Crimson

-Chapter 1-

Crying, I hate the sound of crying. It doesn't help anything, at least not anymore, it's just annoying. I cover my ears. Rolling over on the concrete floor and ignoring Eiysa's cries. But they don't stop. Groaning, I sat up and dusted off my white jumpsuit. The dorms were a mess. In the corner of the small room was a twin sized bed; Which us older kids gave to the toddlers. The floor was covered in dark red stains, dirt and garbage from weeks of lunches, the smell of water damage was unbearable. Eiysa noticed I was up and ran over to me, throwing her small arms around my legs. Her face was covered in a thin layer of dust, disturbed by the two streaks of tears running down her cheeks. The red bush of hair on top of her head was frizzy and messed up, clearly the result of a nightmare.

"I saw it again 'cia.." Eiysa whispered, lifting her head up to look at me, her green eyes tearing into my heart. I sat down and pulled the small girl into my side. Eiysa has a malfunction is what the adults like to say. About 20 years ago, kids started to gain supernatural abilities and or mutations. Adults were terrified of this new event and started calling our abilities ''malfunctions". They took kids into prisons, hiding them away from the rest of society, so they could test our blood and see what was causing these abnormalities. At least that's what they told the public. Eiysa can see bits and pieces of the future in her dreams sometimes. It's not a constant thing, but when it happens it's never good.

"What did you see?" I spoke in a soft voice, as to not wake the others, if they were even sleeping. Eiysa looked at me and shook her head. I knew exactly what she saw. Its the same twisted dream that terrifies her every other night. In the dream Eiysa goes into testing and something goes wrong. Eiysa doesn't return to the dorms in the dream. Everyone in our sector knows Eiysa's going to die. We just don't know when. Eventually I get Eiysa to stop crying and go back to bed. The main challenge for me at the current moment is getting back to sleep, like that's ever going to happen.

Laying on my back, I look around the room counting heads; reassuring myself that everyones here and safe for the time being. There were six people in our sector, two of which were under the age of ten. Eiysa's the youngest, only five years old. She arrived three weeks ago, the newest of all of us. It didn't take long for Eiysa to fit in, she kind of just clicked with everyone. Mika's the second youngest, she's seven. Her malfunction is a healing ability. It's not very strong but it can heal most sicknesses just not open wounds. Next up is Sherri and I, we're both sixteen. Sherri can talk to animals, that's the only reason we don't have mice in the dorms. Me on the other hand. I've had my malfunction since I was two. A lot of my family members had the same malfunction as well. They called each other Dragonian. Big whoop I guess. I just have wings and some horns. Nothing special. The guards mainly keep me here because the scales on my wings contain some rare element used to make nuclear bombs. The next oldest is Iago, he's seventeen. His malfunction is telekinesis, he can lift stuff up with his mind. As long as it weighs less than him. The eldest is Nickolosi. He's eighteen. Nickolosi can control plants. He also has a flower mutation on his head that changes color from time to time. But that's all six of us. My little family.

Morning always comes as a shock to me. One moment we're in complete darkness and the next a guard is bursting open the door and dragging one of us out. I watched drowsily as Sherri was dragged out the door with an annoyed look on her face.

"I can walk you know!" She practically barked at the guard

Sherri continued to spout insults at the guard whose name was Onyx I think. Sherri's voice began to dim, signaling that Onyx had turned a corner. I stood up and walked over the light switch. Nickolosi groaned as light filled up the room.

"Alright everybody up!" I raised my voice just enough for the toddlers to hear.

They sat up rubbing the sleeves of their jumpsuits on their eyes. Iago stood up and started to make the small bed.

"Nick, could you help me clean up the trash?" I called out.

The garbage on the floor was going to bring bugs. Mika hated bugs, they made her scream, and I hated screaming. Nick grumbled and started to sweep trash into the corner with his foot. Guards normally pick up the garbage once a month. The dorms usually smell of mildew and trash. Wonderful isn't it? I felt a tug on my pant leg, looking down I saw Mika.

"When do you get that off?"

She pointed to my wing binder. The Guards made me wear it if I broke the rules, which I tend to do a lot.

"Soon, I promise."

To be honest I had no clue when I was getting the binder off, but it was better to provide hope than sorrow in these types of situations. Mika looked at me then said,

"I know it hurts you, Iago can probably get it off."

Mika was also very blunt for a seven year old. I sighed and instructed her to help Iago make the bed.

The door opened and Onyx appeared with a tray of breakfast. On the tray was two small bowls of brown oatmeal, one small pear, and one bottle of water. Totally enough to feed six growing children. Eiysa walked over and frowned as she saw the spread of food.

"I wanted pancakes" she sniffled and held onto Nick. Both the younger kids were extremely clingy, always holding onto someone. I handed her one of the oatmeal bowls and gave Mika the other. I then flexed my finger making one claw appear, then cut the pear into four slices. Nick grabbed his slice and went to talk with Iago or talk while Iago listened. Iago didn't talk much. I watched as he pulled his long, white hair into a low ponytail. Iago's hair was white to represent his malfunction. It matched his spruce colored skin beautifully. I cut my pear slice in half and gave it to Mika and Eiysa. They were too young to understand the importance of saving food, so I gave in and made sure that they never went hungry.

"If you keep doing that, you'll starve to death." Nick's voice was soft and full of worry. I looked up at him and smiled.

"I won't starve." My tone tightens as to say, don't bring this subject up again or I'll slit your throat. Nick got the message and walked away. Leaving me to continue cleaning the dorms.

~

Sherri came back shortly after we finished breakfast. She suggested we try and get the binder off. I tried to decline but she argued with me until I agreed. Iago walked over and started to fiddle with the controls. I'm not going to lie, I was really nervous. Especially after Eiysa said she wanted to try and get it off. Iago let her since it could do no harm. What surprised us was how she actually managed to get it off. One moment I'm bouncing my leg panicking the next I hear the sharp clang of metal hit the floor. The amount of shock inside the room was hard to explain.

"How did you do that?" Sherri grabbed Eiysa's shoulders and started gently shaking her back and forth.

"I don't know I just did." Eiysa stared at Sherri with wide eyes seemingly startled at what she did. I wasn't paying much attention though. I unfurled my wings, spreading them out so my entire wingspan could be seen. That's forty feet wing to wing by the way. The crystal white feathers had dark red splotches and stains, bruises were everywhere but it was such a relief to be free. That's when the door slammed open and six different guards stormed into the room. They looked at the empty binder on the floor, then the guards grabbed the binder and Eiysa and slammed the door shut leaving all five of us stunned.

"How did they find out the binder was off?" Mika asked,

"Why didn't they put it back on?" Nick spoke over Mika,

"Where are they taking Eiysa?!" Sherri spoke over Nick

"Calm down!" I raised my voice sternly, drawing back in my wings so they weren't as huge. The room went silent. We all knew what had happened.

Eiysa wasn't going to return to the dorms tonight.