Sin’s eyes snapped open when he felt someone shaking him, his head shot up and he looked back to see the same girl from before, she told him something before standing up and pulling him with her, she held his face and said something before walking away, he tilted his head in question as he watched her walk away and then line up with a few other girls

Someone grabbed his arm and he looked to see it was a boy; he hissed something at him and then pulled Sin so he was standing in front of the boy and behind another, he tried to look back at the boy but his head was held in place and he tried to squirm out of the older boy’s grip but realized he was weaker than the boy and it wouldn’t be possible to get away from him.

Sin’s head dropped and he didn’t even look up when the deep sound of a man’s voice echoed through the air and pounded on his ear drum the man was telling them something, and he guessed it had to be important if the man was yelling because that’s what he was accustomed to. If ever the house mother had something important to tell him she would always yell and then hit him with something If he didn’t understand her and that was most of the time.

The man eventually stopped talking and then loud footsteps could be heard, he looked up when he heard something jingle and he saw men and women moving down the two lines and hooking something brown looking on the other children’s wrist, ankles and necks. Eventually a man made his way to him and got on his knees, he reached forward with the brown thing and tried to get to Sin’s neck but he yanked back.

The man reached for him again but he dodged, he knew that if he kept it up he might just get in trouble but the thing the man held in his hands had him frightened, it was big and clunky and looked like it would hurt. He tried to yank away again but the boy behind him grabbed him and pulled him against his chest, he looked up at the boy and that was when he felt the thing clamp around his throat.

Sin cried out and tried to pull away but stopped when the man finally got angry and slammed his fist into his stomach. Sin gagged and his knees went weak but the boy continued to hold him up as the man clamped the brown things on his wrist and ankles. He whimpered and tried to pull away when the man reached for his face but there was nowhere for him to go so he shut his eyes tightly to prepare for the slap he thought he was about to get, he heard a small chuckle as a hand gently patted his face.

His eyes opened and he looked at the man who moved to the boy behind him who was still holding him up and kept doing so even when the cold heavy things were being clamped on him. Soon all the boys and girls had the things on and then a thick chain were passed through a loop on the set that were on their ankles.

A woman came through with a bucket and a scoop, she dipped the scoop into the bucket and it came back up dripping with water, each one of them getting a drink before the woman vanished. Sin followed the woman with his eyes until she went out of his view and the boy grabbed his head and pulled it so he was facing forward, he hissed something into his ear but like usually Sin couldn’t figure out what the older boy was saying.

It was sometime before the boys in front of sin began to walk and he followed along, as the boys walked off the wooden thing to another that looked like a thin piece of wood; he could see the blue water he had seen before when the girl that was always taking care of him left on another wooden thing. He whimpered when his feet went into cold water and he nearly stopped but the boy behind him patted his back so he continued on.

He looked around to see men and woman moving around the area, some were carry baskets, boxes and other things while a few stood behind wooden stands yelling at the people that had passed them. The boy turned his head in front and he decided to give up looking around it seemed to upset the boy every time he did it and he didn’t want the boy to hit him not like the man had done earlier. Because his stomach still throbbed.

They continued to walk until he felt the boy place his hands around his waist and he was lifted off the ground, he wondered why but didn’t question it when the boy carried him up into another wooden thing but this one had wheels and looked like the white one that the pretty lady liked to go around in but instead of clear windows with white cloth over it, this one had thick black bars, just like the set that was on the chickens pen and he wondered if the men wanted them to sleep but thought better of it when he looked around and saw the other boys were staring ahead.

The thing suddenly jerked and he fell forward almost going off the bench but the boy pulled him back and patted his shoulder before letting go. Sin was rocking back and forth as the thing moved he wondered where it was taking him and why. He looked around at all the other boys and he realized he was the smallest out of all of them some of them were even really tall and had bulges on their arms.

+

The thing finally came to a stop and Sin was convinced that if he had had the chance to eat something he would have already thrown it up a bit ago, some of the water he had drank had made its way up with something that burnt his throat but he was forced to swallow it back when the boy clamped a hand over his mouth and hissed something at him.

Why he couldn’t understand what the people were saying most of the time he didn’t know but he was getting the feeling that things were going to be bad for him because of it. So when the door opened and the man spoke as he gripped the first boys arm, he tried to listen but all he got was garbling sounds, but maybe they were talking a different wording to the house lady.

The boy helped him to stand and picked him up again only putting him back down when they were out of the wooden thing. He walked quickly as they were lead down a path and into a small wooden house, he could see women approaching them, a short plump one with blue hair, almost white eyes and short pointed ears approached him, she watched him in his face and nodded.

The man that had lead them into the house came up and took the things from around his neck, ankles and wrist, he rubbed them and the woman lead him away, she spoke softly and he quirked his head to the side and a small smile came to his face as he understood a word “okay” she was asking him something and he knew what to do because of all the times the house mother had said that word to him, he nodded and she smiled at him.

He felt so proud of himself maybe if he nodded every time she spoke she wouldn’t hit him, her hands were big and he knew they would hurt if they landed on his skin. The woman walked down a hall with him and then led him to a tiny wooden room that had a tub, a jug of liquid soap, a wash cloth and a cloth to dry him off.

He looked around and moved to step back but the woman held him in place, she pulled in a door behind them and then, reached down to pull off the sleeping top the pretty woman had given to him. He was frightened as she pushed him to the tub thinking that she would just shove him in it and hold him under until she felt like bringing him up back.

But she didn’t do that, instead she lifted him up and rested him into warm water, she helped him to sit down and then pulled a bowl from the tub that had water in it and poured it over his head, he drew in a deep breath as she soaked him and then poured the soap over his head, she scrubbed his hair and skin making him groan because she did it until he was pink.

When she was finished she pulled him put and rinsed him off with another tub of water that he hadn’t noticed earlier, when she finished she wiped him off with the cloth that itched his skin. When the woman was satisfied she stood and lead him out the room, suddenly he was reminded of when the house mother had walked him through the hall and up to the room and everyone had laughed at him, but unlike before when he wanted to cry, now he just felt angry.

His hands curled into a fist and he lowered his head so he didn’t have to look at all the laughing faces. The woman lead him down a hall and he glanced up when she stopped to see that he was in another room but he wasn’t the only naked one, girls and boys who were all as small as him sat around talking or playing around as if it were normal for them to be like this some even laughed as they knocked each other on their bare cheeks.

The woman lead him to a corner and then left the room, she didn’t come back so he had been standing there for a very long time before a young man walked in, he scanned the room and quickly made his way over to Sin when his eyes landed on him. He had nothing to say as he took a brush to Sin’s hair, he brushed it till it was smooth and then quickly pulled it into a braid.

He turned Sin to him and pulled on a white shirt that had a bow on the front on him followed by black pants which he loosely tucked the shirt into, he adjusted it and then twisted the shit and pulled the pants up a bit more and then nodded to himself. He took a pair of black boots and pulled it on Sin they were a bit big on him but as long as they didn’t fall off the man didn’t care.

When he was finished he took Sin’s hand and then led him out of the room leaving the other naked children behind. Sin glanced around the plain hall before looking ahead when the man tugged on his arm. He continued to follow the man until they came to a door and the man pushed it open he stopped at the sight of other boys and girls that were dressed just like him lined up behind one another.

He was lead to the front of the line to stand with two other short boys and he glanced at them, one had fiery red hair mismatched blue and grey eyes and long pointed ears that had the same orange fuzz on the tip. Sin jumped when he felt the boy’s tail hit the back of his legs, he looked to see the orange stripped thing that swung back and forth in what seemed to be happiness.

He looked at the other boy to see he had long blue hair that was pulled into three braids that ran over one of his shoulder and curled at the end, he too had painted ears that matched his pale grey skin, his eyes were a dull grey and his lips were set in a line. Sin wanted to know why the red headed boy was happy while the other looked really sad because this confused him, was what a good or bad thing was about to happen to him, should he be happy or afraid.

He came out of his head when the loud voice of a woman echoed throughout the large room and lights flashed on, he looked to see rows upon rows of people sitting down and looking at him and the other children eagerly and he knew exactly what to feel then, he knew to feel very afraid.