Junkyard of Heroes

Chapter 6

Brynn rubbed her eyes groggily and kicked away the butterfly print blanket. She flickered open her eyes and began to panic at the site of her unfamiliar surroundings, but then she remembered.

      Her pajamas borrowed from Elodie felt too big and clumsy on her, and the room they gave her was very different from what she was used to.

      Her room at home was much bigger, for one thing, and much more personalised. She begged her dad to let her use chalkboard paint on one wall, so that her and her friends could write messages on it, and another wall was coated entirely with posters and photos.

      This room had four plain blue walls, marked with the ghosts of old photo frames. The bed was a simple wooden one with a sagging mattress and flat pillows. Brynn wondered who had lived here before her.

      She sat up in the bed and looked around, thinking she better get used to living here. She could feel tears coming up to fall and she blinked rapidly to stop them. No, she'd get out and go home soon enough. Besides, she'd survived one night here and they hadn't murdered her or sold her on the black market. They must not be bad people.

      Hauling herself out of bed she noticed someone, probably Elodie, had left some clothes on a chair by the door. She found black leggings and a purple and black striped top. Far from the clothes she was used to, but she couldn't stay in the pajamas and there was no way she was getting back into the hospital gown.

      Unfortunately the one thing missing from the clothes pile was underwear. Brilliant, she thought. Nothing like meeting your new housemates with no bra and yesterday's pants.

-

      The kitchen was easy enough to find. She followed the corridor of bedrooms down to the room she first woke up in, and the smell of pancakes led her where she wanted to go.

      There were two girls she didn't know already in there. One wore a large red jumper and tracksuit bottoms. She had her back to Brynn and was focusing on the pancake she was trying to flip.

      The other girl sat cross legged on a counter wearing a purple skirt over leggings, a black t-shirt with some ancient rock band on it and mismatched stripy socks. Her bright blue hair, though short, was a mess, and when she saw Brynn she grinned a toothy grin.

      "Oh you must be the new girl! You're shorter than I thought," were her first words. Brynn awkwardly smiled back and grabbed a stool to sit on. Pancake girl turned around.

      "Ignore her, she's crazy," she said, and gathered her dark brown hair into a ponytail. She extended a hand out to Brynn with confidence. "I'm Kyla. Welcome to the junkyard."

      "Um, junkyard?" She shook Kyla's hand with uncertainty. The blue haired one jumped off the counter. She was rather short, considering she had called Brynn small.

      "That's what we call this place! Everyone that arrives here is usually a mess with a shitty life. What do you do with shitty stuff? Throw it away!"

      Kyla, who was an Amazon woman next to her crazy friend, hissed something about it being "rude to call people rubbish" and how she should introduce herself to new people. Brynn didn't catch it all.

      The short girl huffed and turned to face Brynn. "I'm Erin, by the way, and I'm sorry for saying you probably are a mess with a shitty life."

      Brynn stared at both girls, unsure of what to do next. She was usually confident and well able to start a conversation but it was different here. These people, well they had kind of kidnapped her and were keeping her here. Not that they aren't nice people, just she hadn't expected new housemates so soon.