Grey. All is grey.

The walls, the floor, the sky — is there anything that isn’t grey? I’ve never known any other colour, to be truthful. Well, that is a lie — I’ve heard of other colours existing; how the sky used to be bright blue or even orange, or how the clouds used to be a cotton white so soft you thought you can reach out and just—

<<Can #0140 please head to the RCHQ at the soonest possible chance, thank you.>>

Ugh. Not this again. I have to physically try and not let my head slam against my desk as I get up and walk out of the classroom, 60 prying eyes focused on the back of my head — you’d think they’d never heard of someone being called to the ‘Reprimand Room’ over the intercom before.

It’s a long walk from the wing I was in, but I already know that taking any longer than they’d expect would just result in an even longer lecture. I didn’t even hit that kid that hard, if you asked me, but clearly they don’t give many cares round here.

The hallways are empty. Just one long, hollowed-out, rectangular prism that extended to connect the Educational Wing with the Main Body, but it was so, so empty.

Not a spot on the floor, nor a hair out of place; everything looked the same, felt the same, was the same for all I cared — and I hated it. With a passion.

“#0140,” he said with that jarring sigh as I opened the door, as if he predicted it was me that was going to open it next, “Take a seat, please.”

“No thanks, I’d rather stand.”

“Don’t kid yourself; this won’t be short by any means. Sit down; I won’t ask again.”

I reluctantly took a seat, moving it as far away from the table as possible. This guy doesn’t have the most wonderful reputation anyway; his breath reeks, his teeth look like garlic clovers and his only redeeming feature is that unblemished face. I’d rather not catch a whiff of whatever he was eating 3 full moons ago.

“Right. #2565. Explain yourself.”

“Nothing really to explain, I’m sure a genius such as yourself could figure out why I punched a kid who was in my room without my permission.”

“Sure, and my genius self is currently heavily considering throwing you in another Isolation Dormitory just to let that hot head of yours simmer down. Should I listen to that too?”

It was hard not to roll my eyes at that.

“Ooo, the ‘Isolation Room’! Please don’t chuck me in there, it would be so dreadful not having to see other annoying NPCs for a while!”

“I can smell the sarcasm from here.”

“I can smell your breath from here yet you don’t hear me pointing that out,” I snapped, getting tired of this back and forth.

“Alright, that’s enough out of you.”

“Hit a nerve?”

“Only thing you will be hitting for a while is the cold, hard walls of that affirmentioned Isolation Room. For a good 5 days as well. Enjoy your stay, #0140.”

“You know,” I sighed, getting ready to finally get out of this stupid room, “You could’ve just started with that rather than lead me on as if I’m your girlfriend.”

“First off, wildly inappropriate, that will be 6 days in Isolation now. Secondly, I had hope I wouldn’t have to, in the beginning anyway, since you didn’t march in with guns blazing all over the place. Guess I was wrong.”

“Yeah, you were,” before he could say anything else, I slammed the door behind me and walk out into the Main Body. A long walk later (no way I’m going back to class) I ended up back outside for some ‘fresh air’

“Ahh, the smells of nothing with a bit of nothing and the tiniest hint of fuck-all! How lovely.”

For some reason though, at that very moment, my knees just kind of gave in. Before I knew it, my face felt wet and damp with tears, and I looked at them, falling onto the colourless grass, and just wondered why my own tears were just as colourless as everything else.