Not Actually Allowed

Intro

 Why are humans so annoying? I mean I was human once too but it wasn't that bad.

 He was talking, but everything was going in one ear and out the other. I didn't want to hear it, but I knew I should've been listening. Being at this organization shouldn't have been boring, but after being here for more than half my life, it wasn't such a thrill anymore. Everything's "Ah, kill kill," I'd much rather it be "sit down and read." Reading isn't boring, people. I leaned back in my chair, trying to lean far enough to see what was happening outside of the door, but no such luck.

"Hey!" There was a hand in front of my face, Mads' long fingers snapping a sharp sound out twice.

"Listen to me!"

"Okay, jeez. But I'm sorry." Not. Maybe annoyed and eager to leave, but not sorry.

"You're not."

I cocked my head.

"Whatever do you mean?" He sighed, rubbing his hands over his eyes. He looked at me, his averaged-colored brown eyes glaring at me in hopelessness.

"Fine. Go. I'll ask someone else."

"Okay thank you bye!" It was all in one breath, a quick sentence zipping by, almost as fast as me running out the door and into the hallway. I closed the door behind me, slowing my pace as I reached the small crowd at the end of the hall.

There were five people, two of which I knew, Ash and Jae, two more which I've only seen around, and another who wasn't familiar to me at all.

"What's going on?" They all turned to me, and Ash stepped forward.

"Just talking." Her voice was sharp, not mad at me, she was just using the tone she normally used when she was frustrated. And also, her British was peeking out in the second word. I would have smiled and teased her, but I knew that she was stressed.

"Okay." I looked at all of them expectantly, squinting and raising my chin up a bit. One of the two who I was vaguely familiar with looked scared. I knew why. I backed up a step, but I didn't change my expression. I wanted to know what was happening, but I didn't want to seem threatening, because I'm not. There are myths people may have heard, but I don't follow what is expected of my kind. My just being here is an example of that.

"Just- okay. Say something to him." Jae looked at Ash, who looked at me, and I looked at the others. Something was going on. "Um, I think I will."

The facial expressions Ash and Jae were sharing were suspicious, and they were also code. It meant something.

I stood there, shifting my weight onto my right leg. I didn't know if this was a big deal, or if literally nothing was happening. I was suspecting that it wasn't the latter.

"Hmm?" A low hum came from the back of my throat. I hoped it wasn't threatening. I did that all the time, it was my way of showing people that I wanted to know something without stating it directly.

The scared one, a small lady with bright blue eyes and blonde hair, backed up, I think she was trying to be subtle. She wasn't. Well, kind of, I just have an eye for that sort of thing.

"Fine."

Jae stepped forward and grabbed my arm. She led me down another hallway, took a right, and we stopped in front of her door.

"You know what we do here, correct?"

"Um, yes, do I not?" I didn't know what she was trying, and I wasn't going to go along with it. "I know what we do. Are you saying that I should leave?"

Right away I could tell that I had said the wrong thing, with her expression and things. She squeezed my arm real tight.

"No! Bug, I promise you don't ever have to leave." She let go, and I pulled my arm up and looked at it, though the light was dim. I noticed that she used my nickname, when she usually addressed me by a sharp, "James!" I guess that way of addressing me wasn't necessary at that moment, though.

"You won't have to leave, though people were... worried about your being here, under these circumstances."

"What circumstances?" I was tempted to use the hum again, but then again she was already seeming a little mad, so I didn't want to mess with her anymore.

"I'm going to be straight with you. So you know that the work we do here, other people do other places? Yes, so those people who do the work in other places are going to come here, temporarily, because something is happening here that we can't do alone. But only the best are coming. And they cannot, as you already know, know about you. All the information they will get is that you are one of the best we have here, that you are trained, that you are one of us."

The look in her eyes was enough.

"Okay," I said, about to leave.

"Wait," she grabbed my arm, but not so tight this time. "When I said one of us I didn't mean that you weren't really, I meant-"

"I know what you meant." I pulled my arm back and gave her one last look before walking past her and down the hall.