Chapter 15: Thank You

I lied down on the bed exhausted. It was just a day and a lot has already happened. What a long and tiring day this is.

"Can you do me a favor?"

"Yes Miss Asmia, what may I do for you?"

"Since Cyrus is your partner can you keep an eye out for him?"

She's asking me to watch Cyrus and to report to her any strange behavior that I may find on him. Since when did I become his guardian?

I admit that I am already planning to observe him. There's just something odd about him that makes him stand out above the rest. He would seem like a "normal" child to many who would see him, I also thought the same when he first came into the class. But his face, I know I'm not mistaken when I saw that shocked look on his face. It happened too quickly but I've seen it. I know someone's in there just like me. Finally, I'm not alone!

But working with these people who tried to erase my memories and of the other children in this place? I don't want to do that. I wanted to say "no". I badly wanted to. I don't want to work with these bad people, but could I do anything else.

Even if I badly wanted to decline the favor, I can't. While I'm in this place I need to abide by everything the adults tell me to do. Once I disobey I might lose the only memory I have. I can't let that happen.

I closed my eyes, letting myself be drowned in the feeling of exhaustion, and fall asleep.

"Virginia," someone called. I haven't heard that female voice before. That couldn't be my mother's voice, I am well acquainted with her comforting voice. It couldn't be my father's either, that voice wouldn't come from a guy. Could this be a new memory that I was yet to rediscover?

"Virginia" There it goes again. I looked around and saw nothing but darkness all around me.

"Hello?" I asked. There was no reply. "Do I know you?" I asked again.

I looked around still trying to look for them. Where is that unfamiliar voice coming from?

"Virginia," I quickly rose from sleeping and sat down as I felt someone touched my shoulder. The sudden waking up made me feel dizzy. I looked around to see whose voice it was. I was surprised to find out that it belonged to one of the children in this room.

All this time I had been looking for her in the wrong place. I regained my composure before answering her, "What may I do for you?"

She showed me a piece of paper.

"What is this for?" I asked confusedly.

"It is a note for you," she answered and then began to read whatever is written on it, "To Virginia..."

"Wait just give it to me, I'd read it myself" I don't know yet who sent that letter but it would still feel weird if I let someone else read it.

Thank you.

I checked the back pages but there was nothing else written on it. I kept looking at the front and back parts but I couldn't see any indicator of who may have written it. I wonder who wrote this.

"When did you receive this?" I asked the girl who gave me the paper. She looked at me. This was the first time I had eye contact with any of the children here. There was no hint of any emotions in her eyes. It was like staring into a dark void. This gave me shivers down my spine.

"Exactly 3 minutes before you woke up," she coldly replied then looked away. If I didn't know that none of the children here have a single emotion I would have thought that she was a cold-hearted person. What was I expecting anyway?

If I'm not mistaken it hasn't been past 10 minutes when the mysterious sender dropped the letter off. They must still be outside!

This place may seem like a containment unit for emotionless children but they allow us to go out of our rooms once in a while. They say that it's bad for our health if we always stay inside our rooms that's why they allow us to get out to breathe some fresh air. I don't believe that the air is fresh, I can't see any trees anywhere. The so-called "fresh" air to them might be the air ventilation system emitting breathable air that is present in every corner of this place. Yes, I stayed that long here to know all of that.

Even if we were allowed to go out, there are only certain places that we are allowed to go to. The other areas are prohibited to pass through and are well guarded.

I was still in my day uniform so I quickly changed into my evening uniform for sleep to go outside. I don't usually go out of this room ever since I stopped having a guardian.

Miss Zilya would always dictate to me what to do. She followed strict schedules and routines. For example, the time that the children in this room should wake up is 5 am exactly. Once one of us wakes up late, even if just for a minute, they'd be taken by muscular men. Even if there is no guardian right now the other children in this room would abide by the schedule, but me? I make use of this given freedom to do whatever I want. I would have to repay Cyrus for my freedom so I'd do my very best to help him get out of that dark place.

But now I have to focus on finding out who that mystery sender is. I figure that if I go out right now, I might be able to catch them. There's a small chance that I would but it's still worth trying.

I opened the door and it made a creaking sound. The aisle guardian might have heard the noise because she stared at me.

Before you get mistaken, an aisle guardian is different from a child guardian. Though they both have the same words describing them (guardian), they have very big differences. An aisle guardian – as the name suggests – guards each aisle. This place is divided into two areas, the lecture room, and the bedrooms. The lecture rooms are lined in a single hallway. On the other hand, the bedrooms are lined in hallways divided into aisles.

There is only one way to each aisle and the other side is enclosed by a wall. The open side of each aisle is guarded by you guessed it – an aisle guardian. They have to make sure that a child doesn't get lost in that large place – or so as they say. They can't blind me with their lies anymore, I know that these aisle guardians exist so that no child would be able to get out of that terrible place.

Oh, they should wait. I'll get out of this terrible place one day.

"Are you out to get some fresh air Virginia?" the aisle guardian asked as I approached the end of the aisle.

"Yes I am, Miss," I replied with a bow.

"Wow! This is the first time I saw you go out of that room," she said excitedly, "ever since Miss Zilya stopped being your guardian".

What she just said now gave me shivers down my spine. Those were indeed terrible times when I was being closely monitored.

"So I heard that the new kid is the one with the guardian now," oh no here she goes again. Once she starts speaking she doesn't know when to stop.

She kept on mumbling about things that I don't care about. I nodded and continued to walk towards the balcony – the only place we are allowed to go to.

"I bet you don't understand this so I don't see anything wrong with telling you. The higher-ups are planning to restore the emotions of a certain group of children."

What she said made me stop walking.

"Something's the matter Virginia?" the aisle guardian asked. She must have noticed me stop walking.

"I feel cold, I must get my jacket from inside," I reasoned, "excuse me, Miss".

"Oh I thought you understood what I just said," she chuckled, "that would be silly knowing that all your memories are removed so you have no emotions".

I gritted my teeth. She's always getting on my nerves. She's so talkative and irritating.

"Lucky are the children who would get the chance to experience having emotions once again," she said.

I walked slowly towards my room so I would get to hear whatever she's saying.

"The head of this place thinks that all emotions are hindrance so they had them removed from the children, but your teacher Sir Luke is different. He proposed the idea of making the children work in pairs and restore some of their emotions. This should be exciting!"