Everything felt so unreal, he didn't even know when or how but he ended up in his assigned barracks. All around him there were bunk beds arranged with military efficiency. Every bed had two occupants and said occupants had their belongings at one side of the bed. Currently, all occupants were outside doing something within the main compound, all except a few seniors who'd returned to make sure the process ran smoothly.
Alden's mind was having trouble processing anything happening around him which honestly made the entire process easier for those around him than he realized. Due to this lag in situational awareness, he'd been standing at the center of the room since his mother left and he was brought here.
"Hey, new guy, are you not gonna sit down, don't worry there's nothing truly important that needs to be done right now." One of the four seniors spoke to him.
"Oh, it's fine, I can stand." Alden responded absentmindedly.
The senior, not wanting to rush the new kid, continued on with his business.
Time continued to pass slowly with Alden still standing not actually understanding what was happening. Of course, standing for so long without so much as twitching had begun to have a mental toll on those around him, the seniors were beginning feel creeped out by him and the tension in the air was slowly rising.
"Hey, are you sure you don't wanna sit down, it's been a few hours, aren't you like tired or something?" The same senior asked again with a bit of concern in his voice.
"Oh no it's fine, I can stand." Alden said again absentmindedly.
Even more time passed by, at this point the seniors were full on creeped out. Luckily, they didn't have to deal with that situation for long as a new senior entered the room somewhere close to late after.
As soon as he entered, the others sat a little straighter, clearly he had some kind of authority. He was tall, muscular and had a rowdy but calming presence. He slowly looked around the room, his eyes immediately picking up on the anomaly that was Alden standing in the middle of the room looking lost.
"And why I he standing?" He asked the seniors.
"We don't know, we tried to get him to sit but he kept repeating that it was fine and that he could stand." One of them answered quickly and respectfully.
"Hey you, sit down." He said calmly.
"Oh no, it's fine, I can-"
"Sit down." The senior ordered firmly.
That seemed to do the trick as Alden was quickly brought back to his senses. Moving quickly, he found the closest bed to him and sat at the bottom bunk, his gaze firmly fixed on the floor as he waited for the older boy to stop paying attention to him.
After looking at the new guy for a while he moved to join the seniors, sitting comfortably among them as they continued their activities.
A little over an hour after the senior with authority entered, students begun filing into the barracks filling all rooms including his assigned room.
Now with his head slightly cleared, Alden slipped into spectator mode as he began observing those around him, listening to bits of conversation here and there.
His new roommates, under the direct order of the senior with authority, went out to shower in the shared bathroom. Senior Douglas, a name he heard only through eavesdropping in the conversations around him then delivered the schedule for the rest of the day to them. True to the first senior's words, there wasn't anything important left to do for the rest of the day so most of the students lingered conversing with their small circle of friends they'd made since they came. Evidently, Alden had been a few weeks behind his peers who had arrived long ago.
Soon enough, night fell and the students were now truly free to do as they wished, lights out was 9:30pm and the workload had been cleared as at 7:00pm. The room began bustling with activity as friend groups mixed and conversations spilled over. Everything seemed like it was slowly settling when suddenly, Senior Douglas walked into the room with two others who had the same air of superiority around them.
The one to him right stepped forward addressing the whole room.
"Alright everyone listen up. A high grade soul core of mine went missing in this very room yesterday night. Now am going to be generous and say whoever did it doesn't need to come clean, I just need my core before midnight tonight or else the consequences will be dire." He said bland and simply.
The trio waited for a while studying everyone's face before they turned around and walked out.
Many new faces came and went, all blending together in Alden's mind as he kept spectating everything around him. And then it happened, for the first time since he'd entered this place, someone directly approached him.
"Hey there, I haven't had the time to introduce myself, the name's Derrick, what's yours?" The boy asked curiously.
He was by Alden's standards short but not too much, he was muscular, a natural build rather than something he'd trained for, his slick green hair scattered in a calm kind of wild that just felt right. Alden tried to divert his attention but the boy locked his crimson eyes with Alden's silver eyes, a silent gesture that worked to keep Alden's attention fully on him.
"Umm, my name's Alden, a-am new here." Alden stated, the suddeness of the interaction causing him to stutter.
"Duh, I already know that, everyone does." Derrick said lightheartedly as he sat down on the leather covered mattress beside Alden and began arranging stuff.
For whatever reason, Alden hadn't noticed his actions and Derrick made sure to keep the conversations going with meaningless questions.
Finally, Alden made the tactical decision to place his head over his hands which he had folded onto his laps.
"Hey, if you're feeling tired you can place your mattress on the floor and sleep. Sadly there aren't enough bedstands in this room, don't worry it's only a temporary problem, this isn't even our room in the first place it's for the captains, we'll be given a room of our own soon enough." Derrick explained.
"Ahh, thanks." Alden responded simply while his head was still down, he wasn't planning to do anything for a while until he gathered his thoughts.
"Oh and one last thing." Derrick added with a mischievous smile like he'd been waiting for this moment since the conversations started. "This is my bed."
The statement struck Alden as he suddenly lifted his head and really paid attention to where he was this time. 'Of course, I forgot.'
"Oh."