When Shadows Come to Light: Settling in

The gunshots and the scream pierced through the night, reverberating off of the nearby buildings. The next few minutes went by in a blur. Cara was jostled about in the van, and as she had no seatbelt, it was a dangerous ride. Low voices murmured in the front, and at one point, the door opened and let in two more people clothed in black.

“The way is secured for now.” one of them said.

“Thank you, Jason.” a voice from the front responded.

The van kicked into a higher gear and they sped into the night. 

In the morning, Cara woke up in a long room full of bunk beds. The beds were in varying states of disarray, indicating they had been slept in recently. At the end of the room, a wall was covered in floor to ceiling lockers with name placards. She got out of bed and walked out of the room, grateful for her freedom.  Why did she keep waking up in unknown places? It was very disconcerting. In the hallway, she could hear children’s voices coming from the left. She turned to the right, as she wasn’t prepared for the large crowd of children that were surely awaiting her at the left. At the end of the hallway was a door with a sign that said “Office”. She opened the door, gently knocking before walking into the room.

“Well hello there. I’ve been expecting you to come.” a middle aged man in a dapper suit said.

“Who are you?” Cara asked.

“Before we go jumping into all of those questions, I’m going to explain how this works. You are going to live here with us, where it is safe. EVIL wants to do tests on you and we can keep you safe. This is a safehouse for people like us.”

“People like who?”

“Let’s get you settled in. As I’m sure you can tell, you will sleep in the bunkhouse with the other children, and you will eat your meals in the dining hall. We have a very specific schedule for training, school, mealtimes and activities, so it’ll take a while for you to get adjusted. It’s nice to have you here. Now if you don’t mind, I have work to do.” He nodded over to a lady who was standing to the side. “Ms. Emerson will help you get settled and give you your schedule and clothes. Run along now.” 

She walked over to Ms. Emerson, who took her into the room she had previously been in before. This time, there was a boy sitting on one of the beds. He looked up and waved. 

“Hi Ms. Emerson! Who is that with you?” 

“This is Cara, a new recruit.”

“Hi Cara! I’m Ace!” Ace smiled shyly at her. 

Cara got settled into her room and met the other kids. She learned that there was a very strict schedule, but it incorporated plenty of time for fun. Cara would get along quite nicely here, wherever ‘here’ was.