Chapter 2.4

The next day, when it was time for roll call, the doors automatically opened, but the two little kids we saw yesterday didn't emerge.

We took a quick glance inside, pausing slightly before we were whisked away with the crowd filling up the corridor. They'd been a fire alright; there were scorch marks engulfing most of their kitchen area, dark burn marks licking towards the ceiling, and the tiles on their floor, melted.

A Faint smell of smoke lingered down the hallway.

There was a body of a boy lying near the open door. He wasn't burnt, but there were fingernail marks on his neck like he'd been suffocated. The other boy was nowhere to be seen.

Theos expression flickered with fury, "these fucking people are heartless."

"They are." I agreed, pulling her away from the body before she tried to do something more.

"I wasn't going to do anything." She hissed in annoyance. "I know we have to smart."

I nodded, I understood her fury. But I wasn't surprised, I knew the extent of their brutality and what they'd do to get what they want.

Outside, the Captain made an announcement but there was no mention of the two boys that died. "I have been notified of an illness spreading throughout the compound. It is highly dangerous and can only be cured with medicine we can provide, so if you see someone who is sick or are sick yourself, report it to us and you will live."

He paced up and down our rows, speaking clearly and slowly but not without a Garlantian accent I hated so much. He watched us closely, looking for a reaction or maybe something he could punish someone for, I couldn't be sure. But we could both feel the atmosphere of repression as he passed, an overwhelming authority that struck fear into our hearts, that only released a little when he gazed shifted to the next row.

His hair was neatly combed and set neatly on either side of his head, and when he was done with his announcement, he left it to his subordinates to register each apartment and scan our wrist bands.

When we were escorted back inside, the boy's body had been removed and there was a large red X on the door.

In our little apartment, Theo erupted "Not even a mention that two little boys died last night! And an illness? What is he talking about? How can an illness spread between apartments when we're not even allowed to interact?"

"I don't know. Maybe he just said it for the fear factor." But I was wrong.

"I don't care if it's real or not, we need to get out of here."

I nodded, but we weren't any nearer finding a way out than we were before. I still needed to figure out a way to control Shadow long enough to help us get out of there. So, later that day, I summoned Shadow again. I found an old bouncy ball in the resident's belongings and threw it at him. He caught a snake in mid-air when we were in Garlantia, so I knew it was possible to interact with our world without being seen. The first couple of times, it went straight through him, pinging off the walls at crazy angles. It was like the worse type of multi-tasking; I had to aim to throw the ball but also, in the next split-second, prepare Shadow to catch the ball.

Finally, Shadow caught the ball when Theo popped her head in the door, my concentration slipped, and he almost dropped it. "What are you doing?" she asked, referring to the racket I was most likely making.

"Building up muscle."

"Is shadow here then?" she asked, looking around the room, completely missing him standing a few feet to her right. "How does it work? Do you control him? Or does he have a mind of his own?"

"I don't really know. When I was younger, he protected me, so I guess he has a mind of his own. But I think I can influence what he does." To prove a point, I concentrated a little harder on his arms and what it would feel like to throw the ball, and while it was difficult, and his limbs cumbersome and heavy to move, he threw the ball gently at Theo, who didn't see it until it hit her and slipped through her grappling fingertips.

I chuckled and caught it before it rolled under the bed, and threw it back to Shadow. He caught it, slighting getting the hang of it.

She looked at the ball curiously, but I'm sure she still wasn't seeing Shadow. "It's so weird. It's like I couldn't see the ball before, but now I know it's there, I can't believe I couldn't see it."

"There were other people with these shadows in Garlantia and we can see each other's shadows as clear as you see me."

"Where are they now? What happened to them?"

"They're dead."

"Oh, what happened?"

"One turned into a monster and I killed him, and the other committed suicide… But I'm sure there were more kids…" I hesitated before continuing, "I'm sure Shadow was the real reason I was sold to Garlantia in the first place."

"I wonder what happened to them…" I don't think she really wanted to imagine. I was sure it was pretty horrible.