Others

Cobalt

Today is different

I can feel it in my bones

I rise from my cot

Dressing quickly

Rolling my hair into a knot

The Other girls are still asleep

I'm always up before them

Mainly due to the fact that I almost never sleep

Since I visit Kaze every other night

Fatigue makes my limbs heavy

My eyelids drooping

But I still keep my body moving

Robotically

Slow, measured movements

A guard always escorts me up to the higher level

You'd have never thought

They'd have such a dismal place

Right below the glossy, linoleum floors

It's bright

White

And painstakingly clean

It's a maze of hallways and rooms

Mostly labs

Where they do testing

On what

I'm not sure

I only get glimpses through cracks of doors

Large glass tubes with clear substances

Tools

People in white lab coats and work gear

Wearing face masks and rubber gloves

Something you'd see in your nightmares

I work for hours

Scrubbing the already spotless floors with bleach

It permeates the air

The smell never leaves me

It stays in my nose

In my hair

My clothes reek of it

And no matter how hard I wash

It always lingers

Reminding me

My arms drip with sweat

Mingling with the bleach

My entire front is soaked with it

And for a moment

When a guard comes to get me

I think he's allowing me to leave

But I was wrong

Instead

He leads me through another set of hallways

Unfamiliar

And unwelcoming

We stop outside a door

One knock

And it opens

I'm pushed inside

And left alone

To face him

The ice cold Other