Colourless

Chapter Eleven

"So, last night, right? Charles was all gung-ho about preaching the message straight to the source," I pant, coughing up what could have been phlegm or blood.

"Okay?" Ellie struggles to grunt, swiping the sweat from her brow, "And?"

"Well, I'm thinking that we're going to need to, like, sneak our way in—" I wheeze out an exhale— "'Cuz otherwise I'm out."

"Stitch!" Charles hisses, jogging along beside me.

Before the sun had even risen above the horizon, I was rudely awoken by an air-horn and a snickering Malik. Apparently the institute were severely into athleticism, and intended for us to climb out of the underground network everyday to go on a morning run — cloaked by the endless veil of forestry.

"Come on, cupcake!" I hear Malik call, prompting me to blindly hold up my middle fingers in the general direction of Malik's voice. Hearing his laughter, I spare Malik a glance as he easily overtakes us — running backwards to look me in the eye.

I throw him a glare, "I thought you were supposed to be 'encouraging' people at the back."

Malik merely offers a sarcastic smile. "But then I wouldn't be able to see you, cupcake," he smirks, "Come on, there's only three kilometres to go."

***

"I can't feel my legs," I cry in anguish, before collapsing onto my freshly made bed — my feet carefully hanging over the edge.

"Consider yourself lucky," Charles snarls as he collapses, face-first, onto the carpet, "I can feel them. And. They. Freaking. Hurt!" Ellie, unable to muster words, simply grunts and crumbles into a ball like a piece of used paper.

Before I could relish in my beds likeness to a cloud, the piercing his of a microphone infiltrated the brief silence. "Breakfast will commence shortly," a gruff voice announces through what I presume to be intercoms, "Please, new residents, follow the wall-mounted maps to find your way to the designated meal hall."

"In that case, I'm gonna go have a shower." Charles sighs, throwing us a wave as he makes an inelegant exit. Ellie groans, crawling to her feet. "Me too." She too waves, closing the door behind herself as I yawn a goodbye for now.

Gathering my strength, I sprung to my feet and hurried into my closet — pulling out black denim shorts and a shirt that would probably be too large on my lanky frame —, before hurrying into the shower. The warm water had barely touched my skin long enough for me to relish in it, when I leapt out of the shower and swiftly pulled on my clothes. My bra clung to my still wet skin and I fidgeted with it as I stumbled out of the steamy bathroom, pulling on my necklace and a pair of sneakers.

Holding my key between my teeth, I pulled my now damp hair into a temporary bun. "Grace and lithe," I muttered to myself, holding my head high as I all but fell out of my open doorway — the tongue of my left sneaker folding in on itself.

Ellie meets me in the hall, fighting against a sweater that threatened to swallow her petite frame, and hurries after my swift strides. "You're too tall," she complains, finally fixing her sweater, "I think I should invest in roller blades."

Finding a laminated map taped to a wall, we analyse the quickest route before wearily setting off — deciding to follow an older-looking woman just to be sure.

Arriving at the meal hall just in time to beat the rush, Ellie and I slip into the vacant seats across from Charles. He immediately turned away from the person he was chatting to, to offer a blinding smile. "We meet again," he smirks playfully, rocking back in his seat — despite Ellie's protests.

Without even realizing, so absorbed in our small talk, residents seem to materialize in the meal hall. One girl even slides in beside me and her numerous piercings catch my eye. The three studs in each of my earlobes seemed nothing to the facial piercings and gages the redhead boasted.

Noticing my stare, I smile awkwardly at the redhead. "Sorry," I strangle out, gesturing to her face, "Cool piercings."

The redhead laughs abruptly, "It's fine... you too."

"I seem like a piercing-virgin in comparison," I laugh, already regretting the choice of words that I had spouted to a complete stranger. The redhead merely grins, pushing the fringe of her pixie cut out of her eyes. "I don't know, you look pretty cool—" she winks— "I'm Lucille." Her skin was paler than mine, almost as translucent as a block of ice, and I immediately slip my palm into her offered hand.

"Pearl Damocles."

Lucille grins excitedly, snorting, "Wait? Like that old story? It was in Rocky Horror, right?" Before I can reply, I hear Malik call for everyone to go quiet and I instead offer a grin and a nod.

"For those of you who don't know, I'm Malik Ahmed." He smiles, gesturing to himself. "And if none of you piss me off, we should all get along fine."

"Okay, Malik— there, well, that's..." Laria trails off, clearing her throat. "Good morning, everyone. I'd just like to touch base and welcome you all once again. You'll find that during the day here we run a lot of training exercises and activities, however these are entirely optional. We will be handing out timetables for convenience, though, so hopefully you'll find something interesting." Presumably on cue, the 'staff' begin handing out slips of paper to all of the new residents — the roster allotting certain time for meals amongst the daily activities.

"I think... I'm gonna check out biology," I hum in thought, "Maybe it'll have more info about our blood."

Ellie nods, "I found a box of notebooks underneath my bed, so make sure you grab one. I wanna hear everything."