Copyright Notice: This story is an original work by Muntasib_Ihshan789. All rights reserved. Do not copy or redistribute without permission.
The morning came again. Same alarm. Same hallway. Same cold washroom water.
Delta was still not used to it now. But today… she saw something strange in morning snacks time. Something was off. She picked up her tray during snack time and paused. She could see her plate contains more food than yesterday. Even more compared to the first day.
"More food?" she blinked.
She stared at the plate. Warm milk. Toast. Full banana. One boiled egg.
It was more than day one. She looked at others to see other's condition. Pi who was closest to her had more food too.
Alpha… he sat far. His tray was nearly empty.
"Only toast? Half banana… No egg?" Delta thought.
Delta stared at alpha from far. Her fingers curled around her spoon.
"Why… Alpha get less…? He… hungry?" She thought.
Across the table, Omega sat. He looked calm, focused, eating as usual. He had a lot on his tray too. More toast. Two boiled eggs.
Then a mentor came near Alpha. Holding two sets of chopsticks.
Seeing the same mentor with chopstick today, Omega's face darkened.
"Same thing today?" Omega thought with sigh.
Alpha looked up at the mentor. His lips trembled.
"Just as I thought." Omega muttered.
"Here goes. 3, 2, 1…" Omega thought, doing a countdown as the mentor approached to Alpha.
Then…
"Sir… why… why my food low?" Alpha asked.
The mentor didn't hesitate. He looked down at Alpha's plate like it was trash.
"Because you failed, Alpha." The mentor said, then bringing a tab to show some footage of yesterday. About Alpha not doing well in the activities.
"Yesterday: poor writing. Sewing—messy. Lost your game with Delta. Effort was low. So is your food."
Alpha's mouth closed. His eyes didn't blink. He sat back down in a shrinking posture. A few moments later, he started eating what he got. At least something was better than nothing.
Omega glanced once, then looked away.
Delta sat far. She didn't hear clearly. But she felt something break. A silence. A coldness. She looked at her tray again. Full.
"Why I get more… he get less…?" She thought.
She couldn't eat right after that.
Class Time
The teachers came again. But today—the woman who taught about "dates" and "Nippon" wasn't there. All male instructors today. The class dragged on. Words floated in her head. Some stuck. Most didn't. Delta kept thinking about the food. The unfairness that Alpha faced.
Break Time
Delta spotted Omega near the wall. She walked fast.
"Senpai!" she called out.
Omega looked down. "Yeah?"
"Why Alpha… get no food?" she asked. Her eyes blinked fast, searching his face.
Omega sighed. Looked bored.
"You saw it, huh?"
He paused, then said coldly,
"It is not easy here. Do good—get food. Do bad—no food. Rule simple."
Delta's heart felt heavy. She thought Omega would help. Or care. He didn't.
"Yes… right." she said softly with a slight hesitation.
She turned around quickly, looking for Zeta. He was sitting in his desk.
She later went to talk with Zeta. Zeta was writing. His fingers moved fast on a page. Math, numbers, rows and rows.
Delta sat beside him.
"Zeta… you get more food?"
Zeta looked confused.
"Eh? Me? I… dunno. I eat, that's all."
He smiled, honest and lost. Delta sighed. Her small shoulders drooped.
"Never mind…"
Class, Again. This time, the lessons felt long.
Later, their morning breakfast time came. This time, they will eat something heavy. Delta looked closely at every one's plates. This time seemed to have no inequality. Everyone got the same amount as day one. Not knowing anyone she sat next to, she ate her breakfast quietly.
After the breakfast, another study session came. It continued for a few hours. After the study session, they had thirty minutes of break. Lunch time. The rice ball at lunch looked big on her plate again.
She peeked left. Alpha's plate looked sad. Just soup and plain rice. Beta, on the other side, also had less.
Delta quietly picked up a small rice ball and slid it across the table toward Beta when no one was looking. Beta looked up—surprised. Delta gave a tiny smile.
"Here." she mouthed.
Beta nodded, her eyes shining.
After their lunch, the day's third period came. While the study session was ongoing, an instructor barged into the classroom.
"You. Come with me." The instructor said pointing at someone in the classroom. It was Delta. First, Delta was confused. She pointed at herself.
"Yes, you." The instructor said.
Delta left her desk and followed. Her legs felt shaky. The instructor led her to a room.
It was a completely dark and empty room. Only one candle on a stool. Its flame was dancing alone.
"Sit there. Your work here is to stare at flame. One hour."
Delta blinked in shock.
"Why I… do this…?" She asked.
The mentor's face was ice.
"Punishment. You gave food to others. Showing sympathy is weakness. Eyes on flame. No look away. I will be watching you with camera." The instructor said in a cold heartless voice.
Delta sat down. The flame flickered. She stared. At first, it was warm. Pretty. But minutes passed. Her eyes hurt. She blinked less and less. There was actually CCTV camera in one corner of the empty room.
"Why they… punish this…? I help Beta… Is bad…?"
Her back ached. Her eyes stung. Time slowed. A minute felt like forever. Suddenly, she heard footsteps.
There were two men. Walking outside on the hallway.
"Hey Adrian, how's your daughter's fever?" One of them asked.
"Not well. I should've taken a day off…" Other one replied.
Delta looked toward the door—half open. She moved her eyes. Just for a second. She saw the men holding guns. Talking like normal people. She twisted her head slightly.
Suddenly—
"HEY, YOU TWO!" The mentor's voice roared.
The two men froze.
"Chitchatting is not allowed! MOVE!"
They apologized and ran off.
Then—he entered the room again.
"Delta. You failed. Time now two hours. No distractions. Eyes on the flame. NOW."
Delta's body went cold.
"No… two…?"
She sat again. She couldn't do it. Even for half an hour. Now it was two hours. Her eyes were red. Her fingers twitchy. She kept staring. Her heartbeat slowed. Time felt it wasn't moving.
But she didn't cry. Not once. Keeping her patience tight, she completed the test. After the Flame, two hours later, she stumbled to her room. She lay on the bed. There was no pillow.
"Where… is pillow…?"
Her head hurt against the flat mattress.
She curled up tight and closed her eyes.
The alarm rang again. Delta opened her eyes. She was tired. But she got up first. As she stepped outside—quietly—she noticed something. A mentor came out of Alpha's room.
He held an open cookie packet in his hand.
Delta quickly ducked behind her door.
"He… gave Alpha cookie?"
Her heart raced.
"Why? So… they do give… just not always. Only… sometimes…"
She didn't know what it meant yet. But she would find out.
Later came their night time session. They were taught how to draw. Using pencils, colors and papers.
First Delta did not so good. She tried to draw a human. Her color choice was also not good. The creature had a body texture of brown and black color combined. She painted the lips with red color now looked like the monster's face was covered with black. Overall, her drawing looked like a creepy humanoid monster straight from a horror movie.
She got a bit frightened looking at the thing she made. She looked at others. Some students were gathering in a single desk. It was Pi. Her drawing was the prettiest among all of them.
At dinner, she again looked at other's plate as always to see if any inequality had taken place or not.
It seemed like everyone had their same amount of food as the first day. This time, Delta managed to grab some rice using her chopstick. She looked at others to see if anyone else made it.
Pi, Row and Omega seemed to have no problem using the chopstick. Alpha and Beta were struggling to use the chopstick as always. Same was for Zeta. Others were struggling to eat. Some could do it slightly, some picked a piece up but dropped. Delta could see, overall, everyone was improving.
After their dinner came their night session. This time it was no study as the previous nights. The instructors bring puzzles, cubes and some board games.
Delta this time picked a ludo set. One of the mentor came and paired her with a boy. The boy's name was Theta.
The instructor taught them about the rules. After that, their game began. They were playing the snake-ladder version.
Delta tossed her dice first. It dropped four.
"A fail" She thought.
Theta took the dice and threw. This time, he got one, getting an opening. After a few tosses, Delta finally got a opening. Right in that time, Theta's piece was at the square 28.
Delta tried to think of an way to win.
"I need ladders. He is up. 8 ladders and 7 snakes...I have chance."
She tossed the dice which dropped on 5. She got the longest ladder. The 5 flipped the entire game. Theta tried to catch up with Delta but he got a snake, bringing down the position more. Delta also faced a same snake twice in a row but it was a small one. By the time Theta got the long ladder which Delta used, it was too late and a victor could be clearly seen.
After the game she was permitted to go to her room for rest. Her pillow was still missing.
Dead Logic © 2025 by Muntasib_Ihshan789 is licensed under Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International