Sixteen

Quiet

    "Keep your head down, don't talk, be quiet, no arguing," I whispered to the new kid as we walked into our cabin. "It's how you survive." I showed him in and gave hom the bunk next to mine. Poor kid, he has been shaking like a leaf. He nodded and sat down on his bunk. He had nothing with him. They strip us of anything with value. A few of us, myself included, were able fo keep pictures. We weren't allowed to have any pictures with water in it. Water, our special power, the thing we could use to destroy them. If only they weren't listening in on our conversations. We could take them down easily.
   "Ash." My friend said sitting on her bed. I walk over to her and wait for her to speak. We just look at each other, my long, curly, fire red hair cascading around me. My bright green eyes look into her dark brown eyes and I smile, our teeth aren't straight. None of our teeth are. In every other aspect, we are all different.
   "Lia" I finally whisper, saddened by her dull eyes. She hugs me and whispers that her mom died. I hugged her tight, not knowing what to say. It's not her birth mother of course, every child is assigned an adult to eatch over them. Her caregiver was a middle aged woman with kind hazel eyes and curly, dark brown hair. She welcomed Lia home and named her. Lia's mother gave her everything she needed. Then, on her tenth birthday, the men came and picked her up. Everyone at the age of ten are sent to these camps. These camps are to try and suppress our powers, but it never helps. At the age of twenty one, we are able to leave. Eleven years, eleven years in this damn prison and then we will be free. I'm sixteen, the oldest here. The new kid, he's the youngest.
   Birthdays are special. Our caregivers come to visit us, and they may give us little trifles for us to keep. Sometimes a caregiver may have more children, but most of the time they are loyal to us. My caregiver never took in another child after me. I let Lia talk about her mother until it was time for my shower. I jumped in and bathed before the three minute timer went off. After three minutes, the water cuts off. If we try to make the water come back with our powers the guards would come. They would drag you out to the center square and make everyone gather around, you were stark naked. Then you would get another week in this prison. I hopped out and explained it to the new kid. He nodded, I smiled and sat on my bed.
   "What's your name?" I whispered, looking into his eyes. They were the color of sea foam. They were bright, clear, not yet clouded with the dismay of this place. I wanted to whisper "Keep them like that, innocent I mean, for as long as you can." But I don't, I sit there waiting for him to speak.
   "Zachary" he whispered. "But please, call me Zack. I smiled and nodded, he had her black hair, and it waz closely cropped to jis face. His teeth, they were probably the worst I've seen. Every year the twenty one year olds have a ceremony, it's on the day after the youngest twenty one year old turns twenty one. They find out their work position. During our eleven years we go through training for different jobs. We have people watching us, they take notes. It is almost unheard of for someone to be unsatisfied with their position. I want to be a school teacher, I spend all of my free time with the younger children, helping them with school and any conflicts they may have with the other children. It's one of the reasons i like being the oldest in our cabin. Zack went to take a shower, so I sat on my bed quietly. He was the last to shower, so a robotic voice blared out in the various speakers around the room.
   "Five minutes until lights out." Zack jumped, and I smiled. He was on my bed, and he was acting scared so I knew I had to ask.
   "Why are you so jumpy?" He stared at me and shrugged so i let it drop. When the robotic voice said it was one minute until lights out he whispered.
    "I-I'm scared of the dark." AI smiled and told him about the lights on the ground that stay on all night. He nodded and got into bed. I fell asleep wondering how long it would be until he was on my bed. Surprisingly. He slept in his bed all night.