I was shoved into a big room when my handcuffs were taken off. I looked side to side frantically and exhaled loudly from my nose, surveying the area. I had gone to the county jailhouse before on a tour. This looked exactly like it, except maybe that this one was twice the size. Or maybe three, or four. Either way, it was huge.
The two walls on either side of me were pure concrete—no windows, no doors, nothing. The wall behind me was barred completely from one side to the other. The wall directly ahead of me had holes in it, which I had concluded were supposed to be doors.
"Find a bunk. Don't get in anyone's way. Do as you're told." The guard that had led me here spoke through the bars behind me. I stayed silent and breathed loudly again. I felt like I couldn't move, like I was frozen, so I continued looking around.
In the middle of the room were grey tables—the same grey that covered the rest of the room—with benches attached to them. Many people were seated around them, casually chatting amongst themselves and playing card games. It seemed as if nobody noticed my appearance.
I pushed myself to move my feet and slowly walked through the maze of tables and toward the rooms to find an empty one. The four bunks in every small room were so plain that it was hard to tell what was vacant and what wasn't.
"H-hello, excuse me. Um, do you know where I could find an empty bed?" I managed to get out to a group of two girls and a boy close to my age huddled around one of the tables.
They looked up. "Yeah." One of the girls spoke, her voice monotonous and uninterested.
"Oh," I swallowed. "Could you, uh, direct me to it?"
She pointed to the second last door. "There. It's got two empties. Make yourself at home." Although her words were supposed to be comforting, her voice didn't give off the same vibe. I felt as if she was speaking to me as if she had some kind of superiority. We both were locked up. There are no alphas here. It's the humans who are superior, which was clearly not her if she was in here.
I guess I couldn't say that. I was human, but somehow here I was sitting down onto the hard mattress covered in a sheet as thin as paper and a pillow that felt as though it had been stuffed with bricks rather than feathers.
✯ ✯ ✯
I had somehow ended up horizontally on my new bed when someone came and joined me in the room. It was a girl who was probably around my age. She had dark, kinky hair pulled messily to the back of her head where it was secured by an elastic, stopping the curls from skewing her vision. Her hairstyle showed off the way her ears were long and pointed at the ends. Her eyes, which were focussed toward the upper bunk on the opposite side of me, were a bright shade of gold which seemed to sparkle in the light. They stuck out due to the contrast between her skin colour and eye colour. She climbed up to the bunk and sat down.
"You're the talk around here, you know. They say you're human. I didn't believe it until I got in here and caught a whiff of you," she chuckled and continued, taking a seat on one of the bunks, "so then, why are you here?"
I looked up and our eyes met.
"Wow! That'll do it, won't it?" She exclaimed. "Coolio. Love it. Anyway, I'm your bunkmate. There's a guy below me—he's cool. Maybe you can meet him later if you are feeling up to it. If not, that's fine. You'll see him when he comes in. The other bed's empty." She jumped from her seat and landed in front of me. "So yeah! Make yourself at home ... as much as you can, I guess. This place isn't really much of a home."
"Yeah," I said looking around at the boring room. "Thanks, though." I smiled. She smiled too, much bigger than mine.
"Oh! My gosh. I forgot to tell you my name is Silva."
"I'm Amicia."
"Well, Amicia, catch you later! I'll be out there if you wanna hang. I'm not hard to find," she winked and walked out the doorway.
The one thing I had always wished to hide was my appearance. Silva had noticed my difference right away. I hated it. I couldn't blend in anywhere even if I wanted to. I was abnormal. Human, but abnormal. My mother said I should be proud of my lavender eyes and snow white hair, but I wasn't. Looking in the mirror every day was a constant reminder of how different I was than everyone else. Not to mention it was so rare that less than ten living people looked like me and had the same abilities as me. I was a freak.
It was easy for the nonhumans to be seen as normal even though they weren't, they were surrounded by people just like them every day. But there wasn't anyone where I lived struggling to keep their mind from wandering in case it took over and made them see things they didn't want to see. But I did. From ghostly figures or objects that would appear and vanish to full on visions. I was self-conscious of my looks and my abilities and I had nothing I could do about it. This was the result of years of being bullied for being different. I couldn't help it—if others thought that I was crazy, why shouldn't I agree?
Today, though, it could have saved my life. When I ran, if I hadn't been so stupid, I could have been out of here. This was one of the times I was thankful for my ability to see far beyond normal human perception, but I wasn't thankful for my poor judgement. It would've been so much more helpful if it was solely mental, and didn't affect my physical appearance at all. Then at least I'd fit in as long as I kept my mouth shut. I guess the Gods just wanted me to suffer.
✯ ✯ ✯
From where I was laying, the bunk room was so small that I could peer out the doorway and have a clear view of the room. I watched Silva at a table. She seemed to be having a blast despite the circumstances. It made me feel a little better. It must've not been such a bad place if people weren't sulking.
There were five people with her—an older lady; two teenage boys; a little boy; and a teenage girl. I wondered if one of those boys was the roommate she was talking about. Watching them all having a laugh made me want to join them. They all seemed like decent people that I could fit in with as long as I got past the initial awkwardness.
Mustering up the energy I had, I pushed myself from the bunk bed and made my way to the table before I could run back.