MONO

one

chapter one - erin torres 

❝it was so sunny out that day. the day that we met.❞ 

my small white-walled bedroom was only filled with a wire-framed bed and dresser. my room could be mistaken for a prison cell if it weren't for the window above my bed.

spring was coming, i could tell from the sunny mornings and frequent rains. a bright, happy few months were approaching the outside world, while i and the other hundreds of residents at rosewater would stay behind in the grayness of winter. 

although i was awake, i still sat quiet, underneath my white cover. the nun's footsteps echoed down the hall as they made their morning rounds. the sounds of light chatter and opening doors blended into the sound of footsteps, creating a grim symphony. i decided to stand up, knowing that soon, my life would be harder to ignore, with a moon-faced woman peering in at me at the door. 

my legs turned cold as a pulled the cover off of my body and stepped out onto the concrete floor. at the foot of my bed was a large drawer-like box where i had stuffed my few clothes and belongings into the first week after arriving. the chest was neatly stacked with t-shirts and jeans and pajamas, and a small plastic bag was off to the side containing dirty laundry i was yet to clean. i picked up a shirt: a red t-shirt with black sleeves, and jeans. the staff didn't let us wear stripes, but this shirt was the only stripe-like item i was able to wear. it was my favorite. whole wearing it i felt rebellious, in the sense that this shirt was borderline striped.

 i drew my pajamas off and pulled on my jeans and shirt after it. i neatly, and slowly, put my dirty clothes away into the bag. being organized was a habit i had picked up in the past 8 months, as a way to slow down time for a bit and keep my mind away from the sounds around me.

 a few moments later a sister opened my door and poked her head through. sister frannie was an older lady, and it showed. large bags formed under her eyes, her mouth sagged into an unerasable frown, and wrinkles covered every inch of her face. her outside image was spikey, but her heart was different and softer than what it may have seemed like. 

"laundry?" she rasped, her voice thick with an old smoking habit. i nodded and pointed to my opened drawer. 

"hurry, before they won't take any more of it." she smiled, before closing the door and shuffling away to the next room.

 every wednesday one of the sisters took our dirty clothes and washed them. it took almost a whole week for the nuns to finish each load, as they hand washed every shirt and pant vigorously. the end result was worth it, despite the long wait. shirts returned stainless, and pants returned smelling like fresh roses.

 i took the bag and closed the chest, and began walking down the hall to the washing room. a few other kids were there, talking, and putting their clothes down. each bag was marked with a  number, to mark who owned which clothes. the first time i had arrived here, the number they gave me almost felt cruel. why would they assign a human a number? but i saw it now. i understood the meaning behind the numbers. we were not humans in their eyes. not yet, at least. i rubbed my eyes free of sleep, set my things down, and waited for the sisters to unlock the doors.

 --- 

my first class was history. Christian history was an hour-long, and bible study was another hour after that. the rest of the day was not a class. it was torture. sister catherine taught history with thick textbooks and bibles. the classes were calm, peaceful almost. if my mother were to walk into this class, she would have thought that her decision to send me here was the right one. i wonder what she would think about the rest of the day. we were on chapter 12 out of the 40 in the textbook, which wasn't far at all, for how long we had all been here. i tuned the sisters' voice out, focusing down at my tan hands. dark lines ran down from the tips of my fingers to the palm of my hands, like an unfinished painting. i wondered if my hands were telling a story. a story through the cracks and rough edges of my palms, through the color in my skin. i wondered if my hands were saying something, and what they were telling me.

  there was a sound. it was different from the previous sounds i had been trying not to listen to but similar. i pulled myself away from my daze and looked around at the girls around me. they were all turning the page. i followed them and turned the page quickly. the familiar girl in front of me looked back at me for a moment. vita. she had long blonde hair and a short figure. she was a friend, more or less. it was hard to consider anyone a friend anymore, in a climate as spikey as rosewater's but she had managed to be friendly enough to me to gain my acquaintance. vita gave me a wavey smile as if to say hello. before i could smile back, she turned away and buried herself back into the word of god.

chapter by petalsayshi