*Time Skip*

The alarm rang, filling her ears with a horrid beeping sound. Rolling over in her bed and groaning in annoyance, she slammed her hand fiercely on the little device to shut it off. She sat up in bed, squinting her eyes to try to get used to the light. Overwhelmed by exhaustion, she nearly fell asleep again. Everyone had an assigned time to be in bed so that they could rise rested and refreshed. But for some reason, she never fell asleep when everyone else did. She could never feel calm enough to fully rest at night. Pushing her dark hair out of her face, she held back the urge to scream loudly to relieve that aching feeling of annoyance growing in her chest.

"Hey," 101505B said sharply. "Get out of bed now. We're going to be late."

She pouted and didn't move. "I don't want to."

Her roommate's eyes darkened. "Hush. You're going to get in trouble again for complaining."

"I don't care."

"Yes, you do. Now get out of bed now so we can get to class."

Letting out an audible sigh, she forced herself off of the bed and headed to the bathroom to change into her uniform.

"You know, you should really stop misbehaving," 101505B remarked from the other side of the door.

"I know, but I just can't help it."

"If you keep this up, you might lose an eye. Remember 40302C?"

"Yeah, don't remind me. But it's just hard to keep up with all the rules."

"What, the Home didn't teach you how to behave well?"

"I don't want to talk about the Home. All I'm going to say is that I got in trouble a lot there too."

"What did they do to you there?"

"I said I don't want to talk about it."

She emerged from the bathroom, dressed in her nice, pressed white uniform with the typical white bow in her hair to keep her hair out of her eyes. The two girls shut off all the he lights and exited the room. 101505B locked the door behind them and the girls proceeded down the hall to the leave the apartment complex and head to the school building. They arrived at the classroom before the bell and sat down in their assigned seats. The Warden entered for the daily inspection. He was a stout man and every part of him was huge. Huge nose, huge belly, huge feet. He struck fear into the hearts of most tyros like her just by glaring at them with his deep brown eyes. His voice was always hoarse, as if he hadn't had a drink in months. Quite an ugly fellow in her opinion. But of course, she wasn't even allowed to have opinions. She forced herself to sit up straight before folding her hands neatly on her desk as he passed by. Maybe she could get through the day without a single offense.

"12505A," the Warden spoke in his gravelly voice.

Well, all chances of not getting in trouble were thrown far out the window at that moment. She sucked in a deep breath as she waited for the Warden to say more. Her eyes remained fearfully on the board, for she was not even allowed to look any other way.

"What is the first rule of this establishment?"

"Obey any and all rules without complaint, sir," she recited. It took all her willpower to keep her perfect posture and not tremble under his gaze. She was not even looking in his eyes, yet she could almost feel them blazing into her back.

"Then why did the recordings of your room show that you are complaining, 12505A?"

She bit the inside of her lip. "I'm sorry, sir."

"Oh, but my dear, you have broken this rule countless of times. It is the first and simplest rule, and yet you manage to break it every time. Haven't your previous punishments taught you enough?"

A shiver ran through her whole body as she felt his rough hand trace the scar that cut across the side of her neck. She forced the memories of that punishment out of her head in an attempt to hold on to the last bit of self control she possessed. She could already feel that her heart rate was speeding up, indicating that things would likely go downhill from there.

"I'm sorry, sir, it won't happen again."

"I can't be sure of that, 12505A. You are to go to the bottom floor of Building F, in Room 126 after classes are over. Do you understand?"

The whole class seemed to restrain a gasp. They all knew what type of punishments went down in that room. She did not make sound, and instead just dug her fingernails into her own skin to stop herself from lashing out. This wasn't happening, this wasn't happening.

"Failure to cooperate will result in harsher punishment."

Again, she did not reply. She feared that opening her mouth would result in her breaking down into tears. And crying wasn't allowed either. That would just result in more punishments, more problems, and more pain.

"Do you understand, 12505A?"

She finally opened her mouth to speak, her voice coming out breathy and weak. "Yes, sir."

"Say it again. I didn't hear you well."

She swallowed before trying to speak again. "Yes, sir," she replied, her voice stronger than the last time.

"Good," the Warden spoke, finally leaving her side and moving on down the row.

She could not even let out a sigh of relief because she knew what was coming for her later. Soon after the Warden finished his inspection, the Pedagogue entered the classroom for the daily lesson. But she barely even registered his existence. He was a poor excuse for a man anyway, being lean and frail. That was likely the reason why he was stuck with the teaching job instead of a high ranking position. He began the lesson, but her thoughts were elsewhere. She pulled out her notebooks and textbooks and opened them like everyone else, but did not look at them. She heard the teacher's voice, but none of his words registered in her head.

"Do you have something better to be thinking about, 12505A?" he asked suddenly, almost making her jump in surprise.

"No, sir."

"Then why do you look so bored? Is my lesson boring you?"

"No, sir."

"Do you want me to call the Warden back here?"

"No, sir."

"I thought so."

His eyes scanned around the room, his expression growing more grim by the minute. Everyone could tell that he was getting agitated. They were all just internally bracing for the moment he finally snapped. At that moment came sooner than they thought.

"What is wrong with all of you?" he screamed, starling everyone in the room. He stalked over a random student and slammed his hands on the desk. "Why aren't you paying attention to me?"

The victim he had chosen, 81305B, hesitated, not knowing how to respond. At that point, the Pedagogue was seething, and she could practically see the smoke coming out of his pale wrinkly ears.

"Answer my question, 81305B!"

"I was thinking about 12505A, sir. About her punishment, sir."

"And that was more important than my lesson?"

"No, sir."

"Would you like to join her in her punishment?"

The boy's eyes widened in fear. "No, sir."

"Then you keep you focus on my teaching and not on anyone else. Do you understand?"

He nodded quickly. "Yes, sir."

Finally satisfied after making one of his students squirm, he promptly returned to the lesson. She believed he took pleasure in asserting his dominance over his pupils. Since he was given one of the most menial tasks in the government hierarchy, he would jump at any chance he got to show that he was superior.

Pushing those thoughts from her mind, she attempted to focus on the lesson. The clock must have decided that this was the day it wanted to be lazy because its hands moved at a painstakingly slow pace. Tick...tick...tick... The Pedagogue marched around the room in his typical drill sergeant manner, throwing questions and commands all over the place and expecting them to catch everything. All the information about the revolt in the year 2501 completely flew over her head and probably landed in the corner of the room. Needless to say, her thoughts were in a complete jumble. The pupils took a quick break for lunchtime and then promptly returned to their studies. Time seemed to move slower after the meal. Tick.......tick........tick......... The sound of the final bell was both music to her ears and a sickening reminder of what was going to come. As usual, they all remained seated until the Pedagogue dismissed them. Then, they all rose, gathered their things, and filed out of the room.

Everyone was quietly heading to the dormitory as usual. She almost followed them out of habit, but froze when the sickening memory wormed into her mind and wrapped itself around her brain. Letting out a silent sigh, she broke away from the group and headed toward Building F. 101505B cast her a pitying glance before disappearing down the hallway. 12505A felt her heart racing at an unhealthy pace. It was as if her heart itself was fearing that it would no longer beat again and wanted to run as far away from there as possible. An invisible thread seemed to tug at her spine, urging her to run. Her entire being seemed to be telling her to run. And she wanted to run, more than anything. But she knew deep deep inside under all the terror that she could not run. She was trapped there and there was nothing she could do about it.

She arrived at the door after a long and soul crushing walk there. Biting her lip harshly, she knocked on the door. It opened to reveal men standing there. The smell of burnt and rotting flesh slapped her in the face and made her stomach turn. She feared to see what else the horrid room held.

"Welcome, 12505A," one mad greeted. "Step inside so we may begin."