test. She liked the feeling of disobeying orders, but she made sure to be careful. If she went too far, she knew that Roland would never let her hear the end of it.

As much as Jasper liked hanging out and trusting her friends, there was something she would never be able to tell them. As far as they knew, she was brought to the compound along with everyone else when they were all under the age of seven. The truth being that Jasper was made in the compound, designed to take notes on the kids and report back to Roland every week. Jasper didn't know why he needed to know everything if he had cameras in the halls, but she never questioned it. Until the first kid disappeared.

When she was nine, a boy by the name of Uriah Lake was taken out of math class for a check up. A week went by before Jasper realized that she hadn't seen Uriah since that class. She knew that she had told Roland that Uriah was pretty strong for his age, and asked Roland where Uriah was, and if the strength had anything to do with it. Roland had snapped at Jasper, telling her to not ask questions and continue reporting in. After a few more weeks, six more kids were taking for 'check ups' and weren't seen again. Jasper started getting confused, and decided to follow the next kid who was taken.

When Kristin Kelly was called out of her English class after two months of the disappearances, Jasper snuck out of the room and followed the guard taking Kristin. She followed them through the compound, door after door, even through the doors that were usually locked while the kids were roaming around during the day. Eventually, the guard led Kristin into a room that had a metal chair in the middle, with a table of tools on the side. Jasper had no idea what the room was for, and wasn't able to see a hiding spot inside, so she stayed outside the door. She tried to listen as hard as she could, but the door must have been sound proof because she couldn't hear a thing.

She had gotten busted by another guard, and was taken to Roland. Roland was angry, and took her away from the other kids for three months. Jasper hated being separated from everyone else, but it wasn't as bad as she had expected. She was able to take the time to think about everything happening around her. The kids that were taken never came back, and after calculating the possibilities, Jasper concluded that the kids were either in another part of the compound, or they were... 

Jasper refused to think about that at the time and stayed as obedient as possible. But she did start giving more vague reports once she was allowed back with the other kids. She kept out odd details and made it seem like no one was interesting. Roland stayed surprisingly patient, and even started treating Jasper a little better than before. Jasper didn't know what was going on at the time, but as she grew up and started understanding that she was being manipulated, she started to resent Roland.

For the past six years, Jasper has made nothing but simple reports every other week. Things like a kid catching a cough or cheating on a test. Nothing that made anyone disappear. And luckily, the amount of kids taken were reduced to only one every year. Jasper still didn't know what Roland had done with the kids he had taken before, but she vowed to find out and hopefully stop whatever he was doing. Until then, she had to continue acting like she was like everyone else. Which, unfortunately, involved going to group recess.