One and a Half

No one makes a sound for the rest of the ride. Not even a cough or sneeze.

Once the hovercraft lands, We are herded into a massive concrete structure called the MTC (Military Training Center) We are told to buy an apartment room and pretend that nothing happened. Everyone was on their way here anyway, so no one is in the wrong place.

 We then enter through two glass doors.

The air was warm and dry inside. We walk into an open lobby, with ceilings higher than the eye can see, and countless apartment rooms lining the sides. 

We form a line behind a counter with a short, plump woman behind it. 

Once it was my turn. I pull out my five-dollar bill and hand it to the woman.

"That's all you have?" She spits.

"N-no, I have this," I pull out a green credit card and give it to her. She swipes the card in a contraption next to her computer screen. 

"Well, there's only 46.98 dollars on this, and that just won't pay for your room."

"W-what?" A cold chill runs down my spine.

 "You're holding up the line." The woman waves me away with her hand. 

I walk over to a black couch and sit. I pull out my five-dollar bill and stare at it. How am I supposed to join the military if I can't even find a real place to sleep?

"Let me guess, you don't have the money to get a room." 

I look up and into Xander's white glowing eyes.

"Yeah." I sigh. "Wait, how'd you know?"

"You're homeless and was sitting here, staring at a five-dollar bill with the saddest expression I've ever seen." He holds out his hand. "C'mon, I've got room in mine. You can stay there." 

I stare at his hand for a few seconds before taking it. Xander pulls me up and leads me into an elevator behind the counter. 

"What's the S Squad?" I blurt right after the doors of the elevator close.

"Oh, well, it's a small group of the most talented soldiers in the army. We are given the power of The Crystalis, and we do special missions for Queen Eros."

"The Crystalis?"

"I'll tell you everything when we get to my room."

The doors open and we walk out into a large hallway, with windows for ceilings and numbered, wooden doors lining the sides. Xander leads me down and turns at the room number "325". He pulls out a key and unlocks the door. He motions for me to go in.  

I walk into a large living room with a semicircle of couches in the middle of it, and a flat-screen TV on the far wall.  

On the left wall, there is an opening that goes into a kitchen, which opens into a dining room.

Parallel to the kitchen is the hallway, with three bedrooms extending from the walls. Two of which have their own private bathroom. 

Xander leads me into a large, white bedroom with a huge bed in the middle of it. 

"This will be your room," He says. 

I stare at the blue blanket on the bed. Tears begin to fill my eyes, blurring my vision. 

"I haven't slept in a bed for over a year," I say. 

We just stand there in silence. It feels as though the world has finally stopped and looked at me like I'm a human and not some filthy animal. 

"You know what would make you feel better?" Xander opens the door that leads to the bathroom. "A nice, warm shower."

I smile. "That would be nice."

I look at the bathroom and back at Xander.

"Thank you," I say.

"Of course," Xander smiles with perfect, white teeth.  He's cute when he smiles. 

I walk into the bathroom and close the door and lock it. I stare at the bathtub in the back of the small room for a second before undressing and stepping into the warm water flowing from the showerhead. 

I forgot how much I loved the sensation of hot water running down my back, cleaning the dirt and sweat as it goes. 

I grab the body wash and scrub the dirt from my skin, and fingernails. Then scrubbed my long, brown hair with strong-smelling shampoo. 

Once I was out of the shower and dried. I look at myself in the mirror. I looked like a completely different person, with skin that wasn't tinted tar-black, and hair that wasn't knotted and ugly. 

I walk out to find a pile of clothes with a note on it. 

"So you don't have to wear those nasty clothes of yours again."

I put on the T-shirt and the pair of jeans that were under the note and walked out of my room.

The smell of bacon and pancakes fill my nose the moment I walk out. My stomach growls loudly when I walk into the kitchen and find Xander cooking pancakes with bacon already on the table. He turns to me and looks into my eyes. The white glow in his eyes seemed to sparkle in the light. 

"Wow, you look...different," He says without looking away from my eyes. I grin.

"This will be ready in like five minutes," Xander says. "Why don't you have a look around `the apartment, to get a good sense of where you are."

I nod and begin down the hallway. I walk into a large room with dark blue walls. There was stuff all over the nightstand, so I guessed it was Xander's room. 

Something was hanging out of the drawer in the nightstand. I know I shouldn't be going through his stuff, but something pulls me towards it. I walk over and pull it out. 

I immediately recognized the rainbow flag. Xander was gay too.