It was one of those days when we didn't have any tests, physical or intellectual. I was two years old at that point, and I was just beginning to understand just what those tests were about. This is actually when I started to realize that we were different from the rest of the world, maybe even more different than my friends.
Oh yeah! I forgot to mention that there are six other kids who share a room with us! First, there's Max. Well, her real name is Tinkerbell, but she only responds to Max. She is older than most of us, and who was out doing some filing for the School, a job that had been granted to her to shut her up a year ago. Then there's her brother Matthew, who's more of a trouble-maker than anything else in the eyes of our creators. They always call him Peter Pan for some reason or another. There is a Peter in our group, however. Next to us, Peter and his twin sister Wendy are the youngest of the group. Then there's Oz, who is not named after a magical land in a movie, but after Pharaoh Ramses II of Egypt. See? Who said that kids never earn anything in school? He doesn't speak a lot, but he's almost as old as Max. Last of all, there's Ic, who Eve likes to call Iggy for some reason. He was born unable to see, but it has never seemed to be a hindrance. His other senses are exceptionally well developed for a kid his age... Mind you, so are the rest of ours.
If you want to know just how different they are from the average human being, consider this. On their backs are a gigantic pair of wings. I bet if they tried to fly, they'd most certainly be able to. The problem is that they were never allowed to. Talk about a let down.
In any case, all the guards, including Uncle Thomas, seemed to be real edgy, but I couldn't quite understand why. I heard that we were having a visitor in the School, called Doctor Ethan Kane but I couldn't see how everyone would be jumpy over that. It wasn't until he came to visit us directly that I found out why. He looked like a man in his thirties, but there was something extremely odd about the way he held himself. I didn't like him at all.
He said a few words to the woman who was watching over us, but his back was turned to us, and they were speaking in hushed tones. I couldn't make out what he said. He left just a few minutes later, after simply observing Matthew for a little while. There was an adoring look on his face, and he seemed enraptured in his wings. I would never learn why, for I would be dead before we ever crossed paths again.
"What was that all about?" I asked Max as we were going to bed, my overdeveloped brain trying to process the days events. She seemed agitated herself. Perhaps she knew what was going on.
"I have no idea," she said, but her voice betrayed otherwise. It was absolutely brimming with fear. However, I thought it best not to pry into her, but looking back, I guess that was the wrong decision. I guess now I'll never find out. That was the last time I ever saw her.
When I woke up, I must say that I was in the most comfortable location of my life. A real bed? It was pure bliss! I allowed the comfort to lull me back to sleep, and did not wake up for some hours into the daytime.
I wouldn't be experiencing this sense of comfort forever, however.
This is where my story truly begins.