Zero

24 : Visits back home

P A R T 2 4

{ K E V }

We've been here for almost a month already. Time is quick.

For our first week, we had nothing but lessons, and on the second week we had physical training sessions. Then on the third week we had alternate days of lessons and training. It's been like this for the fourth week as well.

Tomorrow is the day we're allowed to return home. I probably won't say this to anyone other than Kole, but I've been pretty homesick for the past month.

The guys' dorm is less messy than it can have been, thanks to the laundry chute thing.

But it's still messy.

For mealtimes, the nine of us eat with Beatrice Dobson and Devon. No one is ever allowed to eat alone unless they're ill, and so far no one has gotten sick. I certainly haven't.

It is night time now and the guys are talking about tomorrow while getting ready to sleep.

"The wait seems super long now that we're so close to going back," Kole comments, and I nod in total agreement.

"I wonder how my dad is," Mitchell mumbles.

The two who do not speak are Cha and Jarren. Cha never speaks, and Jarren won't talk unless he has to. But that just makes us more curious.

"So, Jarren," I say. "Are you and Aisling related or something?"

He shakes his head. Kole and I exchange glances. "I thought she was, so she hid out at your place for a while..." I trail off with an unspoken 'guess I was wrong'. "So, you got any family?" I continue.

"Family?" He murmurs.

Then he looks at us in the eyes and just about scares the hell out of me. His eyes have lost the life in them. He gets out from his bed and starts growling like he's being tortured or something. He rushes out of the dorm as though people from the government are chasing him.

Kole, Mitchell and I run out of the room and follow thumping sounds to the end of the corridor. All of a sudden, there is silence.

We find him slumped against a blood smeared wall, eyes closed and knuckles bleeding. Behind us, Beatrice Dobson, Devon and the girls appear.

"What happened?" Beatrice Dobson asks in a cool tone, but I can see she's restraining herself from yelling. The way she does this will make you think we were fighting. Ridiculous.

"We were talking, then he just lost it all of a sudden," Mitchell answers honestly.

"Get him to the emergency room," Beatrice Dobson orders. "Follow me."

Mitchell carries Jarren on his back effortlessly despite the fact that Jarren is two heads taller than him and follows Beatrice Dobson down the hall. Devon tells the rest of us to go back to our dorms and sleep.

And that's what we do, even though it doesn't stop us from thinking.

Cha is still in his bed at the dorm when we get back and he is fast asleep. In this whole month he has been acting totally unconcerned with the rest of us. He'll probably get a separate room if he can. Unfortunately for him, Devon needs us to be united.

₪

The next morning, we get up at eight to get ready to leave. Cha, Aisling and Jarren are staying here. I do not think why, reminding myself it's none of my business.

Speaking of Jarren, we don't get to speak to him today. He's still in the emergency room.

Kole and I dress identically, which we usually don't do (sense of individuality, man), the way our parents like it.