Creators

Five days to go

As usual I wake up before I'm supposed to. Waking up before everyone else is forbidden, I learnt that lesson on my first night. I hadn't realised that there was a camera in the room until they came storming into the room, shoving me back onto the bed whilst hitting my body with their batons. I woke up the next day with bruises making their appearance all along my arms.

Now I lay as still as possible on my back looking up at the grey metal squared frame that support the bed above me where Haley sleeps.

BEEP BEEP BEEP

The morning alarm blares through the speaker in the corner of the room. I get up slowly, making sure that it looked like I had been asleep.

"Good morning" Haley says jumping down from the top bunk, the metal bars creaking at the difference in weight.

"Good morning Hales" I reply speaking freely knowing that our rooms don't have listening devices that are hidden throughout the other parts of the building.

"You would think after all these years I would get used to the morning alarms but I'm not. It still annoys me every time" Haley commented, huffing grumpily as she stretched.

"Ok, five minutes starting from now" I say seriously, my body automatically moving to the task at hand.

And so the countdown of five minutes begins for our morning inspection, we quickly work on straightening the plain grey bed sheets and plumping up the hard grey pillows. Next was the floor which was already spotless, but we picked up anything that stood out on the pristine white tiles. Two years ago, two other patients managed to hit one of the inspector's unconscious with a mop and escape out of our sector. That one incident made the security tighten and now the inspector came with guards from The Whites, the official army for Hewlett.

"Fifty seconds" I count, dusting off the imaginary dirt off my grey sweats as I rise to my feet.

Here at the house they like to make everything done quickly and precisely. Normal tasks are taught repeatedly in a never-ending cycle until we perfected it, if things were out of place a punishment was guaranteed.

They are only five rules that we had to comply to. One, eyes to the floor. Never look them in the eye, it was a sign of rebellion and disobedience which they did not take lightly. Two, wait to be spoken too. Three, be on time. They had a schedule for everything and that schedule would be ruined if we were late. Four, walk only in two's. We were assigned our partners according to room pairings. Five, listen and obey. The rest of the unspoken rules were learnt through beatings or whispers from the other here.

Haley and I finish and spend the last few seconds checking everything and finally we face each other to check if our appearances are suitable for inspection.

Haley's eyes which were scanning my face suddenly widen "Your hair is coming out of your braid Rosa" she professes, her voice quivering with fear. Her hands and my hands collide together as we frantically reach for my hair, sweeping back the stubborn strands.

"Let me do it Rosa. I can see better than you" Haley says.

I quickly drop my hands out of the way "Sorry Haley" I respond realising my stupidity.

"Done" she states. We both face towards the door and wait, my body stiff with fear. 

The sound of the large heavy mental door slamming next door signals our turn in the morning inspection. The sound of boots resonate against the white hospital tiles as they exit the room next to us.

Our door swings open with a heavy clank and the inspector walks wearing the familiar grey medical scrubs and a see-through helmet which protects him from us Suffocators. He holds a board in one hand and machine in the other. Haley steps forward in silence and holds out her right arm and the inspector brings the gun like machine down to her wrist which beeps with recognition at the microchip underneath Haley's skin. He ushers her away with the flick of his wrist and does the same with my outstretched arm.

The Whites stand in the doorway quietly watching with guns hanging at their waists just in case anything got to sticky.

The inspector glances briefly around the room, writes on his board and leaves without a comment leaving the door open. In the years that Haley and I had been here we learned through beatings and practise how to conduct ourselves to appease the inspectors.

"Come on let's go to breakfast" Haley says exiting our room with me trailing behind her.

Breakfast is served in the main hall where all our meals are held, this is the only place where The Whites are not hovering over us, our sanctuary of sorts. The main hall was starting to fill with others like us.

Sometimes I struggled with what I should call them. They were not my friends because the only other people I spoke to in this grim place was Haley, Mia and Jayden. And we could not quite be called patients either. Yes, we were stuck in here but we weren't being treated for anything just to keep others safe from us. We were Suffocators plain and simple and that fact filled me with unease.