➵ 𝐬𝐭𝐚𝐛𝐥𝐞𝐭

CHAPTER THREE

The facility loomed, bright white but foreboding, in the distance. The train squealed to a stop in a small station and the guards made themselves present. They ordered all on the train to get off of it one by one. They did so, shaken and tired, some of their shoes leaving skid marks on the smooth floor.

They were led into a large square room. At the front it was round, a stage there, with a single chair and a potted plant. The room was dark with blue lighting. They shuffled wordlessly onto benches, the silence was (was quiet if u couldn't tell u dummies) eerie, the kind that disturbed you, settled in your bones until you couldn't tell what was real, only the continued subtle, cotton-wrapped beat of your heart.

Violet shoved her hands into the pockets of her jacket. It was freezing, and the thin fabric did nothing to block the relentless chill. She stood with the three other girls that she met on the train because she didn't know anyone else. No one had any memory of before they came here. She watched as a man stepped onto the stage, Ivan.

"Welcome," he said, and Violet thought that inane, because 'welcome' was something you said to guests, not prisoners.

"This will be your new home. This place is safe and secure away from the bad in the world. There is nothing to worry about."

Everyone felt uneasy but somehow decided, or felt obligated to trust him because they had nowhere else to go, the way a miserable cat still scrounges for food at it's owner's table.

They were rounded up again, making Sapphire think of cattle, and led to their rooms. Four people to a room, girls in one wing, boys in another. Violet, Toph, Sapphire, and Jules shared their room. A small, stark, and square-shaped with two bunk beds, each fitted with a light blue sheet. The door was heavy and metallic-like which ensured there would be no escaping.

"It's homey I guess..." said Jules.

"All of this is so weird, we are basically trapped in here now for forever." Toph commented.

"You don't know. Maybe they'll let us roam around like free-range people." Sapphire said hopefully.

"I don't know guys. None of this feels right. I don't think this is a safe place, this doesn't feel like a new home." Violet said.

"Of course it doesn't. I don't fucking remember anything before that train, and I'm sure no one else does, either. But I know wherever that was, that was home. This whole thing is crazy." Sapphire climbed to a top bed. "I claim this one."

"I claim this one." The other top bed. As Violet climbed onto this bed, she noticed that there was a vent near the corner of the room. She wondered about where it could lead to but then decided that it probably wasn't important. There were other things to figure out now such as if they were safe or not.

"I'll take the one below yours then Violet." Toph said.

"Oh I see how it is. Don't want to sleep under me- okay Toph."

"Yeah that's right."

"I'll take the one below yours, Sapphire," said Jules.

The lights blinked out, then, signalling they went to sleep. So they did, not knowing what their life would turn into.