Blank Slates

Chapter 1

*Time Skip*

The alarm rang, filling her ears with a horrid beeping sound. Rolling over in her bed and groaning in annoyance, she slammed her hand fiercely on the little device to shut it off. She sat up in bed, squinting her eyes to try to get used to the light. Overwhelmed by exhaustion, she nearly fell asleep again. Everyone had an assigned time to be in bed so that they could rise rested and refreshed. But for some reason, she never fell asleep when everyone else did. She could never feel calm enough to fully rest at night. Pushing her dark hair out of her face, she held back the urge to scream loudly to relieve that aching feeling of annoyance growing in her chest.

"Hey," 101505B said sharply. "Get out of bed now. We're going to be late."

She pouted and didn't move. "I don't want to."

Her roommate's eyes darkened. "Hush. You're going to get in trouble again for complaining."

"I don't care."

"Yes, you do. Now get out of bed now so we can get to class."

Letting out an audible sigh, she forced herself off of the bed and headed to the bathroom to change into her uniform.

"You know, you should really stop misbehaving," 101505B remarked from the other side of the door.

"I know, but I just can't help it."

"If you keep this up, you might lose an eye. Remember 40302C?"

"Yeah, don't remind me. But it's just hard to keep up with all the rules."

"What, the Home didn't teach you how to behave well?"

"I don't want to talk about the Home. All I'm going to say is that I got in trouble a lot there too."

"What did they do to you there?"

"I said I don't want to talk about it."

She emerged from the bathroom, dressed in her nice, pressed white uniform with the typical white bow in her hair to keep her hair out of her eyes. The two girls shut off all the he lights and exited the room. 101505B locked the door behind them and the girls proceeded down the hall to the leave the apartment complex and head to the school building. They arrived at the classroom before the bell and sat down in their assigned seats. The Warden entered for the daily inspection. He was a stout man and every part of him was huge. Huge nose, huge belly, huge feet. He struck fear into the hearts of most tyros like her just by glaring at them with his deep brown eyes. His voice was always hoarse, as if he hadn't had a drink in months. Quite an ugly fellow in her opinion. But of course, she wasn't even allowed to have opinions. She forced herself to sit up straight before folding her hands neatly on her desk as he passed by. Maybe she could get through the day without a single offense.

"12505A," the Warden spoke in his gravelly voice.

Well, all chances of not getting in trouble were thrown far out the window at that moment. She sucked in a deep breath as she waited for the Warden to say more. Her eyes remained fearfully on the board, for she was not even allowed to look any other way.

"What is the first rule of this establishment?"

"Obey any and all rules without complaint, sir," she recited. It took all her willpower to keep her perfect posture and not tremble under his gaze. She was not even looking in his eyes, yet she could almost feel them blazing into her back.

"Then why did the recordings of your room show that you are complaining, 12505A?"

She bit the inside of her lip. "I'm sorry, sir."