Faces, Names, and Memories (completed)

Chapter 7 - A New Life

I woke up and every single part of my body ached. I had blacked out on the floor and I assumed that I had slept the whole night. My stomach hurt because I hadn't eaten at all yesterday. All the events flooded into my mind and it made my head throb. Once the ever constant pain of my head died down I bit, I looked around my room to try and find Cale. He was laying with his torso on the bed but his legs hanging off. I heard him moan, and knew he was waking up.

My head was still foggy, probably from either exhaustion, hunger, pain or all three. I felt the spot where my head had slammed across the ground yesterday. There wasn't a bruise, it was just a little tender there. I wanted to know why they treated us all so badly. What did we do that was so wrong?

I tried to climb into the bed, but just the motion itself made my legs and back throb. I realized that I wouldn't be able to get up for a while with a sigh.

When Cale woke up, he slid off the bed, grimacing as he hit the floor. Then he saw me sitting there, slumped against the bed he gave me a scathing smile.

"I see you finally understand what physical examination means," Cale said. I nodded, lacking anything else to say. I leaned my head against the side of the bed, but a sharp pain in the irritated area made me pull my head away. Cale noticed and he eyed me scrutinizingly.

"What's wrong with your head?" He asked.

"Nothing," was my answer. It really wasn't anything. I just had hit it on the ground, that's all.

"I know it's not nothing," Cale said. I pursed my lips in frustration.

"Look, we all are hurt from yesterday, it's nothing," I replied. Cale seemed as if he had just remembered. At the thought his expression darkened.

"Yeah," was all he said. I suddenly felt a feeling like a boot kicking inside my stomach. The hunger was beginning to get to me. At the same time, a guard slid open the door to our room. It was very inconvenient for us to be situated in the first room.

"Breakfast time," was all the guard said. "Go to the commons, you try anything we'll lock everyone in their room with no food."

I followed Cale out. He didn't say anything and was still in a bad mood. We entered into a large storage room, I guess that's what they called the commons. It was gray and dull, as if I was walking into a rain cloud. Piping lined the walls and the ceiling.There were a couple metal crates in the corners of the room, but other than that it was pretty much empty. I had the feeling that this wasn't even a storage room. But, before I could ask Cale, the guards started shushing us. The lagging kids fled into the room standing in huddles.

"Everyone sit!" The same guard who had called us before ordered. Most likely he was the more prominent one. Probably because he was bigger than the other guard. He made a gesture to the guard behind him. That guard started handing out little plates wrapped with plastic. Once all the kids had recieved them, the guards left. It was strange that they would leave us unattended. Then he shut the door and we all heard the click that meant the door was locked. They locked us all in a giant holding cell, great. The kids started slowly forming groups and mingling. I considered following Cale, but he had moved over to a group of boys that I didn't know. I looked around, looking for someone to sit with. Then I saw Tressa sitting alone in a corner. I wonder why she was alone, but deep down I was kind of glad. I walked over to her.

"Mind if I sit?" I asked. Tressa seemed surprised to see me come up to her. She shook her head slowly. I unwrapped the plastic. Underneath it was a lump of soggy bread. I think it was supposed to be French toast, but I couldn't tell.

"I really don't think I can eat that," I said poking it with my finger. Tressa laughed.

"How about we both try it at the same time," she said. I grimaced, but the hunger in my stomach taunted me. "It's better than starving. They give us a meal day every other day."

"Meal day?" I repeated.

"They lock us all in here and give us food. But they only do it every other day. So one day we eat, the next day we don't. Unless it's an inspection, then we actually eat real food." Tressa explained. She picked off a tiny piece off of the bread lump as I did the same. It was oily and repulsing, but my stomach forced me to eat the whole thing.

"This is what life is going to be like from now on?" I asked. "Eating every other day. Going through torture once a week. Being locked in."

"Yeah, I remember what it was-" Tressa began to say something but stopped herself. "Yes, that's just the way it is." I was about to tell her to finish the thought, but it decided not to push it. If she didn't want to tell me it was for a reason. And I needed to respect that.