Displaced

Wicken - Twenty

My room was about the size of a typical dorm room for most freshmen in college. Only instead of two guys living in one small space, it was six. There were two triple bunk beds. Awesome, huh? And of course, the only one not claimed when I got there was right in the middle. Peachy. The whole room reeked of sweat too, and it was cold, almost unbearably so.

Justice was behind me.

"You're staying with me and my guys. They're all pretty cool for the most part. The only one you need to look out for is Torpedo. He's always rough with the new guys, but as soon as he respects you, you're cool in his book," he explained. "We have a shared bathroom down the hall. Shower time is limited to ten minutes, once a day. Almost everyone uses it right away after work at night."

I nodded, taking in my surroundings and moved to the empty bunk. Somehow I managed to get in without disturbing the whole set-up. Figured I should practice just in case I accidentally piss someone off by getting into bed wrong each night. Shivering, I grabbed my rather thin blanket and tucked it around me, curling into a small ball.

For a few minutes, I listened to the sound of Justice walking around the room. He shuffled a little bit and then the bed creaked as he got in as well.

I closed my eyes, trying to ignore the fact that I was in an unfamiliar bed in an unfamiliar setting – a spaceship. That starting tomorrow, I'd basically be a slave for an alien species nobody was fighting to stop. A species that was kidnapping people for reasons no one was telling me. What was going on? Who in their right mind would think any of this was okay?

Don't freak out. I had to remind myself once the quiet and isolation hit me. Once the realization hit me that everything was out of my control, I wanted to have that meltdown Justice and Patriarch kept talking about. Even back home and things sucked, I could at least control myself and what happened to me. The bills weren't getting paid? I got another job. My mom was back on the bottle, I could dump her stash or find a place to at least hide.

There was always a way out, and there would be one out of this too. I just had to keep calm and keep thinking. I had to learn more.