The Otherkind

•Chapter 3•

Approaching the building, Eris observed that it was larger than a house. There was something outside resembling a playground like the ones she had seen in television shows growing up. There was a road nearby, but no cars speeding by. The building was a good distance from the road, separated by what appeared to be a parking lot overgrown with weeds and even a few trees poking through the once sturdy pavement. The structure itself, Eris now realized, looked like it had once been a school. The school was clearly an abandoned building in the present, and from the outside looked as though no one had set foot near it in decades.

Kora lead them closer to the school, approaching the door. Eris had assumed by now that they were going to shelter here as it was far from their old home and safely away from humans. What she did not expect was for Kora to stop and knock on the doors, as if she expected someone to be inside. The children stood perplexed as Kora waited patiently near the door. Eris noticed a movement through a dusty window. Her ears flattened in fear and she wrapped her tail around herself as she grew increasingly more anxious. Whoever was inside had seen them, and knew now that there were freaks outside. She could only hope that Kora knew what she was doing revealing their little family to someone.

The door creaked open, and a soft voice began to speak. "It's good to see you, but why are you here?" Eris began to calm down, realizing that her guardians must have known the speaker.

"It's good to see you too Anoura, but I'm not here just to say hello. My house was found and Alli's gone, they caught her while we were trying to escape. All the kids are safe though, they're here with me." Kora motioned for the children to come closer to the light where they could be seen more easily.

Upon moving closer, Eris realized that the woman in the doorway, Anoura as Kora had called her, wasn't quite like anyone Eris had ever met before. Her ears were very, very large and pointed, and coming from her back were two black featherless wings. Eris had never seen a bat person before, she didn't even realize they existed. She had always known there was practically no limit to what animal features a freak could have, but she had never really thought about what that meant before. She had never really thought about just how many different animals there were, and by extension the many different types of freaks there must be in the world.

"Come inside," Anoura directed everyone. She led them through the doorway and into a dark hall. There were more hallways connecting to this one, and rooms and doors everywhere. Eris was suddenly intimidated and afraid of this place. Everything was dark and unfamiliar. The inside of the school was clean, but looked nothing like the home she had grown up in. The sound of other people could be heard very faintly coming from somewhere, and the building felt too large and easy to get lost in. Looking around at the others, she tried to judge how they were feeling. Ari was uncharacteristically silent, looking down at the tiled floors. Leo seemed curious, looking around to see if there were other new people to meet or any interesting places he could go. The twins stayed close to Kora, anxiously waiting to be told what to do next.

Anoura led them to a set of double doors directly in front of their position in the entrance hallway. Upon opening the doors, they entered a very large room. The ceiling was higher than in the hallway, with small rectangular windows near the top of the walls. Scattered across the room were sets of tables and chairs, and a doorway near a window on one wall appeared to lead into a kitchen. A cafeteria, Eris realized. Maybe they have food here she thought hopefully as she remembered how long it had been since she'd eaten.

Her wish was soon granted as Anoura disappeared into the kitchen to emerge with multiple trays of sandwiches and six water bottles. The children sat down at a table together, thanking Anoura for the food. Kora grabbed some food and water for herself before going to speak with Anoura about something a few tables away. Eris ate absentmindedly, her thoughts focused on what was going to happen now that they were here, wherever "here" was. There were a million questions she wanted to ask Kora, like how she and Anoura knew each other, if they were going to live here now, whether they were going to try to find Alli, or where they were going to sleep. She was too tired and anxious to make conversation, and she guessed most of the others felt the same as the only person talking occasionally was Leo.

Eris sat quietly in thought. Everything that day had felt so fast and yet so slow. As they were fleeing their home every hour had felt like days. Every minute took too long to pass. And yet, it had all gone by in a sort of blur, making it unclear how long it had really been. Just that morning she had woken up in her own bed. Ali was giving instructions and Eris had rushed to pack her backpack with anything she valued. She took out her sketchbook, one of the things she had taken with her, and looked through all of her old drawings. It seemed like years since she had put her pencil to paper and yet only around a week ago had she filled the last page of her book.

She was pulled back to reality by a tap on her shoulder. "C'mon, Anoura is gonna show us where we can sleep for tonight," Ari told her. Eris rose from her seat and followed the others trailing behind Anoura. The halls all seemed the same as that first entryway, dark and imposing, as if anything at all could be concealed in those shadows. They came to a stop at a door, one of many in the hallway they stood in. Upon entering the room, Eris took a moment to look at her new surroundings.

Against one wall, to the left of the door, stood three beds spaced evenly with nightstands between them. On the wall directly in front of the group, three more beds arranged the same way. Each wall had papers with drawings on them that appeared to have been made by people with various levels of skill. In the center of the floor, a large, round, blue rug with swirling gold patterns, and on top of it a small wooden table. There was a single dusty window against the last wall, to the right of the door. Finally the ceiling, bare except for the rectangular lights spread across it, seemingly the same as any average school lights.

"You can choose whatever bed you'd like to sleep in," Anoura instructed them, "I'll be back in the morning to check on you and explain some things." With that, she left, wishing them all a good night and closing the door quietly behind her.

Eris walked to a bed in a corner, hoping it would feel just a little more like home as her bed had been in the corner of her room. She decided to keep her backpack next to her as she slept, fearing someone would break into the room and take it. Despite her exhaustion, she struggled to get herself to sleep. The strange sounds of the building kept her awake. People were walking somewhere in one of the halls. There were voices speaking, but she couldn't quite hear what they were saying. The others didn't have ears like hers that picked up such quiet sounds, and Eris was grateful that at least the younger kids wouldn't be too afraid to fall asleep. Kora could hear them, but she was too lost in her own thoughts and fears to pay them any attention.

Eris was excited almost as much as she was terrified. The sound of voices meant there were others here, and tomorrow she would likely meet some of them. She wasn't sure who they were, but her imagination gave her enough to hope for. They could be more freaks like herself, or maybe even kind human allies. They could be more adults, like Anoura, or they could be more kids her age. She was thrilled and frightened to think how many people could be here considering the size of the building.

As the events of the day caught up with her, she finally found herself slipping into unconsciousness. Her final thoughts before falling asleep were jumbled and conflicted. The excitement and fear of the next day was ever present in her mind. The worry that she would never see Alli again was still as painful as ever. Her friends were here with her at least, and Kora too. She knew they must be scared as well, and hoped that she could appear brave enough for the other kids to feel better. The next day would have to be an adventure they navigated together.