The clock ticks by, shedding its minutes, turning darkness to day light. Morning comes and passes quickly. The day wears on and I refuse to leave the dorm.

I don't know how much I slept after Ezra left. I dozed off and on, but every time, I jolted awake, reminding myself to keep an eye on Eydis. She never moved, staying curled up like a cat, quietly sleeping, peaceful.

My back pops as I adjusted my seat. The afternoon sun is now shining in and my body is stiff. I've been sitting for too long. My attention turns to the clock which displays its numbers against the wall. Training would be over in an hour, but I am still in the dorm, waiting for Eydis to wake up.

It wasn't a hard decision to skip training today. No amount of pleading from Ezra would change my mind. Someone has to watch out for Eydis and that someone would be me.

Bang. Bang. Bang.

I jump at the sound of someone pounding on the door. Eydis doesn't stir. At this point, she must have been sleeping for over 20 hours. Her chest moves up and down, telling me she is still breathing.

Bang. Bang. Bang.

"Telvi, I know you are in there," I hear Irena's voice ring out.

A lump forms in my throat. She is here to scold me for missing class. She will not tolerate me skipping. I know there are consequences, but I didn't expect them to come so quickly.

"Telvi." She sighs, waiting for me to answer.

Being outside the rink is such a novelty for her. But I suppose this deserves such novelty.

She will not move. I know she won't. Being stubborn is one of her traits. Just like the nude lipstick she always wears. She expects me to open the door. She won't leave until I do so.

"Telvi. Open the slag door."

It is better not to make her any madder. With slow movements, I answer the door.

"Why weren't you in training?" she asks. Her face tight as if she ate something bitter.

"I had to keep an eye out for Eydis," I confess as I point to my roommate who is still sleeping.

Irena looks at her then to me. "What's wrong with her?"

"She doesn't know anything. She vanished and came back with no memory of this place."

Irena's face is stone still, unreadable. But there is something in her eyes, knowing maybe. She walks deeper into the room then kneels beside Eydis. Her hands carefully trace her body, looking for something.

Seconds pass in silence as Irena examines her. "What are you doing?"

Irena doesn't respond.

There is a heaviness in the air. It covers the room. It makes my hands ball into fists. Irena is looking for something. She has seen this before. It is written all over her alert eyes.

"What are you doing?" I repeat, louder this time.

"Did she say anything about leaving the training program?" she asks, turning her attention to me.

I shake my head. If I got more than a sentence from her, it would be a lot.

Irena nods then stands up. "You need to keep her safe, but you cannot skip practice. The Motherwealth is watching, and we cannot give them reason to cut you."

She speaks as if she knows better. Constance was cut. That word was spoken in the halls, around the campus. She says it like it's a threat. Is it? That narrative I don't know but Irena does. And something tells me she knows that whatever happened to Eydis is more than a standalone case.

"What happened to her?"

She stands up and look at her hologram. "I have to go."

My fingers dig into my palms. Not good enough. I want her to share what she knows. Both Ezra and her know more than what they want to share. It doesn't make me feel safe. It doesn't set me at ease.

"But what is going on?"

"Just be at training tomorrow," she begs before leaving, slamming the door shut behind her.

A part of me wants to chase her down, demand for an answer but I stop when Eydis bolts up from her bed. Eyes wide, looking panic. She's awake.

"You're Telvi," Eydis states.

I nod. A small bit of hope bubbles within me. Maybe yesterday was just a terrible nightmare. She couldn't actually forget who I was.

"And I'm from Solano."

I nod. Two things right. We are on to something. "Do you know where you are?"

She bites her lip in thought. "Solano?"

I shake my head. The small amount of hope falls in my chest, making it feel flat and empty. She is in there. I saw it for a second. But once again her face is dull. All recognition gone from her eyes. She doesn't know. She doesn't remember me or this place. It breaks my heart.

She looks around the dorm. "Look, I don't know. I'm sorry."

She is less sorry about it then I am. She isn't the one suffering like I am. I am a blank sheet. But her, when I see her, all I see are memories, memories that she will not remember. No, I am sorry.

"Do you remember how you got here?"

She cradles her head in her hands. A scowl appears on her face. These questions are bothering her. "There was darkness, there were these people in white coats, and they tried to hold me down. But I got away from them and wandered the streets until somehow I got to this place. Back in Solano, I liked to sit on the roof for better views and I thought I would do the same here so I could understand where I was."

And that was when I found her. I chew on her words silently as I try to figure out where she was and why she was there. Who would want to take her?

"You look different than the white coat people. You have a simple look to you. Your eyes are softer. Kinder."

I bite back tears as I reach for her hands.

She pulls back. She is hesitant. I have to be slow. She has just met me. But it is hard. All I want to do is wrap her up in my arms and hold her.

"I want to trust you," she says. It sound conditional, but she doesn't add any conditions to it.

She can trust me. I want her to know that. I will protect her. She might not remember who I am and what kind of person I am, but she will know me eventually. Even if she doesn't remember me, maybe blind trust is enough to keep her safe.

"In Solano, I didn't trust many people. Most picked on me. They said I was a freak. But you feel different."

I want to be different. She makes me want to be different. When she is beside me, she makes me see the world in a different color. A prism that I never dreamt of. Now that I saw the rainbow of colors, I don't want to look back.

"She's awake. Good." Ezra doesn't bother knocking, instead, he walks right in. "I heard you didn't go to practice," Ezra says before I had time to greet him. He looks at Eydis then turns his attention to me. "I told you to go."

There is a tone to his voice that is demanding. It makes me feel small. I shift in my seat before standing up. He will not walk in here and boss me around. That is something that I will not stand for. Not with him or anyone else.

Anger turns my cheeks hot. "And you're the boss of me?" I snap back at him.

He flinches as his stature shifts. He runs his hands through his golden hair, making it glitter. "You have to understand, I'm trying to keep you safe."

We were taught that the Motherwealth was the safest place in the world. With talk of war and vanishing people, clearly it isn't. "I don't need your help."

He is hiding truth from me. I can't help but think there is something sinister here. It involves people getting cut from the program. A pit grows in my stomach as fear takes hold.

He paces the floor then stops. "Listen Telvi, you can't keep her safe forever." He points to Eydis. "They will find her. It's the Motherwealth we are talking about," Ezra says as he holds my hands.

I shake out of his grip. His touch makes me want to throw up. He is Motherwealth. He could be as much as a threat as anyone else here. How could I trust him?

"Well, I can outsmart them."

"You will share the same fate as her, I promise you that." His tone is dark. It causes me to shiver.

"And who are you again?" Eydis asks Ezra, reminding us that we aren't alone.

"Ezra," he says then turns back to me as if she doesn't matter.

"Ah, you are pretty eyes,"

"Thanks."

I frown at him. "We need to get her out of the Motherwealth. We have to protect her."

He sits down on my bed. I wish he didn't. He looks defeated. His eyes tired, his lips chapped. There isn't the normal shine to him. "You know how hard that would be?"

I don't care how hard it will be. I just want it done. My eyes well with tears. There has to be something I can do. Eydis is special. She makes my stomach flip and my heart flutter in ways that I can't fully explain. I need to protect her.

"I don't know what else to do. I care about her, Ezra. I can't just leave her unprotected."

Ezra looks at Eydis who picks at her nails absentmindedly.

For a moment we are all silent. The silence makes me feel lightheaded.

"How did this happen. I don't understand."

"It's all part of the training program...." He stops, closing his mouth, looking around the room. He pop his head out the door to the hall then closes the door, shutting us in. "She made it to the end of the program, and they cut her. Listen, I don't know all the details, I just know that once the Commonwealth people make it to the end of the program, they get cut. Their knowledge gets taken from them.... and...."It is too heinous to finish.

But he needs to. I need to know what is going on. "Say it, Ezra. This applies to me too," I say, trying to be brave.

Bravery isn't the right word for this though. More like stupid. I am stupid for thinking this would pan out in my favor. I am stupid for thinking I can stop the Motherwealth. The Motherwealth always makes sure to have the upper hand. We both know that. But that doesn't stop my stupid grandeur.

He looks around the room again. "They get disposed of."

The world tips on it's axis. I grip onto the bed, trying to support myself. The air is knocked from me. I gasp. It feel like I am breathing in through a straw.

All these people.

All the dreams they have.

It is a lie. All of it.

We are just sheep going to the slaughter. The Motherwealth is fatting us up to be tossed.

And Ezra knows.

He knew all along.

I run to the trashcan and throw up.

"Telvi, I am not going to let you get hurt. I would have never let it happen to you."

As if that makes anything better. There are so many other kids on campus. I am just one, one that caught the eye of the right person. It makes me feel gross. I am disgusting. I am tainted because of him. I glare at him. He looks away.

"Get to that point?" I shriek. "What about all the others?"

"I can't protect everyone."

I feel my stomach twist into knots. I gag. How could he walk on campus and be fine with knowing the fate of all these people. He isn't charming. He isn't kind. He is a snake. He knows exactly what this place is and does absolutely nothing.

Our lives don't matter to him. We Commonwealth people are nothing compared to the Motherwealth. He believes it. I shake my head. He is just as horrible as his father. "You, you are a monster."

He flinches.

I want to cause more pain than that.

"You need to get out." I point my shaky finger towards the door. There is no way I can look at him any longer.

"Telvi..."

"Walter. Son of a twister, Ezra, get out of this slag room."

He looks at Eydis then at me.

I wipe a stray tear from my face. There is no way I can be near him ever again.

With a heavy sigh, he turns around and leaves the room.

"I didn't like his vibe," Eydis speaks up as soon as the door is shut.

I choke back a sob. "I know. You warned me about him." And I should have listened. I should have listened to a lot of people. I should have never come to the Motherwealth no matter how good the deal was. It would have been better to stay in Hell.

My hands shake as I run them through my hair.

I need to leave.

I could not stay here.

I need a plan.

"I'm hungry. Can we get some food?" Eydis asks, snapping me out of my thoughts.

For now, I need to get food for her. Not for myself though. I cannot eat anything, not after I heard the truth. "Sure, I'll get some food."

As we walk towards the food hall, Eydis looks around with wide eyes as if she has never seen any of this before.

"This is the nicest place I have ever been to," Eydis says finally.

She never talked much about her home city, but I figured there was a reason for that. She always walked around campus as if she belonged here, not anywhere else.

"Do you like it?" I ask as we walk into the food hall.

"I think I do" She stops and stare at the food. Her mouth hangs open. "This is all for us?"

"It is."

"There is so much," she gasps. "We really must be far from Solano."

I nod. That is the truth. We are far from Solano. Although I wish we are there. At least there we can be safe.