He associated that day with the grey ceiling, and the glass of the wall next to him that peered into an empty room. That day when his eyes met with a blank stare, nothing registered behind those eyes. They didn't even seem to notice he was there until he spoke. It still haunted him, in a way.

He didn't know why the ceiling had been his focus that day. It wasn't a very significant part of such a significant area of time - but he remembered the books scattered around him as he lay on the floor. His head dull, his chest null. There was nothing to think about, nothing to do.

Reading is all I have to do around here.

Those thoughts crossed his blank mind, and his eyes began to close from the boredom. He always thought that falling asleep from boredom was just a myth - but it didn't seem so, as he was drifting off now.

All he did was sleep, eat, go to testing, and read. He wasn't an artist, so the art supplies weren't of use to him, and there was nobody to talk to. Not that he liked people, anyway. He had a hate for most things he saw, and this place didn't make it any better.

The door creaked, jolting him up from his dreary daydreaming, and he sat up hastily, not wanting to be seen vulnerable like this. His eyes lay on the sight of a girl around his own age, with a blank face. She stumbled into the room despite not being pushed in, steadied herself, and then just stared.

Her eyes stared in his direction, but the boy didn't think she was looking at him. She was looking at something far, far away - and she didn't seem at all aware of the tag on her shirt or the prison she was confined in. She didn't seem aware of anything.

Her amber eyes could've very well been grey for the amount of emotion and awareness in them, and the boy found unnerved by this girl's unresponsive look. Did she not even notice he was here? What was up with her? What an absolute freak.

Though, with this thought, he found himself standing up to face her, wave his hand in front of her face, and -

"Hey, freak. Aren't you going to say anything?"

He waited for a reply, and eventually, he got it - it took a while for her to slowly turn her head towards him with an uninterested stare.

"Hi."

Was that all? All she was going to say!? With an angry glare, he shoved her and stormed over to his bed. She didn't even flinch.

-- Around a day later

He took out a board game and shook the box, the parts rattling inside. Snakes and ladders. He hadn't played this in years.

"Come here, let's play a game."

"Okay."

The girl stopped blankly starting ahead to respond to him, then walked towards the boy with no hesitation. She still creeped him out, but she was the only one here, so...

"Do you know how to play?" He asked, setting out the pieces on the floor. He made sure to give himself the yellow piece, his favourite colour.

The girl didn't hesitate with her response. "Yes, I've played it with my brother before." Her words sounded scripted. The boy gritted his teeth. She was so weird.

"Good. I don't want to have to teach you." His voice came out as a snarl, though he didn't apologise. He didn't see the point, she didn't even care from the looks of it.

After a while of playing, the boy was bored once again. The girl only showed any sign of emotion once he succeeded in something, that emotion being faint happiness. Other times she was silent. He supposed she had no friends, who'd want to be friends with such a weirdo?

He eventually just got up and went back to his bed with a command, half hoping she'd refuse just so it'd get a bit more interesting. "Clear that up."

But she did so without a word of complaint.

This will get a part 2.. Eventually. It's also really old so it's not hte best

- goldy_sw

16/02/2024