Everything next happened so fast. Rough arms were grabbing my wrist pulling me out the door when I felt something grab my leg. I looked down in disbelief. Lilliana looked up at me with frightened eyes. "Don't go Nichy!" she wailed as held onto my leg. Jeremiah and Ashley scrambled up to get Lilliana as she clung tighter to my leg. "Lilliana let go now!" I whispered to her desperately. I could tell by the minute that Booshwater was getting more and more aggravated and angry by the looks on everyone's faces. "CS937, get off CS608 now!" Booshwater growled in a deadly tone.

Walking up to the tear stained girl attached to my leg, he pulled her off and harshly slapped her across the face before chucking her onto the ground ruffly. Ashley gasped and scooped up the hysterically crying girl before hiding her in the back with Malia. "Stop that wretched crying before I come back with whatever is left of him or else she'll be dead by first light tomorrow.". Sneering, he turned around and signalled for the guard holding me to follow. I yelped as I was dragged across the floor. "What was that you little mutt" the guard sneered before kicking me in the side as he still continued to drag me.

We stopped in front of a large metal door before I was dragged to a pole. I gasped as realisation settled in me. I was going to be whipped. I looked around the room before a blindfold was placed on me. I let out a shriek as I thrashed around. Cold metal touched my wrists as I was cuffed to the pole. Just as I relaxed in the silence around me the whip slashed down hard on my back. I cried out in pain. A beep ran through the room before the mechanical voice called out "1 out of 50". After 5, I just couldn't remember anything else.

__________________________

I was woken up to gasps and hands all over my body as I groaned in pain. I slowly opened my eyes to a bright light and Ashley, Jeremiah, Nathan and Damon in my faces. "Nicholas! Nicholas, can you hear me?" Ashley called out to me. I turned to Damon who was sobbing in Jeremiah's chest. I reached out weakly to grab his hand. Damon was all I needed right now. "Damon" I croaked out. My boy turned to me at lightning speed before he wrapped his arms around me to hug me. "Oh my god Nicholas I thought you were dead. You had lost so much blood by the time Nathan found you!"

I winced in pain as he tightened his arms around. The warmth left my body as he pulled his arms away. Jeremiah looked at me pure sadness had taken over his face "We could hear you all night Nichy. It was horrifying. No one could sleep." his voice broke. "I felt horrible that I couldn't save you, help you at least" he put his head in his hands. I gently started patting his hair as I couldn't speak. "Ok" Nathan spoke up, "Me and Ashley have to clean you and dress your wounds before they get infected.". As I let them clean my wounds I looked at my slashed arms and legs. I was intrigued by the different colours that my body made.

Tender bumps formed on my skin which were purplish-black colours. I touched them gently as I continued to skim my hand over them. "Ok, Nicholas, I'm going to have to clean your slash marks with alcohol now, it's gonna hurt" she said calmly as she doused the tissue in a strongly smelling liquid. Nothing prepared me from the burning that it was going to bring. I screamed loudly before Nathan slapped his hand over my mouth. He looked at me sympathetically "I know it hurts but we can't afford to scare everyone else as much as you already have". I nodded and tried to keep quiet but it burned so much I couldn't stop writhing.

After another 10 minutes Ashley had bandaged up my back and I tried to sit up. I thought for a moment when I remembered "Lilliana! What happened to Lilliana! Is she ok?" I spewed out. My poor baby girl, I hope she was ok! No one answered but Jeremiah went out and came back in with our baby sister resting on his hip. Lilliana's eyes sparkled as she looked at me. She had a massive red handprint on her left cheek which made my eyes water with guilt. "Lilly!" I smiled. "NICHY!" she screamed as she pounced on me. I laughed as I littered her head in kisses.

She looked at me and started crying, her tears softly splattering down her face. I was quick to wipe them "What's wrong my gorgeous little Lilly?" I questioned. "I-I-I" she hiccuped "Nichy gone and owie!" she cried as her little hands touched my bruises. I sighed and gently petted her soft blonde little curls, "I'm ok now. Don't worry Lil!" I said as cheerfully as I could muster. You could see by the pained look on the others' faces that I hadn't done a very good job convincing them but at least the little goddess in my arms had bought it. She smiled and hugged me, shoving her face into my chest.

"The rest want to see you now Nicholas" Damon whispered as he slipped into the bed next to me. I put my arm around him protectively. He shook as he sniffled and whipped his red eyes. "Ok, Let them in". Slowly slowly the remaining kids came into the room and they gasped upon seeing me. "Are you ok?" Cameron asked. Cam was 4 and only had been here for about a month or two. Time is hard once you're locked in CS. Malia and Julia came hand in hand as they stopped by my side. "Yeah, are you Nicholas?" Malia pestered on. I smiled, it hurt, karma for faking it. "I'm doing fine," I said gently. "A cup of water would be nice please". Ashley laughed as she filled a cup up in the sink and brought it for me to drink.

After 20 minutes of merrily chatting Nathan checked my bandages and looked at me, "Ready to stand up?" he asked. Everyone went quiet as Nathan stood to my left, Jeremiah on the right and Damon behind me on the bed. Ever so carefully I started to stand up ignoring the pain in my back. Once I fully stood up everyone started to cheer. But something was wrong, something was very wrong. Black spots filled my vision as I started to panic. "What's wrong, Nich?!" Jeremiah said quickly, catching on to my panic. "Ahhhh" Damon shrieked as I fell back on top of him. I screamed as my back hit his hard body, pain shooting around.

My pain tolerance was really low, I felt like I was practically dying! All I could see as I shut my eyes was the whip coming down on me harshly and the robotically calm voice going 23/50. I threw my hands over my head as I screamed and crawled into myself. Only when a warm hand touched my shoulder and started whispering into my ear did I stop screaming and crying. "You're ok! It's ok Nicholas, you're safe. I've got you." Damon whispered as he rocked me. I wept into his chest. I cried for my pain, I cried for those who had torn families because of this, I cried for my parents and most of all I cried for the safety and kindness this family had brought for me. Eventually I fell asleep in Damon's arms feeling protected and warm.

I always loved dreaming and it was my escape from this horrible reality, but this sleep was different. My dreams went back to that fateful day where my life would change forever:

It was mummy and daddy's anniversary and they went out for the day. They went to a motel cause they wanted to set their relationship on fire again? I don't know why they would want to burn themselves but I gladly spent the day with Lindsey, my babysitter. When I was with Lindsey she always took me everywhere since she loved driving. She had just got her licence a few months ago on her 16th birthday. She said that she would take me to the shops to get mummy and daddy gifts. So we went in her bright green car. I don't think Lindsey knew it was green but mummy and daddy told me to never tell anyone about the colours I saw. Once we finished shopping for their gifts Lindsey took me to the toy store like she always did after we finished whatever we had to do at the shops. I ran straight to the beanie boo section looking for Mr Sparkles, that's what I named him! Mr Sparkles was a rainbow leopard with a gold horn, purple sparkly ears and bright sparkly purple eyes. I picked him up and took him back to Lindsey, happy with my choice. Lindsey scoffed and looked at the toy in my hands "Why that one Nicholas Alexander, why not something with just one shade?" she asked. Forgetting my instructions I said back sassily "It's not one shade it's rainbow! Not my fault you can't see colours silly billy!". Lindsey and the people around me gasped. Children started to cry as parents pulled them away from me, backing away quickly. An old woman screamed as the security came and cuffed my tiny hands from behind. Lindsey was speaking rapidly on the phone with my parents as I looked around. What was happening? All my friends hid from me and their parents glaring at me. I cried as everyone stared at me disgustingly.

My dream changed to my sentencing:

"And is it true that you had known that the boy had been a colour seer since age 3" the big scary man with a hammer said. My mummy lifted her head up and faced the man, "Yes that's right". The lawyer guy sighed and put his head in his arms, he looked disappointed. The super scary man looked my parents in the eye and said "For the child, Nicholas Alexander Madden, he shall be taken to Detention Camp 36 and as for the parents, death sentence." A gasp rang throughout the room. I started to scream as I saw the big scary men handcuff my mummy and daddy and made them kneel on the stages. Mummy looked at me nervously and she tried to say something to me but two loud bangs went off and the floor coloured in crimson. They were shot right before me, for me. They had died because of me. I cried and wailed as I was shoved around. A boy around 10 years older than me in a colourful jumpsuit came up and hugged me. "Hi, I'm Jeremiah. It will be ok."

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6/08/22