The two boys stared at one another, their expressions barely illuminated by the faint light from the outside lampposts. After a few awkward seconds of silence, Navin turned away, choosing to ignore Zain, “Whatever…”
He placed his hand on the door, turning the knob halfway before deciding to linger. After contemplating a bit, he turned back to Zain, presumably with a look of annoyance, “I know you fucking stupid so I’m just gonna say right now, don’t follow me.”
It would be best to ignore this guy and simply answer, ‘yeah, whatever’ - but, this asshat had really been getting on his nerves, so Zain really didn’t feel as if he deserved that respect.
“Hmm…and why should I listen to you? Huh? You’re not my fucking babysitter.”
That provocation made Navin take his hand fully off the door knob, but instead of the expected anger, he put on a shit eating grin and welcomed the challenge. “I’m just being nice with the warning, but if you want to fucking die, then go ahead.”
When Zain was a kid, there were those who would say the same kind of things. As he grew up, he realized that these people were always so full of shit, and could never follow through on their threats. Internally, he always knew them to be cowards, calling them on their bluffs was always easy.
“You saying ya gonna kill me?”
In lieu of any sort of answer, Navin snorted then swiftly opened the door and exited.
Weirdo.
Zain thought that there was a curfew, but maybe he was misremembering.
Regardless, that interaction left him done for the day, so he decided to retreat back to his room before Navin returned. Before he left, he glimpsed out the window, watching Navin walking out of the complex.
Where is he going?
The next morning, after working for a short amount of time, they were called into the office.
A lot of their paper work was still being processed, but since they showed that they were able to work properly, they were going to have some medical information obtained.
The compound had access to a small clinic which was open three days out of the week; They were a few blocks away from a medical school, so a lot of students were allowed to use the medical equipment they had there in exchange for treating the boys. It was a win-win, where the medical students would get experience and clinic hours, and the boys would get frequent medical care as needed.
Even though there were not more advanced imaging machines, the smart clinic had an x-ray and ultrasound machine, with students who were studying radiology operating them.
Besides being in what was essentially an instruction demonstration, the bedside manner was decent. After all of this was concluded, they retreated back to the office where they had to wait some time for their results.
A familiar older boy with glasses was in the office with them, analyzing the paperwork regarding their medical assessment. He was reading the impression section for their imaging, then came to a conclusion after some time of reading.
“Hmm….it seems like all of your organs are present, and there are no indicators of underlying illnesses.” He concluded.
Brayden, looking a tad troubled, flicked his eyes to and fro before asking a few questions to sate his curiosity. “Why…do we need to have x-rays to see if we are…missing organs…”
The spectacled boy looked at him, contemplating his answer with cold, judging eyes. “A lot of times, there are those who are transported here who have had things like their spleen, appendix, or gallbladder removed. Because of this, certain medical complications are more likely to occur in the future.”
Zain was not quite familiar with medical stuff, so he wasn’t too interested in the explanation. However, Brayden was listening quite intently as the boy continued, “Plus, many of the boys here were transmigrated when they were children, so they were unable to give substantial information when they were first processed through the bell. That is why we do more scans here.”
“Uh huh! That makes sense! What kind of medical conditions are you talking about? I’ve heard that there are certain medical conditions that may arise from the removal of those organs, but they’re usually minimal from what I recall. Are there other medical conditions that may arise which are specific to this world?” Brayden asked a torrent of questions, making strange gestures with his hands as if he was going to write with a non existent pen and paper.
This elicited a slight look of disgust from the boy, who was likely not expecting Brayden to try to get more information from him. After recovering from his initial flabbergastment, he cleared his throat somewhat in order to collect his thoughts. “I am not really familiar with all of the medical complications which may arise from these particular removals, I do know some of these organs are vital to how your body produces and processes mana. Since there was no mana in your respective worlds, removal of these organs would cause minimal complications. However, it can cause unforeseen complications when these individuals are transported here. I’ve heard that it can cause things like hypoqiemia, mana clots, and greater susceptibility to mana poisoning.”
Brayden nodded enthusiastically, ingraining all of this information in his memory. Even here, he was still studious by nature, however, his questioning raised some suspicion in the boy, who looked at them with a critical glare.
“Have y’all gone to school? It doesn’t really say anything about schooling in your documentation….”
The slight probing made both of them tense, with Zain trying his best to deflect.
“I was taught a little before I came here, but our foster parents ‘Homeschooled’ us, y’know? Which means they didn’t teach us shit. We try to learn what we can. Phillip is interested in medicine, but it’s hard to get taught that stuff when you’re not in an actual school.”
This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road. If you spot it on Amazon, please report it.
The boy’s eyes lingered for a bit, before he turned away, placated by his response. “Hmmm, maybe if he works here long enough, he can help in the nurses office.”
Internally, Zain let out a sigh of relief. Maybe he would become a master liar after this was all over? Lying on the spot was working out for him so far.
The boy repositioned his chair, then placed the papers in front of Zain and Brayden. After spreading out a few of the documents, he pointed to a few of the missing blanks. They were mainly personal questions that they could fill out themselves, all of which were completed after a few minutes of scribbling.
Once all of the necessary paperwork was completed, the boy gathered all of the documents again, flipping through them one final time before he nodded to himself.
“Those were the final documents I needed from y’all. There is still gonna be some time before the changes in statuses for your IDs can be processed, so until then use the temporary cards.” He lifted himself from his seat, prompting Zain and Brayden to do the same. However, the boy with glasses stopped after he recalled something. “Oh yeah, I almost forgot. The owner wants to meet y’all today since he is in town right now. He meets all of the new recruits so this is just a formality. He should be free right now, so I’ll take you to the meeting room to meet him.”
This was stated in a nonchalant manner, but the gravity of the situation made Zain freeze. In their briefing, the detective had emphasized how much they needed to avoid meeting this guy. Was it really okay for them to just talk to him now? Would he suspect them?
Shitshitshit! What is he gonna do if he finds the construct? Do I take it with me? Do I put it in my pocket? Shit!
Zain’s mind was going a million miles an hour as he gave a fake smile in response, “That makes me nervous…I hope I don’t mess up. Haha…”
Similarly to Zain, Brayden seemed to have internal strife as he weakly let out a robotic response, “I don’t suppose we can skip this meeting? I don’t have anything nice to wear right now…”
The boy waved away their concerns, “He doesn’t take these interviews seriously. I’ve never heard of anyone getting fired for a bad one at least. It’s more of a way to show that he cares or whatever. He’s very personable so you don’t need to worry.”
The boy shepherded them into the adjoining meeting room, despite their apprehensions. Then, he withdrew back into the hallway in order to get the owner. This left Zain and Brayden alone in the meeting room.
Zain began to tug at his ear, making eye contact with Brayden to communicate his concerns. Saying these things out loud was probably not wise, because who knew who was listening in. Brayden nodded as he understood what he was trying to convey, offering his hand in order to conceal the device in Zain’s ear. Before either of them could hide it, however, they heard footsteps down the hall.
Panic did nothing for his coordination, as Zain fumbled to take out the back of the earring in time. As the door opened, he set his hands to his sides, having failed to take the earring out.
The older boy returned, having opened the door as a show of courtesy for the owner, as soon as the man stepped through the doorway, he smoothly shut it.
Before them stood a man in his mid-twenties: He wore a knit sweater with a white undershirt peaking out at the collar. The jeans he wore had a slight tear at the knees and hem, indicating their wear and age. He sported glasses similar to Brayden, however with a thicker, darker frame.
Overall, he had a more of a look of a normal college age man rather than an iniquitous kingpin. Almost instantly, Zain felt as if he was lied to. It was honestly, kind of a let down.
The man gave a cheeky smile, one that radiated friendliness with a slight tinge of lingering adolescence. “Hey! I’m Abel Chatelain, it’s nice to meet you two! Phillip and Corey, right?”
Ready to receive a handshake, he outstretched his hand. Zain obliged, making sure to give a firm handshake. In all honesty, this man had a weak grip and super soft hands. It wouldn’t surprise Zain if he had been told that he never worked a day in his life. Brayden also followed suit, shaking the man’s hands.
“Yeah…um I’m Corey, this is Phillip. It’s nice to meet you, too.”
“Ooo you have a firm handshake there Corey! I can already tell you’re gonna be a great worker!” Abel said with a smile. He turned his head to Brayden, offering a similar smile, “And Phillip, I’ve heard that you have a pretty good head on your shoulders. Kaden says that you’re interested a bit in medicine. We have some books in the commons that you can borrow! There’s also a library nearby if you want to continue your studies!”
Brayden perked up a bit at this information, smiling happily as accepted the information. “Really?! I’ll keep that in mind, thank you!”
The man sat down across from the, his legs slightly spread out in an informal manner; he leaned slightly forward in his chair with his hands placed on his knees, his interest in what they were talking about apparent.
“Hope y’all are settling in well. I just want to make sure all my boys are doing well, so tell me a bit about yourselves if you don’t mind chatting for a bit!”
The conversation continued on for a little bit, as they went on to talk about how they were settling in, and what they wanted to do in the future. As they talked, Zain couldn’t help but think how easy it was to talk to this guy. They felt quite at ease talking to him, and it was easy to go into tangents.
He talked a bit about himself, mainly talking about superficial details to get the point across: Growing up poor, he worked and studied hard, until he could invest into a small business. From there his wealth took off. It was a bog standard backstory, but the way he narrated his own story made it have more of an appeal to the hopeful and aspiring. It was easy to get lost in this feeling of grandeur, as if they could reach the same heights if they tried hard enough.
Their meeting came to a close when the timer on his phone went off; Zain glanced at the clock, realizing a whole hour had gone by in a flash without him noticing.
“Oh, dang! Will you look at the time! I have to go to my next meeting soon, so I’m gonna have to leave the conversation here…Sorry, I wish I had more time to talk to you two. But it's probably for the best, anyway. It’s near lunch time anyway and I don’t want to waste your break time. “
It was quite the shame, Zain actually felt somewhat bad that they couldn’t talk more. Their conversation was actually quite nice and interesting.
The man got up from his seat, stretching a little bit as he gave his final goodbyes. He promptly made his way to the door, before stopping short.
Turning back around, he looked at the boys again. “Oh yeah, I almost forgot. You two wouldn’t know if someone snuck out last night, would you? The motion detectors showed that someone left the complex in the middle of the night. We only have cameras in the common areas, and this person avoided all of them. It’s very dangerous to go out that late, so if you know who did, can you let me know?”
Brayden immediately shook his head, “I was pretty tired last night, so I didn’t see anything. Sorry.”
Only one person came to mind for Zain. Of course it was the asshole who shared his dorm room, but would it be a good idea to tell this guy about it? It was for safety reasons right?
Zain was about to tattle, but he thought for a few more seconds.
Wait…won’t he get fired if I do that…Where will he go if he gets fired…
It was by no means his responsibility or fault with whatever happened to Navin, but…
I have a feeling that he has nowhere else to go…or no one who cares about him…
Pathetic as it was, Zain did feel a little bad for the asshole. And he did owe him for vouching for them.
After his small, internal conflict, he finally answered. “No, sorry sir. I didn’t see anything either.”
The man shook his head, “No, it’s alright. It’s not that big of a deal.” Then he looked at them one final time, his eyes crinkling with his smirk for the first time this whole conversation. “See you later then.”
And without another word, he left.
