Prisoner Thirty-One

Feather: Promised pain

The age twenty-one death rule was designed to be kind and allow young people to have some sort of life before they were murdered. With two meals a day, abusive guards and very little human contact for up to twenty-one years, you were left with one cruel experience of what life could be like. I debated for a while whether the kill on sight program that Melcome Sharp advocated was a kind idea. Obviously, he wanted it to destroy our species, but just then, the idea of preventing just over two more years of that sounded nice.

I could hear some noises coming from the door, so I got onto my feet and waited for the movement at the window. Stepping out I looked down at my fellow prisoners and noticed they had similar silver bracelets on their wrist, so they were clearly not just a fashion statement. Synchronised, we laid out our wrists and the guards pushed them together until they clicked, and separation was prevented. Although we seemed to contain the same jewellery in one way, the others were obviously no longer or never deemed dangerous enough to need a shock collar.

Walking back to the mess hall was as painless as it could be with the only hold up being when we had to wait to enter the lift as a pair. The past two times I had done that, I had been segregated from the others, so the lift managed to seem a lot smaller with the three large men and I squeezed inside. I was placed in front of Alec so that we were facing the same way. I was sure that if he had been shorter, I would have been close enough to feel his breath, but as it was, he probably had a clear view over my head. Even without that though, I felt extremely uncomfortable, practically being pressed against a stranger.

The new bracelets were managing to become oddly likable when the magnetic field around the mess hall allowed them to separate on their own once the door was closed. Following Alec's lead, I collected the new tray which now contained a grey slab with a green blob that I think was meant to taste like meat and vegetables but more resembled bland, overly salted and runny mash potatoes.

We all seemed to keep with the earlier seating plan, except this time they gave off the impression that they were at least somewhat eager to talk to me. "So, you really can?" Joe's instantaneous question confused me for a second.

I had already decided that I was going to eat whatever I was given but the confusion over what that was, seemed to command all my attention. "The whole metal thing, you can really move metal no matter how heavy." Clearly annoyed at my lack of response, Joe had tried again.

"I guess, yeah." I answered half-heartedly not super eager to go back to the interrogation but also because I wasn't entirely sure. It wasn't like there were free standing metal weights around Torrance that I had been allowed to practice with.

The conversation dropped as they went back to silently discussing. I'm not sure why this annoyed me so much, they would of course known each other very well if it had just been them for seven years. But the longer the conversation ignored me the more I felt like screaming, no matter how weird that would have made me look. My increasing grumpy mood drew me to my food. I sat there scowling at it, debating whether or not I would be shot if I moved table.

"So, size and weight don't matter? What about distance? Does It have to be close? And what about moving a lot at once?" I'd never seen Alec so animated. He was leaning in onto the table, his deep grey eyes boring into mine and drawing me into him.

This had the opposite effect, however, as the only thing I could seem to focus on was the implications behind the questions. It felt to me as though they didn't really trust me or maybe just didn't believe me. Alec might have just been curious, but Kimba looked as though she was just dismissing me.

We made eye contact briefly and her look tipped me over the edge. I understood perfectly well that my existence seemed to annoy her but this constant dislike towards me for no reason was really starting to get to me.