SURVIVAL OF THE FITTEST
“The gray eyes boy, “I say pointing at the new boy but I felt someone spanking my head.
“Will you wake up little girl? I hope you heard Spade when he says that the boy is different from us?” Clara says and Georgina glared at her.
“My name is Georgina and not a little girl and what does it mean that the boy is different from us,” Georgina asked and her curious friends also nodded their heads.
“Before anything, I think we should find a place for us to sit before it gets more crowded in here,” Clara says looking around the dim little room but my head can’t help but wanders back to the big brother that just entered the room ‘he is surely a handsome boy’ I thought to myself.
“So we can get settled here and I can enlighten you on the power struggle in here,” Clara says dusting the floor of the room and I and my friends looked at ourselves before we got settled.
“This place is full of different kids with different circumstances” she paused but when she sees that she has our full attention she continues “Some kids ran away from home that’s why they got kidnapped, some are abandoned and some are in situations like you guys,” she says.
“So what category is that new boy, “Olivia asked curiously.
“Hmmm from his clothing and his composure I think he is a big fish,” Clara says and I looked at her surprised because how could a full-grown boy be a fish?
“What do you mean he is a big fish,” Victoria asked.
“He is a boy that the gang will reap a lot of benefits from him,” Clara says but before I could raise any questions about it the metallic door to the room opened with the burly man Clara called Spade and a guy I am just seeing enters with a bowl and I see a lot of children looking at them eagerly.
“This is your breakfast and you know the rules don’t injure yourselves in the face and don’t kick the boys beneath, “Spade says, dropping the bowl he was holding and the other man also dropped his.
“Wait for my order,” he says walking out of the door.
“Is he not going to share the food with us? “Victoria asked, facing Clara and before she could answer we heard a whistling sound from outside. I saw different kids rushing to the bowl pushing themselves in the process, some even stamping on themselves.
“What’s going on big sis?” I asked, shifting back because of the fear of what is just transpiring here.
“Eating here is a survival of the fittest so, you have to be very fast if you want to eat but with the situation of it this morning I think you guys are not going to eat,” she says and when I looked at the situation of the room again it’s even worse than earlier.
“But why are they hurting each other? It’s just food” I mutter, gasping for breath because of the chaos in front of me.
“Some of them have not eaten in days so, they will very much try their luck today,” she says resting her head on the wall of the room. My friends and I watched the kids in awe and fear as they went about hurting themselves because they were trying to get food but despite the struggle we saw that they avoided hurting each other’s faces just like the man instructed.
After some minutes of the never-ending fight over the food, peace later returns to the room. My friends and I were already curled up in one corner of the room because we just couldn’t relate to what was happening there.
“Don’t worry we won’t go to sleep hungry we are going to eat without having to get beaten up or being stepped over?” Clara says I wanted to question her about it but I decided against it because she is the adult here .
Maybe she has a way. The metallic door opens again and the second man that comes in with Spade earlier comes in with a food tray; he looks around the room until his eyes land on the gray-eyed boy sitting like a king on the dirty floor.
“This is your food and if you need anything else you can ask me, “the man says. The gray-eyed boy looked at him without saying anything and the man walked out of the room again carrying along the earlier food bowl.
I looked at the gray-eyed boy’s side and I can’t help but curse my luck because if my case is also special too maybe I will be served food separately and it seems like I am not the only one thinking like that because I saw my friends and the other kids looking at him enviously too.
“Can you please give me some food? “I said to the gray-eyed boy and he looked at me in shock, probably wondering why I was in front of him. I also don’t know when I walked to his side but I can’t turn back anyways.
“You can take the bacon and veggies, that’s the only thing I can spare,” he says after being silent for a while. I almost screamed because of how happy I was and I proceeded to pick the bacon and veggies from his plate and I said my thanks before running to my friends.
I share the food with my friends and Clara because I am sure they are all hungry as I am and I can see the kids in the room looking at us in envy but I can’t share it with them because it’s barely enough for us.
“Why did you share it with them?”I felt a presence behind me and when I turned it turned out to be the gray-eyed boy.
“They are also hungry, so I share it with them, “I say.
“I didn’t give you that so, you can share it with them because you are also hungry and I don’t think the food is enough for you to be also sharing with others,” he says.
“They are my friends and they were hungry and I have little food to help them, of course, s should give them some because they will also help me if I am hungry too” I debated with my little brain after understanding what he was trying to prove.
“So, you say they won’t also be selfish with theirs if they also have it,” he says and I nodded, smiling at him to understand my point even though I wasn’t able to pass the information well.
“You can have this too, I am not especially hungry today,” he says and we all looked at him in amazement but before we could say anything he sat down beside us resting his head on the wall of the room.
“Thank you”we all chorused and dug into the food. When I tasted the food I almost cried with excitement because it was in anyways.This content belongs to Nô/velDra/ma.Org .
After we finished eating I decided to take a nap since Clara says there is not going to be any activities going on later so, I rested my head on her lap drifting into dreamland not caring about what situation I am actually in. I think that’s the goodness of being a child.
“Little girl, little girl” I heard someone calling me and I opened my eyes slowly.
“Sit up, I think some people are going to leave today,” Clara says and I could sense fear in her words.
“Where are they going? ”Olivia asked but she didn’t reply. Different kids of different age ranges were selected and we saw them being dragged out by the men before they walked out. One of them walked to us and checked Clara out but before he could say anything a slender man with a tattoo on his hand rushed to his side whispering something to his ear.
“You are not going to be able to protect her for long,” he says to the slender man the burly man walks out of the room the slender exchanges a look with Clara before also walking. The room quietens down because of what just happened in the room and no one doesn’t want to talk about it.
It takes some time before the room goes back to its earlier bustling but it all feels so strange to me.
“If you guys have something going on with you don’t you think he should be able to get out of here, “the gray-eyed boy said and I looked at him, stupefied about what he meant.
“He doesn’t have that capability”Clara replies and we looked at them in confusion not understanding what’s going on.
“Then we are going to help him,” he says.
“You want to escape from here when you just got here, “Clara asked, bursting into laughter because she doesn’t believe what the gray-eyed boy is saying.
“I don’t intend on staying here for long so he is going to help us with our escape plane from here,” he says looking around the room.
“How are you going to help us,” Victoria asked with determination in her eyes.
“We are going to team up”…