Unwind

The groans of sleepy teens being woken by the bleeping alarm clock fill the dorm jet. I used to own the same clock once and I would often hit the snooze button but here there is no snooze button: just the same bleeping until everybody gets up. It's smart really. If you have an annoying sound that doesn't stop until the last person is up, then most people get up relatively fast. I stumble over to the small row of lockers at the end of the jet. Fumbling with the key code, I open the metal locker and grab the first clothes I find. Sleepily I pull on a pair black skinny jeans and throw on a black t-shirt with a design of a skull wearing headphones on. Glancing at the dusty mirror I smile at my messy hair. I used to have black, straightened hair, casually covering my face: but now my naturally red hair pokes through the black hair dye. Loose strands of hair stick up here and there giving me the full bed head look. I comb my fingers through the loose strands to try and make it look semi-presentable.

Punk music blares out of some white earplugs belonging to a teen who is straightening his black dyed hair. Yells to hurry up echos up the stairs but he can't hear them: his music is too loud. He'll be late for school today. But being late will be the least of his problems in the weeks to come.

Most people have gone off to do their various jobs by now but I still haven't been assigned one yet so I wander over to the study jet. Not many people are here today so I find a corner near the air con unit as the Arizona desert reaches its highest temperatures at midday and I intend on still being here then. Scanning the cluttered but organised bookshelves I find a book which I recognise from before. Before things went wrong. I found some earplugs the other day in a junk box along with a music player of sorts. The computers here do have internet but it's very slow so I downloaded some music. I let the punk music encase me as my eyes scan the book. Anyone who would have walked in to the study jet right now would have maybe glanced my way but barely noticed me and that's how I liked it: blending into the background.

Wandering to his lesson late with his earplugs in, kicking a loose bit of paper that had landed on the dirty corridor floor. Hands in pockets and eyes to the floor he walked into his class room.
"Late again."
But he didn't hear the teacher, he just slumped down at his desk and opened his sketch book. The teacher stormed over to him, "Headphones out Felix!"
But of course he didn't hear this either. The teacher leaned down and grabbed his earplugs out of his ears. Felix stood up in fury, " You can have these back after detention tonight!" The teacher yelled. Another detention, but this one got him more than just being yelled at when he got home. Something much worse.

I wandered over to the canteen jet when I started to feel hungry. When people see me they tend to leave me alone as I have almost always got my earplugs in. It reminds me of before and how far I've come since. Before I never got a seat at the tables in the canteen at my school: they would always throw food at me or beat me for always having my earplugs in. Now people just leave me in peace. Smells of all sorts of food fill the jet like water in a dam. Not too long after a kid comes up to me hot and out of breath.
" You're Felix right?" she asks,I nod, " You have been summoned to be assigned a job"
She then turns and runs back out into the dessert again. I quickly finish my meal and head off to the job jet.

They were surprisingly calm when he walked in unlike the usual yelling match. Felix cautiously closed the front door. Earplugs still in: music still playing loud. No eye contact was made as he pushed past the sofa where his parents sat beers in hands. Their silence disturbed Felix but not as much as the things he would witness in the next few weeks.

As I walk to the job jet I see a large group of people gathered around one person. He is a big beefy guy with a shark tattoo and he is the one who spreads all the conspiracy theories about the admiral. I don't like him: I don't trust him, but apparently a lot of gullible unwinds do. They are just sheep, I can't believe they can sit there and listen to him sharing his crazy, unrealistic ideas. I tend to avoid him and keep my opinions to myself because he's not the guy you want to fight with over that sort of thing but as I walk past I can hear him going on about the admiral, as per usual, but this time he said something that made me shudder. He said " ......he's taking unwinds and giving them a false sense of security............ using their parts on himself...........look at Emby...............we could be next......."