𝐙𝐄𝐑𝐎 - 𝟎𝟎𝟏 𝐅𝐀𝐍𝐅𝐈𝐂 ✔️

018

The next day is a day of busy lessons. For everyone. Time in the rainbow room is unexpectantly cut in half as everyone's ushered to separate rooms for their personalized schedules.

The redhead is taking you to your designated area. She sprawls out her important files and sheets of paper, before popping a walnut into her mouth. She places one in front of you, the shell broken in half.

Your stomach growls. Lunch hadn't been the most appetizing today. It was some unidentifiable grey mixture of soup. The most you could do was stir around the bits with suspicious hunks of meat—or what you thought was meat.

Sadly, the woman's purpose for cracking the walnut was not so you could eat it.

"Warm-up," she states plainly, "Put it back together."

It only takes a second for the walnut to be whole again.

The redhead smiles. "Good."

Lessons don't go as smoothly as usual, because of your lingering thoughts. Almost two hours passes of strengthening exercises and tips. Your mind is drained, and tired, you're actually on the verge of a bloody nose when the woman picks up her things and tells you it's time to wrap up.

"We're done here," she says.

You hold back the sigh of relief and rub your head. "Thank you," you nod.

Before she leaves, she stoops down to the ground to pick up a piece of paper. She gives the familiar photo to you. It had fallen out of your pocket again.

"Oh, thank you," you repeat.

You think she nods, but the movement is so subtle, you can't tell. Her heels click as she walks off to attend to whatever it is she has to do next. You were sure Papa kept his workers as busy as his children. No room to slack off, you suspected.

Your mother's smile stares back at you from the photo. It scared you to see someone so happy, to think that you were once that happy as you rested gently in her arms. You mouth was open, revealing a two-toothed smile as if the photo was taken mid-laugh. And Papa...

It scared you even more to think of what could have possibly happened, but that question had already gotten you into trouble once before.

The journey back to your room was silent until you heard a chime from the large metal doors. You turn to see the doors open, only to meet Papa's eyes. He smiles at you from the entryway. You force a smile back as he walks down the hall towards the the other rooms.

You glance down at the picture in your hands, comparing the Papa you knew now to the Papa in the picture. His hair is grey, but in the picture it's brown. His face is full of wrinkles, always settled into a deep scowl, but here the stress was replaced with a smile—but wait... if Papa was there, that meant his office was empty.

When he turns the corner, you dash in the direction he came from. The door closed slowly, so it was easy to catch before it locked shut. You don't stop until you reach his office, looking both ways in search of anyone else around. To your relief, the hallways were vacant.

Papa had files on every single child in his office. That meant he had a file on you. If you could get to your file, you could get to your background. To your parents. You could find out if Papa was really blood or not. You crossed your fingers on the "or not" part.

Excitement gushes through your veins. Finally, an answer. Finally, the truth.

To your dismay, the handle doesn't budge. You attempt to turn it again, sighing. It was locked.

"Dang it," you mumble, turning back on your heel.

When you get back to your room, the first thing you do is crawl into bed. Your head was hurting again, the exhaustion from lessons taking a toll on your mind. Right now, there was nothing you wanted more than to fall into a deep, endless slumber.