The next day the children were allowed to go outside, the little girl went back to the bushes to see if Zorua was there. She knelt down beside them and quietly called, "Zorua, are you there?" The bushes moved and Zorua popped her head out.
"Hi Blaze!" Zorua smiled.
The little girl tilted her head. "Blaze? Me?" She asked.
"Well yeah, I think you're a cool person, and Blaze sounds like a cool name! What do you think?"
Blaze smiled and nodded. "It sounds great to me! What about you? What name do you want?"
Zorua shook her head. "I'm fine with just Zorua." She crawled out of the bushes and crouched low to the ground. "Wanna play tag?" She said, hopping from side to side playfully.
Blaze smirked. "Okay, but you're it!" She took off running to the other side of the fence, and Zorua chased after her. They went back and forth as each of them tagged the other, completely oblivious to where they were going.
"Tag, you're it!" Blaze laughed, and suddenly ran the opposite way she was going before. As she turned her head to look in front of her, she crashed into something hard, tumbling with it on the ground.
"Arrgh, what the-"
Blaze cradled her head, and when she looked up she realized she had ran right into the boy who seemed to be the leader of the other children. She immediately jumped up to her feet and took a few steps backwards.
The boy's eyes were scorching with fury. "You broke my train!" He yelled, holding a crushed toy that dangled from his hand.
"I-I'm sorry, I d-didn't mean-!"
"Shut up freak!" He started towards her, raising his broken train to use as a weapon against her. The other kids behind him were cheering and gathering behind him, looking menacingly towards Blaze.
"Leave her alone!" Zorua barked, jumping between them.
"No Zorua, Don't!"
The boy sneered. "Awww, well isn't this precious. The freak has her own bodyguard! Oooohhh I'm so scared!" He said mockingly, then went up to Zorua and kicked her out of the way. Zorua yelped as she was sent rolling across the dirt and rocks, lying limp. Blaze was horrified, but her fear quickly turned to rage and she turned towards the boy.
"How dare you, jerk!" Blaze yelled and jumped on top of him, punching him repeatedly in the face. He kept squirming and writhing under her, but she wouldn't let him go. The other kids were too shocked and scared to do anything, they just kept staring, their feet rooted in place. Suddenly thundering footsteps rushed towards them as the Headmistress was stomping towards the children. She yanked Blaze off of him, clenching her arm like a vicegrip. Without saying a word, the Headmistress dragged her inside, went down a flight of stairs almost swallowed by shadows, opened a door at the bottom, and threw Blaze inside. The door slammed shut and the sound of a heavy lock clicked, and Blaze just sat there holding her knees and silently cried, surrounded by darkness.
She had been in there for a couple of days now, at least that's what she figured since she couldn't see anything in that room. It was very small and completely empty, she had felt around to try to find a bed earlier, but there was nothing but a stone floor and walls. For most of the time she tried to sleep, since nobody even came to give her food or water. Sleeping was the only thing she could do to conserve her energy. She had a very strange dream where she imagined what the room looked like, but everything was in blue. She even saw blue people on the other side of the door at the top of the stairs passing by. She didn't understand what it meant, but it felt very real to her. But when she opened her eyes, it was the same pitch blackness.
Suddenly she heard the click of the lock, and the door opened. Blaze covered her eyes from the sudden light that bathed over her. She had almost forgotten what light even looked like from being taken away from it for so long. When she peered through her fingers, she saw the stout silhouette of the Headmistress.
"Back to work." She grunted, and led Blaze back to the area where the children eat. Everyone else was already in the assembly room, so the Headmistress threw a tray of food across the long table, and slammed a cup of water beside it.
"Eat!" She ordered, and using her hands instead of her utensils she stuffed her mouth with what was in front of her. Having not eaten for two days, this usually revolting food tasted delicious. When she finished, the Headmistress grabbed Blaze's arm and dragged her to the assembly room to a far corner where she wasn't near anyone, and stormed outside. Blaze looked up as she worked, and saw that some of the kids were staring at her, but quickly turned their heads when they saw her looking at them. Blaze just quietly looked back down and continued to work in silence.
The following weekend, everything was different. When Blaze came outside, the other kids wouldn't tease her like usual, push her, or even make eye contact. It was just dead silence. Blaze looked around for that boy she beat up, and saw him being protected by a group of his followers, covered in bruises and bandages. She quietly made her way over to the bushes and sat down. Soon after she heard rustling, meaning Zorua was there.
"Zorua... I-"
"You have to get out of here, now!"
