September 20th, 2037
Y/n's Pov
The only sounds echoing in the room were the soft snoring of my siblings and the clock quietly ticking. The sun shone through the latticed window on my right. I look over at the clock. It's already 6:47. I remove the snow-white sheets from myself and quietly walk over to the closet to grab my uniform. I get dressed as my siblings sleep. Gently opening the door, I try not to let it creak. I walk down to our mother's room. She typically gets up earlier to take care of the babies and start breakfast. I enter the room to find her holding our younger siblings, Theo and Monika. They arrived here about 6 months ago.
"Good morning, y/n. Do you mind helping with the smaller kids while I go start breakfast and wake up everyone?" Mom asks.
"Sure," I reply while walking to get the outfits for them.
She grabs the bell off of her desk and exits the room. I walk towards the cribs with the small, snow-white uniforms. I dress them as they giggle at me. As soon as I finish my task, Gillian comes into the room, cheerful and full of energy as always.
"Morning y/n! Want to come to eat breakfast with us?" She asks with her signature cat-like smile.
I nod in response and she helps me carry the other children into the dining hall. When we arrive, we give the children to our mother as usual. Gillian drags me off to the table we usually sit at. Oliver, Paula, Zack, Sandy, Sonya, Pepe, and Nigel were already there.
"Good morning, Gillian, Y/n," Oliver says with a small smile.
"Good morning," We both respond.
We sit down next to them and talk about the usual stuff - Interests, the outside world, inside jokes, etc.
"Oh no! I just remembered it's Sage's 12th birthday. I need to make them a card after we eat," Gillian says.
"Yeah. Aren't they getting adopted today too?" I ask.
"Yup. I'm gonna miss them, but I'm sure they'll write letters and send stuff!" Sandy said happily.
"I don't know... None of our other siblings have... Now that I think about it, it's a bit strange that they don't," I said, mumbling the last part.
"I'm sure they're just busy with their new families. We should be happy for them!" Oliver says.
Our conversation was interrupted by our mother ringing a bell, grabbing everyone's attention.
"Good morning to you my darling children. Now, let us appreciate that all 39 of you can live happy lives under this roof. We are thankful." Mom says.
"Thank you for the food!" All of us say in unison.
We all start eating our delicious breakfast, which had been prepared by our loving mother. After we had finished, we walked to the classroom to do our daily test. I sit in my seat in the back of the class. Mom turns the lights off as we put on our headphones and grab our pens.
"Age 8, Type 1. Answer each question within ten seconds. When you hear the tone, begin." The robotic voice says before the loud buzz, indicating the start of the test.
I do my best to answer each question quickly enough. I usually know the answers, but I'm a bit more tired today than usual.
After we finish our daily tests, we go outside for free time. There was a group of children playing with a ball behind us. One gets hit in the face and flies through the air but gets back up as if nothing had happened. We sit below the lone tree near the field. I sit on my knees with Oliver to my right and Gillian to my left, with Zack, Nigel, Paula, Sonya, Pepe, and Sandy in front of us. I have my sketchbook and am drawing one of my reoccurring nightmares.
Oliver leans onto my shoulder, looking at the drawing. I feel my heart skip a beat from him being so close, but decide to ignore it for now.
"What are you drawing this time?" He asks.
"A nightmare I keep having," I answer.
"What's it about?" Paula asks.
"Usually it happens at the gate. Most of the time, bouquets are blooming out of the children's chests as if they were nothing but soil. Mom tries to help but she's usually killed by a large shadowy creature, just before all of the others are eaten by it," I respond.
"...Are you okay? Do you need to talk to one of us?" Sandy asks, concerned.
"Yeah, I'm fine. It's most likely just because I've always been scared of the gate. It's probably just nothing," I respond.
"..Alright," They say. They all continue with the conversation.
I close my sketchbook after I got bored of drawing. A few minutes later, I feel a weight on my left shoulder and my lap. I look over to see both Gillian and Oliver taking a nap, resting their heads on me. I feel my face heat up and my heart started beating faster.
'They're both so cute-- Wait, why did I just think that?? Gillian and Oliver are my best friends, I can't be thinking that about them...I can't like my best friends..' I thought, getting flustered.
I sat there and stared at the ground while spacing out and thinking about this situation. The rest of our group seemed to notice, at least for a little bit. Pepe was the first to notice, he nudged the others and pointed to us. Zack, Nigel, and Sandy seemed to be slightly jealous of one of us, no telling which one though.
"Go get the camera," Sonya says, and Paula quickly runs off to grab it.
She comes back with the small camera Nigel had made for us. He asked Mom for things like scrap metal and wires to work with and he got some parts on his last birthday. He's always been good when it comes to mechanics. Sonya gets in front of us with the camera and quickly takes a photo.
"H-hey, stop! You'll wake them up!" I say, trying to keep my voice down.
Sonya just giggles in response and watches as the photo develops. I feel my face grow much warmer when I look at the photo. The others take notice of this. Sandy gasps.
"You like them, don't you!" He says teasingly. I reach over and grab my sketchbook. I hit him over the head with it.
"Ow! That's mean!" He exclaims, waking the two up. Gillian's eyes flutter open and she looks up at me. I notice her face turn a light shade of pink before she quickly gets up. Oliver shifts from my shoulder to my lap after she moves.
"I'm still tired.." He says, still half-asleep. He then closes his eyes and goes back to his nap. As I grow even more flustered, the others start teasing me for it.
After a few hours, we are called inside to say goodbye to our older sibling, Sage. Today is their 12th birthday, which is usually the oldest someone will be before they get adopted. I'm hoping she enjoys her new home, and hopefully writes letters, unlike our other adopted siblings. I've always found it weird that none of them write to us, but I suppose Oliver had a point. They're probably just busy in the outside world with their new families. We say our goodbyes to them. Quite a few of the children cried as they were very close to them.
"Don't cry! I promise to write plenty of letters and try to visit you if I can! We'll meet again one day. So be happy, alright?" Sage says, trying to cheer Jake up.
They hug him one last time before turning away. As they walk out with our mother, I begin cleaning up the dining hall with Oliver and Gillian. I mostly stayed silent, still thinking about earlier. Neither of them seemed to be fazed by it in the slightest. Maybe I'm just overreacting to it. As I was wiping down the table, I noticed Sage's friendship bracelet given to them by Jake. I look out of the window to see the gate light is still on.
"I'm going to go give their bracelet back. Can you guys cover for me while I'm gone?" I ask Oliver and Gillian.
"Yeah, sure. Are you sure you don't want us to go with you? You said you've always been scared of the gate.." Oliver offers.
"I still am, but I'll be fine. Don't worry," I say, walking off to the back door.
I quickly run through the field towards the gate. I'm going to try to get this done as quickly as possible. I don't want to be there for long. I walk up to the large brick structure. I hear water dripping from the pipes and muffled voices from behind a door. The truck is where they'd most likely be right now. I go up to the truck and lift the curtain. I was paralyzed in fear at the sight of their lifeless body laid out in the truck. They had a red bouquet struck through their chest, their shirt soaked with blood around the wound.
I jump suddenly feeling a tight grip on my shoulder. I look over to see our mother looking down at me with an expression I had never seen her with before. Her face was completely different from the person she was before. She was warm, kind, and loving before; Now, all there is, is a cold, heartless monster. Behind her stands two tall demons. Their eyes dart towards me quickly under their strange masks.
"Isn't this AVI321-034? They were the one you put in a recommendation to become a caregiver. Are they here to be shipped out yet?" The taller one asks.
"Not yet. I just brought them here to see the Gupna ritual. Don't worry, they already knew about this. They are loyal to me, they won't tell any of the other children." She responds monotonously. The shorter one looks into my (e/c) eyes hungrily.
"Alright. The next shipment is another premium one, yes?" The shorter one says.
"Yes."
"Alright, you may leave now." The taller one states before grabbing Sage's corpse and placing it into the large vat of liquid.
Mom and I walk back to the house in silence. She brings me back to her room. I sit across from her at the desk as she looks into my eyes seriously.
"You weren't supposed to see or hear any of that. You understand this right?" She asks.
"Yes, I know. I usually wouldn't want to go near the gate, but I had to return Sage's bracelet. May you please explain what they meant by me becoming a caregiver?" I ask in return.
"If someone meets certain requirements, they can be recommended to become a caregiver by the mother of the house. Since you have had perfect scores since you've been able to take the tests and are good at caring for the children here, I recommended you a while ago. However, you can't be shipped out until you are 13 when becoming a caregiver here. Does that explain it well enough?" She explains briefly. I nod in response.
"Now then, I've got a deal to make with you.." She starts.
"What is it?" I ask.
"You have to help me spy on the children here. Just make sure they don't find out about the reality of the farm. In return, I can get you objects from the outside as long as they're not too dangerous. Sound good?" She offers, extending a hand for me to shake.
"On one condition."
"Oh? And what would that be?"
"You can't ship out my friends early. You have to wait until they get to the maximum age for this farm."
"Alright then.." She says as I grab her hand.
"It's a deal." We say in unison, shaking hands.
I get up from the chair and leave the room. I walk back into my room and flop down onto my bed tiredly. I look over to see Violet, Gillian, Sonya, and Paula sleeping peacefully, completely unaware of our dark situation. I lay there for the rest of the night, thinking of possible escape routes and plans to use.