At 14:50, the parents were already arriving, and everyone was waiting for them with ties, perfect hairstyles, and neat clothes. At 14:53, Estelle stood up. He did not remember what Roman had told him, but it felt as though he had to get up at exactly this time. No, not had to — was obligated to. As if something inside him had softly pulled him upward before he even understood why he had awakened now.
At 15:00, the parents had already arrived at the camp. They immediately hugged their children. Estelle hugged his sister and brother. The spoiled children hugged their mothers too, but with their fathers they were expected to shake hands. They also immediately hugged Maxim's sister, Maria. She was wearing a dress and, as always, looked beautiful.
Sasha's mother asked Esmeralda:
— Hello, I'm Sasha Mertvetsov's mother. How are they behaving?
Esmeralda smiled warmly and said:
— Yes, hello, my name is Esmeralda. And yes, your son is behaving very well, just like all the children. I'm the counselor of the "Awakening Tulips" корпус. At the moment, your son is in the "Awakening Roses," where Vladimir is the main leader.
Sasha's mother said:
— Wow, you have very interesting names here.
Rio's father walked up and asked:
— Hello there, do you have some kind of friendship cabin here?
Counselor Lilith approached them and replied:
— Hello. No, we do not, because we believe children should be free to do whatever they want here. They can spend the whole day drawing, then sing songs, and so on.
Rio's father looked slightly surprised, but left them alone and went to his son. Meanwhile, Vlad was telling his parents everything except the fact that the camp resembled Huxley's book. He also admitted that he liked a girl, and the moment his father realized it, he said in a serious tone:
— You do understand that she must be from our level, right? You, Vlad Voronov, should associate with children of your own level.
Vlad hesitated slightly and quietly replied:
— Yes, I remember, Father, but for now it's just teenage love.
His father only said:
— I certainly hope so. Enough about this topic. Better tell me what you do here and how you behave.
Vlad seemed to come alive and started talking about everything except those moments that felt too perfect, too peaceful, too much like happiness made in a laboratory. But when Vlad mentioned Tenebré, his parents suddenly flinched, as if an old forgotten memory had brushed against their minds. For a second, their smiles froze unnaturally before returning just as quickly.
The day passed quickly, and by 19:00 the parents had already left. The counselors asked:
— Children, would you like to listen to some music?
The children nodded happily, as if they had just been told they had won a million dollars. Some of them nodded too quickly, too automatically, their smiles appearing before they even realized they were smiling.
On the way, Elizabeth whispered into Vlad's ear:
— Don't you think the music is similar to soma from Huxley's book?
Vlad thought for a moment and answered:
— Yes, it is. But instead of drinking it, we listen to it.
They whispered among themselves, and when they entered the assembly hall, the music was already playing. Vlad and Elizabeth immediately stopped talking and simply listened. The melody flowed softly through the room, warm and gentle, wrapping itself around their thoughts until even remembering what they wanted to say became difficult. When the music ended, the children went to play, smiling absentmindedly, as though waking from a pleasant dream.
But the spoiled children went to their place beneath the staircase to continue drawing their escape plan. They still wanted to escape. Hope still remained, even though sometimes they said they no longer wanted to leave. They began drawing once more. Vlad brought an educational book with him and started reading.
Kirill asked:
— Why don't you read dystopias or yaoi like before?
Vlad shrugged and said:
— That literature is uninteresting and wrong, so I don't read it anymore.
The boys exchanged strange glances, and Maxim asked:
— So… what did you tell your parents?
The boys began sharing everything they had told them — and everything they had hidden. It turned out that when their fathers found out they liked girls from ordinary families, all of them reacted the same way — saying the girls were beneath their level.
To say the boys were upset would be an understatement. They hated the way their fathers spoke about the girls they loved, as though they were lesser people.
But, unfortunately, nothing could be done about it.
Sasha said quietly:
— The counselors here would never tell us something like that.
The boys nodded in agreement.
Alex spoke the least, because he was drawing.
By 01:00 they were already yawning and wanted to go to sleep, but until we finish drawing, we won't sleep, they repeated to themselves in their minds like a command they could not disobey.
Yet without even realizing it, Alex suddenly closed the notebook and walked toward his room. One by one, his friends silently followed him, as if pulled by invisible strings. None of them questioned why they had stopped drawing. None of them even remembered deciding to leave. It was as though the thought had been gently placed into their minds for them.
Before entering their rooms, the boys remembered how their parents had all reacted the same way when Tenebré was mentioned. They did not pay much attention to it, assuming perhaps it was simply a familiar name or maybe a villain from some old book.
Earlier, they had taken showers and immediately collapsed onto their beds.
At night, as always, the music played.
Beautiful.
Soft.
Endless.
And somehow, while listening to it, the children always fell asleep faster than they intended to.