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"Will I d-do that again?" She asked quietly as he grabbed a new wipe.
"Yes." He nodded, wiping down her forehead.
"A lot?" She questioned, swallowing thickly.
"Yes." He repeated. "What are you thinking?"
"W-whether to do it or not." She sniffle...
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☆*:.｡. o(▽)o .｡.:*☆
Once the film was finished, the TV's all switched off automatically and the girls just sat at their tables, glancing around at each other. The nurses came back into the room, starting with the first girls in taking out their needles and IV drips.
A different nurse came to Nova's side, taking the tape off her arm and the needle out before wiping over the small hole in her arm with a cotton wool ball and folding her elbow up, telling her to keep it there for a few seconds. This nurse was younger than the other one; she had black hair and tanned skin but her body was still skinny, almost too skinny. The woman gave Nova the tiniest smile as she taped over the cotton ball to keep it in place before moving onto the next girl and repeating the steps.
After all of the girls' IV's had been taken away by the nurses, the soldier stood up, leading them out of the room and they followed, some still sniffling while others were just looking around the place in wonder and confusion. Nova's eyes roamed the oak walls as she held her teddy close, towards the back of the group. The walls had nothing on them, they were bare and boring to her and she tried to find something interesting amongst all of the brown and black.
The soldier stopped outside of a door and pushed it open revealing a large hall. The girls started to go inside, looking around the empty room and waiting. A hand clamped down on Nova's shoulder, bring her back into reality and away from her search of colour. The soldier looked down at her with his blank eyes, and moved her into the room by her shoulder before closing the door behind him as all of the girls were inside.
A petite woman entered the room coming from a pair of metal doors the other side of the room, holding a clipboard. She had on a netted cap, an apron around her body, tied into a neat bow at the front, the rope having been wrapped around her skin waist once, crossed over her back and then tied together at the front. She looked to be in her mid 40's, golden skin, brown hair speckled with small grey hairs that was scraped back into a tight bun under the net cap.
"I'll call your name and you will be seated at a table. Your table will be based on your intelligence. The closer the table to me, the more intelligent you are." The woman spoke up, looking over the girls as they just shuffled on their spots. "Layla Smith!"
A short girl with curly, sandy blonde hair, age seven looked up from the floor, blue eyes wide as she looked at the woman in front of everyone. She stepped out from behind a few girls and timidly waited to be assigned to a table.
"Table six!" The woman ordered.
Each of the tables were numbered and there were seven tables in total. Table 1 was closest to the woman and 7 was at the back of the room, closest to the girls. They were being judged on their intelligence based on their age. If they were smarter than the average six year old, they'd be higher up on the tables. If they were below average, they would be lower on the table numbers.
Layla made her way over to the table and sat down at the end of the bench. They were all metal and clearly uncomfortable by the way the poor girl was shifting in her seat. The table was metal as well, only the number etched into the metal at the opposite end of the table to where Layla had sat down.
"Jenny McLaughlin!" The woman called next.
The next girl to step forwards was the first girl to have an IV drip. She looked over at the woman as he made her way to the front of the group, twiddling her fingers nervously and Nova could see tear tracks down her cheeks.
"Table 1!" The woman stated.
Jenny made her way to the first table and sat down at the opposite end to the number like Layla had. The young girl looked down at the metal table, not daring to look up out of fear of the new environment.
The woman called more and more names out and the tables were soon filling up. Nova was absentmindedly picking at the tape on her arm, her attention suddenly on that abs not her surroundings. A hand reached forwards, taking her hand off the tape and Nova looked up to see the soldier glaring down at her before he stepped back to is original position again, watching over the room.
"Lily Michaels!" The woman called.
The girl stepped forwards, five years old at most. She was the girl that had shuffled closer to Nova in the group while they sat on the runway. She waited for her table to be called, bounding on the heels of her feet.
"Table 1!" The woman stated and Lily skipped over to the table, sitting down across from Jenny who smiled and waved at her. "No talking!" The woman snapped and Jenny lowered her hand, looking crestfallen and scared.
Most of the girls had been called to sit down now and there were around five left, Nova included. The ebony haired toddler looked down at her teddy, pretending to make it walk to busy herself as she waited.
"Nova Black!" She heard her name called out.
She looked across at the woman, holding her teddy still. The woman's eyes raked over the information sheet before a slightly impressed look covered her face. It was barely there before it was gone again.
"Table 1!"
Nova made her way over to the table and Lily smiled happily at her, moving over a little so she could sit down next to her. Nova accepted this immediately, placing her teddy in her lap as she smiled kindly at the girl and then Jenny who was also smiling excitedly at her, small specks of fear still shining in her eyes though.
Once all of the girls had been assigned their tables, the woman turned back and went through the double metal doors again. Small whispered started around the room as if it was lunch time at Nursery. Nova just glanced around, placing her chin on her fist. Jenny went to say something to Lily and Nova but the woman came storming back out of the doors, thrashing a wooden spoon against a metal pot.
"No talking allowed!" She yelled and everyone immediately fell silent.
Seven cooks came out of the metal doors, each holding a large pot, one going to a different table each. They placed the big pots down before grabbing the same amount of bowls as there were people on each table. Grabbing the ladle in the pots, they started to spoon it into the bowls.
Each girl got a bowl of what looked to be porridge with a spoon in the bowl as well. Nova picked up the spoon, taking a small bite of it and grimacing at the flavour, or lack of. This was no where near as good as her mums home cooked food. It was clear by there faces that none of the other girls were enjoying their bowls either because most out their spoons down, others only taking small bites out of pure hunger.
Nova played with her food more than eating it. With her spoon, she pushed it around the bowl, shoving it out of the way until she reached the bottom of the bowl where she could see the silver peeking through the oats. Beside her, Lily shook her head, placing the spoon back in her bowl, having only taken three or four small bites.
Jenny wasn't enjoying it either but she managed to stomach around six spoonfuls of the porridge before she was also putting her spoon down inside the mostly full dish. Nova took a small bite from the end of the spoon followed by two more minuscule ones but couldn't stand the taste or texture so she placed it down as well, making a small sound of disgust as she did so that made Lily abs Jenny giggle.
