"So, this is Menas! The guy sleeping with us. I just met him a few days ago but he's a super cool dude. I'm sure you'll love him," Silva said, and as she complimented him, I watched his cheeks flush slightly.
Our roommate, Menas, was of average height, slightly muscular, had dark brown eyes and hair, and skin that was lightly tanned. He had a cute look—almost childish—but at the same time, you'd never mistake him for someone younger than he was. From what I knew of him from the conversation that I had entered a few hours ago, he was mostly quiet. He was always paying attention to who was speaking but rarely added his own words. I wondered if there was a reason for his intense observation, perhaps he was wary of these people. Or maybe I was reading too much into it.
The two of them—Silva and Menas—had gotten to know each other quite well in the days they spent in here together despite having never met before. They seemed like they had been friends for ages. I was glad to have people around me that actually knew what was going on here. For the most part at least. They knew what to expect on a day-to-day basis and helped me ease into the routine quickly.
As people were brought in, they were taken by guards to a room where they would be assigned an ID number and be stripped of their outside clothes and given a plain grey jumpsuit. I hadn't gotten one yet. Because of how many people were being brought in, there must've been some kind of hold up.
The conversation currently was on the beds in here. Everybody was either laughing or moaning. "They're sooooo bad. I swear my back is broken!" One of the members at the table joked. I hadn't been paying much attention though. Don't get me wrong, I loved the group I had just met and was thankful to be surrounded by such nice, fun people—especially Silva—but I couldn't stop from thinking about... everything, really. Especially my family. I had been away from them for only a few hours, maybe a day maximum, but that was far longer than I had ever been away, and no matter how much company I had here I couldn't shake the thought of how much I was missing my parents and sisters. Not just them, but my mother's home cooked meals. The dinner I had eaten here was probably what you would expect from a place keeping hundreds of people hostage. It was gross. But at least they fed us, I guess.
Silva said the guards had made a specific bedtime—10 o'clock. I knew it was late, but the lack of clocks and windows in the room kept me jittery. I hated not knowing, even if it was simply the time. I wanted to know, so it ate away at my mind leaving me unable to concentrate on anything.
By the time the guards did announce that we were supposed to go to our bunks, I was exhausted. Not because I did much physically, it was more mental. Trying to grasp everything that had happened today had been too much for my brain to handle. I slept immediately.
✯ ✯ ✯
When I woke up I could tell it was late. I could see a lot of people in the main room, however Menas was still asleep and Silva was seated at his feet. She had her legs crossed, elbows on her thighs, and forehead in her hands. As I sat up and swung my body to face her, she brought her head up.
"Amicia! You're awake! If you want we can leave him," she motioned with her head to the sleeping figure to her left, "and go wait for breakfast. It should be soon, I think." She hopped to her feet. "It would probably be easier for the guards to find you and get you suited anyway."
"Oh, sure, sounds like a good idea." I stood with her and we walked to an unoccupied table. "What do they usually serve for breakfast?"
She chuckled. "Don't worry, it's not as bad as dinner is. It's usually some kind of oatmeal—like, usually apple or peach—a muffin which you better hope is not lemon cranberry! Those are disgusting, no joke. And some fruit. The fruit is pretty good but don't eat the muskmelon. You've been warned."
"Note taken," I smiled to her.
The guards eventually brought in breakfast. I was lucky enough to get a blueberry muffin, Silva had mentioned while we were eating. By that time, Menas had come out and was eating with us too.
Silva was chattering with a few faces I recognized at the table the day before in between her spoonfuls of breakfast. I listened along but kept myself busy with the food in front of me, not wanting to partake too much. In all honestly, I barely knew what they were talking about anyway. The table was uttering quips and anecdotes about cultural customs, it made me realize how much humans had outcasted themselves from the other races. And somehow, we had the audacity to think they were special—superior—because we had nothing in common with them.
"Amicia, I've been wondering, how'd you get in here anyway? You surely have an odd appearance but how could they have linked that with any kind of species that are in this country?" He asked me, looking up from his breakfast.
"I don't even know," I sighed, putting down a spoonful of oatmeal. "They pretty much just looked at me and sent me here."
"Ms. Wylde," a voice spoke from behind me. I turned around quickly. It was a guard. "Stand up. Come with me."
I did as he said and stood up. He handcuffed my wrists and grabbed my shoulder tightly. I knew it would be pointless to struggle so I let him guide me. He led me to the cell door which was quickly unlocked, and then down a few hallways to a small room with a wooden bench painted grey and a grey rack with three shelves. All of them were empty. On the opposite wall of the door we came in, there was another door.
"Sit." I obeyed.
The man turned to the shelf. "What the fuck is this," he whispered. "What the fuck is this?!" He repeated, louder.
A man walked through the door opposite of the one we came in. "Is there a problem?"
"Yes. I told you to have this shelf refilled. We have too many of them coming in for you to be slacking off on such a simple task! Go. Now!" He groaned. The man he yelled at quickly disappeared through the door he entered.
The guard grabbed my arm, pulled me upwards and out of the door back towards the cell. I was confused, as was Menas and Silva when they saw I returned exactly the way I had left. However, we quickly shrugged off the odd situation and continued to talk casually for the rest of the day.
✯ ✯ ✯
Later that day, the mostly peaceful atmosphere was disrupted by some shouting down the hallway outside of the dungeon. It seemed to come closer and closer. Soon enough everybody was exposed to a single man struggling against several guards.