How much do you really know?

nineteen- kayden

    I could barely open my eyes that morning, nothing new. Just in a bad mood, it happened a lot. I was used to it.
    But I always wondered why other people didn't miss class when they had bad moods.
    Was I normal?
    After a couple months at the school and never seeing another person regularly miss class, I was starting to wonder. They had to have bad moods as well right? Times when they couldn't even get out of bed? Well, obviously not because they all showed up and did their work.
    Whenever I would come back to class after missing a few days, everyone would look at me funny. I don't know why. I would just say, "howdy" and get no response. The teacher would ask for my assignments, I would say I didn't even have the energy to think of the assignments I had, the class would laugh, and I would sit down in my seat.
    It had happened too many times.
    That was the first thing I thought about every time I woke up in the morning and realized I wouldn't be able to get up and get to class. I was too sad. I was too tired. I would just put my head down and go back to sleep.
    What if I could just sleep forever? I wouldn't have to wake back up and go back to class and look at those judgmental stares.
    I used all my energy to roll over and look at the clock. It was 8 am. I still had thirty minutes before class started and I wondered if I would be able to summon up enough energy to go. Or at least do my schoolwork today.
    The thought of going to class or doing work made me want to cry. The thought of doing anything made me want to cry, except going back to sleep.
    So I went back to sleep. I would get in a couple more hours and maybe then I would be able to do work.
    Or maybe when I woke up, I would just decide to sleep forever.

    The door slammed open. I slowly opened my eyes, still too tired to feel awake, even at the sudden noise. It was dark and I couldn't see anything. It was funny; I wasn't scared at all. Should I be scared? I knew the answer was yes, but I just didn't feel anything.
    A rag was put over my mouth and I was out cold before I could think another thought.
   
    When my eyes opened again, it was still dark. I was about to dismiss the whole mess for a dream and go back to sleep when I realized that my hands were tied. And I was seated on a chair, not lying down in a bed.
    Well shit.
    I guess I was about to figure out what happened to all those kids that randomly stopped coming to school, never to be seen again. It was different than when I stopped coming to class; I was back in a couple of days maximum.
    Other kids that stopped coming never ever came back.
    The lights flashed on and I squinted my eyes. I felt someone grab me by my arms and pull me up out of the seat. I just let them pull me. I would figure out what to do when I could actually see. They pulled me out a door. When I finally was able to slowly open my eyes after a couple of seconds, I saw we were in a boring hallway. It seemed strange to me. It was so clean, not a speck of dust present. Just pure white. You could barely walk in my room at the school. I guess I had just never bothered to clean up.
    The walls were bright white. We were the only ones I could see. The silence was so loud, only the squeaking of our shoes made any noise.
    I didn't feel anything. I wasn't scared or nervous or excited, just nothing. It was like a darkness had come through and covered everything. I just followed the guards as they pulled me through the endless maze. My feet were moving, but it was as if I was watching them, leaving my body in automatic mode. I was walking without thinking about it.
    All of a sudden, another figure came into our hallway. I almost screamed. He had come out of nowhere.
    He looked at me.
    Andrew.
    My heart skipped a beat. At least I was feeling something.
    "Kayden, what a pleasure." He nodded at me and started walking in front of us. The guards followed. I continued to stay silent.
    Andrew didn't deserve my words.
    We walked for a couple minutes in silence until we abruptly came to the end of the hallway. There was a thick steel door that Andrew used his keycard to unlock. It swung open into a beige hallway, way easier on the eyes than the bright white. The guards pulled me through as two teenage boys walked past, their heads down.
    I had a feeling of comfort and unease; comfort at the hallway, at the kids who minded their own business, but the quiet was eerie, as if no one wanted to be here. This hallway was lined with hundreds of doors. The guards only pulled me a couple doors down, room 143. Andrew took a key out of his pocket and unlocked the door. When he opened it, he threw the keys on the desk and they clattered still. The noise made me jump. He sat down at the desk.
    "Welcome. This will be your room until you are 18. Everything you need is here on this desk; your schedule, your room keys, a map of the facility, and more. Now, do you know where you are and why you are here?"
    I simply shook my head.
    "Really? So you weren't still sleeping when you were supposed to be in class? You didn't miss twelve days of class in one month?"
    Twelve days? No way. No way I had missed twelve days in one month. It couldn't have been that many. It was only about five. I couldn't have missed more than seven.
    I never had a chance to answer his questions.
    "We are hoping that being in the Alaskan base will get you to be less lazy. You will be constantly monitored. You will not be missing any more class just so that you can get some more sleep."
    And he left, the guards shutting the door behind him.
    I allowed one single tear to slip down my cheek. I wiped it away, and as I wiped it, I vowed that I wouldn't let anyone else know about my 'laziness.'