On a very unfortunate day, a small child finds out a dark and devastating secret about their "Mother" and their lives. Will they be able to keep it a secret forever or will they finally crack?
I will try to keep the reader gender-neutral for the mos...
I've been getting information for over the past year. None of them have come up with a solid escape plan yet. The things I've gotten from Mom this past year have been a red sweater for Oliver, colorful hairpins for Sandy, a first aid kit for Zack because he kept getting hurt, pins and patches for Gillian, bandannas for Paula, and more spare parts for Nigel. They each enjoyed their presents from me. I had also gotten a camera and film to take pictures of my friends. None of them have asked about my behavior since that day, but they do check up on me regularly.
I go down to Mom's room to start the day as usual. Once we finish eating and taking our daily test, my friends and I go outside for free time. We sit under our tree and talk for a while. A few of the children run up to us, interrupting our conversation.
"Can you guys play tag with us?"
"We want Y/n and Zack to be the taggers!"
They exclaim cheerfully. We agree and start the game. All of the children run out into the forest to hide as we wait for two minutes. Once the waiting time is up, we both split up and race out into the forest after the children. I sneak up on most of the children, knowing their usual hiding spots. Even if I didn't know, Mom recently gave me one of the devices used to track the children. I have an unfair advantage over them, but that doesn't change the fact that most of my friends have more physical strength than I do. I jump through the trees quietly to go after them. Unfortunately, one of the branches breaks, and I fall to the ground with a thud. They turn around quickly once they hear me.
"Y/n, are you okay?" Gillian exclaims worriedly, trying to rush towards me to help. Sandy and Nigel hold her back and continue running away, not giving her the chance to protest.
I get up and race after them. I look over to my left to see Zack chasing after Paula and Oliver, yelling at Oliver about him being the faster one. After about five minutes, I finally catch the three. Zack appears by my side, dragging Paula and Oliver along with him, with a smug look on his face.
"Told you I'm faster than you!" Zack says to Oliver.
"Then why did it take you so long to tag me?" He asks.
"Doesn't matter, I'm still the best!" Zack says, proud of himself. He glances over at me, noticing the wound I had gotten from falling from the tree. He then proceeds to pick me up as if I'm weightless and carries me to the infirmary. He plops me down onto the bed gently.
"Zack, I'm fine. You don't need to--" I get cut off by him taking my leg and beginning to clean the wound. He then wraps it neatly and tries to help me get up. I nearly instantly stumble and fall, not yet being used to the bandages wrapped tightly across my leg. He picks me up bridal style and carries me back outside gently. I feel my face become warm again, similar to how it was around Oliver and Gillian.
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'Wait... Shit. Not again. I don't have time for this shit. I cannot be having feelings for another person. I'm too busy thinking about how to escape, I can't deal with this too...' I thought as I was carried by him.
He walks with me over to the tree and sits down under the tree. The others were already there waiting for us. Gillian flops onto the grass and kicks it.
"This is no fair! How do you guys always beat me?" She exclaims.
"Think, what does Y/n have that you don't?" Paula asks.
"I dunno. They're smart, good at staying calm and can run really fast. I guess they also run into scary situations with no hesitation..." She says, defeated.
"It's strategy. If it were all about physical strength, you would win easily. Tag requires strategy, just like any other game," She explains. Gillian nods and we continue our day.
~~~~~~~~~~
I sit at the table with my friends, between Gillian and Oliver. I have had a crush on both of them for a while now, and it only gets worse every day I spend with them. It's very bittersweet, knowing the truth about how they'll end up in a few years, but I'm deciding to try to just enjoy our time together for now. The next shipment that comes up, I plan to leave something out to lead them to the gate. Then, we can start planning our escape together.
After dinner, Sonya, Paula, and I go down to the library to read one of William Minerva's books. I had noticed the Morse code and hints to the outside world in them years ago. Unfortunately, none of them can read Morse code, so they've never noticed what it says. We read for a while before the two fall asleep on me.
'Am I just a fucking bed to everyone?' I thought to myself.
I carefully get up, not waking either of them. I pick up Sonya first and carry her off to her bed. I then carry Paula up to her bed and place her down gently. As I get up to walk over to my own bed, she grabs my hand and drags me into hers. I gently lay next to her and wait for her to fall asleep again.
~~~~~~~~~~
After everyone's asleep, I go into Mom's room for our daily check-in. She welcomes me and we start exchanging information.
"Oh, by the way, our next shipment date is set," She informs me.
"Who's is it?" I ask, sensing it was going to be something bad.
"Oliver's. Tomorrow's his birthday, yes? He's going to Bayon, so make sure to make it a good last day here," She says, looking like she felt sorry for me. I feel my heart drop.
"What?! You said you wouldn't ship them out until they aged out!" I yell, my voice slightly strained from my throat tightening up.
"I'm sorry. I tried to send out a different child, but they requested him because of his high test scores and quality.." She explains, seeming remorseful.
I turn away from her and storm out of the room. I know it isn't her fault that this happened, but it's still devastating. I go to my bed and curl up in the sheets. The tears start to fall from my eyes as I sob quietly. I muffle my sobs using the thin white sheets, trying not to alert the others. As my mind drifts off, thinking of how his final moments may go, I start to go down into a rabbit hole of pessimistic, depressing thoughts. I try to look around to distract myself. I tried looking at the others, only to have the same dark visions of them ending up with the same inevitable fate. I just decide to look out at the window. I focus on its latticed frame, illuminated by the soft glow of the moonlight. I try to focus on only objects, as they were the one thing I could look at without my brain wandering into dark territories.
