Chapter 6: Life with Humans
Natalie~
When I stepped through the shelter doors for the first time, I felt like an alien landing on an unfamiliar planet. The room was dimly lit, crowded, and smelled of sweat and faint mildew. Strangers sat hunched on metal chairs, some talking in low voices, others staring blankly into the distance. My heart hammered in my chest, every instinct screaming at me to leave, but I had nowhere else to go.
I crossed my arms around my chest tightly as I walked up to the front desk, where a tired-looking woman barely glanced up. "Need a bed?" she muttered, her voice hoarse.
"Yes, please," I whispered.
She slid a clipboard toward me, and I stared at it in confusion. My hands trembled. Names, phone numbers, addresses—what was I supposed to write? I hadn't used a pen in years, let alone filled out something like this.
"Are you alright?" a voice came from my left.
I turned sharply, my body tensing, but the voice belonged to a boy about my age. He was lean, with tousled brown hair and sharp, curious brown eyes. He looked out of place here, too—his presence felt lighter somehow, like he didn't quite belong in this dark, suffocating space.
"I—I don't know what to write," I admitted softly. My voice sounded so small.
He looked at the form and grinned, though it wasn't mocking. "You don't need to fill all that out, just your first name. They don't really care about the rest."
Relieved, I scrawled Natalie and pushed the clipboard back. The woman grunted in approval and pointed toward the far side of the room, where rows of creaky bunk beds were crammed together.
"Come on," the boy said, motioning for me to follow. "I'll show you around."