Ganger's Rose

Part 1

My head hurt. I slowly woke up. I didn't know where I was. The room was white. My eyes had to adjust to the light. What happened? I didn't know. I just remembered that I was on my way to school, when I felt someone following me. I walked faster, but soon this someone hit my head, and everything went black.

Now I was in this room. What was I supposed to do? I was 16 years old and defenseless.
The door opened. I heard footsteps. I was looking to the floor, not daring to look at my kidnapper. Black, clean boots stood in front of me now. Someone crouched down and put a glass of water next to me on the floor. I just stared at the shoes.
"No one is going to hurt you", a males voice said "you just have to do what we say and you will have a really good life soon."
"I don't have money", I said slowly "My mom and dad neither. I guess I can't help you."
"Oh", he said "We don't want your money. We will get a lot of money for you, but not now. You just have to learn enough and then you can have a good position in a Mafia group."
"Why should I do this? I'm not a criminal"
I slowly got furious. He dared to think that I would work for a gang or something?"
"Listen!", he said "You have no choice! You will learn what you learn in a normal school, but you will learn it faster. You won't have free time. There will be a lot of training instead. You will learn everything here."
"Everything?", I asked.
"Yes. Using weapons. Self-defense. Fighting. Business. And, like I said, the normal things from school."
He smirked at me. I was a kid. What did he want?
"So, you are making soldiers? For gangs?"
I coughed. My throat was dry. I didn't touch the water yet, because I didn't know if the man was trustworthy. He wanted to use me.
"We are not. The kids here won't be soldiers. Everyone will be an important part of a gang, like a hacker or something else. We just want our mafia friends to become stronger. It's a good business", he laughed at the last part.
"Sure. Money", I scoffed "I don't have a choice, do I?"
He shook his head. Then he indicated me to stand up and follow him. I just stayed sitting on the floor. His expression soon changed into an angry one. He didn't hesitate to pull my arm. It hurt so much that I hissed in pain. The he dragged me out of the room.

We were walking through a long hallway. Everything there was white. The walls. The ceiling. The doors. There wasn't interior or something. Just walls and doors.
Soon we reached a big hall.
"Look around and memorize everything. This is where you can have food. Breakfast. Lunch. Dinner. You have to be here on time."
Then he dragged me further. I didn't even try to get out of his grasp. He was too strong.
"Here are the classrooms. Be here on time too."
Again, he dragged me somewhere else.

Now, we were standing in front of a white door. My name and a number were on it. He opened the door and dragged me inside.
The room was huge. There was a big white bed, a desk, a small closet and a door.
"Behind the door is a bathroom"
Then he left.

I stared at the door, that was slammed behind him. In this moment I broke down crying. I was worried. Not for my life, but for my mom. She was surely worried. Very worried. I cried and cried and cried. I didn't think. He said I had to be somewhere in time. I didn't care. He didn't even tell me times or something like that.

A few moments of crying later I heard a knock on my door. I didn't react.
The door opened. Someone came in.
"You know that you are supposed to answer the door, don't you?", the voice of another male said. He was younger. I could hear it. Again, I didn't dare to look at him.
"Be glad that it's just me. Someone else would punish you."
"And who are you?", I asked.
"Woah, its okay. No need to snap at me. I'm Julian and I'm something like your tutor. I was sent here to tell you some important information."
I nodded and looked at him. He was handsome. His short blonde hair looked freshly cut and his light brown eyes looked friendly. He smiled warmly at me.

He told me everything this evening.
I had no other choice than to stay. This place was something like a school. They were teaching normal things in the morning, but every student learned faster, by taking a pill. It was because of a pill the students had to take every morning. This pill made them memorize everything they learned. After the normal classes they had lunch. Lunch was in the big hall the man from earlier had shown me. After that and a short break were the other "classes".
This were the "important" classes. I didn't feel comfortable with the things Julian told me.
Extra sport lessons to improve our fitness. Lessons about weapons and how you could use them. Extra training for self-defense and martial arts. And the lessons about business.
They were really planning to make perfect gang members.

"To be honest", I said "I'm scared. I don't want it."
"I know", Julian replied "I don't want it either, but they will kill our families too, if they have to kill us, because we refused to do what they said. I want my parents to live and my little siter has a bright future ahead. It's okay if I disappoint them this way. They will live and that's more important to me."
I just nodded. He was right. This wasn't our fault and more than ever it wasn't our family's fault.
"Okay", he said and got up from the chair he sat on before "In this closet you will find your clothes. There are signs for what you are wearing what. I will go now. See you tomorrow at 8.00 am in the hall. And if you are going to forget the times of the classes, there is a timetable in the drawer of your desk."
I thanked him, he waved at me and went out of my room.

I looked for the timetable first. Breakfast was at 8.00 am and half an hour later was the first class.
Later I opened the closet and saw some clothes. There were some sets. One for sleeping. One for lessons. One for sports. And a special one for the classes after lunch.

This was going to be hard.
It was already late, so I changed into the sleeping clothes and went to bed.


The next morning everything started. The alarm rang automatically ad 7.00 am. I had enough time every morning to get ready.
Breakfast wasn't that bad. The food was actually good. The was so much food to choose.
The classes began with this pill. Every morning was the same.
The after-lunch classes were hard for me. It was something different and I was uncomfortable at first.
I wasn't good in sports either, but I saw what happened if I was not good enough. The instructors were harsh, and every little mistake was punished.

Soon I started to train myself. I got better and better. Soon, I was good in sports and the martial arts were easy for me. I was good enough that the instructors didn't see reasons for a punishment anymore.
The other classes were soon easy for me too. The pill worked for the whole day and I memorized everything.
I became the best in class.

One day we hat something like a test. I was in a better class now, because I was good at everything. I was the best. Now I was in the same class as Julian. We became good friends over the time I was there. Three years.
Now we had the test. We had to fight against each other, but we didn't know that this was the actual test. we thought it was just a training before the test. So, I paired up with Julian. We were clueless and had fun. I won and we laughed together. But...


In the evening I had a bit free time and wanted to talk to him. I had a little crush on him and wanted to tell him. It wasn't allowed, but I had to tell him. I went to his room and knocked. He didn't answer. It was strange. I knocked again. Maybe he was at the toilet or something. Maybe he didn't hear me.
The door next to his opened. It was one of our classmates. She looked sad.
"Oh hey", I smiled at her.
"You won't find him", she said quietly. My smile faded.
"They sorted him out", she said "I don't know in which way, but I don't think it was the good one."
I started running to the offices. There they talked to the people that were sorted out.

There were two reasons to be sorted out. Either you were chosen to be sold to a gang or you weren't good enough. Not being good enough meant one thing. Death.

I was near the office when I heard them talking. I heard Julian's voice. He pleaded. Then...
BANG.
A shot. I abruptly stopped and fell on the floor. They killed him. I gathered all my courage, stood up and walked there. There was a window in the door. I saw him. He was laying on the floor. Bleeding. Dead.
The director opened the door.
"Can I help you?", he asked.
"No. I was searching for him, but I guess it doesn't matter anymore. He wasn't good enough, right? Then he wasn't worth it", I said coldly. I didn't mean it, but I turned around and walked away.

In my room a tear left my eye. This was the moment I decided to end this whole "school".
I made my way to the big storage where they kept everything. Guns, weapons and explosive stuff.
Of course, it was guarded, but I was the best student here and I was blinded by anger. Knocking the guards down and taking their weapons was easy for me.
I made my way to the chemicals. I was crazy, but I wanted it to end now. The storage was far away from the living area. I took something and placed it so that it would explode when I was far enough. It worked like a time bomb. They made a mistake teaching me this.

And everything worked like I wanted it.
There was a big explosion, that set off a fire alarm.
Every student was able to get out of there. The bang the explosion caused was heard everywhere in the near city and the fire was seen. Citizens informed the police, ambulance and fire fighters. No one knew what this institution was before. But this evening everything was revealed. I was the one, who made it happen and I was happy to save others, now and in the future.

The police talked to me. No students had to go to jail or had another penalty. They were free from the nightmare.
And I? I went back to my mother. She ever believed I would come back. She was happy.
But there was one thing I didn't tell her. When I talked to the police, they offered me something. I was able to help them to fight against all the other gangs and criminals. 
And for the next two years...

I Became a shadow.