On my Own

I must have fallen asleep, I could feel the numbness in my body, like miniature lightning bolts striking infinitely on my legs and arms. Sweat dripping down on my forehead, leaving behind a moist blanket of bacteria-infested trails. Feeling nothing, but pain, feeling nothing but emptiness. The book still laying on my stomach, the blanket, tucks under me, not even serving its only purpose. Slowly, lifting my eyelids, to which is the closed curtain that shields my eyes from seeing the outside world. Nothing, there was nothing, as if I were falling onto space without a hint of life and light, it was dark, pitch black, I sat down, looking from left to right, feeling with my hands, my fingers gliding through my soft mattress and blanket, touching the icy cold steel my bedframe is made of. Putting my feet gently down, feeling the tiles of our floors, and I stood up, putting both hands in front of me, to guide me from knocking things down and to be broken and never return to their original state.

Feeling for the front door, the knob, twisting slowly, 'locked' I whispered. Pushing the switch of our lights, blinding my vision for a second, from darkness not there is light, for my own eyes could not comprehend such vision without failing. Shutting my eyes, adjusting from the sudden change of perspective, prying my own eyes open slowly looking at our beds. "Nothing." Neither Theo nor Nessa was resting on their beds, not on the floors where our favorite spot to sit and relax. The bathroom doors are wide open, and no one's inside either. Looking at the clock just above the doors, gleaming 10:00 pm. Where could have they gone without me? Without even saying a word of goodbye or any sort of confirmation of where they would go. Trying to unlock the door again, still locked. Nessas' ID card is sitting on her bed, next to her pillow and blanket. I snatched it and pressed the card on the scanner on the door. Making a sound, the door opens and I smiled. Stepping outside, no one was in sight. No guards, no fellow trainees, no officers, nothing, like an abandoned banker, quickly rushing out and about, finding a better place to hide from the atomic bomb being threatened to detonate. But no, everything was intact, neat and tidy, every light on the halls and corridors are open and running, but yet there are no people. Walking along the hallways, passing thru multiple doors just like ours, and more hallways, going into more corridors and hallways, if you're not careful, you could easily get lost in here.

Then I heard it, a faint sound of noise coming from the outside area. Quickening my pace, the exit door, wide open, the outside breeze hitting my face, truly waking my presence up and conscious. Stepping outside, cheers could be heard up further west of the exit. I looked that way, and lights hanging from pole to pole, people dancing in the beat of the music playing on the speakers at the stage if the field. The field where we had lessons, they turned into a party section? Lights sparking from a ray of colors, making the surrounding area seem full of life and fun. Then the people, mostly the same people I've seen from lecture and in the function halls, but now, no one seems tense, everyone was looking fresh and laid back, far different from the times where I've last seen these people. The most distinguishable difference is in their faces. They were smiling, they were enjoying the time here, all sweaty but having fun, all tired from moving around the dance circle in the middle but still looking happy.

Walking there slowly, smelling the unfamiliar scent of some kind of drink, strong but fruity, passing through the odor of sweat from all these people jumping and dancing at the beat of the music, the bass making my heartbeat seem silent, buried from the amounts of noise palpitating in the chambers of my heart. There they were, those two betraying roommates, who didn't wake me up and invited me on this occasion, sitting down on the edge of the stage, legs dangling down, Nessa swaying at the beat of the music as Theo looks like he's about to puke, with one hand, a glass of some drink. I marched to their direction, Nessa already spotting me, waves at me with her boxy smile, not realizing their gonna have a beating from me when I get there. Theo on the other hand hasn't seen me, he's closed his eyes, clutching his stomach with his left arm, still not letting go of the drink on his right.

"You guys are awful, why didn't you invite me here? Or at least gave me a heads up that something was going on tonight." Trying to look pissed but I know I can't, it wasn't in my nature to hold grudges against people, my mother raised my well. Putting both hands on my side, trying to prove a point here, but to no avail, Nessa just gave me a weird look, grabs the drink from Theos, and hand me the drink, "drink this, you'll get over it." Gives a weird smile, a grin, or a smirk, in the middle of that, still bobbing her head to the music. Rolling my eyes, looking at Theo, "what's wrong with you?" as I poured the drink to the ground, already knowing I that I won't drink that nor will I let these two idiots have another. "what? Theo blurs as he suddenly pukes to his left, avoiding me thankfully.

Nessa pats his back as he lets his insides flow through his esophagus and out his mouth, to which the food entered before like a waterfall, water gushing upwards instead of falling down a cliff of rock. Finally having enough, he grabs Nessas' skirt and wipes his face that still has puke. Nessa slaps him on the head and shouts at him, "You're such a disgusting freak!" and yanks her skirt from Theos fingers and jumps off the stage walking all grumpily to the tables with all the drinks and snacks.

I smiled at both of them, 'these childish idiots' as I crossed my arms, walking over to Theos limping body and helping him off the stage, putting his right arm on my shoulder, as I hold onto his waist, helping him walk back to our room. "You're heavy! And please don't smear your disgusting face on me."

Nessa joins us after, scrubbing her skirt with a piece of wet cloth she grabbed by the tables with the snack. She got Theos other arm and places it on her shoulder, as the three of us walks back. "What was the celebration about?" I asked Nessa.

"The guards told us earlier while you were still asleep that the Capitol finally created the final model of the Shift Ports, and that it successfully linked with the wormhole, so we are all set to shift into other dimensions if we wanted to. Isn't that exciting, so some people organized a little party celebration, and don't worry they got permission from the guards." I was intrigued by the news. "yeah, that's exciting I guess? But that doesn't give you a reason to leave me behind and get smashed by alcohol." I say in disapproval. "Yeah, well we thought you weren't the type to party, and I guessed right, hm." She sticks her tongue out at me.

We were a couple of doors from our room, I smiled. I walked faster than them and let go of Theos arm, leaving both of them behind and Nessa behind. Nessa couldn't hold Theo all by herself so both of them fell on the floor. Nessa wailed by surprise and Theo was practically a dead body by now. She glared at me and shouted, "Asshole!" as I laughed at both of them, "serves you right for not tagging me along with you." I opened the door and walked inside, her voice still echoing, commanding me to help her. "Get back here!" she shouts from the outside. I chuckled and went to help her carry the big man inside.

'Well, I guess this place isn't so bad after all.'