The Enigma Of Deceptive Love

Chapter 3: Realization

You know how when you go to a new place, you have this weird tingling nervousness inside of you? I wouldn't say I didn't have that, but it was a bit better than what people would usually describe it as.

One one four four. That was my "alloted" number. A weird "uniform" and a weird number, my trip to whatever the hell this place was, was going very well!

I look at the uniform, still standing at the entrance of the room. I scan the corridor, it was still the same, except, there were other people. I wasn't the only one. There were other people. Was this some kind of a human trafficking organization? If so,
I hoped I'd be sold to some person who'd just let me be alone. Coming to think of that, if my number was in the thousands....
"How many people have you kept here?" I suddenly utter.
"You're the newest. Won't take a genius to guess it." He replies

"And the last." He mumbles under his breath.
"Didn't hear the last part" I say squinting my eyes.

"Go to the main hall for roll call."

What is this place? Why am I here? Am I going to die? Finally?

The guard actions me to follow him.
"What's your name by the way? I'm Alicia"
"You're pretty cheerful for a person who'd been bullied throughout high school."

"Oh well."

Wait.
How did he know that.
Speaking of which, none of this made sense. Considering the standard of this place - whatever it was, it didn't make sense to just "kidnap" a random girl off the street, living a not-so-interesting life and being her to the most luxurious hotel-place she'd ever seen.

I follow him along the extremely long corridor, with a bunch of other people, walking in a straight line. Only I had a guard next to me. Only I had someone keeping me at gun point. Only me.
I look towards my right, the bright warm light coming from a tiny glass lamp on the wall obstructed my view. God that hurt.
I see other people, wearing the exact same uniform. The dirty mix between blue and grey, except, they had bruises.
Why did they have bruises?
All of them had bruises. Except me.

Maybe because I'm new here, maybe because I haven't done anything to get bruises.
But what did they do? What did they do to deserve those bruises?
"You won't be like them, don't worry." The guard says.
"And how do you know that?" I ask, curiously.
"I just do."

We finally reach the end of the corridor, all of us take a left.
"It feels very awkward being the only one at gunpoint, having a weird guard-person assure me that i wont have random bruises on my face. You still haven't told me your name by the way." I say, hoping for a proper reply.

"First off. I'm not weird. Second. those bruises weren't random. They asked atuff they weren't supposed to, they just received a suitable punishment. It's that simple." Not a reply I had hoped.

We start walking again.

Finally we reach the entrance of an enormous room, I wish I was exaggerating. It was huge. Pretty much as big as my entire house.
The room had 10 very long tables (maybe a bunch of tables put together, no way of really knowing) and plastic chairs closely put together with barely enough space for a person to adjust while sitting.

"Find a random chair and just sit."

The guard says.

I walk towards a chair, finally away from him, pull it out and sit. It feels very light, almost like it's about to fall off. I try to put as less force on the chair as possible, just in case it breaks and I embarrass myself. I don't weigh that much, I think. Lost in my thoughts, I suddenly hear shouting, from a distance.

"WHAT DID YOU THINK YOU WERE DOING? LEAVE. FIX IT NOW."

Damn. Someone's in trouble. I shrug it off and start looking around.
It's white. Like, everything except the chairs and tables are white, the stairs, the walls, ceiling, floor, everything.

Never thought white could look creepy, I always thought that rooms painted white would be more lively, but, oh well.
Realising that I have been staring at some dude while I spaced out, I come back to my senses and look away.

I feel a tap on my shoulder, I turn back,
"Who are you now?" I ask.

"You've been with me like the entire time." A familiar voice replies.

"Nameless cold guy?"

"That's one way"

"What's the other?"
"Come with me." Questions ignored again.
Having no option, I follow him.

He takes me to the corner of the room, with one tiny table and one chair,

"This will be your seat from now." He says.

"But you told me I could choose my sea-"

"Shut up. Sit. Now." He snaps.

I get startled and quickly settle.

He continues, "Food and water will be brought to you by someone."

"Where are you going?" I ask.

"Somewhere nearby."

I sigh and wait for the food.
It arrived within a minute. I look around. No one else got their tray yet.

Mashed potatoes, mango pudding, fried rice along with a bottle of water. My favourites!
I dig in without hesitation while thousands of people stare at me. I was used to eating alone, this wasn't new to me. Except that no one usually watched me eat with intense stares.

While having my mango pudding, which by the way, was amazing. I wondered if I wanted to go home.

I have clothes, I got my favourite food, I'll probably make friends as no one knows me as "dirt-face" here. Life was pretty chill here.

After I was done having my dessert, I stand up, to keep the tray back, I didn't know where I was heading to, but out of common courtsey, I did. The minute I stand up I realize something. Something very disturbing. I was the only person who ate. I was the only person that people were staring at.
There was this person with a bruised and swollen eye, that hurt to look at. My face turns the brightest shade of red ever, with embarrassment, I look towards the nameless guard and ask
what the hell was happening. He shrugs it off.

As I'm about to leave, I see the others get their food. The food wasn't as vibrant as mine. From where I was sitting, I saw rice, water and something red, probably meat. Not bad. I guess.