When I awake in the cell it has two more people in it, besides Ari and I. I can't make out many of their features in the almost absolute darkness. But they are both taller than me. 

"Hi. You're awake." The voice is feminine and sounds a few years older than me. 

"Yeah," I reply groggily. 

"Thank the universe. We were worried about you. Well, we still are," the other voice says. 

"Is Ari up yet?" 

"Is Ari the other kid? No, he's not up," the second voice answers. 

"My name is Luca." I get up from where I'm lying, my head sore from the fall, "my pronouns are he/him. What about you guys?"

"My name is Elsa. My pronouns are she/her." 

"My name is Finn. My pronouns are they/them." 

"It's nice to meet you guys. Though I wish we could meet under better circumstances." 

"You can say that again." Finn's voice is oversaturated with rueful darkness. 

I see Ari start to stir. 

"Hey, Ari," I whispher to him gently. 

"What?" His voice is disoriented and tired. 

"We have two new cellmates."

"Oh yeah. Who?"

"This is Elsa, she/her, and that's Finn, they/them." I help Ari up. 

"I'm sorry that you guys are here with us. This is a shit place to be. I'm Ari, he/him." 

"It's good to meet you, Ari. Even though I wish none of us were here." Elsa's voice is laden with anxiety. 

"How did you guys end up here?" I ask. 

"I got tired of being thought of as a boy," Finn starts, "I couldn't take it anymore. I demanded to be recognized as not a boy. But my owner didn't like that. He wanted me to be a boy just like him."

"Owners fucking suck," I tell him. 

"That's a huge understatement," Ari comments. 

"I agree with Ari," Elsa remarks. 

"Anyways, my owner wasn't alright with me making demands of my own. He said he'd throw me away and he did and now I'm in the trash can."

"That was very brave of you," Ari says wonderingly. 

"Not brave. Reckless. Emotional. Foolish. I just couldn't take it anymore. It was like the pressure was building and building until it just all burst out."

"I understand," Elsa states. "It would be a lot of pressure constantly having to hide such a vital part of yourself." 

"Absolutely," I agree. 

"That you were able to hold on for so long is a miracle," Ari tells him. 

"I wasn't able to hold on for long enough."

"Don't blame yourself over it. This is the owners' fault. Not your own." Elsa is right. 

"It sure feels like my own."

"It's not," I assure them. 

"It's just like an owner to deny basic parts of us. Their job is to deny everything about us that doesn't fit their model for who they want us to be." Ari is subtly seething. And I understand exactly why. 

"You're right," Finn agrees, "the owners do deny us everything."

"Fuck the owners," I say. 

"Oh absolutely," Elsa agrees. 

"If only we could." Finn's voice is threaded with strings of longing.

"We can," Ari assures, "someday, somehow, in this life or the next, we can." 

"You have a lot of faith," Elsa tells him. 

"I need faith. We all need faith," he replies. 

"I need more faith," Finn remarks.

"I probably do too," I add. 

The hunger is getting hotter and sharper and more powerful. 

"So how did you end up here, Elsa? If you want to talk about it?" Ari's voice is soft and gentle. I hold Ari's hand on one side and Finn's hand on the other. Feeling close to people helps take a bit of the sharpest razor edge off of the hunger. Finn and Ari take Elsa's hands and now we're in an unbroken circle. The small beam of light is in between all of us, providing faint illumination. 

I'm in so much pain. The hunger is clawing up my gut and down my chest and the thirst is scraping down my throat and leaving my mouth like mud. But I'm not alone. 

"It's not a very unique story," Elsa begins, "I just couldn't satisfy my owner enough and she got tired of me."

"Everyone's story is unique," I let her know. "And you didn't deserve to get thrown out." 

"I tried so hard. It just wasn't enough." There is sorrow in her voice.

"Don't blame yourself," Finn tells her, "you did your best. It's her fault for having such high demands."

"We shouldn't have to give in to their demands anyways." Ari's voice is dark with anger. 

"You're right," Elsa agrees. "I hate giving into their demands and I hate having to always put them on a pedestal." 

"Well now you won't have to," Ari states. 

Fin bursts out laughing, but it's a broken, desperate sort of laugh.

"Yeah!" They exclaim, "that's one good thing about being here." We let them laugh, and Elsa reaches over to stroke their back. 

"Another good thing about being here," I say quietly, "is that I got to meet all of you."

"I guess that's right as well," Finn replies softly. "At least we're not alone. It would be unbearable if we were." 

"Synths are never alone," Ari states, "we always have each other." 

"Yet we always feel alone, don't we?" Elsa sighs.

"At least we have our people," I breathe. "I miss them unbearably." 

"I miss them unbearably as well," Finn agrees. 

"We all do." Elsa's voice is broken and jagged. 

"Who was in your family?" Ari asks Elsa and Finn. "Who did you have to leave behind? If you want to talk about it. I would understand if you didn't." 

"I want to talk about it," Elsa states. "It would give voice to the sorrow."

"That's' very important," I tell her. "Words have power." 

"I have a little sister," Finn starts, voice achingly sad. "Her name is Arabelle. She's sweet. So sweet. She's all alone. So alone. We were all there for her. But she was still alone."

"She does sound very sweet," I say to him, voice feather-soft.

"She is. She really is. She likes to sing and dance. And like all kids she loves stories. She's sneaky, very sneaky. And she manages to steal food from the owners. I hope she never gets caught. I feel so bad for leaving her." 

"That's understandable," Elsa tells them quietly. 

"I also have a sister," Ari tells us. "Her name is Laurie. She's older than me though. I love her. I'll miss her. She's worrying about me so much. But she always knew that I'd end up dying early. She respected it. She's so strong. She's smart. Incredibly smart. If she wasn't a synth she could do anything. But she's always been too scared to sneak into school. Not that I blame her."

"Sneaking into school?" Elsa's voice is curious. "Who would do that?" 

"Ari and I did," I tell her. "Ari stole a passcode from his owner's dad. We went for three years. Starting from grade five. In that time we fell in love." 

"That's beautiful." Finn's voice is full of wonder. "I'm glad you guys did that."

"I'm glad too," I echo. 

"I didn't have any siblings," Elsa tells us. "I always grew up alone. I always felt alone. In that house. I think maybe if I had siblings, if I had anyone as young as me to relate to and depend on, maybe I wouldn't have broken as much as I did. Maybe I wouldn't have ended up here. It was so lonely being the only synth child in my house. My owner was kind of like a sister but of course she didn't count. But I did have parents though. I just never saw them as much as I would've liked." 

"I didn't see my parents as much as I needed to either," Finn speaks. 

"Me neither," Ari says.

"Me neither."

"My parents are great though. I love them. They must be so worried for me." Finn's words echo with sadness. 

"So must mine," Ari says.

"And mine," I add. 

"And mine."

"My mother was named Claire," she continues. "She was always soft spoken and secretive. She told me stories of hope. She rocked me to sleep a couple of nights when I was younger. My dad is named Adi. He has a sadness all about him. So deep. So aching. He was always so soft and gentle. He called me his baby bird. I miss them both so much." 

"I'm so sorry," Ari tells her. "They sound amazing. They're lucky to have you."

"I let them down." 

"No. You didn't. And they'll be happy that you can be in the Green Place where all people are free. Do they believe in the Green Place?" 

"They do."

"The synths in my life do too," Finn comments. "The communist messages must be spreading fast."

"That's good though. Isn't it? More people are going and joining them." My voice is laced with slivers of hope. 

"It is very good," Ari agrees. 

"Would you join the communists if you could?" Finn asks. 

"Oh I absolutely would," Ari declares.

"I would too. Ari and I were planning to join them when we were older."

"It's sad that that won't happen," Elsa tells us, "that's a beautiful plan." 

"Did you have any dreams of joining the communists?" I ask her. 

"Yes, but they were always just dreams. I knew I couldn't act upon them." 

"Well dreams are important too," I say.

Everyone is quiet for a while after that, I don't know why. Perhaps we are thinking. There is a lot to think about, after all. But perhaps we are feeling. Feeling the overwhelming melancholy and the thick grief and choking regret. Feeling the undying love underneath that. Feeling each other. 

"So my mother and father are named Isabelle and Bertie." Finn says into the quietness. "Isabelle always hugged me so softly whenever she could. Bertie lifted me onto his shoulders once, when we had a small moment to ourselves in the house and I was small. I felt so tall. Isabelle believed in life after death. Even before the communists were anything at all. She always told me to not fear death. That one day we would be free together. My dad believed it too." 

"My mother, Ella, told me that she will be reunited with her girlfriend after death. She loves her a lot. And she loves me a lot. And she loves my father a lot. She's so full of love. And she's very keen about the communists. She tracks their every movement. My dad Sam was planning to join the communists when I grew up. He'd be an amazing communist. He's sneaky and strong and resourceful. My mom was even maybe going to go with him. Then they could get revenge on the owners together." 

"Both of your guys's parents sound wonderful," Elsa tells us softly. "You both are very lucky that you had them all." 

"I miss them though. More than I ever thought myself capable of missing anyone." My voice is dark and heavy.

"Of course you do," Finn says. "We all do."

"It's not fair that we're parted from them." Ari pipes up. 

"No it's not fair at all." My voice is laced with anger. "They found moments every single day to spend time with me. When I was sad, when I was scared. When I felt alone. When I needed someone. When I was angry. They always tried to make me feel better. Make me calm down. And now I am left without them. And they are left without me. Without their child. And it's just not fair." 

"You're right," Finn tells me. 

We stay quiet for another while. Clutching each other's hands hard and soaking in the anger and hatred that's in the tiny room. It fuels us. Warms us. It mingles with my hunger and my pain and it transforms it. Transforms it into something else. 

"What are your parents like?" Elsa asks Ari.

"My parents were always there for me. Whenever they could be. They said that the world would make me feel like I'm nothing sometimes. But I have to to stand up and know that I'm something. My mother is named Alice. And my dad is named Jaden. Alice loves the stars. She knows so many constellations. Jaden isn't afraid of what other people think of him. Even if it hurts him, he knows who he is." 

"They sound like wonderful people," Finn says. 

"They are."

"Do you believe we'll ever see them again?" They ask. 

"I do." 

"Good for you," Elsa says. I smile at the soft camaraderie between us. "You have to have belief. You have to have faith. It's something that will get you through the hardest of times. And it's something that will show you the truth. Show you the goodness. Show you the beauty of even the most wretched of situations. My faith has always been a light in the worst of times. When I felt like I was all alone with no one to see me or hear me. When I felt like I was drowning in so much misery that I could do nothing but die. I had my faith to cling to. And it was soothing even if it didn't stop the hurt. It was angry. It was hopeful. It was a strange sort of power amid all the powerlessness. It stopped me from drowning. It got me through. Even if I was left in unimaginable pain, it got me through. It kept my spirit alive. Kept my spark of rebellion alive. I hope that you all have faith that can do that for you as well." 

"Wow, Elsa." Finn's voice is full of wonder. 

I echo them. And then it's quiet for a while. We all soak in the lingering power of Elsa's speech. It's a beautiful speech. It gives us strength. Heals us. 

[scene continued in next part]