Alfred, Zora, and I walked into the room that was across the hall, which we eventually decided to call the eating room. We lined up the tables in rows on both the left and the right side of the room. Then we set up a buffet line on the rows of tables. Food was on one side and drinks, silverware, and plates on the other. We set up all the food everyday for a week and allowed people open access. After a while a three meal a day system was established. We would set up for every meal, everyone would eat, and then we would put everything away again. Our days became mundane and repetitive. Time began to slow and few exciting things ever occurred.
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It has officially been a week from Abduction Day and hardly anything has changed from that first day after. Everyone is still walking around in a haze of shock. Slowly morale has drained from our group and the once rushed feeling of needing to escape has disappeared. The days have blended together and time feels irrelevant to our lives. We’ve all given up.
I sit with my head propped up in my hand, watching everyone eat. Letting out a sigh of boredom I shift in my seat and then stretch out my arms and legs.
“Evie,” Zora says from beside me. “We need to do something about this.” she said gesturing to the crowd of moping people.
“Z, everyone’s spirits were crushed on Abduction Day. We all saw our teachers k*ll themselves right in front of us. What can we do?” my voice was weak even to my ears.
“I know,” she said while running her hand through her hair. “It’s just… we can’t sit around and do nothing all day. What if those people come back?”
“Who?” I asked, puzzled.
“Mr. Bleckenstone… a-and what if there are other people like him. We still don’t know who, or what he is, or what his plan is.” paranoia was seeping into her voice.
I placed a hand on her shoulder and looked into her eyes. She looked back at me and then her face dropped with an “I’m done” expression when she saw my smile. She tried to move away but I pulled her back.
“Does that mean what I think it does?” I asked mischievously.
“No, it doesn't.” she was clearly fighting a smile.
“Yes I think it does.”
“No, Evie, we DO NOT need a border patrol.” she sighed.
“Yes, we do.” I said with a laugh.
“No.”
“Yes.”
“NO”
“YES”
“NO, Evie.”
“YES, Zora.”
“What are we talking about?” William said while walking up to where we were sitting.
Lorie was close behind him. Everyday after Abduction Day Lorie has been inseparable from William. Her eyes are always red and puffy from crying and her hands are always shaking from nerves. My heart broke a little every time I saw her.
“Well, Zora here,” I said with a gesture towards Z. “was talking about some concerns about Mr. Bleckenstone coming back, and I said that we should have a patrol.”
“That sounds like a great idea.” Andrew said.
I jumped at his voice.
“Where did you come from!” I exclaimed.
Andrew doubled over laughing using the table to keep him from falling over. Zora sighed and to everyone’s surprise Lorie smiled. For a moment we all stopped to stare at her like she was an exotic bird. A smile bloomed on my face at the sight of something I thought I’d never see again.
“I think it would make us all feel safer.” William said without taking his eyes off of Loie.
For a moment it was just the two of them in their own universe. They were a small bubble of happy light in a sea of dark depressing thoughts.
“Yeah.” Lorie exhaled and then rested her head on William’s shoulder.
We had a moment of silence until Zora stood up and pushed her chair out with a screech. She cleared her throat in order to get the attention of the room. Heads swiveled around to look at her and the room came to a surprising hush. Her eyes flicked from person to person judging the mood of the room. As normal it was sullen, everyone’s eyes were so dull and lifeless.
“Today marks, officially, a week after Abduction Day.” she paused, “It has been seven whole days since that horrible event. I know I said that I would give everyone as much time as they needed to recover from... that day. However, I don’t think any of us will ever recover by just sitting around and doing nothing. That day still weighs heavily on all of our hearts but it is a burden that we should carry together as a group. I know I harp on unity a lot but it is really important if we want to get out of here. Now, I am not saying that I want everyone to force themselves to do something they can’t. We’ll take it slow and start with just establishing a schedule and a basic system. Today is just about taking stock of what we have. So, if everyone could gather together all of their items that would be very helpful. Hopefully if we can accomplish that today, we could set up official sleeping places and get a real working system in place by the end of the week. Does that sound good to everyone?” She ended her encouraging speech with a sweet, sympathetic smile.
The room was quiet for a few seconds and then with slight hesitation a few hands rose up into the air. Zora’s eyes sparked at the response. Normally everyone just nods and then turns back to whatever they were doing beforehand. It's amazing to see participation when questions are asked.
“Yes?” Zora said, pointing to a girl in the front row.
“What about the things we left in the… the gym?” Her eyes barely left the floor as she spoke and her hands shook with nervousness.
“We’ll set up a group of people who will chaperone anyone who has things outside of this building.” Zora answered with a calm expression on her face.
The girl nodded and a few whispers weaved their way through the crowd.
“Yes?” Zora pointed to another girl seated deeper in the room.
“How ‘bout the things in the other building? Caspian’s building?” She asked with more confidence than the other girl.
“First of all, Caspian doesn’t own that building. Second, we will set up another chaperoned group to go to that building for anyone who needs to. If you have anything in either of the buildings please speak to me after this meeting and then we’ll get the groups set up.” she said.
“Next.” This time she pointed to a boy who was sitting with a group of jocks.
“Yeah, I was wonderin’ if we can sleep with whoever we want?” He said with a devious smile clearly talking about girls.
My nose wrinkled at his question and my skin prickled.
“Well, you are welcome to request specific people to share a sleeping space with, however, they will be declined if we find it… inappropriate. I’m happy to put friend groups together but if you’re talking about your girlfriend or boyfriend then we’ll have to talk about it. Does that answer your question?” her voice was crisp and left no room for discussion.
The jock grumbled a response and I fought down my want to yell at his disrespectful response. ‘My anger is really getting the better of me lately,’ I thought to myself.
“Yes?” She pointed to another person.
I was unable to see the person she pointed to but I was able to hear when they cleared their throat and then began to speak.
“You keep saying ‘we’, who are you talking about?” The voice was barely audible even in the total silence of the room.
“Oh, yes, sorry, I should have explained that a bit better. So the idea is that we will have a council of sorts. Right now it’s just myself, and these people sitting behind me,” she gestured to the three of us which surprised me since we were never told about this ‘council’. “But I plan to have representatives for specific jobs or sections of the building. I haven’t really decided yet.” She pondered that for a second and then seemed to realize something. “Of course this is all up for discussion and will not be decided only by me that’s the entire purpose of the council. And until the council is made and agreed upon we’ll continue to have group meetings. Not to say that we will stop having these meetings- Gah… sorry I’m just trying to come up with the best solution. Don’t worry, we'll figure it out.” Her cheeks blushed in embarrassment.
The room chuckled a little which lifted the mood of the entire day and brought a smile to my face. Even if it was at the expense of Zora’s ego it was good for everyone’s morale. My smile grew as I began to think of a future, that may not be so far away, where people laughed on a regular basis.
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A/N
1556 words
Time skips!
- love from QueenCobra <3 -
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