Partners for Life

Chapter Seven: Punishments

"Irresponsible, reckless, stupid, only a few words to describe what you both did." The Instructor scolded. "Why two of our brightest and strongest students would sneak out, after curfew, and hide in secret is beyond me." She added. "Instructor-" Shelby started. "No. Don't start." She cut her off. "Instructor, we're adults now. We should be treated as such, and we can do adult things." Rich blurted. "I will not be talked to like that." The Instructor said sternly. "Well, it's true." He said back. "Do you feel this way, too?" She asked Shelby. Shelby just froze, looking at the bottom of her desk. "Shelby?" Rich asked quietly. She looked at him with tears in her eyes. "Fine, if you won't answer me, you can have some discipline. You, too, young man." She opened the door, and two guards came in to take Rich and Shelby. "No!" Shelby yelped. "No, I-we don't need discipline, we'll follow the rules, whatever you want." She cried, standing up. "Now, now, every young student needs discipline. That's how we learn."

She snapped her fingers, and the guards grabbed Shelby's and Rich's arms, and they both struggled to get away. No matter how strong or tough you are, the guards are stronger, and tougher. They took Rich to a seperate room than Shelby, and they 'disciplined' her for an hour, then sent them to seperate Dark Rooms. "Everything went wrong." Shelby told herself in between sobs. "I just want a normal life." She cried. Shelby was left in the Dark Room for three more hours after that, with the last thing she ate was the ice cream ten hours ago. "Have you learned your lesson?" A guard asked. "Yes, yes, I have. I'll never disobey the Program or the Instructor ever again!" Shelby cried, walking towards the door. "Okay, she's ready. What about-" One guard said. "No, he's not ready, I checked on him an hour ago." The other guard said.

Shelby went to her dorm, and waited for dinner. She did exercises until the dinner bell sounded, even though it hurt. Once it did, she went to the dining hall, and ate as much as she could. That night, after all of her classes, and a little more 'discipline', she turned her walkie-talkie to channel ten, hoping Rich was there. "Rich?" She whispered. There was a long pause, but on the other end, there was a sigh, and a voice said "I'm here, Shelby." Shelby chuckled. "I'm so sorry, Rich, I never wanted you to get hurt." She apologized. "It's okay, I'm fine now, we're okay." He replied softly. "I just wish I could be with you." He added. "Me too. If we get caught one more time, we'll both have harsher sentences than just getting whipped and sent to the Dark Room." She sighed. "I hope we go on a mission soon, I'm going stir-crazy." She admitted. "Yeah, me too. I'm actually excited to go kill someone." He chuckled. "When you were little, what do you think you were going to do by this age?" He asked. "Probably a teacher." She admitted. "It's stupid, I know, but I liked to help people." She said.

"It's not stupid. Maybe one day, you will be a teacher." He replied. "Heh, maybe. What about you?" Shelby asked. "A college student, studying to be a scientist. I started this Program when I was nine years old." Rich answered. "You were nine?" Shelby asked, shocked to hear that someone would send their child to this place on purpose. "How many..." Shelby trailed. "Thirty-eight." Rich said without having Shelby finish, and his voice breaking a little. "Thir-" Shelby gasped. "The other day was my first kill, and mission." She admitted. "You get used to it." He assured. "What were you doing in California that day?" Shelby asked. There was a long pause on the other side. "I was sent to act as a runaway to recruit more kids..." He trailed.

"I never wanted to recruit you, though. As soon as I saw you, I thought that I could runaway from this world, so I hid. I hid that day on the beach, instead of face Calistro, and recruit you." Rich admitted. Shelby gasped, and didn't answer. "Shelby?" He asked. "Wh-" She said. "It's twisted, I know. The Program does that sometimes, send kids out into the world to recruit new students." Rich added. "Maybe you'll get a mission tomorrow. It's getting late, talk to you tomorrow." He said. After that, there was radio static. Shelby turned off her radio, and stuffed it under her pillow. She fell asleep thinking of Rich, and how he led to her.