The Boy I Met On the Roof

Plans

"You know how all the sectors are connected? Like when I was brought in to compare to the psych kids and the other way around?"
They all nod solemnly, Felix gazing at Sasha with wide eyes.
"Well, there is something behind that door; I have to admit that. I've only been there once, back when I was five-ish. I met this girl called Daniella, covered in scars, so I just assumed it was like, a physical research thing."
"That's what it is, then," Chris states. "The sounds are from people after they've messed with their vocal cords."
Sasha shakes her head, eyes glassing over, unseeing, or just seeing what she remembers: "I mean, she was also young, around my age, but she told me...something."
Tilting his head, Chris urges, "Come on, don't leave us hanging there; what did she say?"

She sighs a pained, sad sound: "I can't remember every word; the memory goes fuzzy sometimes, but she...said something about having lived somewhere else and being bitten by a horned man. I guess the first part must have been true; she had a weird accent."
Leaning back, stabilizing herself on her elbows, she continues, voice nasal as tears start rolling down her cheeks: "I stayed there for some time, went through some more medical bullshit; tilt-table tests, colonoscopy, all that fun stuff. She was a nice kid, really empathetic, and made it all a bit better."
Taking a deep, stuttering breath, her voice nasal, she continues, "Back home." She chuckles sadly, "I didn't get much comfort; all I got was a "well, they did worse to me!" at most, so it was a nice change of scenery."
"Of course," she rolls her eyes. "Nothing ever lasts forever, so I went back to my sector eventually. When I told the others about what happened, they all shared their stories, ranging from telepaths to ghosts."

Shrugging, Chris adds, "I mean, this wouldn't be too extraordinary; didn't the CIA do this whole remote viewing thing back in the eighties? That doesn't mean it's true, but..."
Falling silent upon being glared at by Lukas, he looks away, swallowing heavily. Just like Tam, he doesn't like confrontation, and Lukas knows how to use that against him.
Clearing her throat, Sasha states, "So yeah, it's a common rumor; lots of people down here believe it."

"Good, now that's discussed, we have to get back on topic; we're starving." Ezra points out, making everyone slightly blush from embarrassment.
Despite never having had that much interest in politics or governments, Dustin isn't particularly surprised, maybe a bit disappointed; he had lost his hopes early on. Maybe it was from the fact that some of the poorer students in his school had "lunch debt" or the obvious neglect the police showed the students upstairs.
They don't care; there's no way they didn't know. At least some of the ones that graduated must have told, right?
"I think letting Tam scout is the best option; it brings the least human sacrifices," Felix claims, having found his voice again.
"I don't understand why you all care so much; we're all-" Scarlet whips her arms around: "-murderers in one way or another." She yells as if it's an obvious fact, a normal part of life that we've all decided to deny out of pride.
Murmurs arise among the group, some denying and some justifying the claim. Dustin, again, resists the urge to grab her shoulders and shake some sense into her.
Ethan slightly curls into himself, pulling his knees up to his chest; a look of pure, unfiltered guilt stains his face.
Silently, Dustin places a comforting hand on his knee, hoping to signal to him that it's okay.
"I didn't do shit!" Lukas shouts, being held back by Felix and Chris.
Scarlet chuckles in response: "You know that I've been a student, too? Sure, maybe you didn't do it by hand, but people like you." She whirls her pointer finger around, pointing at all the ex-students: "People like me, as well, are cruel; we have to be to survive. How do you know that one of your little tantrums wasn't the last straw for someone?"
Lukas struggles against the hold the other two have.
"I heard how you talk to everyone; you can be quite nasty, can't you?"

By all means, she was technically right; Lukas can be mean, hitting people where it hurts if he feels threatened or insulted.
There's fawn, flight, fight, and freeze; Lukas just always chooses fight over anything else, since it's all he can realistically do, being neither charismatic enough for fawn nor fast enough for flight. And we all know that a freeze doesn't end well.
No one besides Scarlet blames him for it; it's a conditioned response, an instinct deeply ingrained in his being by years of pain and the lack of it when he does what he does.
It isn't like he doesn't try; he's gotten better at controlling his temper, always apologizing after he's calmed down, assuring them that he didn't mean it, that he likes them, and that he's trying to get better.
Scarlet and him are the same in the way that they hit where it hurts, just with her being unapologetic and less angry.

"Scarlet, you're out of line; stop it. Lukas, calm down." Ezra chastises, his voice carrying that stern tone he always uses when somebody fucks up. In a way, it reminds him of when parents say that they aren't angry, just disappointed in those movies.
He wonders if normal parents say that instead of telling you that they wish they'd aborted you.
"If nobody has a different plan, we will vote now." He commands, seeming even taller and more mature with Dustin sitting.
"Raise your hand if you agree with Scarlet's plan."
As expected, nobody but her raises their hand, which makes her incredibly mad.
"You'll see what you get from it," she hisses, her thin lips pulled into a snarl.
"Don't be a sore loser." Felix quips, slapping her shoulder and getting smacked over the head way harder in return.
"Alright, raise your hand if you agree with the other plan," Ezra asks.
It isn't fair, in Dustin's opinion, but he hasn't been part of the colony long enough to demand changes yet.
Everyone but Scarlet and Ethan raise their hands; later, Ethan says that he doesn't particularly care and that he, as the youngest, has less "voting power" than the others, meaning that his vote counts less.
"That's settled then, Tam; follow me." Ezra ordered,  leaving no room for arguing. He grabs her biceps firmly but not roughly, although she still flinches.
However, despite her flinching, her face remains bizarrely neutral, her hooded eyes half-lidded as if she's tired, maybe bored. Plump lips were slightly turned down in what some would call a "resting bitch face.".
Begrudgingly, Tam stands up, trailing after Ezra with the hopeless dejection a lamb being led to the slaughterhouse would have—a fitting comparison, considering the dangers the mission carries.

Slowly, all the participants stand up, the trio still semi-silently arguing over the existence of the paranormal sector, with Lukas being the only non-believer. Sighing to himself, Dustin gets up as well, following Sasha and Ethan to the §living area".
In reality, the living area is just an open space in the middle of their base with a makeshift couch or two and a couple of self-made card and board games, the UNO one being the most popular.
It's not like the real one, considering that they only had one color to work with; every card has a number and a color written on it, mostly ending in fights since Ezra has terrible handwriting and no one can say for certain what that word in the corner is supposed to say.
Unsurprisingly enough, Scarlet and Lukas have been banned from playing any card games due to Scarlet cheating and Lukas being way too aggressive and ripping apart cards or flipping over boards.
Laying down on the couch beside Sasha, he sends a half-smile her way, getting one in return.
"That went well, huh?" She jokes, her feet slumping over the headrest and her head dangling mere inches over the ground.
Somehow she always finds the most unconventional way to sit, always doing everything but sitting like a normal person.
Shrugging, he tells her, "It could have gone worse."
"Maybe, but it could have gone better."
Pulling herself up by grabbing him by the shoulder, making the couch and Dustin nearly tip over by the sudden change of weight while she giggles in his ear, making his neck scrunch up by the sudden warm arm all over his face.
"Say, you're from the school upstairs, right?" she asks, causing the boy to raise an eyebrow in confusion.
"Yeah?" He grumbles.
"So you must know a lot about that queer stuff?" She questions nervously, all the excitement and playfulness suddenly gone.

Snorting, he exclaims, "Don't tell me you're suddenly in love with Charlie. Or is it Maya?"