Kael swiftly wore his shirt as the door opened. There, standing at the entrance, was Ruke.
"Whoa, you're here? Aren't you supposed to be doing your punishment?" he spoke as he laughed mockingly. He walked toward the bedside table, took the glass of water, and gulped it down. There were four bunks, one on each side of the room. They were up-and-down bunks, meaning there were eight members in the room.
Kael remembered that fateful night. He had a slight memory of his family. He knew his father was a dragon and that one day he would be able to turn into a dragon too—but it never came, and he was glad.
Given the fact that he was in a human place, it would have been strange for a person to turn into something, not to talk of a dragon. Not until recently, after he had seen scales on his body.
At first, he thought he could control it, but he realized it came even more when he was under the sun.
Kael walked toward the door but stopped as Ruke spoke calmly.
"Bro, now that no one is here, we could talk about our escape plan."
Kael sighed. He knew that Ruke had been obsessed with escaping from here, despite the fact that it was nearly impossible.
"I see you want your case similar to Sam," Kael spoke calmly as Ruke sighed.
Sam was one of the boys at the orphanage who had attempted to escape and of course got caught. He was whipped till he passed out, and even when he did, they still whipped him. They wanted it to continue in his dreams—that was how brutal it was.
"Bro, I have structurally organized my plan. Nothing like that is happening at all," Ruke spoke as Kael finally turned.
"Be fast about it, as you know I have work to do," Kael said. Ruke nodded.
"Well, we could escape tonight. That way we could be free, and also find out the person who killed your parents."
Immediately those words left his lips, Kael's hands tightened into a fist. His teeth slightly gnashed together as he shifted his gaze away. Ruke was aware of this and had told Kael that he would help him….
"Idiot, go straight to the plan," Kael spoke calmly. Ruke nodded.
"We would sneak into his room—the headmaster's room. Given that the fence is electric, we would follow the back gate," he spoke simply. Even though it sounded easy, it was the perfect description of easier said than done.
He then added calmly, "Remember, we have talked about the escape plan before, but tonight is the best time. A new set of orphans will be arriving tomorrow, so everyone will be busy with preparations," Ruke explained.
That was how it was at the orphanage. Once you turned seventeen, you were taken from the other orphanage homes to M&M Orphanage for deep martial training, meant to be sent off to war. That was their fate—it had already been written.
Kael opened the door and walked out, leaving Ruke behind.
"Oh, you fool, I am not done talking," he heard Ruke's voice from the hallway. Kael couldn't believe he had actually waited for this boy to say his plan. He had thought Ruke was about to say something reasonable. He clicked his tongue sharply in irritation.
"Five minutes of my time wasted."
☆☆☆
Night came. Kael mopped the downstairs hallway. He was finally done after hours of suffering, and the last thing at hand was to wash the dishes—but first, they would need to have dinner.
He ignored the curious gazes of the other boys. After all, this was not the first time he had been punished, all because of Ruke.
He was supposed to be at the library, reading and searching more about the forest where he lived when he was little, before the death of his parents. He raised his shoulder, turning his head to the side to clean the sweat away. His long red hair stopped at his shoulders.
"Bro, time for dinner," Ruke spoke as he approached Kael. He had just had a good nap.
Kael calmly set the mop aside and walked toward the stairs, heading to the dining hall. Ruke quickened his steps, walking faster.
"Dude, calm down. You have to understand that we need to talk," he whispered. The other boys were already in the dining hall. Ruke had woken up, so he decided to call Kael.
"We are escaping tonight."
Kael stayed silent. He knew the line would be long, and he also needed to eat. He was sure he wasn't going to take the best portion.
"Are you even listening?" Ruke's eyes scanned Kael's emotionless face. He shrugged and added, "Anyways, you will need to follow my lead."
Kael calmly nodded. Ruke, taken aback, stopped in his tracks.
"Whoa, so you really have been interested in the plan all this while," he said, then began walking again, striding faster while Kael followed.
"You better not be stupid in this plan," Kael spoke calmly. Ruke nodded with a wide smile.
Kael pushed the dining hall door open. They were welcomed by noise—the chatter around the hall was loud. Long tables and benches filled the room. Some boys had already taken their food and were walking to their seats. Ruke and Kael joined the long line. Kael looked ahead and realized he would be washing lots of plates tonight…or not.
'I have some escaping to do,' he muttered to himself.
Ruke, who was in front of him, turned and whispered, "Or we could carry out the escape now."
"I see you are a fool. And what are we going to eat once we arrive outside?" Kael asked with a raised brow. Ruke went silent.
"Well, let's eat first then," Ruke spoke calmly. Kael shrugged and looked ahead into thin air as he began to calculate something. If he ended up escaping, he was going straight to 'Cy' the courtyard.
They were a group of men, more like high officials, with a particular set of uniforms. He remembered that uniform vividly. All he wanted was to find every single man who killed his parents. Not to mention, not even Ruke knew about his little secret. No one knew. They were all humans.
"Kael, Kael," Ruke called, tapping him.
"What?"
"Just in case this does not work out well, I did my best," he spoke.
"And if it does?" Kael asked curtly.
"Well, good for both of us."
Time passed, and it was finally their turn. Ruke took his plate as he moved to the woman. She poured the food onto it.
"Next," she shouted, her face grumpy.
Kael took his plate as well. The food splattered lightly onto it.
"Next."
Kael turned calmly and walked toward his bench, but then his body stilled as he noticed something unusual.
Scales began to shimmer on his arms.