Abandoned

1

I received 4 disdainful looks from 3 completely different guards, 2 from one specific one, who was dressed in a black waterproof suit with black eye protection as opposed to the darkened orange of the others. Each individual had their own guard that was chosen unsystematically, they all used the same method to force their prisoners into the white of the continent, by aggressively grabbing them and carrying them as if they would like to break them. They ceased to be careful at any circumstance. We were then brutally thrown into independent cells, were we would unpack our provided clothing; 1 small toothbrush and cheap toothpaste, 3 of the same waterproof jackets, 5 jumpers and one thin tee-shirt and light pants that were both black and labeled PUNISHMENT at the bottom right corner. It frightened me, but not enough to cause a stop in me changing into each of the jumpers and the jackets for protection from the penetrating, constant breaths of air. I examined the uninviting room that would be my home for the next few years. It had a rusty bedframe set in the upper left corner of the cell, it was small enough to be a cot, it even had the appearance of one, with a dirty mattress on top of it and a thin blanket coating that, there was an exposed toilet with a dirty sink next to it, and, of course, the bars that kept me from escaping to my family, kept me from running away and kept me from planning a vicious attack. Of course, there was a force field over the bars, locking me up even more into the uncomforting cell. I accepted my fate for the 48th time and told myself that there was nothing I could ever do about it and I should 'suck-it-up' because I would be assassinated if I ever told a single soul who committed the crime. A desperate attempt to cry pulled at my emotions; it was trying to break them. I pushed this away and decided to try for sleep to keep my mind off unwanted thoughts. I climbed into the disgusting cot and curled up, preserving my warmth for later into sleep. I closed my eyes but sleep did not decide to come so I just lay there thinking about my conditions.

An alarming bell, continuously dinging through every hole in my body and forcing the ground to vibrate, stopped the blackness. I was being carried in unwelcoming arms that shook with heavy metal gloves, for protection, at the end of them. My reflexes caused an immediate kick into the air whilst my hands were inches away from touching the guard. They were zapped back to place. A shield. When I was eventually set down my neighbors were all surrounded, covered in their 'PUNISHEMENT' clothes. Once my eyes reached my body and explored the foreign clothes that were covering my back I realized that I too was wearing them. They were immensely cold to the touch of air, freezing me to numbness; luckily the cells were placed underground, decreasing the amount of wind that got to us. An unattractive lady paced to the front of the small gathering. She was blonde with a disgusting look planted on her face; she had dark brown eyes that made it look like her pupils were just dilated and no eyebrows, her skin was much darker than mine, but it was still light. She was wearing an identical uniform to the other guards without the headgear. A large smirk focused on her lips.

"Hello." Her voice was manly. "I am your supervisor. The one who makes life 'hellier' than it is." She laughed at her creativity.

"Today you are probably confused about why you are coated in uniform that has the word 'PUNISHMENT' written on it. It is because you will be receiving punishment while in these uniforms. Every day at twelve o'clock you all will be taken out of your cells, awake or not, and be put in these uniforms. Since we have the advantage of being on the coldest, driest continent on the Earth, you will only have to stand outside in only these clothes.

"Now, are you ready?" She waited for no answers and clicked her fingers lightly, as if by magic each guard grabbed their prisoner at the exact speed and time. One lady, a small plump girl witH large eyes and a short black bob, squealed in protest, she was obviously frightened and could not contain this. She was shot. Her red blood oozing slowly out of her head and onto the cement floor, her eyes wide with fear. I held my scream in fear of also having the same providence as her. This was the first person I had ever seen be killed.

"If you protest." She gestured to the ground, and alarming smile on her lips. "That's what happens."

The guards continued carrying us to the convenient escalator as if nothing had happened, as if no blood was on their hands. I could see tears dripping from the variety of different shaped and colored eyes, my own welled in my light blue ones. The elevator ride was short, creating more fear and anxiousness about out 'PUNISHMENT'. Once we reached the top floor we were all pushed out into a small, empty room with one lone chair resting in the middle. There were no windows and one door that led out to the cold. Our supervisor walked back into the room, her gaze scornful once again. She lightly gestured to the large bulletproof door and slid her eye guards over her face. The door bent back toward the outside world and every uncovered limb of my body went instantly to ice. I was completely numb, I felt nothing but cold, constant cold freezing me to near ice. I lowered my eyes to each other, the icicles that decorated my dark brown eyelashes shattered out to the ground. All I knew was that I was being carried deeper into the cold. Freezing more with each step.

A shatter at my wrists was the one thing that awoke me. I instantly felt as if it was breaking that caused the sound, but soon I had regained full consciousness and realized that the sound that my wrists were producing did not mean breakage. Once my eyes had left their closed position the numbness had ceased and advanced into a freeze. Against my will, every part of my body was shivering restlessly and there was not one thing that I could do. I was planted on the dirty mattress, the lone blanket covering my PUNISHMENT clothes that were still involuntarily hanging off every place on my translucent skin. I flailed my arms realizing they had been freed from the metal they were unwillingly trapped in, that was the shatter that had been made. As soon as I had settled in, mentally and physically, the determined storm began to brew. There is no doubt in any part of my mind that trying to find what was making the horrifying noise was a terrible idea. The bars and shields had conveniently been shut off, of which, I found out was because all guards had left the area in fear of death, the prisoners were all that was left on this abandoned continent, they may have thought that we could run freely in our deaths. My bare, pale, freezing feet were placed one by one on each individual step, attempting to quickly reach the top, but realizing they had no proper energy for this quest. I then exchanged to the elevator, being soothed by the warmest room I could ever rest my feet in. This luxury was closed off too soon once the doors burst open. The freezing restarted reluctantly. Every step my feet took to reach the metal door worsened the chill, once I had reached it I was frozen to near death. I held on to all the warmth I had attempted to preserve, pulled down the white handle and slowly pushed the door to a state where it was opened. What I saw would not be able to be erased from any part of my memory.