Chapter 04: Silent Children

"So kid," The lady started, "would you mind introducing yourself to them?" the lady was referring to the other children inside the room.

"I suppose I don't mind Miss Shiro," the little prince answered with a smile and went on to introduce himself to the other children.

"Fantastic!" the lady said enthusiastically, "now take a seat over there as I start the lecture for the day". She points to a vacant seat beside another kid.

"Thank you Miss Shiro," the little prince replied with a smile and took his seat.

The lady in front started to talk about things that the little prince don't understand. He tried to listen to her but the little prince felt bored after not being able to understand anything. His attention was caught by the things that were placed on his table. There was a rectangular-shaped object that has papers inside. There were two kinds of them, one that has writing all over them and illustrations and another one that is clean of scribbles. Pens of different colors (he would always use the term "pen" for tools that are used for drawing or writing. He learned about pens with his encounter with the pilot on Earth)

"Is something the matter?" the lady asked the little prince.

"I'm sorry Miss Shiro but I don't understand anything you're saying," the little prince confessed.

"That's alright," the lady smiled as she walked towards him, "Do you see this object?" the lady held the rectangular-shaped object filled with papers.

The little prince nodded.

"Do you know what this is called and what it is used for?" she asked.

"I'm sorry, but I don't Miss," the little prince politely replied.

"This is called a notebook," she opened the cover page to reveal the paper inside, "This is where you write notes"

"Why do I need to write notes?" the little prince inquired.

"For you to remember my lectures," the lady answered him with a smile.

"But why do I need to remember your lectures?" the little prince inquired again.

"For you to be able to pass the assessment" the lady replied.

"What is assessment?" the little prince inquired for the third time.

"It is all part of the tradition," the lady replied with a frustrated look on her face but she quickly shrugs it off so the little prince won't notice, "that's enough questions for you young lad, let's continue with the lecture"

The little prince nodded and took his seat.

The little prince looked at the other kids who were seated beside him. "They look so pale," he thought to himself.

He turned to the kid on his right side and thought of something.

"Hey," he started talking at the kid with a low voice, "are you alright?"

The kid did not reply nor looked at him.

The little prince saw this and turned to the kid on his left.

"Hey," he said again with a higher voice this time.

"Little Prince is that you, I hear?" Miss Shiro is now staring at him.

"I'm sorry Miss Shiro," the little prince bowed down his head.

"It's okay," she replied, "don't do it again". She continued writing something on the big rectangular object in front.

"Not only do these kids look pale, but they also seem deaf too," the little prince thought to himself.

***

In the nighttime, the little prince was lead to a small room.

"This is where you'll be staying," Mr. James leads the little prince to the door of the room.

"I'm sorry Mister but I may not stay, my rose is-"

"I know I already heard that story kid," the man interrupted, "this is just all part of the tradition, after all this, you can go back to where you came from"

"Oh okay," the little prince replied then proceeded to go inside the room.

"Be good," the man smiled at him and closed the door of the room.

The Little prince looked around the room. The walls of the room were gray and there were no windows to be found. Instead of colorful toys, a large container full of books (the Little Prince knows about books because he had seen one in the bag of the aviator) can be found. The Little Prince came closer to the container and took one of the books and examined it.

"There are no pictures here," the little prince furrowed his eyebrows, "this book is for adults and not children, what is it doing here?"

Just as when the little prince put the book back the big clock inside the room chimed. "What is that?" the little prince asked the other boys inside the room with him.

"It is time to go to sleep," one of the boys answered. This is the first time the little prince heard a child on that planet speak. This surprised him as he thought that these children were deaf.

The little prince observed the 4 other children put back the books they were reading and head to bed silently. None of them interacted with each other. The little prince found all this strange.

When the 4 boys were already lying down the little prince looked around for an empty bed and upon seeing it, he walked towards it.

"Goodnight," the little prince greeted the other boys but there was no reply from them. He hoped for them to reply but then felt disappointed when he heard none.

"Maybe they're just shy," he thought to himself before falling asleep.