You never expect it to go bad, until it does
-Chad
In a world just 10 years in the future, there is a species unknown to man. And good thing, too, because if we did, we'd die, like they almost did.
Here is Alantis, a member of this species, Experiments, and her mission is to keep us safe from those that don't.
To help her, she has Chad, whose secrets she slowly learns, but does she learn them in time?
The world's safety rests in her hands, and mankind has no idea. Facing her own kind, Atlantis has no idea what's in store for her.
And it's a good idea that she doesn't.
*Cover credit to Gabrielle U.*
Prologue
The screams had stopped coming into the tunnels by now. If they strained their ears, they could just hear a faint echo from far away, but the small band of about forty survivors never wanted to hear them again. After ten days of having them screeching in their ears, they almost wished they didn’t have the ears to hear.
A small girl looked back to where the remains of her home was. She was about five, and her just barely blond hair just touched her waist. She shivered. Though her brain said the air around her was really warm, her body was cold from shock. She was aware of the fact, because, even though she was just five, she had the intelligence of what had been predicted of humans, but immensely more, though.
They all did. All of the Experiments had too. It was demanded of them to be perfect by the elders. And what the elders wanted, they got, by fair or foul means. The adults went along, because they wanted the children to be obedient, and they would learn to be so if they had the right role models, even if they didn’t agree. It was a twisted system, and that is why it fell.
She started forward again, wishing for a coat, hunching her shoulders as if to protect her self from all that lay behind her.
The mistakes had begun so slowly, not even the elders were alive when the forced evolution had begun. The later generations hadn’t even been thought about. It began when they first chose to be the way they were.
When their species was self-named Experiments.
Her kind could breathe both air and water, a useful feature, because if they ran out of room-and they did-they could live in the sea. It also meant if the sea grew too small for them, they could go to space too, and they had, although not until just a decade before the girl was born. They could have this double-breather because they had two different sets of lungs, one set like the humans who had just been discovered before the punishment had come, and the other set like a water-breathing sea monster.
They had to concentrate, but they could move the pipe to either one, in a blink of an eye. They were-each pair of lungs-half the size of a human pair, the size closer to the sea monster, to have enough room in their bodies for both sets.
And so that had led to the next adaptation, the little pockets in those lungs that took whatever small amount of particles, whether it be air or water, and make them ten times the size. Not physical size, but nutritional size. One breath for them had the same value as five breaths for five breaths for a human or five breaths for sea monsters. It would make a human giddy, but their race was used to it. It was the way they were born, since all these changes had happened in the first generation-who were still alive. Their Gods.
The “gods” had first been like them, had kids, so the second generation was born with all the improvements the Firsts had done on themselves. But then the Firsts became dissatisfied, they thought that their race should be more.
So the Firsts continued with their improvements-because, really, had they ever stopped?-keeping them from the Second’s for fear, they said, that it would be harmful to the Seconds, and some of them might have truly believed that, but it was also jealousy, that they didn’t want to share their gifts with their kids, with another fear that their kids might surpass them.
They kept at the experiments, trying to make themselves perfect, forever young, forever alive, forever beautiful, forever something good. And they had succeeded. They had now been on the Thirtieth generation. And the First still had the same appearance, the same age, that they had when the Seconds were alive, just with more experience, and more experiments performed on themselves, like the live forever one. They were still improving themselves, though, while they banned any more experiments to be done on any other then them, the Firsts, keeping the experiments from their kids.
So the first generation became all of the later generations gods, and we named them First’s, and they agreed because they had improved themselves to the point they had godlike powers, the ability to heal, to move super fast, to freeze time, and other things of that nature.
There once was a rift between the First and the Fifteens. The Fifteen’s had stolen some experiment ideas of the First’s, and tried them on themselves. Thank goodness the Sixteens were there, otherwise no one would know where they would be. And even then, they almost didn’t make it. The Firsts were so infuriated at the theft, and those responsible couldn’t really be punished, because they were. Those who didn’t kill themselves, or hadn’t been killed by others, had become insane. Those that had become insane had to be locked up in the lowest cells so they were, as the saying goes; out of sight, out of mind, but also out of hearing.
The First had almost wiped out the Sixteens and what was left of the Fifteens, but at the last moment-literality, the last moment, the Sixteen on the “chopping block” was about to be decapitated-they relented. They decided the Fifteens had been punished enough, and the Sixteens didn’t deserve it, and that the Fifteens had actually helped the Firsts, showing them that the experiments that the Fifteens had stolen were unsafe.
But the Firsts stayed away for the next two generations, just to make sure that it would never happen again. So when it was the time of the Nineteens, they came back, and we rejoiced, because we thought they had abandoned us for good.
But from the moment of the first change that the Firsts did, we became altered, and we were divided from our course in life. Something decided to punish us, and it thoroughly did so.
They were also cursed with jealousy, and they had a prophecy that one day they would fall. And now they are here. And here they are, just like the Fifteens, but this, they didn’t do to their selves. It was done to them, the consequences of the first experiments that were the only ones they had, the ones passed down by birth.
The small band halted, needing a rest. A few pondered the past and how they had arrived here, others had collapsed, and the little girl went exploring. They were in one of the furthermost tunnels of their old city, Elements. It was about ten feet tall, and about the same wide. There were tiny cracks throughout the walls.
She skipped over to the nearest crack and started counting the off branches of the main one. A flicker of movement caught her eye. She blinked at it … And it blinked back at her. She clapped her hands together, now feeling a little bit better. It was a human, in its early stages of evolution, just where humans were at right now, she estimated, leaning her head back for a full view.
It was about a head taller then her. It motioned to its chest, and said “Blzal”. Ohh, she thought, that’s its name. She pointed to herself, and spun with childish delight. “Atlantis”.
From a distance, two figures were watching the exchange. One frowned while the other looked bored. “Go into the future, see what happens to it. I feel like it’s important,” The frowning figure commanded.
The bored figure grimaced and got to his feet from the boulder he sat upon. “Ah, you always think that, Apceus, but you’re almost always wrong. And you keep asking me.” In spite of his words, he stretched, and disappeared.
Because they were Firsts, and as such, they had these kind of abilities. Apceus’s was levitating, though Cancur always said it was being a worrywart. She chuckled, a rare sound thinking my husband is just so weird. She shook her head, getting to the task at hand.
Only the First’s had fully escaped unscathed the horror the rest of their separated, different races had endured. Besides them, the only survivors were the small band in front of her.
The group ranged in people from Twenty-seventh generation to the Thirtieth. The most of one generation had in the group was ten, the least of one generation that was supported here of those who were there, was one. And that was the five year old girl in the Thirtieth, Atlantis, who had just sparked her worry.
She had talked to an unformed, still developing human! So she worried a bit about that while she wondered why this group was still alive. As she waited for her husband to return, she thought hard and furiously.
She peered closely at their faces. One in particular nagged at her brain. “Got it.” She snapped her fingers. It was Calpren, a Twenty-eight. He was a scientist, and his specialty was, or had been, Reversing the experiments!
Some were into the idea for different reasons. For some, it was the fact that they were different than they were supposed to be, others because it would make them money off of those in the first group.
Last Apceus remembered of Calpren, was an article that said he had successfully reversed the changes on a group of people, including himself. This must be the group. Since they were back the way they should be, they were free from the punishment.
It was the opposite that made the First’s free. They were too far along with the experiments just for them and just too different for the punishment to affect them first hand. The two sides of the same coin were all that was left of them.
Suddenly, her husband returned. “You were right. That was important.” He looked shocked.
“Did you doubt my worrywart skills, Can?” she half teased, half reflective.
“On, no, darling, I wasn’t.” he paused, and then he continued “Well, do you want to hear?” he asked
“Yes, you know I do.” she replied,
“OK, get this. The still-a-work-in-progress-human misinterpreted the girl’s word. It thought that she meant the city was named Atlantis, because of her spin. It will grow to be a legend, of a technologically advanced city that was lost to the sea.
“So they were half right. And while some believe in it, most don’t. But it will cause trouble in about one million years. It’s going to cause trouble for Atlantis, she won’t be able to use her name, and you know how we are about our names. She will be a part of a discovery, and part of what’s going to happen to humans when Elements is found.
‘You know we knew it would be found one day. But I can’t see beyond that, it’s undetermined so far. Decisions have to be made. It is open-ended so far.” He finished, and he sounded very puzzled.
Having an opened ended future lie this had happened before, but what was a problem was why it was in this situation, since it wasn’t like the only other one there would be.
And the other one, the only other one, had just occurred, and look at what had happened. The city dead, the people dead, too, and gone.
“So what do you want to do about it?” Apceus asked her husband.
“I think we should let it play it out without interference.”
“I agree.” And so the couple vanished to help with the transformation of Elements, now the City of the Dead.
At least, that was who occupied it. The dead of their kind, the end result of the punishment, the biggest part. When would it happen that their suffering end? The last thought Apceus had before she disappeared was to wonder when their suffering end.
How It Did Crumble
Ok, so Atlantis, with the help of Chad, survived the ones who wiped out most of their race. They're happy for once in their lives, just being with each other.
It was too good to last.
Turns out that not all of them died in the explosion, and they are looking for revenge.
When a tragic loss comes about, Atlantis is even more determined to finish what she started.
And when problems pop up, in the form of Haley, and the grieving husband, Gkik, whose wife was the leader of the group, getting closer, and further, apart, well, what's a girl to do but to have a little fun when saving the world, and a little matchmaking along the way?
It was too good to last.
Turns out that not all of them died in the explosion, and they are looking for revenge.
When a tragic loss comes about, Atlantis is even more determined to finish what she started.
And when problems pop up, in the form of Haley, and the grieving husband, Gkik, whose wife was the leader of the group, getting closer, and further, apart, well, what's a girl to do but to have a little fun when saving the world, and a little matchmaking along the way?
Prologue
Everything had changed. They were all dead.
He wasn’t going to make their loss be for nothing, though.
He was going to make sure that they were avenged, and that their purpose was finally carried out.
He flitted from door to door, invisible to the human eye,
But non-humans were nearby…
He had to be careful. But this plan, it was going to make things right, and even things out a little.
And it was going to push the rest of his plan into action, which was just what he wanted. He’d certainly had been waiting for a long time. Over a million years to be exact, and he wasn’t going to let anybody stand in his way this time. They’d already done enough, and with this plan-he smiled-they would be taken out, and no longer be a threat.
He just had to be patient, and make sure that the plan went accordingly, and that if the worst came to worst that he’d be able to come out of it alive.
The others hadn’t, and that had cost them.
But lucky for him, what happened to them wasn’t going to happen to him-he had that luck, that’s why he hadn’t been there when they’d been taken, and hadn’t been there when they’d died, and so far, he hadn’t been linked with them, but that could happen at any time, as long as any others of the group survived the explosion.
He was going to be the only one. It wouldn’t be all that hard, and it was part of his plan.
And it was why his plan was so ingenious, because nobody would be able to figure it out, and that was assuming that they knew about the plan in the first place.
And they wouldn’t. He’d made sure that they didn’t.
Here. It stopped at a door at the end of the hallway, where an aspiring scientist was going to take a bit of a fall in all things in his life-because his life wasn’t going to be much longer.
All part of the plan. If a twinge of pity swept through him, he ignored it, and pushed open the door with a speed that rivaled that comic guy, Flesh, or whatever his name was. He wasn’t into the world of comics, hadn’t been, he’d seen too much of the world to honestly be sucked into the delusions that the good guys could make things better.
He was a First, and that automatically made him better0he was older, stronger, and he had additional powers.
Powers that the humans wouldn’t conceive to actually be around them, sure, they dreamed about it in their entertainment, but they didn’t know the thrill the absolute power that the powers gave him, that he reveled in.
He eased closer to the young scientist whose life was just beginning. It would have a short middle, he reflected, the end a quick bang.
But at least he wouldn’t have to feel pain. Lucky boy. There was a lot more to life then this boy thought, and he might surprised if there was a god. But he’d never seen any evidence of that in his long years, and that was a lot of proof. Especially when you weathered in what he’d gone through to lead him here.
But it was no time to think of that sort of thing, and if he had his way, he’d never would.
It was imprinted in his head, however, so that was unlikely to leave his head, ever.
Period.
He didn’t mind most of the time, which was good on the times that were good, but when times were bad…No, don’t get sucked the pictures of the past, he growled silently to himself to focus, the vibrations of his words momentarily making the boy-Liam, was his name, he believed-to look up and around to see if anybody was there, but of course he wouldn’t see anything out of the ordinary.
Just in case, he eased behind the mountain of stuff that had apparently been collected, for what reason, he didn’t care, just glad that this boy was foolish enough to give any potentials like himself have plenty of places to hid, so that they could carry out their plans.
All very good and well, but he crinkled his nose when the smell of a rotten unidentifiable object reached said nose. He shuddered, and plugged his nose. He wouldn’t be here long.
Perfect, he thought, when he noticed what Liam was working on. It was chemistry, precisely what he needed. He carefully pulled out the vial he was to use to create what he needed, from a deep corner in his trench coat.
It was about the size of a pinky finger half moon white part, the liquid in the vial, but it was deadly in small amounts.
Just the price of progress, and advancement, and knowledge, he thought, just like all that happened to him, it was going to happen to Liam, and it was going to affect the neighboring building, where a party was going to start.
Timing was critical, so he was going to have to do this very carefully, and that was what the plan called for. Good thing he was prepared, but he’d been ready for this for a long time, the pain, destruction, and now it was going to be morons fighting having a way to escape him and join others finally leaving with peace and in peace-which were 2 different things.
And he was going to have both.
He couldn’t wait.
But he had, and now the time had come that he would finally be able to put this fruit into the ground and see it spring to life under his guiding hand to get it where he wanted it to be.
Liam got up to check something, and he saw his chance. He slipped closer and examined what Liam was doing. It had to be precise, or it would go wrong, either being too strong, or too weak, or even not happening at all.
And it had to happen. He’d been waiting far too long, and he wasn’t going to anymore. There was no other choice.
Ah! There was a slight vial that would work perfect, and it was a bit neglected at the moment-Liam wouldn’t notice it was just a fifth of an inch more then before.
Quick. He went over the plan in lightning speed, and he flicked open the lid, and slid the powder, as it was now, after waiting for so long, but it had been a liquid just seconds ago in, taking precious second to shake lose particles out, and stirring them in so that there was little evidence left of what he’d done. Good.
He smiled, and then he headed out of the room with a silent accuracy that you just couldn’t plan, happy, and almost thinking that without all of his hours put into it, he might’ve thought that things might been going too well, that something was bout to come and mess it all up.
That was just pure nonsense, however, for he had put the time to plan the plan, coming up with the perfect way to have things his way.
This was the way that he wanted it to be, though, so he had no worries about the plan being too wrong or right or problems.
Now was the time to get back.
He lipped back, and he was just in time as Chad carried in Atlantis.
They yelled at her, and she looked tat them. She wasn’t expecting it, and he smiled at her shock.
But she got over it, and then they were walking around, talking to people, and a quick sneer crossed his lips, before disappearing, so not to give him away,
They thought that he was a friend. But he wasn’t. But for his plan to go accordingly, they had to believe it, so he had to play the part of being their friend. He smiled at the fact that he was fooling them, and they had no clue. It was the best.
In his head, he counted down.
2 minuets.
1 minuet.
30 seconds,
20.
10.
9.
8.
He took a deep breath.
6.
5.
He held that breath.
3.
2.
1.
Now!
The explosion went off.
There were screams, confusion, as people rushed out of the building, and he watched as Chad and Atlantis helped people out and he scoffed at their caring natures.
It made them weak. It made them vulnerable.
He was going to exploit that weakness. They were never going to know what hit them, he thought gleefully.
They would be defenseless, and would have little to no walls up to protect them.
He’d done his research before creating the plan, and that was why it was foolproof.
When the room was almost cleared, they looked around for any stragglers. Not that he would expect anybody to stay inside when they heard an explosion and they didn’t know what had caused it, or where it was, or if they were in danger.
He did.
They didn’t see him because he didn’t want them to see him. There were a few more things that he still had to do before he left.
When he was satisfied that there was no one there, he sat on the floor, and started to prepare for the chant quietly. And quickly.
He had to finish this within 5 minutes of the explosion, or the power wouldn’t work.
And for his plan to work, he needed the power.
It had been 2 and a half minutes, and it took a minute for the chant to take affect, and then it took another for the actual chant.
So he had 30 seconds of leeway before the plan was gone.
He wasn’t going to let the plan go to waste.
Right away he started the chant. It was simple, but at the same time, complex to the point that it had taken him all this time to create it, then perfect it.
And yet it still wasn’t what he needed it to be.
But it was good enough that it would work for his plan.
If there’d been more time, he could’ve been perfect, and the plan would be extremely better, but that wasn’t meant to be.
He’d just have to deal with this.
It was almost as soon as he started that he was done.
He went to the clock in his head, and it said that he had about one minuet and twenty three seconds left before the power wouldn’t come. He sighed gratefully that this was all going according to the plan, and as the percentage of success went up rather quickly.
That was a good thing, He counted down the seconds before he could have the power.
30.
20.
10.
5.
Almost there.
1.
He felt the power filling him, and with a rush, he thought that he could fly. He couldn’t, of chouse, that wasn’t one of his abilities, but it was one that other First’s had.
But it could be something that he could gain.
He just had to reach for the stars and work his best,
It was all but guaranteed that he would succeed.
But there was a few points that were bothering him, things that were going to have to be dealt with. He sent his power to the building next door. Or what remained of it, and added his power to what had been his explosion. He could almost see the green leaching out of the plans, as the soil lost vital nutrients, all part of the plan. That was something that was supposed to happened. And he smiled, that things were finally going his way, that he was going to do what he needed to.
Since Dr. D had stopped her experiment, well, that wasn’t what he wanted, he needed her to continue it, and so this was the only way that he was going to do that.
But he was going to go with the flow, and this was going to get him what he wanted.
He hoped that with this, she would see it as a reason why she should continue on her experiments, and that was how he was going to trap her, and get rid of her.
And that was all in the plan.
If he could’ve made more sounds, he would've laughed.
But it was time to go, the people of the building might want to come back, and he didn’t want that right now, since he didn’t want to be seen leaving the scene.
But that wasn't hard; he just had to be prepared.
And he was. It wasn't too hard to fake a few things, and that was what he was doing.
And when you added that to a few other things, well, you got to him being very prepared, and that was where he was going to take this too, since if he didn’t, then he wasn’t going to get his plan to work.
And if the plan didn’t work, then he was pretty much screwed, since that was something that he was putting everything into, all or nothing, and then, that was a reason why this was such a big plan, since he didn't do anything small, he was going to get this done well, and he wasn’t going to let somebody else take his credit or anything.
But that involved him betaking some risky moving, abut if the plan went the way that he wanted tit to, then he wouldn’t have to worry.
But if it didn't, then well, then he would be caught.
And he really didn't want that.
Nobody would, but still, this was him ,and he didn't want to be someone who would be caught for such a thing, since that wasn't the way that he was.
But if this was really who it was going to go, then that wasn’t very good, since he knew that if he didn’t make things better for him, that he wouldn't last very long.,
He needed to last long.
That toot time, and while he'd had that, he didn't have it anymore.
The plan was in action, and he was going to have to do a few things that were going to require a few extra bets, and while he was happy to do that, he had some reservations on some of them, since they didn't seem all the best, but it was something that he couldn't think about right now.
If he did, then he would back up, or make a mistake, and if he did that, then he wouldn’t be much of a First, would he? he had to do this, and he was going to d it well, and nobody was going to know that he was the one doing it until the end, when it didn't matter if they knew or not, since, he was going to be the one with all the power, and they wouldn’t be able to do anything about it,
And that was why it was the perfect plan.
But there were a few things that were going to have to be checked be fore that, since if he didn’t, then he would know that he wasn't giving it his all, and if he didn’t do that, then he knew that he would fail.
He couldn’t fail. He couldn't. There was too much riding on this, and he wasn't going to give up, and he wasn't going to back down.
But there were a few things that he could do that could make it easier, but that was going to he hart to keep up, since he knew that they were going to be exhausting,
But the power that he knew he had, that was very good for him, since it was giving him more energy.
And so the plan was put in the place.
But there were a few things that he was worried about.
He could worry about them later, when he was away, and hadn't been identified.
Well, it was good thing that he could change, huh? He wasn't a Changed, but he was close enough that it didn't mater, and that he was really good at this, and it was his gift, but that made him forgettable, and that was what he wanted.
But sometimes, that was a bad thing, since he was ignored, and people didn't care about him, and it could get quite lonely, but he wasn’t complaining at the moment, since he knew that if he didn’t, that he was not better then a kid, and he knew that he was more then a kid, since he was over a million years old, and that was something that he was proud of, since it was something that showed just how well he was, that he'd lived that long, and not gone crazy or something that would've been really bad.
But that was a good thing, since he knew that he was better then that, and he was going to show that to the other people.
But if they didn't know that, then they would underestimate him, and that was fine with him, since he knew that one that wasn't seen as he was, that was the one that you had to watch the most, since they were the ones that could be the most cruel, and that was who he was. But they didn't know that, and that was why it was such a good thing.
But if he didn't know, then it was a bit boring doing it by himself, but if it was that, then he was just going to deal with it, since he knew that if he didn’t, then he would be seen as weak.
And he wasn’t a weak person.
He wasn’t going to be weak again.
He'd lived through that enough that he didn't want that anymore, and that he was going to fight to not be like that gain, and that he wouldn’t take any crap from anybody, he knew that he didn't need that, and he wasn’t going to take it, and nobody was going to give it.
And when they found out what he'd done, well, they would see that he was much more then they thought ,and might respect him a bit more, because he didn't like that fact that he wasn't being respected by the person he was, and he was a lot more then one person, he was the combination of a few people, not that many knew that, but then, not a lot knew about him, and he wasn't going to be a weakling that needed to be protected by those around him ,and he was going to be a strong, capable guy.
Sure, he had insecurities, but didn't everybody? Well, everybody that he knew that was really a person, because to have no doubts, that was a bit insensitive, and he wasn't going to be that.
And even if he wasn’t human, well, that didn't mater, because a lot of us weren't, and a lot of people didn't know about that, and that was just fine with him, since why did they need to know? They were just people who where there, and that didn't matter at all.
He just had to get them to see that, and then he would be fine.
But when it came down to it, humans weren't so good.
They were the ones that were torturing themselves, and the world, by the way that they ached, and it was quite sad to see them that way, but heck, what was he going to do about that?
He could wipe them out, sure, but that was a bit boring, and a bit unoriginal, he was looking for something that was a bit more, something that wasn't boring, or done before.
He had a few plans that he had to put into place along with the main one, and he had to get going on.
But he was going to get it done.
He started to head out.
But he had bad luck.
“Carey, what are you doing?” he ran into Chad and Atlantis, Chad talking.
“Oh!” he said, looking at them. “Uh, I’m going to my dorm room” he started to back away.
“Why don’t you walk with us?” Atlantis said with a smile. That was the last thing that he wanted to do, so he started shaking his head before the words were done leaving her lips.
“I have a big project that I have to get done, sorry” and she frowned.
“Why did you come then?”
“Because I wanted to see you guys” more like he wanted to pull off his plan, and he needed to be there to do so.
She smiled, and took his words at face value. She didn’t suspect a thing.
It was all going as perfectly as he could want. Just this minor snag, but it wasn’t too major.
And he headed off, not noticing the stares of Atlantis and Chad on his back.
Sarah is mad. First she's sent to prison, then somebody kills her. Then she finds out that she's in the middle of the scale for good and bad.
No wonder she likes fights.
As she starts to get used to this 'Half World' she is taught to be a soul collector-something she was roped into by the person who killed her, no less-and then her teacher of all that spooky stuff, Tiaz, turns out to be the relative of the head honcho.
And he's planning a rebellion, no less. Along the way of juggling her past, and her present and future, she somehow manages to find a way to solve the balance issue.
But will it be in time?
Because the worlds are all going to die if something isn't done...
*cover credit marsbareater12*
Prologue
Chains rattled as the prisoners dragged their feet, creaking in a very ominous sound.
I shouldn’t be here, was one of the things flying around in the chaos of my brain.
Yeah, and if everybody got what they thought, then nobody would be here. Don’t think that, I told myself sternly.
Whicawherer Prison was a nestled in one of the few remaining warehouses that was once a part of the shipping King’s kingdom named after the king himself, Mayor Whicawherer.
It was supper time, the supposed highlight of the day, besides the times that we were allowed to be outside. But then, supper, you’re supposed to have food, right?
Wrong. Here we have grubble, plain and simple. Why waste money on us criminals, when there are kids to educate and homeless people to feed?
Wait, that could describe us. We didn’t have a home, and the government fed us. But then, not very well, and yeah, they were forced to feed us. So I wouldn’t count on any nice-ness between us and the government. It’s a hostile environment here, and that’s because of how we’re treated.
Like animals, as if we had to hunt for our food.
We reached the door to the "mess hall" which sound more like it should be in a kids summer camp, but no, it's here, and it lives up to its name. The doors are scraped from all the fights that have broken out here, the floors are greasy and food and blood has been spilt here more times than anyone can count.
But the worst part, that was the actual kitchens. They don't clean the plates-why waste the water? the money spenders think-so our dishes are assigned to us, and we have to use them, for both of our meals, till either we get out of prison, or we die.
Plain and simple. That describes a lot of things here, because it is a government facility, however much that they don't want it to be. It doesn’t look good for their image, so that they really don't like us. We did commit crimes after all.
Most of us did, and I guess that’s the best the justice system can supply. But it’s not fair-I was set up by one that I thought loved me, and well, he didn't. If I hadn't known him, then I would never have done the things that I did.
But it started off so small, and then it grew bigger and bigger, till he was controlling me by blackmail, instead of by love.
But I preferred the blackmail control-it was honest, in the way that he wasn't hiding what he wanted from me, what he felt for me, and the way that he was.
After I was arrested, he didn't come once. And I can guess why. Because I did my job for him, basically doing his job-so that he didn't have to risk himself. Now that I’m in prison, I’ve outlived my usefulness. I bet he already had another girl wrapped around his pinkie doing exactly what he wants-just like I did-and she'll do it. I wouldn't be surprised if he already had her lined up before I even went to jail.
Heck, he probably has millions of girls doing his bidding, so that he can "Love" them more. But he doesn't love them. No, he doesn't love anyone or anything except 2 things.
Himself, and money.
And that's what the world boils down to, when it’s all said and done, individuality and money. But not many are individuals, and not many are rich, though everybody strives to be.
My group inched closer to the food, and even though it was horrible, my stomach growled loudly, and I would've covered it, but nobody could really hear it-mine wasn't the only one, and once we got our food, we could talk, but only to others that had food, too.
The room was already half full, or haft empty as another would call it, but I prefer the first, and the din was going higher and higher as more and more joined the tables, the plastic forks and knives scrapping the plates, and the chairs scrapping the floors in an almost timed way, that it just kept happening and happening.
Then we were at the food, and one by one we grabbed out trays that already had cutlery and our bowls on them-like I said, we reuse the bowls over and over-and moved over to were Cook was serving food. Cook isn't a real cook, I’ve discovered, since not only does she not know how to cook, but she also is usually in my cell block, and yeah, so she's a prisoner just like me.
But she was the only one with food experience-she put dishes in a dishwasher in a fancy restaurant, back when she was free. But she wasn't fee anymore, and I doubt that she ever will again, unless she is proven innocent after being proved guilty, in the retrials, but that's not likely.
She openly admitted to people that yeah, she had killed all those guys by putting poison on the plates by putting it in the water that goes into the dishwasher-because they were going to reduce her pay, and then fire her.
But given her attitude, it would be easy to say that she was a murderer, but she was more in your face kind of way, not the sneak behind you and poison your plate kind of way.
But she had, and now she was in here, and she had to serve our food, since the government didn't think about where in the restaurant did you work, just that you had worked in one.
And that was part of the reason that our food was grubble, since Cook didn't know how to make it. And it really sucked when she was emotional, or angry.
Because those 2 were very different. Emotional, for Cook, meant crying, or some sort of weak thing that she shouldn't show. Anger, on the other hand, was an explosive thing that was totally separate thing.
She had once stabbed someone here, when they said the wrong thing at the wrong time, unless, of course, they wanted to die. But I doubt that being stabbed with a knife, and then slowly having your bones broken one at a time is very pleasing to you.
And after that, Cook had no knives, but she still had brute strength, so it was better to not talk to her, or, if you had to, just say high and bye and run as fast as you can away.
She dumped the lumpy substance on my tray and nodded slowly.
We had a bit of an alliance, but that didn't mean that we didn't talk behind the others back. It was expected of us. And who doesn't say that we don't live up the expectations of the masses?
The nod meant that more outside things were coming in soon. Cook was able to watch the unloading of the trucks of supplies that came here every few days, since she had to watch the unloading of the food and where it went, but she also watched everything else.
And since I knew about it before hand, I could be one of the first to get it, and then I would get extra for her, since one, she couldn’t get away, most of the time, unless it was in her schedule, and two, technically, she wasn't supposed to get any of the extra stuff, but that was what I gave her in exchange for telling me about when they came.
OK, so some new stuff was in today. The earliest that they could come in and give it to us was tomorrow. That meant that I had to get up early, so that I could get it first, since it operates under the system, first come, first serve, and that way, not everybody gets to it, if they wake up too late.
But that's their decision, and I’m not going to try and give up more stuff then what I’d left behind when I was arrested, just because they were really stupid, and I really didn't care about them.
I reached our table, about the middle of the line, and the middle of the table, and sat down.
Marcush, the girl that stood beside me, whispered, "What was that all about?"
I shrugged. I wasn't about to go and get rid of a healthy and beneficial to both parties arrangement, so I kept my lips sealed.
"Oh, come on, I know you better then that, Sarah. Come on and tell me!" her voice was getting louder, and my mind raced to thing of something to say before she told the whole room my business.
“What all about?” I said to stall. And my mind came up with the perfect solution.
“The nod that Cook gave you! She never even looks at us while she’s being the cook, but for you, yeah, you go on up there like you’re the best of friends. So tell me what’s been going on!”
“She was just telling me that she talked to the wardens about the drippy ceiling in our side-by-side cells” I reminded her that me and Cook had close cells, while Marcush had a cell almost on the other side of the block, so of course she wouldn't be able to know that there wasn't any leaky ceiling. But what she doesn't know won't kill her.
And to lie with confidence, you had to really seem like you believed what you were saying. And I had perfected that while in here. I had only been here for 6 months, but they had seemed like hell days-taking forever, just dragging along and along and alone, repeating the same things over and over and over again.
They were just long days. Thankfully, I only had a year and a half sentencing, so I was already being close to being done. I only had one more year of this pit to survive. I just had to keep my head low and stay out of sight. That was the only thing that I could do, and it was exactly what I was going to do. I had a survival instinct, after all. Except with him.
But then I had been blinded then, but now I see, and all of that crap that I don't believe in after it was force-fed to me for half of my life. I stopped going to church the same day that I ran away-mostly since church was a load of crap that I was taught was as sweet as chocolate. I guess someone didn't have their taste buds checked recently, huh?
But that was enough of me. To keep low in prison, was the opposite of keeping low in the outside world. You had to connect, to develop a network, of gossip and of "Friends" like Cook, to get what you wanted, and that, for most of us, was getting out.
The last time someone from our cell block had gotten out, well, that was before I had gotten here, and I had actually gotten her cell. And she hadn't gotten out by her own accord-she had been forced out, because she was the one that had made Cook mad and gotten stabbed and had her bones broken. And that was why I had to be careful with Cook, because that had been her old roommate, the one that Cook had had for about 5 years. And Cook killed her. And I guess that the room mate might've been a bitch, but still. 5 years, that meant that they were a bit more used to each other, but I guess not.
And room mate was more of, that we were in the same cell, technically, but there was a wall between us, and a door, and then there was the door that opened the cell. And in that way were we room mates.
I just wished that I had some ear plugs, because man, does Cook snore. I'm surprised that anyone could, and would sleep, and I had gotten used to it, but it was still annoying.
"Hey, guess what?" Jas asked excitedly, and didn't wait before saying "I got approved" I instantly glanced up. No one was liked, and that was no one had been approved, and why no one left here by either death or by being released, right when they were supposed to. No early anything, but apparently Jas had done it. I wonder how. It would be a good thing, so I could get out and live my life. But they hadn't liked me because of my parents-my dad was a cop who had died on the line of duty, and my mom was a judge, and so they had been cruel to me, since I had run away from what they called a perfect home. But it wasn't, and I had gotten away, and my mom was bitter about that, at least, she was when she visited me my first day of prison.
"I hope you’re happy now" she had hissed, and then she had left. No hi, no good-bye, that was it. Pretty sad family, if that was what we were, because it hadn't seemed like it. But live and deal, you only get the cards that are dealt to you, and you're the one who has to live with them, so you'd better make them count, as my grandma always said. Never let life take you along for the ride, always take the bull by the horns and take charge, that was the only way to live life. And I would like to think that I did that.
At least till I met him, and then all of my good intentions were shattered. But I bet that only grandma would've been the only one who would approve of me running away, if she knew what was going on behind the scenes in our seemingly charming house were all the fights broke out, and all the things were broken, and all the hearts were smashed, and where I had escaped from with barely my life.
But that’s justice, that my mom is still a judge after all that she did, and that I’m the one in jail, just because I made a bad choice, Just like her, and I bet that's what catches in her craw-if she hadn't been more careful, what happened to me, would’ve happened to her, and instead of having a great job and being respected by the public, she would’ve been in prison, which I bet would’ve killed her.
But at first, she had caused a lot of troubles. After all, she had put most of them here, and they had been mad at me because of that, till I convinced them that I was mad at her, and was in no way connected to her since I ran away when I was 15.
But why talk about her? She’s old news-she’s the one that put most of us in here, but she certainly wouldn’t be the one to get us out. Not by a long shot.
"That's awesome" we congratulated, and I wondered which judge had approved Jas. She must've had connections, but then, given what she was in for, that wasn't too surprising. After all, she had been in the mayor’s council, and then had been caught of stealing money from him, so it was obvious that she had connections.
But I wasn't jealous-that meant that one of my major enemies inside these walls was leaving, and I would have more territory to control. And that was one of the driving factors that made Jas an enemy, that I wanted more territory, and she just happened to be one of the ones holding the biggest territory around here, so of course she was the target. I had nothing personal against her, it was just business. I had to get out of here, and even if that wasn't going to happen for a year, I might as well have make it a good last year, and enjoy myself before I got back to the outside world. Because prison was like its own secret world, one hidden away from the rest of the world, and that no one would come here unless they were sent to, they worked here, though most don't last long, that’s part of the reason why they have a prisoner as a cook instead of a regular person, or they were a loved one of someone in here. But most of the time, no one came, and no one left.
As I said, it was a pretty same day, day after day.
But now that Jas was leaving, that meant that it was going to get better, and I was happy. It was only a matter of time before I could think of a way to make the year go by quicker, and with my head, it would work harder, now that I had the competition that Jas was getting out and I was staying in.
But she had been here before I had, so she did have that, and that's why she has the biggest territory.
Territory that was now going to be mine. I can't wait! I though gleefully. Just a few more days, probably, and then it will be over, and I will have what I want. It won't come too soon, that I can be sure of.
I finished eating, and sat there, waiting till everyone else-who seemed to eat in slow motion, to me, at least-since we couldn't leave till everyone was done eating, which included Cook, but more of that she had already ate, and we had to wait till she was done serving food to us.
And that would happen soon-there was only one cell after as, because they planned it that since she was in our cell, we would go second last, so that we have time to eat, and that the last cell should be finished being served around that time, and then that would work out and we would leave.
But more often then not, it didn't work out that way, so we were waiting for Cook, since the last cell was late, seeing as they got a new member that had to have been shown the ropes, and then they got here late, and then we were waiting on Cook, and tensions were running high.
"Hurry up, will you?" a voice said, annoyed.
"You shut your pie hole, or I’ll stuff it" one of the other cell members said back.
"Oh, you gettin on me?"
"Why? And see your chicken butt?"
"Oh, I do say that I won't stand for that"
"Ok, you go on and sit down" and then a fight erupted. I stayed out of it, since I didn't care-it was the insult game, and I didn't take part in it, since it often ended in longer sentencing, and staying here longer, and that was counter productive, and that was one thing that I wasn't going to me.
I had a purpose-getting out-and I wasn't going to do anything that could threaten that, because I had to get out. This place was barbaric, and I was sick and tired of it in 6 months, and I had been since I had arrived here that fateful day 6 months ago.
I wasn't gong to look back, either, regrets were for those that had time for them, and I was determined to not have time for them, I was going down my path, and I’d never look back.
It was another grandma saying, and I know that she was one wise lady, after all, she wrote a book. And what's more smart then that? It was a bestseller, and I was proud of it.
I was allowed a copy of it, so that I could brag about it, since the prison didn't think that it was dangerous, and that it could hurt me.
Then the fight escalated. There were a few people on the ground, and I could see the bruises literally coming up, which meant they would be the darkest variety of black and blue tomorrow, not to mention in a bad mood.
Maybe the new stuff will help with that, but then, you can't count on anything till you have it, and are guaranteed it, or else you could be disappointed, which just leads back to the regret thing.
I saw a few plastic utensils being thrown, with quite some accuracy, into others. I hoped that the warden would come soon-they were the only ones who could have some sort of control over these people, and try to get them so settle down, and maybe separate them, since it looked like they needed it.
After all, they were fighting over a few insults. That wasn't too bad; maybe they should be fighting revenge blood rite things or something like that. I hadn't been a part of a gang before in the outside world, so the way they operated, that was sometimes carried into here, so I was learning, but I would rather not, seeing all the bad things that gangs do, and I really didn't deserve to be here, and I just wanted to get out.
Was that so bad? I guess so, since I had to wait so long to get out, a year and a half, that was a long time.
I saw a smiling face, and then there was a white hot pain in my stomach. I looked up to see Marcush standing there, still smiling, still holding the plastic knife she had pushed into me. She pulled it out, and I gasped, sinking to the floor and she whispered, “There’s no leak in your ceiling. Good going” and then she stabbed me again, this time in the throat. I wondered how long I could survive the blood pumping out of me, because she had hit the main vein in my throat, the one that gives blood to the brain, and then brain wouldn’t get oxygen, and then it would start to die!
I had to get attention, stat, or I could have brain damaging, or worse!
“Help!” I tried to yell, but Marcush had been smart. In stabbing my throat, she had not only got the vein, but also prevented me from saying anything, so it was a whisper, and no one but Marcush heard.
“No one cares about you, little Sarah, the little princess” she mocked, and then I fainted. The pain pushed out though, feeling, except itself, and everything.
And it went blank.
