Chambers

Chapter Six

"Hey Aspen," Xavier said kindly while waking me up.

"Hey," I said groggily. Looked over to the clock which read 5:27am. "Why up so early?"

"Because you need to get to your own bed. Role is in about thirty minutes and I don't want your chamber mates to know you were in here. It will stir suspicion."

I climbed out of the bed and started to fix the sheets. I was interrupted by him grabbing my arm and telling me that he would handle it. I smiled a weak smile and exited the room. I walked over to my bunk, being cautious of my noisiness. Luckily, no one was awake yet. I laid down onto the bunk and looked at the clock that hung from the wall. It read 5:36am. I still had another twenty four minutes until wake up. There was no point for me to go back to sleep at this point.

I began to rummage through my duffle. I had no clue of what I was hoping to find, as I knew the only thing it contained was my bland clothing and makeup. I surprised that, submerged under all of my clothes, was a gray notebook. I opened it to see that all of the pages were empty. When I took a closer examination, I was shocked to see that in a small, fine print my name was written at the bottom left hand corner of the front cover. I was in wonder with the personality that would have placed this in my bag. I then grabbed the pen that had been placed in the spiral of the notebook and began writing down plans for escape.

I got a cold chill down my spine that gave me the feeling as if someone was watching me. I peered over to the boys' side of the room. I saw that Damian was looking down at a sketch pad. He quickly flashed his eyes toward me and was shocked to see me staring back at him. He then gave me a shy wave and I returned the gesture. I then got up off my bunk and walk over to Damian's bed.

"Can I sit?" I asked in a soft whisper.

"Oh... sure," he said as he scooted over. I took a seat and looked down at his notebook. He had drawn a girl that looked as though she resembled me. I still felt it was necessary ask him about it.

"So... what are you drawing?"

"Oh..." he said facing the sketchpad in my direction with a slight giggle. "I was actually drawing you writing in your notebook."

"It's really good, I just don't like the hair."

"Why not?"  he said with some despair in his tone.

"Oh! I didn't mean it that way. It's just that they cut my hair this way. It used to be much longer; just short of my waste."

"That sucks. I actually kind of like my new hair."

"That's good for you," I said smiling. I then looked over to the clock. It read 5:54. "I better get back to my bed."

Damian nodded as I got up and went to my bed.

Shortly after I laid down, to appear to be sleeping, an alarm went off. Xavier then entered the room, turned off the alarm and shouted, "Alright! Everybody up!"

We all climbed out of the beds while groans and yawns came over the room. Xavier then directed us to stand in an alphabetical line, facing in his direction. He then took our attendance, and to his excitement, everyone was in place.

"Okay everyone, you all have one hour to get showered and dressed. Today you will be expected to wear your formal attire. Men, you will be in black slacks, black dress shoes, black tall socks, and a gray button up. Ladies, you will be dressed in your gray dress and gray flats, along with your makeup done to replicate yesterday's. I expect you all to have you hair done neatly as well. Everything you need will be found in your duffle."

Xavier then exited our room to go back into his domain. We all assumed that was our cue to get ready. There were two doors that read showers, one on each side of the room. We  collectively grabbed our duffles and started cleaning up.

In the girls' showers, there were five smaller enclosed rooms. Each room had a shower and toilet. Adjacent to the wall of rooms was a wall of five vanity style sinks. We then came to realize that all of the shower rooms and sinks had one of our names on it, and that they were in alphabetical order by surname. I assumed that must have been the most logical way to sort us.

While in the shower, I daydreamed of life before the brainwash. I couldn't recall where I used to live, or anything for that matter. I figure it's best not to worry about it yet.

When I exit the shower, I see that the only one at the vanities is Jessamine. She was working on her makeup, finishing the eyeliner.

"Hi Aspen," Jessamine said turning to me with a smile. She must have seen me in her mirror. I also took to note that we were both dressed in white robes with white towels wrapping up our hair. It was quite similar.

"hey Jess. You surely got showered fast," I said while I walked over to my mirror.

"Well I don't have much hair to wash," she said sounding slightly sad.

"Yeah, I have a lot less too," I said trying to relate with her. She smiled at me once more as she picked up a comb and pulled it through her pixie cut. I then began to do my eyeshadow. I still didn't like the way that it looked on me.

"See ya," Jessamine said to me as she exited the showers, fully clothed and ready. I hadn't even noticed that she had finished her hair and had gotten dressed. I responded with a wave.

By the time I started using the blow dryer on my hair, everyone was out of the shower. I started to think about what Xavier said about being brain washed. It wasn't a good thought, but it made me realize that all of the others, along with myself, were not able to remember anything, but Xavier was. I couldn't pinpoint a specific reason. I had finished my hair, and ended my train of thought.

Once I was changed into my dress, I headed back into the bedroom. All of the boys along with Jess were talking.  They were seated in a small circle in the middle of the room.

"Hey Aspen!" Caspian said motioning me over.

"Hey ," I said to everyone as I took a seat between Caspian and Damian. "So what are we doing to pass the next fifteen minutes?"

"We're theorizing on the reason why we are here," Tyrus interjected. These words worried me .

"Well what's the pointing doing that?" We are stuck here anyways," I said, hoping this would make them change the subject.

"Come on Aspen! Don't be so negative!" Damian said as he pushed me jokingly.

"Aren't you just the slightest bit curious?" asked Jessamine.

"Well... I guess so," I said, attempting to not make myself sound suspicious. "It's just weird to think about."

And at that moment the other three girls entered the bedroom and Xavier followed suit. We all then stood up and took attendance once more. Xavier seemed pleased by our authority.

"Okay everyone!" Xavier said, looking very proud of us. "I want you all to be on your best behavior at this presentation, as my masters are not as lienient as I am with you all. Can you all handle this?"

"Yes sir," we all responded in unison.

"Alright then. We're off to the presentation."