Ataxia

twenty-two

"Whoa," my mouth gaped open and a smile was tickling my lips. "That is a wicked awesome backstory."

Mr. Kabadi grinned, shaking his head. "I honestly regret a lot of what I did. But then again, a lot of the things I did were good. If I hadn't drowned half the US then most of President Meyer's experimenting facilities would still stand and capture ataxias across the globe to experiment on."

It's funny when you finally learn about that weird neighbor or creepy janitor or that english teacher you really hate and realize they're an actual human being that has a backstory and doesn't sleep in a coffin. That's what it was like for me to discover my headmaster's tragic life story.

After a good night and thanks, I left, my stomach full of delicious and heart-warming chai. When I approached my dorm door, which was closed and light bled through the cracks. What was everyone doing up at two in the morning?

"What are you doing awake at two in the morning?" August crossed her arms, staring me down with her furious brown eyes once I entered the room. She obviously knew what I was doing. But even though she already found out, I explained anyway.

"I was going to the bathroom," I shrugged, going through the mob of children huddling together in a group at the center of the room to get to my bunk bed. "Seriously, do you people not go to the bathroom?"

Orion stood up, taking charge. He was the oldest out of all of us so it was pretty evident that he ran everything and everyone in the dorm. But it wasn't that he was a bad leader or person. Just a little nosy and really pushy. "Des, we're not allowed out of our dorms at night unless we have permission to. I know you're new here and you're getting adjusted, but please try and follow orders. There are reasons for every rule."

"What's the big deal?" I said a little more loudly than I meant to. I must have woken up the kids on either side of us. Perhaps the whole floor heard me. "Why can I not go to the bathroom?" I continued in a more quiet tone. "Honestly, why are we not allowed out of our dorms?"

Orion turned around and started up his ladder, quietly telling everyone to climb in bed and go back to sleep. Was he seriously ignoring me right now? I stomped over next to his bed and crossed my arms.

"Why, Orion?" I asked. "Why are we not allowed out of our dorms?"

"Des, just leave him be," Aug put her hand to my shoulder. I jumped a little because I had no idea she was there. "It's none of your business."

I whipped around, jabbing a finger to her face. "'None of my business'? Really, August? You're quite the hypocrite, aren't you? You're in everyone's business all the time because you can read minds. So you know, don't you? Tell me, why aren't we allowed out of our dorms? Why is everyone so secretive about it? Why am I the only one who can't know about it? Everyone else already does!"

"Destine, lay off," August moved my finger away from her nose. "I know how mad you are and I understand how you feel. But sometimes you just have to let things go." She paused. "You're not listening to a word I'm saying, are you?"

"No, I'm not," I said, feeling a little embarrassed. But I brushed it off and continued with my argument. "I'm not listening because you're not telling me what I want to hear."

"Destine, just go to bed," Orion said from his top bunk. "You're keeping everyone up and kids are gonna come in here for us to shush up any minute."

"I'm not going to quiet down until you tell me, Orion."

He laid down and turned on his side so I couldn't look him in the eye. Furious, I climbed up the bed and threw his sheets off.

"Why?"

"Because my best friend was kidnapped, okay?" He took the sheets from my hand and curled back into his little cocoon. "Sami was my best friend and she did the same thing you did, going to the bathroom late at night. At the time it was allowed that you could step out of your dorm as long as you didn't go outside. And the next morning when she wasn't in her bunk ...," his voice trailed off and I thought I could hear silent tears. "She was gone. Kidnapped. Erased from existence. We've conducted many searches for her but found nothing. But we all know deep down inside she's gone ... forever." He whispered the last word quietly as if he forbade himself from saying it.

Somewhere in the room, I could hear Ben sobbing into his pillow. I climbed off his bed and muttered a "I'm sorry" and went back to bed. I tried to whisper an apology to August but she was laying down and had her back to me and was facing the wall. I figured she needed to be alone so I drifted into an uncomfortable dream.