Unearthly Battles

5.

Jayla, Marley and Luca made their way around the center of the good side, watching people go about their daily lives. 

"You know" Jayla started, "I don't see why this side is called good, it could maybe be called upper-class or wealthy, but it isn't good."

"It seems like a pretty good place to me, but I don't know what the bad side is like." Marley answered

"The bad side has much more crime." Luca pointed out. He was a generally quiet teen and hadn't talked much yet.

"But does it?" Jayla asked. "I mean, yes, it has more recorded crimes, but this side of the city has took it upon itself to make it seem better. I wonder how much crime they cover up and don't alert the people to. I wonder how many of them bribe the newscasters to keep a story quiet."

Jayla was on a roll; "The people who we consider to be bad are just, like, brutally honest. They were brought up knowing that they're looked down upon by us, so they probably don't even try to prove themselves anymore. But it still isn't that bad over there, they aren't as dirty and run-down as everyone up here says, they just don't have crystal chandeliers in every lobby."

Marley and Luca wait patiently for the other girl to finish her rant, but have nothing to say afterwards. The three sit on a bench on the common in silence, each stuck in their own thoughts. They had walked around for an hour and a half before finding themselves there. Even though they were out in the city only once a month, and it was usually interesting to watch people, there still weren't any sights to see when it came to exploring the city. 

But even with nothing to do, they seemed to silently agree that sitting on the bench was a nice enough way to pass the time, and that there wasn't much of a reason to go back before they had to meet the chaperone. 

Jayla's rant had come quite literally out of nowhere, but the twins weren't very surprised by it. Jayla was known around the orphanage for being plain strange, but it didn't bother them at all, they thought she was pretty interesting to talk to. 

 Jayla turned her head to the left as her brown eyes skipped over people in the crowds, watching their interactions. She paused on a group of  four kids and squinted, focusing on one in particular; "Is that-?"

-

The four woke with a start as Skyler fell off her shelf. She was delightfully graceful and dangerous when she was awake, but being asleep made anyone weak. It wasn't that much of a surprise that she fell with how much she had been thrashing around - not that anyone would mention her obvious nightmares - but it did make quite a noise when she went crashing down on the Scrabble box. 

"Fuck me" she groaned, being met with a chorus of answers.

"Okay."

"Pretty sure I'm too young for you."

"I don't swing that way, sorry Sky." Addison giggled.

She rolled her eyes, "You weren't supposed to respond to that, Christ."

"Christ didn't respond though. Or maybe he did, but I didn't hear him. Excuse me, Christ, please speak up!"

"Shut the fuck up, Paxton."

"There are children present, Skyler, no swearing."

"I'm not a child! I'm thirteen!"

"That makes you the youngest Nick, therefore you are the child of the group." Paxton responded.

"I hate you all." Skyler muttered, shaking her head at the other three that were now having their own random discussion. 

She rolled off of the Scrabble game and sat up, stretching her arms above her head as her back popped. Her hands came up to rub the sleep to of her eyes, and she stood, looking around the storage unit. Everything was the same as when they went to sleep. She glanced at the watch on her left wrist, one that she had stolen off of some guy going for his morning jog, and saw that it was around seven in the morning.