Faceless

Period 3: Dress Code

The slaves just slept in classrooms, on the floor as though we were animals. I chose classroom 4 since it was the only one familiar to me. After using the door handle to cool my shaking palms I had associated the room with my singular source of safety. 006 joined me. She had nothing better to do. As a little test, I tried on the uniform. God, it was uncomfortable! Not only was it super baggy and ugly, it felt itchy and awful on my skin, it had clearly been made with the cheapest materials that whoever above could get their hands on. Surely a person with the ability to cover all of this up would be rich enough to buy a half-decent uniform, right?

But even if they did, they wanted us to suffer anyway. Something told me that in a shop this uniform would cost £100 anyway despite the poor quality because whoever made it knew it was a necessity they could exploit. Being poor had taught me scams were everywhere. I suppose though, here money didn't matter. Or maybe it did, after all there did seem to be a caste system with the badges from what I could tell, school shouldn't be a place with hierarchy since all schools claimed to be supporting their students, yet the poor students always seemed to be below richer students and teachers. And the richer ones always seemed to get away with more in hopes of getting on the parent's good side, regardless of promises and morals. I suppose the whole world really is just a money scam that pretended it wasn't so it could get recognition points for not being one.

However I felt that this place wasn't about the money, just the suffering. Like we were rats in a lab to test to see how far the pain could go.

"Now that you've put that one, you aren't allowed to take it off except for hygiene purposes, which are only allowed once a week at Saturday lunch time".

"Oh man, this is uncomfortable..." I complained.

"You'll get used to it". Would I really? Whatever, less painful than having my face violently ripped off as I watch my blood drip from my face to my arms to the floor.

I silently left the classroom while trying to inconspicuously gesture to 006 that I wanted her to come with me. I wanted to talk to her outside, where there would be no voice recorders and less cameras. Thankfully, she understood, and followed me out. I couldn't help but notice all the run-down looking stuff, still. It was obvious whoever was in charge had a STRICT budget, despite all the fancy stuff they splurged on when it came to torture. This place needed more budget if the divines wanted to actually have a good education, how can you learn in a place so... Dangerous? Not even just dangerous because of the detention system, dangerous from the fact the place looks like it'll collapse if you do break the "no running in the halls" rule. Even in regular schools it feels like the place is underfunded and the students are the ones that pay. Nobody had a chance here, not even divines.

"You want to discuss escape plans, don't you?" 006 asked. Whoa, we had only known each other for a day or so and she already knew me so well! "I've told you, there is no escape. People have tried".

"I got in, I can get out." I stated.

"Not how life works, but I suppose I can humour you" Something that I liked about 006 but also found a little creepy was how she was constantly beaming. No matter what situation she was in, or what she was doing or saying, she was clearly smiling deep down, pretending to be happy. It was clearly a coping mechanism that she had developed to keep herself sane. If she tricked herself into believing she was happy, maybe she would be, but the brain isn't so easily tricked. 006 was a ticking time bomb, that was obvious, being happy all the time is not healthy. As she said that, she was beaming, but she also was very obviously bored.

"Thank you!" I said and smiled sweetly and devilishly. Or at least tried to. "Ok, so... Digging a hole! We get some spoons from the canteen and dig our way outta here!".

"Are you trying to get yourself flayed? They've noticed singular apples being stolen by the poorer divines at lunch trying to feed themselves and still crucified them. They'd notice the spoons were missing, look at the camera footage and then get to the part where they flay us. Even if they didn't notice the spoons, you really think they wouldn't notice the gigantic hole? They'd kill us. They'd torture us, we can't do that. There is no way, we will never find a way...". Damn, how can someone so smiley be so pessimistic!?

"Hey, hey! Don't give up now! That was only the first option! I've brainstormed tons more, just give 'em a chance!"

"... I'm listening...". She rolled her non-existent eyes.

"Chemicals, fire and bombs! We sneak to the chemistry lab, steal some chemicals, make a fire bomb and blow up the school! With no school, no oppression! Yeah, lots of people would die, potentially including us, but it would be mercy killing and rebellion. Lives like this aren't really worth it, so it would just be a win-win for us! The survivors would all be free!".

006 looked at me stunned for a moment, and turned her head away.

"Oh my god... that could actually work..." 006 beamed at me more before looking disappointed again. "Wait, no it wouldn't... The chemicals are locked away, only teachers and high classed divines have access to them, and even then only with special permission. I don't know much about it, but only high-class divines have a keycard to access them. We slaves would immediately be shot trying to get through, and there is also facial recognition, so theft would not work either".

"We could ask a high-class student about it! I'm sure that the majority of them would be up for blowing this place up! Of course, blowing places up is a very awful thing to do, but this place is justified".

"We don't know who the high-class divines are. I believe it may have something to do with the different coloured badges on the uniform, but I don't know what colour would mean what".

"...Do you really have no clues...?"

"...Maybe a small one... Thea Bechtel ..."

"Pardon?"

"Thea Bechtel is the name of the richest student here. Her parents own a very successful business, so her family is well into high-class territory. She gets all kinds of privileges at this school because of who her family is, and the school can't afford to kill them. Too many people would be aware of their death to reasonably get rid of. Her badge is yellow, so I highly suspect that yellow is the highest level of divinity. I think the next is blue, because it's my badge colour and I'm middle class, then green, then last of all red... you...".

Yes, that made sense. My family had always been very working-class, but not so poor we couldn't look after ourselves. In order to pass the entrance exam, I had to work my butt off for over a year! In the end, it was not worth it. Was it really true that rich students would get privileges? And if so, what kind?

"Let's go ask a yellow-badged person then!"

"Not worth it, if they refuse and snitch, then we're done for. They would do that, because some people here suck up to this place in hopes they'll get extra perks, one slave even hoped to be, I quote, unslaved"

"...So do we really need to scrap that idea because of the high risk...?"

"...Yes, that would probably be best...". I frowned. Or rather, I tried to. We both went our separate ways for the day, and I started my work the next day. The first thing I noticed while mopping the school bathroom was that the uniforms of the divine were much nicer than ours. They still looked uncomfortable as Hell though, but we've all been through worse. Damn cheap budget.