The trip to the Gamma was about an hour. It took us a little bit longer, considering we had to transport all of my personal items. I was told that I shouldn’t have brought so much; that it would all get stolen by the thrifty, underhand Gamma kids. But I couldn’t care less. That’s pretty much the only thing I remember from the car ride there, for I was almost completely zoned out. I didn’t speak once, because I had nothing to say. Well, that’s not true, I had actually a heap of things I wanted to scream and yell, and throw a temper-tantrum about, but I knew better. This would only get me into more trouble than the darkest days of Abstra.

The building stood there silently. As if, the structure itself, did not want to be there. Rotting wooden boards covered every single window, probably cracked and shattered. There were no happy children playing outside, no irritating but adorable laughing noises coming from inside. Again, it seemed the building had lost all chances of hope.

When I hesitantly walked up the stone cold, ancient and huge steps I, surprising myself, did not cry a single tear. The lingering tall man knocked on the door, with exact counts of intervals between each knocks. Like a robot. A silver, dingy haired woman answered the door. I could tell that she had lived here herself from her stone eyes, matching the stone steps. Her name was Cora, she spoke with, what I was utterly shocked to be, actual energy. This gave me courage, and I strolled in with optimism at the front of my mind.

The inside appearance matched the outside like two bumblebees side by side. Again there were no kids, nothing. Only, what I assumed to be, three of the caretakers. The one at the back of the corridor standing, like a statue, next to the computer area. Yet no children were around. He stood with a soul so damaged; you could see the pain and the burnt blood through his big brown eyes. I wondered what had made him like this. I wanted to help him-NO! I remembered, I have to help myself first!

The second and third guards were very similar, although I can’t really remember their faces. All I know is that they had to be relatives. But that first guard, what was his name? Rauk, that was it. I couldn’t get that image of burnt blood pouring out of his brown eyes out of my mind. Lucky for me, I was assigned his sector of rooms. Rauk would be my caretaker.

I was lead to a room door in the back corner of the square assigned to Rauk. There were eight other kids who have rooms in this section. The one in the room closest to me was a young girl, barely over the age of six, maybe. She glanced out her window and smiled at me; her front teeth missing. I couldn’t help but smile back. I hadn’t noticed it but I had stopped walking. The little girl ran out of her room and jumped on me. We feel back laughing onto the rough carpet.

“I’m Hanna! Hanna Bluke!” she sounded so full of hope. Maybe this place wouldn’t be so bad after all. “What’s your name?”

“Annabel Rae.” I spoke with confidence, because I was proud of whom I was, and these people needed to know that.

“Annabel, come along now.” Rauk had been showing me around but this was the first time he had actually said my name. Something about the way he said it sounded personal. It was if he had the same curiosity, and desire towards me as I had towards him. Yet we had only met a couple of hours ago.

I said goodbye to my new friend Hanna and followed obediently towards Rauk. Hanna trotted along the corridor as happy as can be. Shyly I asked Rauk how long Hanna had been here and his answer caused me to stop dead in my tracks. Four years! How was this possible? Rauk gave me a look that said he understood my shock, but didn’t say a word. I guess he could probably get in some trouble around here if he did. I asked him a few more questions, now that I was more comfortable around him and he answered all of them. I was very happy that I had gotten Rauk. The other two guards just didn’t seem to have the same amount of compassion as him.

He led me around the square and introduced me to the other seven people in his square. Then one by one I met Bern Gola, a quiet teenage boy, Huna Fearn, an older girl with many bruises and cuts, Kala Nuh, a male around the age of eighteen, Vini and Lindsay Ruk, two twin sisters, Mig Bili, a lonely male, and Peter Enev, a male around my age.

Bern Gola was a very awkward looking teenager. He was fourteen, and you could sure tell. His voice was cracking and shaking left and right. This made him very self conscious. Bern had pale white skin, on which you could see every detail of his skin. His hair was a fiery red orange with the same orange eyes. Bern was wearing a grey shirt with one hole in it down at the bottom. He had on brown cargo pants puffed up like he had something in every pocket. His shoes were the regular every day flat-shoes that the banker slurs wore. It was a warm grey summer day, yet Bern seemed to be shivering. Apparently he was raised on the other side of the country; this explains his features. His parents abused him as a child and when Bern’s father brutally murdered his wife; Bern vented to a school administrator. This administrator got Bern transferred to Abstra. I imagine Bern shivers because he fears his father will someday find him.

Huna Fearn was almost twenty; she would be in about a month. She spoke with an angelic voice. Her never ending blonde hair was down to her knees; so she often kept it in braids. Complimenting her golden hair, she had pure green sparkled eyes. Anyone could get lost in them, and from what I heard, everyone did. She was wearing an upper area looking blouse with a black ruffled skirt and sandals. Her sandals were embellished with plastic flowers that only us kids over twelve remember seeing for a mere minute, while the Council bulldozed the land for their new Gamma house. Upon her blouse was a silver pin of a girl. Just the average shape you see on a public restroom door. She said it showed her independence for Huna was an abandoned baby; left in the streets to die. Some average citizens came by and discovered her, just lying there. Huna ended up here; and she’s been here all her life. She seemed to take quite a liking to Kala Nuh. For whenever he walked past she lost her train of thought, and blushed. I knew this feeling for it was the feeling I had when I first saw a mere outline of a Peter Enev walking through the halls.


Kala Nuh was just over the age of eighteen. Kala had an average tan that matched his auburn hair color, and his brown eyes. He was dressed a little more up there in society then Bern. Kala was wearing tan khaki pants with a red collared short-sleeve shirt. His shoes were also the regular flat-shoes; but his looked like they had just gotten a well deserved shoe polishing. He seemed the most normal out of everybody. I mean I asked around and nobody really knows anything about him; just that he’s been here since he was ten. Kala and Bern were very close; like brothers. Kala looked over Bern, because some people like to tease and taunt Bern about his growing up changes. And not even Bern knew about Kala’s past.

Vini and Lindsay Ruk were two twin sisters, just under the age of twelve. However, they were fraternal twins, so they didn’t look remotely similar to one another.

Vini was the older one; by two minutes. She had a dark ebony layer of skin that made her black Indian-looking hair shine like the midnight sky. Vini was wearing a polka-dot summer, knee length dress. I didn’t see her shoes for she wasn’t wearing any when she came out of her room to meet me. Her hair was still wet; so I concluded that she probably just got out of the shower. Her eyes were like crystal clear pools of mud, if that makes any sense.
Lindsay looked up to her sister. She craved to be like Vini. Lindsay did have the same Indian hair as her sister, but completely different facial features. Lindsay’s eyes were bright violet. They reminded me of the precious plums I got from the Council once a month, for financial support. I’m going to miss those plums. Lindsay was also wearing a nice polka-dot summer dress; just in different colors. She had gorgeous sandal shoes with rhinestones spread over the straps and down the heel. But her tan was a little odd. It was darker in some spots, yet ghostly pale in others.
I soon found out how they ended up here. Apparently they had only been here for about a year. They were on a trip to the local bakery and got kidnapped. Their kidnappers had dropped them off in what’s left of the Forest Preservation Area; thinking two eleven year olds wouldn’t run off in the forest. But Vini and Lindsay did take off and got into some pretty bad riff-raff. Huna told me that Vini had saved her sister’s life while trying to navigate through the forest. I didn’t ask any more questions after that.
Mig Bili didn’t talk much. From what people were telling me he was kind of a loner. Mig reminded me of a kid who takes my conditioning class on Wednesdays. It’s sad but I never really learned his name. Honestly, I don’t think he wanted me to. Mig was just over twenty; he had a birthday last week. At first I thought it was forlorn that he didn’t have a celebration, but then Rauk explained how the Gamma isn’t allowed to have any kind of celebrations, whatsoever. He was very tall for his age and had the darkest shade of brown, without going black, hair color. His eyes were a dull hazel; that looked like they used to be a bright amber color before what happened. That’s how everyone refers to Mig’s past. It’s to gruesome to think about, let alone be put into words.
Peter Enev was a male around my age. When I was introduced to him, he looked familiar. Peter had luminous iceberg blue eyes with the same bleeding images of Rauk’s eyes. Peter was Rauk’s son. He had a dirty blonde hair style that reminded me of a story my Grandmother had told me about a famous recording artist named Justin Bieber. All of his looks and heartbreak sunk into me in about a second when he opened the door. When he looked into my eyes that was it. Everything in my mind forgot about itself as every part of my body had to stop to catch a breath. I know it sounds horrible, but at this moment I forgot about my parents and about everybody else in the Gamma; as my eyes met Peter’s.

“Hi.” I was furious with myself for sounding so pathetic and squeaky. This time I addressed Peter with backbone. “I’m Annabel Rae. I’m new here.”

“Welcome Anna. I’m- it’s Annabel!” I interrupted him with purpose and poise. Not even dashing Peter Enev could call me Anna.

“Annabel, then. I’m Peter. Hope to see you around soon.” That voice could melt an anvil; so it wasn’t very hard for him to melt me.

“Thank you Peter. See you around.” Impressing myself, I sounded as calm as the forever still oceans that surround my country.

After Peter kindly closed his room door I lingered a bit. I think Rauk noticed because he shot, kindly shot, me a look that said WOW, you look a little to content for yourself. I remembered why I was here and the memory of anger molded my face back to its original mature shape.

Finally we reached what would become my room. Rauk let me do the “honors” of opening the door and I cautiously stepped inside. My mouth dropped so far, the feathery carpet now possessed a fresh peppermint lip gloss stain.

The room was extremely elegant and electrifying. The oval bed stood in the center of a side wall with an enchanting canopy. Clouds of pillows enchanted the bed. The canopy was lined with ocean pearls, pure. In the opposite corner of the room was the antique desk. It even had an inkwell, for the old feather quills. Adjacent to that was the dressing area. I could see myself in every little piece of furniture and fixtures, it was so polished. The vanity wore a unique mirror with a haunting oil painting above it. It was a park scene. An old man sat still on a wooden bench watching the wind whip the leaves along the trail. As I walked back into the room I realized something. Entirely painted in ivory; the room made an impression on me, an ecstatic one. Ivory, I’ve never seen anything so beautiful. Ivory represented the quiet disobedience against the Council, and their white. There was no doubt in my mind; this was ivory, for I had never been so sure of anything before in my life.

I was afraid to put my things away, with the possibility of dirtying up the room. Eventually I did start to hang my everyday sun dresses and such in the closet. I used the same organizing system I did back home. In the front of the closet were the camisoles and day sweaters. After those came my casual t-shirts and shorts. Next to those were my day dresses. As I went farther back into the closet it went from jean pants to winter shirts to jackets to heavier jackets and last but not least my one coat. On a shelving unit to the left of that was my variety of shoes. These were also arranged in the same way as my clothes. On the other side of the closet was my jewelry box. Everything was neat and proper, as I am a perfectionist. I spread what little make-up and such I had across the vanity. My bathing necessities were on a shining silver rack amongst the shower.

I didn’t want to dirty up the bed with my grunge so the next vital thing to do was to take a well deserved shower. Rauk advised me to take as long as I felt necessary; for he had other tasks he needed to attend to. I resisted, difficultly, the urge to blurt out WHAT TASKS?! That would be rude and frankly much too insensitive. I put those thoughts of Rauk out of my mind and undressed myself. The warmth of the room delighted my skin. I had missed this tingling; which before I had only gotten from a hug with my parents. As I stepped into the shower I realized that I had absolutely no idea how to work this technology. After a few unwanted squirts and some random spewing of either flaming hot or cracking cold water I pretty much had it working as right as I needed it to. I spent almost twenty minutes in the shower just standing still letting thoughts of the Gamma kids and Rauk and Peter gracefully twirl through my mind. I stepped out of the shower and grabbed a chocolate brown towel off a shining silver bar. Being wrapped in that towel made me want to stay comfortably squished in between the towel folds for an eternity.

Still snuggled with my towel I sat down on the bed. This was the first time here I had actually realized how tired I was. I was tempted to lie there forever, when an envelope came swiftly under my door. I picked it up cautiously and neatly slit open the seal. It was from Peter.

He wanted to meet me outside just beyond the back entrance. I tidied myself and my room as quickly as possible and went downstairs. I had on my favorite orange sundress with pink roses and my beaded sandals. Just as his note had read he was waiting just beyond the back entrance.
“You came?!” He meant it as a question surprisingly; as if he thought I might not come.
“Of course I came,” I said. “I generally try to follow directions.” I giggled and realized I was trying too hard to flirt.
“I want to show you something.” He sounded shy and from what I had heard about him he was.
I nodded and followed him; my heart racing a mile a minute. He pushed away some brush and bent through some plants. I did the same hoping I didn’t catch some poisonous disease the plants might have. He suddenly stopped pushing leaves away and bending through as I ran into him like an imbecile. Thankfully he just looked back at me and smiled. I finally looked into our surroundings and gasped in wonder. It was amazing.
There was a gentle creek flowing by as it was separated into smaller streams by groups of pebbles. The grass was a vibrant green color instead of the usual tan-brown. Flowers were everywhere, dandelions. There were enough to make over one-hundred wishes in this one little backwoods area. He pulled out a blanket from his messenger bag and classically spread it over the short grass blades.
“Sit down.” His voice was even more angelic now than ever.
I didn’t speak; for my eyes said it all. They grew to three times their normal size, and shone like a reflection of the turquoise creek water. Peter pulled out some bread from his bag, as cheese and grapes followed out. He set the food down on the blanket and opened the lids. Peter and I sat there for almost an hour in blissful silence, just watching the creek crackle by.
Before we knew it we had eaten all the food Peter brought. We used that as our signal to go back inside to the despair waiting for us. As he again pushed through brush and bent through plants we still didn’t speak. As he opened the Gamma back entrance for me he spoke:
“Annabel. It’s really not that bad here. After all do you judge a book by its cover?” He spoke with such mystery I couldn’t help but reply.
“I used too. But not anymore.” I was very thrilled with my attempt to reply with as much mystery as Peter. With that he nodded and walked me back to my room.
“See you soon Peter.”
“You too Annabel.”
I gave him one last glance and stepped back into my room. I wanted to scream out of pure joy. I wanted to scream and be happy like this forever. Unfortunately the despair started the same way the happiness had. I received another letter through the door; and I had a feeling it wasn’t from Peter. I was correct, yet again.