These Dreams of Truth

Breakfast

I made my way into the large room where we ate meals and stayed along the back wall until I made it to my reserved food. Everyone always ate an individual, specially prepared breakfast. I grabbed my neatly compiled plate of thin sliced turkey, cheese cubes and cranberries, along with a glass of milk and headed for the table I usually met at with my friends.

My meal was designed to induce dreams, as it was heavily laden with tryptophan, an a-amino acid that also helps prevent illness.

At my five-chair table, two of my usual three friends had already been sat and were waiting for me.

"Hi, Cynder!" Astella beamed at me in her usual cheery manner, and Will, silent as ever, simply nodded and smiled. I started on my bowl of cranberries as Astella resumed her endless ranting to Will, per usual.

Almost none of the kids in our Orange classification of The Facility had physically visible conditions, but most were victims of mental or internal abnormalities.

Astella Langdon had a rare talent among the medical fields, where she could diagnose almost anything upon brief examination. It started when she was eleven and had a minor stomach tumor. She recognized her symptoms immediately and, as if she had consumed a medical text book, diagnosed herself correctly before contacting a medical professional. She recovered within the next year and a half, but then had an ear infection she self diagnosed again before her mother contacted someone about it. All in all, she ended up here last summer, and has been talking everyone's ears off ever since. Others thought she was annoying, but if you gave her a chance, you almost always had an extensive intelligent conversation with her, always complimented by her perky attitude and infectious personality.

Will Stevenson had been diagnosed at birth with SPD, or Sensory Processing Disorder, which had already affected his whole life. He had been teased in first and second grade for this: they teased him for his sensitive eyes hidden behind glasses and messy black hair, his inability to not react in screams of pain at loud noises, and the near flavorless food that was specially made for his hyper active taste buds. Although his case was very strong, this is not what landed him a spot in The Facility. Will didn't like to talk about it much, but once when someone was picking on him, he was able to tap into their emotions and feel their thoughts as could feel any other sense. Unfortunately, it gave him a huge migraine and he had a fever the entirety of the next week. He's usually sensitive to loud talking for extensive amounts of time, but he had no problem listening to Astella and her endless speeches. She seemed to easily find the perfect volume to not irritate him, which isn't surprising with her talent.

Last to arrive at our table and the final of my friends was Sebastian Rowan. Sebastian was my first friend here, because he has been here since three months of age. He doesn't remember anything but The Facility, but that's understandable as he has been here for the past fifteen years. Since he has been here so long, he has adopted a sort of leader status among all of the Orange members. He had to high five everyone he passed and could be a little arrogant at times, but he was still my best friend. You'd think that someone of his swagger wouldn't be embarrassed of much, but he was very self conscious of his condition. Sebastian wasn't born with red blood, but a striking royal blue. His eyes matched as well, complimented by gorgeous lighter blue flecks. The doctors were unsure if his blood had anything to do with this, but he'd never gotten sick before and also resisted any illness they had tested him on. He always covered the insides of his arms when someone asked about his blood, he was self conscious of all the scars blood tests had left behind on him.

I noticed the tall boy coming towards us as his curly brown hair bounced along with his loud and pleasant voice. He slid smoothly into the seat beside me at our round table and said in his equally smooth voice, "And how are my favorite people doing today?"