Trust

Max awoke to a light flashing in his right eye. Once he had fully opened his eyes a man with a mask on asked his name. Max ignored the man and looked around at his surroundings. He tried moving but his hands and feet were restrained to a hospital bed.

" Where am I?," Max questioned.

" Name?," The man repeated.

Max hesitated but then decided to answer the question, " Maxwell Renbell."

The man took out a clipboard and wrote that down. " Maxwell...Renbell. You're interesting. We haven't had one of you kids in a year."

He took something out of a desk drawer and put it on Max's wrist.

" That is to stop you from using your powers. Though, since you're a danger it may not work entirely well. It'll definitely stop you from blowing things up so you'll be fine," he continued. " Dangers are the second most dangerous group of Hybrids above the safes, but behind the threats."

Max started fidgeting with his wrist binds but out of curiosity asked, " W-What are the threats?"

" Oh no, we don't talk about them," the doctor shook his head. " They're our friends downstairs. Aside from that your new name is twenty three. You aren't allowed to share your real name with the other kids here."

The "doctor" unstraped the binds and Max immediately sat up. It looked like he was in a regular hospital room. Maybe he got into an accident and ended up here. Was this a hospital for kids who were mentally insane? The metal thing on his wrist really hurt. It felt like he had been stabbed, and there was no way he could take it off himself. He already tried.

The man gave him a black shirt and black pants. After that he called to someone, " He's ready." A man in a brown uniform with a big rifle in his hands. He didn't talk but he motioned Max to come. As they were walking down the hall Max thought about what had happened the night before. His memory was still a bit fuzzy but he knew it wasn't good because he could still feel the pain from his bruises. Someone had wrapped his knuckles in gauze while he was out of consciousness. He was taken into a room so he could change into the clothes he was given. He had bruises almost all over his torso so it hurt to stretch out his stomach and arms. The fabric was uncomfortable so he had to fidget around with it.

When he was finished the big guard man led him to a big elevator and pressed the button that read B3. The elevator came to a stop and the door opened leading down a straight hall. Down the hall there was a large metal door. When they walked down and reached the door Max could hear yelling from inside but as soon as the guard opened the door it was quiet. There were six kids. Three boys and Three girls. One of the girls had short hair with the tips white. Another had messy black hair in a bun while the other had long brown hair. One of the boys in the room looked about his age while one looked older and another looked a lot younger.

The guard shoved Max inside and shut the door. The rest of the kids stared at him. Max stood there shaking with a weird smile on his face while he looked at them. After a few more seconds he turned around and faced the door so he wouldn't have to look at them. The older boy stood up and walked towards Max.

" How you doin' newbie?," the boy questioned. " Not gonna say 'hi' or at least give a lil' nod, eh?"

" How tall is he, Noah?," the younger boy asked.

The older boy put his hand on Max's head, " I would say 'bout 5'9."

"Must be fifteen," the girl with short hair commented.

" You can't just assume his age by height, blossom," the boy named Noah said. " He can very well be an eleven year old who's just very tall. Trust me I've seen one."

" I said not to call me that," the girl growled.

Noah started circling Max studying him. Max was confused. He wondered why they were using real names instead of numbers. When Noah finished he wrapped his arm around Max's shoulder and pointed his index finger at him.

" What's your name kid?," he asked. " You look like an Aiden or an Eden."

Max thought about this. These kids were using what might have been their real names, but the doctor told him his new name was Twenty Three.

Max removed Noah's arm from his shoulder, " I-I guess my name is Twenty three and I'm fifteen, turning sixteen." He said this quietly.

" I'm talkin' 'bout your real name, dummy."

" Then...I guess my name is Maxwell," Max answered.

The girl with the messy black hair stood up, " My name's Nora!"

" Mine is Cora," The brown haired girl said.

The one with the white tips waved. " The names Alessia, call me 'Al' please."

The little boy stood, " My name is Amato! Call me To please. Also I'm Ten which makes me the youngest here, the most handsome, and intelligent."

The other boy was in the back messing with something as he ignored everyone else.

" That's Haruki in the back. He's fifteen like you," Al told Max. " He's probably messing with his fire again. Last time he burned my drawing of himself."

" Hey, Ten!," To called. " There's a new boy here!"

" Oh!," Haruki stood up. Max examined him. He had short brown hair and light brown eyes. He looked like a really nice person and he was probably an inch taller than Max.

Tenko walked over to Max, " Hey, what's your name-wait no let me guess...is it Alex. You look like an Alex. N-Not like I'm assumi-you know what?,to make this easier just tell me your name."

" My name is Maxwell," Max said once again.

" Nice to meet you Max, my name's Haruki," Haruki held out his hand. When Haruki did that a million things began to run through his mind like ' He called me Max' or ' Why does he want to shake my hand' and ' Why are all these other kids being so nice to me?' He definitely wasn't used to this. The only things he would expect people to do is give him the silent treatment or just call him disrespectful names. These kids were different.

Max's right hand was shaking but he reached out. His hand froze in place before it could reach Haruki's hand. Instead of waiting Haruki clasped his hand onto Max's. Haruki's hands were warm. This boy made Max feel something he's never felt before.

" Why's this Max kid so tense? Relax, dude!," Nora said. " We're all friends here. Though it's more like a family you'll never have."

" She's right," Haruki agreed. " This place may be a prison but I'm kinda glad I ended up here. And I just remembered; it's story time."

To shot up, " Everytime a new kid comes in we sit and talk about our lives before we got here and how we got here if we remember! We also get to share our powers."

The six kids sat down in a circle.

" I volunteer to go first," Noah said. " My name is Noah Fretz. I am originally from Hollywood, but I've been here for the past five years. I'm currently seventeen years old but I'm turning eighteen on December thirteenth. With my power I can surround my body with any mineral or ore I want. Oh and Five years ago there was a car accident. Me and my past family were driving up Mount Lemmon. For some reason my powers decided to show up at that moment. The mountain started to shake and rocks came down from the top. Since I'm kind of like a rock magnet one of the big boulder sized rocks slammed into the side of the car leaving me unconscious since it hit the right side of the car." Noah paused for a minute but then continued talking. " I'm sure my mom died instantly and my dad was struggling to get the car's movement under control but the car ended up falling off the cliff. Luckily, the rocks were there to protect me so I'm all good now. I used to play basketball in elementary and middle school, but now I only get to practice when there's yard time."

Nora went next. " My name is Nora Davis. I'm from Henderson. I just turned fifteen years old. With my power I can summon and control water. I do not know how I got here or my past life. I must've hit my head or something. I've been here for a year. I like drawing and anime I guess."

He jumped up and pointed his thumb at his chest. " My name is Amato Guser! I'm from New York but my family moved to California. During school one day we were outside in the yard playing tag. I was it so when I tried touching this one kid my legs jolted forward like "ZOOM!" and the kid was across the yard in less than five seconds. This happened a couple of more times until my parents had me go to a doctor. The doctor said I had to stay at the hospital but I was moved here two days later. I think I've been here for maybe three months."

" My name is Cora Angelos. My birthday is January eighteenth and I'm fourteen. I've been here for a year. Came in the day after Nora. I have a little brother. Besides him and my parents I don't know anything about my home, any people or what I'm into."

Max thought about all these responses. He guesses that memory loss from these incidents were common when the incidents occurred. Last to share was Haruki.

" Hi, my name's Haruki Day," Haruki said. "Some of my ancestors were Japanese so that's why I have a Japanese name. My name means Spring, Tree, Clear. If you think of the last word it connects to my last name. I've lived in California for thirteen years. The other years of my life I spent in Japan. I don't remember my father quite well since his memories are fuzzy. My birthday is March sixteenth. I'm sixteen years old. I've always wanted to be a singer. When I was performing last year at my highschool. Towards the end My throat started hurting and fire came out. Like To, I got sent to the doctor and they took me away so I've been here a year. That means I have fire powers."

Max could have sworn he heard the name Haruki before. Then it finally clicked.

" You were that shy kid from last year!," Max said but he immediately covered his mouth.

" You know me?," Haruki questioned.

Max removed his hand from his mouth, " If you're talking about the Haruki from Great Lake high then yeah I know you. That's my school. I actually heard you perform. I-I thought it was really good."

Haruki smiled, " Thanks! Though it's a shame I don't know who you are."

"I didn't talk to anyone," Max admitted. " Anyways, my birthday's July eighth. And I don't know what my powers are. I got into an argument with my dad and kind of lost control. My house then blew up. Before that things in the room were rising off of their places and crashing down onto the floor. That's all I remember. I wasn't damaged or anything by the explosion. Something else that day hap-nevermind."

" Come on tell us the rest, Max," Noah said.

" Yeah," Al agreed.

Max didn't know if he could trust these kids yet so he stayed silent.

" Listen here, Max," Noah pointed at Max. " The reason you're here is 'cause you're some freak of nature. Nobody wants you around 'em. Nobody trusts you and you can't trust anybody else. I'm not forcing you but I just wanna say. You can trust us because we can relate to what you've been through. The six of us are family, Max." Noah's voice softened at the word "Family".

Max felt a big lump at his throat which made it hurt. His eyes started getting watery and he felt this hot feeling in his face. For some reason his chest didn't ache. Max knew that whenever people cried a lot of the times it was because there was always a pinch of sadness or a crack in their heart. He didn't remember the last time he cried. The feeling he felt right now was happiness and relief. He wanted to stop the tears from coming down his face but couldn't. Suddenly, weird noises started coming out of his mouth. It sounded like whimpering. Before he knew it he was sobbing. Max didn't like the feeling and he didn't know how long it would last.