“We do things differently here, kid, everything you see, here, feel, taste, and smell should not exit with you. That is... if you even make it out alive,” a boy said, staring down at Afton.

What?!

“Hehe, just playing with you, my name's Jenson Blake, but you can just can me Blake. I respond better to Blake than Jenson and Jenson is two syllables, making it harder and longer to say it.”

The boy stuck out a rather buff hand for him to shake.

Afton took it, “My name's Nissan,” he said, “Nice to meet you, Blake.”

“Well, Nissan, we're bunkmates. I hope we get along well. No, wait, we will get along well!” Blake said, throwing his arms around Afton(Nissan). “Come on,” he said, dragging him, “I'll introduce you to the bunk.”

Afton had been left to his devices in a somewhat empty room by the usher. The cylinder-shaped room he was in only made his imagination run. Afton might have clutched his head thinking about how thoughtlessly he had walked into a jail, waiting for his death sentence. However, there was apparently some sort of way for Blake to enter while Afton had begun to despair. All stray thoughts of being caught had flown from his mind when Blake so heartily welcomed him. And now, he was going to be introduced to the rest.

“Guys! Look who we have here!”

“Guards are coming!” came a loud whisper. In twenty seconds, Afton saw the entire scene before him totally change.

“Oh, guys, didn't mean it that way. I really meant for you to look. It's a new recruit!” Blake said.

“C'mon, Blake, next time use another phrase. We just messed up our game of clue!” one guy groaned.

“False alarm,” someone else said.

The room chorused with groans as many came tumbling out of bed, holding books.

“Come on, hurry up, one more game before 'lights out'.”

The scene changed back to what it was when he first came in. Boards covered the floor, puzzles pieces were scattered here and there, books lay in hand-range...

These soldiers... do these kinds of stuff? Puzzles? That's for babies!

“Don't mind them, Nissan, they're in gaming mood now. They'll get grumpy at any interruptions,” Blake whispered into his ear, “they'll soften down after lights out when the party begins.”

“Hmm, I don't mind. Where will I sleep, though?”

“The corner upper-bunk is the only empty one at the moment. It has been for about a year now.”

I have a bad feeling about this corner upper-bunk...

Afton(Nissan) trudged over to where Blake had pointed. It was a bed and he needed rest. All other dangers, obstacles, troubles, or anything else that comes with that bed would go secondary to sleep.

Nice and fluffy... the pillows here are actually soft and... big.

Afton fell asleep to the sounds of die rolling...

****

A little girl and a little boy sat by the lakeside. It was a cool night with a slow breeze blowing.

“Do you know how to dance?” the little girl asked the little boy.

The boy replied with a shake of his dark brown locks.

“So that's how it is,” the girl mused. Then, she stood up, “I can teach you,” she said.

“One hand goes right above my hip, the other hand goes to my hand, like this,” she instructed him.

The little boy obediently did as he was told. He tried very hard to hide a blush in the shadows, but there was no need, she wasn't watching for it.

“And now just dance to the music. Just let the music move you,” she said, humming a slow tune.

The little boy tried a little, but he was too tense to become anything as graceful as the twirling, blue-haired little girl beside him. The moon smiled down at the two of them, but the spotlight seemed to have been placed on the little girl alone.

“Why are you stopping? Just try again. When you practice, you'll just keep getting better,” she said.

The little boy smiled and sat down with a sigh.

“You're tired?” she laughed, “I can go on dancing forever!”

The little boy laughed too.

“I can show you different ways to dance, but that will be another time. Tonight will be a sacred night, dedicated to the first laugh I've ever heard from you,” she smiled.

The little boy blushed a little and quickly averted his eyes to the floor. But looking at her in the moon's rays was just captivating. The little boy soon found himself gazing at her again.

“One day, if I become one of those stars, you must promise me that you'll be the star right beside. That way, I can still protect you,” the little girl said, changing the subject.

The little boy nodded.

“We can shine on the other side of the sky, opposite the moon. That way, we'll shine on other children the moon doesn't already shine on.”

The little boy smiled.

“Why?” she asked.

“If you're a star, you'll shine brighter than any moon, because your heart is much purer than anything in the world,” the little boy whispered.

The little girl laughed, “No. I'm only one of the moon's children. I'll never be anywhere close to where the moon is.”

The little boy looked down and whispered, “Of all her children, of all the stars, I'm sure you'd shine the brightest.” But the words were so faint, they could have passed for the wind whistling through the treetops.

****

“Wow, Nissan, you... you really.”

“You slept like a rock, dude!”

“Huh? Did I do something stupid again?” Afton asked, rubbing his eyes.

“That was totally badass! You got up for roll call but I swear you were sleep-walking!”

“He actually had the mind to get up when his name was called!”

“No, that was totally awesome right there. You climbed back onto your bed and slept through breakfast. Good thing we didn't have training today.”

“Hi... guys. So... what exactly happened?” Afton asked, lost.

Blake pointed out a speaker posted on the wall dangerously close to the corner of his bed, “You almost slept through that.”

Ah... so that's why no one wanted this bed.

“Hurry up, Nissan, we're waiting for you!” a roommate called out from below.

“Hmm? Coming,” he half-growled, yawning as he stretched.

Afton(Nissan) straightened out the sheets and jumped down, ladders were way too troublesome to climb down for him.

He took a few seconds to actually scan around his new room. There were about four single bunk-beds (meaning eight single beds in all), and a big wooden wardrobe. Three bunk-beds were on one side, the wardrobe and one bunk-bed were on the other side. It slightly piqued his curiosity to see a construction of such bad quality wood. Looking at it for a second would immediately tell how long it's been around.

Afton opened it to find the inside totally metallic, designed as a locker.

“Come on, Afton! I'll show you where to put your stuff another time!” Blake called, pushing him out the door.

He soon found himself in the same circle room where about forty people had already gathered. They were all either taller than him, or more matured in their physical appearances... well, almost all.

There was a kid, (literally a kid) that was shorter than him, in their midst. His name was...

“Hey, there, Nissan.”

Afton looked at the little boy. “H... How do you know my name?”

“Ha ha! I knew it! You were sleep-walking during roll call!” the little boy laughed.

A bigger boy slapped him from behind, “Don't laugh at him like that, you'll give the new recruit a bad first impression,” he whispered. (But Afton caught it)

The little boy blinked a little and stuck out a hand, “My name is Rain Prisle, but you can just call me Rain.”

“Nissan,” Afton managed to say, shaking the short person's hand.

The boy behind coughed, “I'm Winter, Rain's brother,” he said.

Afton(Nissan) nodded and shook Winter's hand in turn.

He soon attracted more attention as a new-comer. Blake had apparently blown upon the little flame of curiosity that the new name in the roll call had produced.

He took a liking to a few of them, while others immediately fell under his mental 'people to stay away from' category.

It's not like he made such a good impression upon them all either. He hadn't exactly gotten used to his personality. He had a ready fake laugh that would easily piss the sensitive kind off, and the rest of the time, he would keep an emotionless face.

He would always sneak off to the side whenever he had the chance, he'd look anywhere except at the speaker when he talked, and never... never looked any of them in the eye. After observing his movements for a while, Rain walked over to Afton(Nissan).

“Can I ask you a few questions?” the little boy asked.

“Sure,” Afton said. If there was anyone he preferred to talk to, it would be someone who wouldn't make him feel small... or short.

“Why won't you look people in the eye? Is it because you're shy? Is it because you're not comfortable with us yet, or what? New guys would be shy and flushing red, at first, but you're different... Are you socially insecure or something all the time?” he asked directly, in all a child's innocence.

“Well... You could say so,” Afton shrugged.

“Hmm,” the little boy said, staring at his face (which Afton had averted to the floor), “you also don't always respond to your name. Is it due to that too?”

“I guess,” came the short reply.

“Hem... I want to tell you that whatever it is, you're not useless. Give yourself some respect and this problem would be gone with. That's what I say! It works, you should try it.”

“Erm... ok...?”

“Come into my room to talk. It's a little bit loud here, isn't it?” Rain pulled a door right behind him open and walked in.

I should have known... but why do doors with such tiny knobs surprise me so?

Afton followed the boy in. The room was designed like his, though the same four single bunk-beds and a wardrobe that made up the furniture were slightly decorated with snowflakes and happy faces.

“This is my bed!” Rain said, plumping down on a bottom bunk in the middle of the room. Afton noticed that there were more smiley faces and snowflakes scratched into the metal skeleton of his bed.

“I see,” Afton said.

“Oh, I almost forgot!” he said, clapping his hands.

He pulled out a crumpled piece of paper and passed it to Afton. “Read it. It helps me when I get down.”

Afton opened it carefully and would have rubbed his eyes if he was any ordinary person. However, he was sensitive toward this little boy. He read the words aloud, “Rain... Rain can come in many ways, sometimes in the form of sadness, sometimes anger, sometimes love. At least, that's how I see it.”

“That was in parentheses! You didn't have to read it aloud!”

Afton smiled before continuing, “Burning in anger, I feel like the raindrops trying to beat the waves. Like trying to throw dirt at stones. It doesn't hurt any one in any way. Crying, I feel like a drizzle that no one notices. Flying with joy, I feel like the little bit of dew that lights up the grass after the actually shower has gone.”

“Isn't it good? I wrote it myself.”

Afton nodded, “I see... but how does this bring up your morale?”

“Whenever I look at it, I feel accomplished, proud of myself. You see, all the education I got was how to write. So when I write poems like these, I think they're good!”

“Makes sense,” Afton nodded again. He re-read it, now with the author in mind.

Not bad... really... not bad at all.

“How old are you, Rain?”

“Oh. Me? I'm... so small, aren't I?”

Afton shook his head quickly, “I'm supposed to be seventeen at this height.”

Rain laughed a little. He stopped and looked at Afton again before throwing his head back and laughing again. He peaked one more look at Afton before bursting out in giggling fit.

“Erm...”

“Hee hee haha haha haha...”

“Eh...?”

“Hehe hee hee ha ha ha ha hah haha.”

“Do you do this often?” Afton asked, looking at Rain, who was currently giggling so hard that he shook the whole bed.

Rain recovered a little and weakly shook his head before falling back into giggling.

“What's... so funny?” Afton asked.

He didn't get a reply.

“Well... em, Rain? I'll meet you back outside, ok?”

More laughing.

Afton walked out and back into the circle room.

“Nissan's back, guys!” someone called loudly, shocking him.

Wait... was that what that kid was laughing about?

“Welcome back, Nissan, where have you been?” Blake asked, putting his hand around his shoulder.

Terror pulsed through his veins and he didn't have time to stop himself...

Blake was thrown onto the floor with a thud (more from his weight than the force applied, I should think). The chit-chat in the room came to an abrupt end. All eyes were upon Afton...

Gah! What have I gotten myself into?! I hate my reflexes!