❛hissy hissy little snakey,

slither on the floor.

You be good to Morfin

Or he'll nail you to the door.❜ 

- Morfin Gaunt, The Half Blood Prince

ZAYDE laughed softly to himself as he saw the red-haired girl walk hurriedly past him. He found it amusing that his presence alone was enough to unsettle and frighten her. The fear and uncertainty she exuded was almost palpable, and, when she felt trapped by his stare, she met his gaze defiantly, the ruby flecks in the depths of her green eyes burning and flashing like a warning sign. Flashing like fire, like newly spilled, crimson blood. He glanced at himself in the mirror in passing, his silver eyes glittering as he blinked. Silver and red. Ice and fire. But what is fire compared to ice? I am cold and unfeeling, like shards of ice that rip, pierce and kill. I will freeze everything and everyone in my path –give them hearts of ice and stone, make them as lifeless as I am, smother the flames that burn within them. It is only a matter of time. But the predator must wait until the opportune moment to attack.

For a while he wandered aimlessly through different corridors; they seemed to go on forever, each passage leading into another like a maze, a maze that wanted to swallow him into its depths and never let him go. He did not care that the further he went, the darker it got, or that the flickering lights seemed to cast strange shadows on the decaying, dust smeared wall paper. I do not remember my way back, but that matters little. No one shall find me here. No one can be close to me here. 

Eventually, he turned a corner and saw a door in front of him. The door handle was loose and hanging uselessly from the screws it had been attached to. Zayde gave the door a rough kick, and it swung open, hitting the wall behind it with a loud bang  that caused dust to fly. The silence that hung over the room afterwards was uneasy, as if something within it was angry at the violent disruption of the eerie quiet that weighed heavily in the air. At first, Zayde could sense it keenly and felt uneasy, but he quickly brushed it off.

The room had one window within it, with the top of a tree directly outside it. The sun shone on the tree, and the dappled green light shone through the dusty window, filling the room with pale, green light. Zayde walked towards it, opening it with surprising ease. He clambered out with great agility, and sat on the window sill, his legs dangling in the air, completely at ease. He began to whistle, mimicking the soft, musical calls of birds. 

In no time, a sparrow had landed in his hands, cautiously observing him with its bright, black dew drop eyes. He noticed that it was extending one of its wings, which looked crooked - it was hurt. It chirped at Zayde, who began to stroke its feathers softly and croon words of comfort, staring at the bird with an expression that was hard to define.

He continued to ruffle its feathers, before poking its wing. The bird let out a cry of pain, attempting to move its wing out of his reach. "Ah, sorry, little one." He stroked it for a while longer, before suddenly looping his fingers around its neck. He stared right into its eyes, savouring the fear that he saw. "Sleep well, little one." There was something unsettling about his voice at that moment. He grabbed its head, twisted it violently, and then - crack - it lay lifelessly in his hands; its head at an unnatural angle. He continued to hold it, gazing at the last look of terror frozen in its eyes; feeling the memory of warmth lingering in its feathers, before pulling them off the body one by one - some of them with drops of blood clinging to them - watching them get caught in the wind, and drift slowly to the ground with a sadistic grin on his face.

It is only a matter of time before I find something bigger to prey on than you, little one.    

*

WAYLAND looked around himself, feeling totally lost and extremely apprehensive. He did not like the feeling of the building in front of him. It was almost as if - don't be ridiculous, Wayland. Buildings don't have personalities. In some ways, it reminded him of his own house. The way that the very walls had taken on the sinister nature of what lived within it, or rather who lived within it. His father. Wayland involuntarily rubbed the bruises and cuts on his arms, sinking into his thoughts. 

He missed his mother too, but had barely seen her since she'd left him and his father. I am not angry that she left. She needed freedom from my father more than anything else, although I wish she would come back to me. Wayland could still remember the terrified look on her face whenever his father took his anger out on her, and the tears that poured down her face when she had said goodbye to him in the middle of the night, desperate not to wake father up. He'd watched her leaving through his window, disappearing around the corner like a ghost.

He fought the emotions that were building up in his chest. He couldn't let himself cry. Not now.

He glanced at the gates in front of him. This whole world is so dark now. I hope that something inside these gates will make my future brighter. 

The government was becoming more paranoid by the day. He wouldn't have ended up coming to the Institution if it hadn't been made compulsory - he'd been far too busy looking after his father. In a way, it came as both a blessing and a curse to him: being caught as a Defect was his worst nightmare, but it was the start of a new life, with new people, away from home. And what's life without a little risk?

"Hey, are you okay there?" A hand tapped Wayland's shoulder gently. "I always find it hard to make the first step into the building. It doesn't exactly feel warm and friendly." 

Wayland turned around to see a boy a little shorter than him with chocolate brown hair that had been combed away from his face, and cheerful blue eyes. He was smiling at him, patiently waiting for a reply.

"Oh, um... yeah. It really doesn't." Wayland nodded to emphasise his point, but was shouting at himself inside his head: why must I always be so awkward around other people?  The other boy, however, did not seem to notice.

"So, what's your name? I'm Dan - short for Aidan," he added as an afterthought. He put out his hand as a friendly form of greeting.

"I'm Wayland." He shook Dan's hand, relieved to find that it wasn't sweaty.

"Well, Wayland, since we've both ended up here, we might as well go in together. This place certainly isn't renowned for being exciting, but our entry is - unfortunately - inevitable." He pushed the gate open slowly. "Returning is always the worst part of this dump." He sighed, and then gestured for them both to enter. "Shall we?"

Wayland smiled, feeling a bit more at ease. "We shall." He closed his eyes, and stepped over the boundary between freedom and the Institution. The gates made a clanging noise as they shut behind them. "I bet this place is going to be crammed this year, if everyone our age has been forced to attend." 

 "No kidding." Dan grinned. "At least I'll be able to hide more easily."

"Why?" Is he a Defect too?

"Oh, the teachers hate me. I like to make things more, well, lively, if you catch my drift."

Wayland couldn't help wondering what 'lively' things Dan could have gotten up to, and why the teachers would hate it. "So you're a prankster?"

"Maybe. . ." Dan put a finger to his lips and winked knowingly. "In this building, I'm an anarchist. Prisoners versus the cruel captors and the government. I'll make their lives hell this year, but they won't catch me."

"Aren't you scared that they might hear you saying that?"

"I used to be. But my fatalistic indifference has numbed any sense of fear." However, something flickered in his expression: uncertainty. He found Wayland's questioning disconcerting - opening himself up to a stranger-slash-new acquaintance in current society was not safe, and he felt as though Wayland was reading him as he spoke. There's just something about that boy. . . But at the same time, he felt that he could trust Wayland - he was soft spoken and seemed friendly - and his instincts were usually right. But he was still slightly wary. "I suppose I should show you up to a dorm?"

"Oh, don't they assign you a room?"

"Nah, you get to choose. The people who run this place don't care about us or our bedroom arrangements, only about keeping us trapped in here, and sniffing out Defects."

"Oh. There must be a lot of rooms?"

"Yeah, but -" oh screw it, throw caution to the wind. You can't let the government make you so scared that you're unable to socialise! " - you could take the other bed in my room, if you want?"

"Really?" Wayland's eyes lit up happily. He couldn't call Dan a friend just yet - they had only just met - but he knew he would get along well with him. "Thank you, Dan."

"No problemo, mi amigo." His mischievous grin was back.

* 

AURORA brushed her fringe out of her face impatiently with one hand - it had an annoying habit of getting in her eyes. The other hand was occupied by a small, brown rat, who was happily running in circles on her palm, waving its tail jauntily. It wasn't, by any account, a smelly sewer rat, but a clean, tame one that was deeply attached to its owner.

She observed the room around her: Namii was sitting on the bed opposite her, staring dreamily out of the window. Aurora could not help but admire Namii's ability to find beauty and happiness in everything that lay outside of the window and beyond, particularly when present days were so dark.

I can sense Mina coming up the stairs.

Aurora was quite used to the way her friend used telepathy to communicate, but still giggled when she remembered how she was scared out of her wits the first time it happened.

Are you sure, Namii?

When have I ever been wrong? Besides, I can hear her thoughts whirring from up here. Her mind buzzes in a certain way when she's excited.

Aurora smiled happily, anticipating the arrival of her second and only other friend - a sweet, shy, Korean girl with long black hair. They were the only people she trusted completely - they were family to her.

She jumped up when she heard the door opening, and ran to hug her friend, who let out a squeak of surprise as a pair of familiar arms flung themselves around her, before hugging Aurora back. Namii joined them, making it into a group hug. They stayed like that for a few moments, before they split apart, grinning at each other. 

"I missed you, 'Rora and Namii."

"So did we," Aurora said. Namii just smiled and nodded. 

Although they were so close to each other, they did not tend to talk too much, but shared a comfortable silence a lot of the time, just daydreaming and getting lost in their thoughts.

Mina dragged her suitcase into the room, and dumped it on her bed. She began to take out the neatly folded and arranged garments, and placed them into her drawer in an ordered fashion. When she was finished, she got her ipod out, put her earphones in, and sat quietly on her bed nodding to the music.

They all jumped in fright when a disembodied voice suddenly cut through the quiet. "The Institution Assembly will commence soon. You, the occupants of this room, have yet to register yourselves and confirm your presence here. Do so promptly."

"Oh. . . I forgot about that speaker." Mina glared at a little black box in one of the corners of the ceiling. "It always feels like it's a stranger intruding on my personal space."

"I know, right." Aurora nodded in agreement. She stood up from her bed and made a move to grab a hand of both her friends in turn. "Come on, you heard what it said. We have to go and confirm our presence here before that assembly starts!"

I'd much prefer to just never confirm my existence here in this hell hole. It'd make life so much more peaceful.

Mina and Aurora both smiled sympathetically at Namii. But, nonetheless, Aurora continued to tug her friends towards the door. "I know, Namii, but we can't risk getting into trouble with the government on the first day of term."

*

New Characters:

mossfire946 - Zayde

WitchDoctor21 - Wayland

Avengers14 - Dan

MonsterCupcake61176 - Aurora

RonjaLee - Namii

Miss_Marshmellow - Mina

*

Woah, this is the fastest I've ever updated! Hopefully it's good ^_^ Did you like it?