Copyright Notice: This story is an original work by Muntasib_Ihshan789. All rights reserved. Do not copy or redistribute without permission.
The night before was the hardest Delta had faced in weeks. Her pillow… gone. She'd twisted and turned, curled into a ball, then flattened her arm to rest her head on it. Nothing worked. Her neck ached. Her back hurt. Sleep had been shallow, like a thin sheet over rocks. It was annoying and at the same time her head also started to ache.
By morning, she was exhausted. The alarm hit her ears like a hammer. But she didn't cry. She never did anymore. She got up, brushed, and went straight to find Omega.
"Senpai!" she called softly.
Omega, as always, stood leaning against the hallway wall like he was above it all. He barely glanced at her.
"What?" he said.
"My pillow... gone," she whispered.
Omega looked at her for a moment.
Then he looked away.
"Just as I thought," he thought. "They not just punish with food."
"Is it... punishment?" Delta asked, her voice barely a sound.
"Yeah."Omega folded his arms. "If you do bad, you lose things. Pillow, food, play time."
Delta's stomach clenched. The word punish made a flash of orange light burn behind her eyes — the candle. That cruel test. The pain and the pressure. She got reminded by her own thoughts.
"But… but I did no wrong…" she muttered.
"Then… dunno."
And he walked away. In the classroom, Delta sat staring at the whiteboard. The teachers rotated. One was missing today, the same one she'd seen holding the cookie. She searched all day. Hallways, library corners, dining areas. No sign. Asking the other mentors didn't come with a good answer.
"Gone too?" she wondered.
"Just like the first one?" She didn't ask out loud. Asking had stopped working. She had faced of two teachers missing. First was the one who taught them about date and time.
The Outside World — Meanwhile
Flyers, posters, TV broadcasts, Police lines. Everything was a result of finding lost kids. Crying parents. Faded pictures of missing children on news scrolls. But nothing worked. The facility was invisible. Somehow it was untouched. Unknown to the outside world. And inside it, time kept moving. Days piled up. Then months. Then years.
A year passed. Then two. Then three.
And the children were still inside the navy blue prison.
In those years, Delta learned everything they threw at her — physics, biology, laws, chemistry, literature, history, psychology etc. More than some adults knew. She learned those but one thing she was weak of. Math. Math hated her. No matter how hard she tried.
But she studied and survived. And still — she watched. She saw Alpha break down from time to time. Crying and sobbing for not doing well. She saw Beta fall asleep in class and get no dinner.
She saw Lambda get sick, slowly and often, from poor treatment. She watched guards patrol with guns. She saw teachers disappear and new ones show up the next day, smiling like nothing changed.
Every punishment was quiet. Neat and hidden behind rules and smiles. And every day, Delta studied the world. She noticed everything.
Zeta, the math freak, muttering numbers in corners and scribbling formulas on the floor. He can do math all in his head.
Pi, good with hand works. Sewing, instruments, marbles, painting, cooking. Her fingers danced where others stumbled.
Omega, a cunning thinker. Always learning fast. Always two steps ahead — except emotionally.
Everyone had their own specialty. A single sector in which they were very good. And then there was Delta.
She still didn't know what she was best at. But she was still standing. Their test not only contained writing but also practical use of knowledge and communication skills. Still she became top of the tests. Still by herself.
She spent hours in the library. Walls of dusty books. Words that built inside her like bricks in a tower. She read, not to pass — but to escape.
To think. To find a way out. But the escape? As days, passed escape sounded more impossible.
There were cameras, alarms, guards in black with rifles. Keycards and lockdowns were placed to strengthen security.
Even when they were allowed on the rooftop — the only "outside" they had — there was nothing but a ring of rusted metal fences and as far as eyes could look, only trees and trees.
She knew. They were far from any town. No one could hear them scream. The curriculum grew harder day by day with more contents and hard subjects. Sleepless nights were passed. She and others faced more punishments with it.
Some kids cracked. Some cried. The best ones adapted.
The overall top 10 are Delta, Omega Pi, Zeta, Row, Theta, Eta, Iota, Omicron and Epsilon Everyone had strengths. Everyone had something in they were bad. But the organization wanted all in one. So the pressure of getting better, learning and enchanting mental capabilities never left.
This made her sick from inside. She often got angry in simple matters. Sometimes rude to others. She couldn't control it. Being violent came with different kind of punishments which made her mental state even worse. She even sees the metal fences in her dream.
Then came Year Six.
Delta was ten along with many others. Omega was older than them. Maybe close to twelve.
The halls had grown colder. The punishments quieter. The teachers sharper. Delta could barely keep her composure. The pressure was killing her mental capacity.
12th February, 2017 Result Day
The children sat in a straight line. A mentor with a clipboard and sunglasses stood in front of them like a wall.
"The rankings are here," he said. "You know what happens to those who fall below the bar."
He flipped a page.
"Number 1 — Delta. Minimum score… 97."
Some kids clapped. Some stayed silent. Delta just blinked.
She wasn't surprised anymore. Her face remained unchanged.
"Number 2 — Theta, 94."
And so the list went.
"Number 9 — Omega. Score: 84."
Omega's face didn't change.
But inside?
"Damn it… they're gonna kill me…"
That Night
Delta and Row were playing carrom on the floor of their small study room. Row aimed her coin wrong and it bounced sideways.
"Oops!" she giggled.
Delta gave a soft smile.
Then…
*SLAM*
The door opened fast. A mentor entered. Eyes sharp. Voice louder than normal.
"In three days," he said, "A test will be held. Not a normal test."
His boots echoed on the floor.
"This one will challenge everything you've learned. All of it. Every subject. Every skill. Every second you've spent in this facility. Use your damn braincells or fall behind."
He paused and said again with a slower voice.
"This is not just a test. This is a filter."
And he left. Row's face went pale.
"W-what does that mean?" she asked.
Delta said nothing. Her eyes looked toward the door. Others started to talk with each other. Some showed excitement, some feared of failing.
"I heard that they will brainwash your memory if you fail" someone seemed to whisper.
"Where did you hear from?" Another one asked.
Omega, who had been standing in the hallway, leaned against the wall with a smile in his face.
"Finally...something interesting."
Row and Delta called it a day for their little carrom game as the commotion went on. Delta returned to her room. The same small room.
They sometimes have to clean their clothes and bed sheets. on their own. It was a part of their learning.
She jumped over her bed with the bed making a crack sound. It shouldn't have been a problem because of she had dome many times before. This time, her pillow was safe and sound. Exactly where it should be.
After turning the light switch off, she closed her eyes and started to replay everything she had done and learned today in her head. It was a habit of her. After everything, she came up with the announcement of that night.
"Just what it can be? All the test before were academic, writing, speaking which tests out separate intellectual abilities. Something like surviving outside maybe."
Dead Logic © 2025 by Muntasib_Ihshan789 is licensed under Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International