Stolen Truth

2

"This is Owl," Viper said, gesturing to a sullen looking boy, he looked no older than twelve.

"Why does everyone have animal names?" I asked. I didn't know much about names but from what I heard of the higher up blanks, they weren't generally named after animals.

"We do have other names," she said, "Some don't because they wipe memories in the prison camps when they became prisoners of war. This is better anyway, it lets everyone decide who they are and it makes us all equal."

"You literally just picked a name for me," I deadpanned.

"Because you might be a blank, blanks don't get to decide."

"How can you advocate for equality when you just want the same thing they do, to control the other side. They might've been wrong about a few things they taught us, but your people still killed my family for all I know and all anyone wants is power."

Viper looked at me in shock, obviously surprised by my sudden outburst. Luckily, I was saved from any further conversation on the matter when a young girl came and tugged on Viper's arm.

"Who's he?" The girl asked timidly, looking up at me with big brown eyes.

"This is Rat," Viper said, smiling down at the girl.

"Hi Rat," The girl said, waving at me shyly, "I'm Bunny."

"Hello Bunny," I said, "I'm new here, Viper is just showing me around."

"Go find your sister," Viper said, sending Bunny off.

"How old is she?" I asked.

"She's about six," Viper answered, "She's one of the ones who was born here."

I was about to answer another question when I was stopped by Bunny coming back with another girl in tow.

"This is Dove," Viper said, introducing me.

Dove was very pretty, I'm not quite sure how accurate that is considering she's literally the second girl I've seen in my life (not counting Bunny). Dove had soft caramel skin and dark brown eyes. Her hair fell down in waves of honey and caramel, reaching just over mid-way down her back.

"Nice to meet you," Dove greeted, smiling at me sweetly, "What's your name."

"Uh, Rat," I said quietly, suddenly embarrassed to introduce myself as that.

"Cute," Dove said, and I saw Viper rolling her eyes at that.

"Can you please show him around and introduce him to everyone else?" Viper asked, "Bear and I have a few things to work out."

"Of course," Dove said, taking my hand and leading me away.

"So how old are you?" I asked as we began walking again.

"I'm about fourteen," She answered, "How old are you?"

"About sixteen," I said, trying to count how long I had been in the camp for. Soldiers came back from war once a year and I had seen eleven of those, I know my parents were killed when I was five so I think I was right.

"Do you have another name as well?" She asked.

"Like, an actual name?"

"Yeah."

"No," I sighed, "What about you?"

"Mickayla," she said, "Or at least, that's what my parents used to call me."

"Are your parents still alive?"

"My dad is," she said, "But my mum died whilst giving birth to Bunny."