Chapter 9.7

After a couple of days spending time in the children's centre, the doctor said I could leave the ward, but I would have to come back every few days to have my bandages changed. Did that mean I could leave? Or was I still their prisoner? I cautiously followed Luke to a dormitory near the children's room, There were several tall windows and about twenty beds lined up in rows, each with a trunk at the foot. He gave me some bedding and helped me set up a bed in the middle of the row nearest the wall.

My first night in the dormitory didn't go that well. When the rest of the children returned, I was approached by a girl around my age.

"What's your name?" she asked brightly.

I hesitated before replying "Ezra."

"My name is Bella!"

"Okay." Her smile faltered a bit, did I say something wrong?

"My dads working on patrol right now."

"Okay." What did she want me to say?

"What about you?" she asked.

"I don't have a dad."

"Oh, so does your mum work here?"

"No." I answered truthfully, but it seemed like it wasn't the answer she was looking for.

She gave a nervous laugh, and her cheeks blushed red before scurrying off and chatting to her friend at the other end of the room.

I thought she was a bit weird, but she was the first person to talk to me. It seemed like they didn't know where I'd come from or why I was here. I didn't have much chance to ponder before the lights were switched off and we were instructed to sleep.

The dormitory was dark with little lines of light escaping through the cracks in the door and moonlight through the half-closed curtains. The soft sound of children breathing wasn't unlike sleeping Dark Moon Squad back at HQ but for some reason the sound vibrated through my body, tingling even the tips of my toes. The pain from various wounds was a dull throb, but that wasn't why I couldn't sleep. My head shifted left and right, watching nervously the chests of the children rise and fall gently, them tossing and shifting in their beds while they slept. I could see the eyes of the boy next to me dance under his lids as he dreamt. When I laid on my back, I felt the massive presence of everyone else in the room, but on my left, it felt like the shadows behind me were creeping up to me when I wasn't looking, laying on my right, it felt like someone was sneaking in the room while I looked the other way.

My heart thumped and refused to slow as I tossed and turned, alternating, on that overly-comfortable bed, between these fears until the sun began to rise, and an expanse of orange was cast across the sky. With the new light of the dawn, I could relax enough to fall into an uncomfortable slumber, before we were shook awake by a load bell for breakfast.

I blinked away dry eyes and tried to calm my throbbing head with a splash of cold water in the face in the attached bathroom at the end of the dormitory, before following the rest of the children down to a large canteen serving breakfast. It was a large hall serving a great variety of foods, it seemed like both children, staff and soldiers all ate together at the same table, there didn't seem to be any separation by squad or hierarchy. Some of the children vanished to look for their parents so I followed the remainder to the back of the line.

There were so many different types of food that I didn't know the name of that I impulsively picked a bowl of oats, one of the few things that I was familiar with and sat at the back of the hall where it was almost empty. There was a tired looking man at the end of the table but he looked lost in thought or half asleep so it made me jump when he spoke.

"You're that kid Luke brought back. Do you like it here?" He lazily glanced up from his food

"I don't dislike it."

"Better then Garlantia though?"

"Yeah."

"Bet there's not much competition in that."

"No." I agreed.

With that, he stretched out like a cat and left without say anything else. I nibbled on the oats in silence until it was time for the children to return.