Generation Freaks✔️

Chapter 10.

The ground shifted beneath her feet, dirt beneath a worn down rug that lay torn in places from being walked upon a bit to much. Her damp hair hung limply in ringlets around her face, contrasting against her face. Now clean of the foul muck that had covered her, Paisley's body was beginning to tingle in warmth as she shuffled across the ground. Her eyes were in the table of tree stumps pushed together and covered by what looked to be a ratted curtain, the edges burnt as they lay flat on the ground. A bowl of food wafted steam in tendrils into the air, filtering through her nostrils as she got closer. The scent was unknown to Paisley, but it smelt far to good to hesitate against. A gurgling tumbled through her stomach in waves, but she no longer needed to ignore it. The food upon the table was for her, she was the only one with a growling stomach after all.

Sliding onto a stool, made of another tree stump, Paisley pulled the bowl towards her, topping it to take in a clear view of the steaming contents within. The top of the circled food lay sprinkled with red and yellow, causing her mouth to dribble over with saliva. Her stomach rumbled, arguing with her to get eating, even if the bottom of the bowl was hot to the touch and no doubt the food was as well. Dropping the bowl back in its place, Paisley clutched her spoon that had been lying next to her bowl. But moving further was something that wouldn't come as she stared down at her food. She was starving, so why wasn't she eating?

"Paisels, you alright?" Paris whispered inquiry had the dark hair girl glancing up warily.

Paisley shrugged and sprayed her food with the spoon, looking back at it. "Yeah, it's just been a weird week, whatever. I'm exhausted."

"Well, after you eat we can go lie down. I've been waiting for you to get here, so I can sleep as well." Paris hesitated in her speech. "We're lucky they found us."

Paisley didn't remove her eyes from her food, grazing the spoon over the top. "I guess we're lucky. I just don't understand something."

A moment of pause and Paris leaned close to Paisley. "Something's are just meant not to be understood, Paisels. Including how you teleported. I've been thinking about it as well and al I can come up with us that it's from your ancestors. Someone in your family line had to have it and it got passed to you."

Paisley squinted her eyes at her friend, lips thinned in disbelief. She didn't want to believe the girl was right, even though Paris usually was. But even she, herself, east so simple minded as to brush off what could possibly be the truth. Paisley had never known her family or if she had, she'd certainly never remembered. Her memories only reach back to the year before Miss Guilding had taken her in and she'd been alone then as well. Paris could either be right or wrong, the latter making Paisley even more of a Freak then she already was, but it didn't matter. Paisley didn't want to believe the blonde, she couldn't. More power meant an even greater reason to be exterminated, an easier target to be pinpointed. Paisley didn't argue though, instead she returned to her food and brought a mouthful up to eat, savoring the crunchy and gooey delight of her food.

Her appetite had plummeted, making a few bites taste rubbery as she forced herself to chew.

"So, what do we do? We can't stay here for the rest of our lives." Rudolph's tired voice broke the awkward silence after a few minutes.

"Where exactly is everyone else?" Paris questioned, disregarding the boy. "It's only been us since I've got here." A pause ensued where not a single voice piped up to answer her questions. The blonde looked wildly around, hair whipping to the sides. "Where's Nova?"

Paisley's head jerked up, eyes snapping to the man she had long ago deemed as a father figure. He was the only father figure she'd truly known and one of only a handful of Middle's that were like her, Paris, Rudolph, and any other In-Between's. At the ripe age to distinguish Mortal and Freak clearly, In-Between's generally vanished. Whether it was just from being caught or going into hiding, no one truly knew. Only the new generations showed that they weren't all and kept those rumors spinning on the mill.