Young Writers Society

As soon as I open the door the expected sound of everyone hurrying reaches me.

“Mia! I was worried you wouldn’t make it.” says Clare whose arms are full of blankets that must be folded and put away.

“I’m here.” I respond passing her and heading towards my room. “How long do I have?” I ask just outside the door

“Just under ten technically, but maybe twenty if they are slow.”

I give Clare a worried look before rushing through my door. A small mess meets me, things laid about from studying earlier. The advantage of not sharing a room was simply that I only had my own mess to deal with. I place the last of my books neatly back onto my shelf and fix my pillows, I have more stuff than most, my good behavior has paid off well.

Giving my room one last glance I exit back into the chaos. Clare struggles to fold quickly by herself so I grab the other side and work with her.

“How is Hannah?” I ask as I place a red one into our pile, most of these had been on her bed the past few nights, although they were supposed to be mine and I shouldn’t have been sharing. Each night we folded them up for check in and put them back into my wardrobe before pulling them out again.

“Better, her fever is gone and she should be fine by tomorrow. Where is the snow you were going to gather?” she asks casually, but at the reminder of the event I loose my concentration and drop part of the blanket we are folding and we have to begin again. “You took so long I just thought you would actually have brought something back.” She continues just as casual as before.

I look at her examining her emotions carefully, did she miss my scare or is she just making it seem like she did, luring me into a false sense of security. A great tactic, and her own signature style. Sometimes I wish I hadn’t taught her how to hide and fake emotion. She might be even better at it than I am.

I decide it's safe, but I still watch her carefully as I speak for any sign that it isn’t and she's on to me. “I lost track of time and then decided there wouldn’t be enough time to move my desk out so we could hide it, so I left it.” Coming up with strong lies fast was another of my strengths, I just hoped she couldn’t see through it.

As I have closed the conversation enough to not be suspicious I change the topic. “The twins are quiet.” I state sarcastically. Clare rolls her eyes in return as we listen to the yells of Eve and Zoe from their room.

Those two will never get along and haven't for every day in their thirteen years of life, but when it really came down to it they loved each other. When they had first moved into the third room when they were five, I thought that they would be our downfall, so much disagreement and fighting would never get anything done, but soon I realized that all that fighting against each other has a way of getting more done that one might ever expect.

I also would never want to go up against them in a fight, they could take you down faster than anyone else.

We are folding the final blanket when the speaker comes on and check in time is announced. We hurry to finish and grab the others running them into my room. When we exit again the twins and Hannah are already standing in front of their doors. Clare rushes over next to Hannah and we stand there silent and calm.

We all show the same lack of emotion upon our faces and inside we feel the same fear that will never go away, it doesn’t matter that we have done this every day of ours lives. Our hair and clothing also match perfectly. Our white hair contrasting against the black clothes, the sleeves and pants long for the winter.

Only a few things make us different other than our personalities. Our heights vary along with our ages Hannah is shortest at only seven, then of course the twins, thirteen, and then Clare who is barely taller and only older by a year.

I am the oldest at sixteen and in charge so when the knock comes I am the one to walk over to the door opening it for them. It is just two normal teachers tonight, they teach some of the younger kids. 

I lead them over to my room first and watch as they inspect it hoping to find something to call me out on and punish me for.

My room is bland and boring. My bed sits on the far wall, my blankets and pillows gray and black. At its end is the wardrobe which contains my few pairs of clean clothes and all the blankets from earlier. On its’ other side is the second bed stripped of blankets, pillows, and sheets and it's been that way for over nine years, ever since her death. Finally, on the wall next to the entrance is my bookshelf and desk strategically placed in the corner so that my desk blocks the bottom few shelves making the perfect place to tuck things away.

The teachers find no fault in my room and allow me to lead the way back across the main room and into the twins room. Their room contains the same furniture as mine, but is more lively. The beds are both made up and have red blankets. It actually feels like someone lives in their room, although it is still tidy.

Finally, the teachers move on to the final room, this time being much faster, as they want to move on. The scan the room quickly not bothering to open the wardrobe and exit. I plan to lead them over to the bathroom, but they instead head straight for the door and walk out.

I look around at the other girls taking in the last thing that makes us different, the only detail that connects us to the lives we could have had, the only thing they can’t change, our eye color. The twins have blue ones, Hannah has hazel and Clare has green and they are all staring at me and mine, which I know are dark and sometimes, I swear black.

We all hear it and finally begin to breathe properly again at the click of the lock. It means we passed and they won’t come back tonight.

“That’s nearly a month without losing anything.” says Eve quietly and we all nod, but don’t speak scared to jinx our luck.

Zoe finally breaks the silence sighing loudly as she plonks herself down on our couch and Eve soon follows sitting right on top of her. Hannah rushes into her room quickly before returning with the scraps of paper we use in all the games we have made up. They all become comfy and start setting up and I would normally join them, but instead I quickly slip away into my room before they can notice.

I switch into my night clothes and turn off my lights climbing into bed exhausted, but I know that sleep won’t come easily, my mind is too focused on what happened today.

Why was he there?