Kaleidoscope (discontinued)

Chapter 5

-Alyssa pov-

I followed Jay into the room, slurping at what was left of my slushy. Jay closed the door, and I moved to sit on my bed. Sitting down, I pulled my phone out of my pocket. The window opened, and the cat, Butters, climbed into the room. 

"You hungry?" Jay inquired, walking over to the cat and rubbing him behind the ears. 

I nodded. All I'd eaten today was some donuts. We'd wasted the entire Sunday at the park, not that I was complaining about that, just the lack of food opportunities since the consession stands were all overpriced. 

"You like Chinese?" Jay asked me. 

I nodded again, wondering where this was going when a slightly crumpled sheet of paper dislodged itself from the mess on Jay's side of the room, and floated over to me. It straightened itself out and hovered in place in front of my face.

"Here. You can look though this and let me know what you want." He collapsed into a bean bag chair, and another sheet of paper slid off the desk along with a pen. 

I caught the first paper as it started to fall. I looked through it a while, a bit nervous about ordering anything. 

"Don't worry, its fine. It may be cheap, but its still pretty good." Jay said over the soft sound of the pen scribbling across the paper.

I nodded it wasn't the food quality that I was worried about. 

Jay grabbed his phone, and called the restaurant, ordering some kind of chicken for himself and a fried rice for me. I played some games on my phone, and he continued writing what he was doing. 

>_>

I looked up, and soon after Jay did the same. He stood up and walked over to the door. He stood there for about a minute before pulling his wallet out of his pocket, and motionlessly opening the door. I could see the delivery guy walk up, then suddenly my vision shifted like a glitching computer screen, and I could see the same man walk up again. And again. And again. And again. And. Again. Each time he was wearing something different and looked slightly different. 

I heard the door close, but it was separate from what I was seeing. I couldn't look away until-

"ALYSSA!"

I jumped, and looked up, wide-eyed at Jay standing in front of me holding a styrofoam container. "What?"

"Food." He let go of it, and it moved to the spot on the bed directly next to where I was sitting. "Yours." Jay shook his head as he walked back over to where he was sitting on the floor. He just kind of sat there, writing away as he caught chunks of food that floated out of the container next to him with his mouth. It kinda looked like the ultimate laziness, but at the same time it probably took a lot of concentration to do that. 

When I asked him what he was doing he said, "I have an essay due tomorrow."

"Cool." When I finished eating, I asked, "Where's the bathroom?"

"Down the hallway to the left, you'll probably recognize the bathroom door logo." Jay didn't look up from the paper.

I nodded, and stood up to leave the room. I didn't run into anyone in the hallway or in the bathroom.

>_>

It was when I was laying in the bed in the dark trying to sleep when my new reality really hit me. My mother had abandoned me in this place to be taken care of by some guy who wanted nothing to do with me just because I could see what was going to happen. 

It was her new boyfriend's fault really. He didn't like the idea of having a freak around so he talked my mom into sending me to this place. But she wouldn't have been talked into something unless she really wanted it. 

My own mother would rather send me to a hellhole that only exists as a government-funded pity palace for abandoned kids with abilities. But why did my mom did this? I thought she loved-

"Will you stop? I'm trying to sleep."

I jumped slightly at Jay's voice. It was then I realized I'd been crying. "Sorry."

"Whatever. Just be quiet." 

I tried to calm down and go to sleep, but once I started thinking about it I couldn't stop. A cardboard box fell onto face, causing me to let out a small scream in surprise. 

I grabbed it, and found it to be a box of tissues. "Th-thanks." I said through tears. 

 "Eh. Anything to make you shut up. One thing to remember - no-one cares. You're not going to get any sympathy from me, and not from anyone else. No-one here cares about or looks out for anyone but themself." Jay spoke as-a-matter-of-factly, his voice revealing little emotion. 

I wasn't sure if he was trying to be mean or give me advice. Or both.