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“Beta! Wake up wake up wake up wake up wake up!” Hershey jumped on top of Beta and he groaned loudly. The sun was shining in his eyes and he squinted. “Beta, you need to wake up now!”

Beta yawned and opened his eyes a little wider, but once he saw what was around him, they opened completely.

He was surrounded by white walls.

Beta popped up in bed and turned to look at Matrix and Hershey. They were dressed like they had just come out of a men’s Vogue magazine photoshoot. They were both wearing white button-up shirts and a red and white bow tie with clean blue jeans. Hershey wore a simple black vest over his, all buttoned up and ready to go, but Matrix sat on the other bed with his bow tie untied and half his shirt unbuttoned. He leaned back on the bed carrying a face that was 100% done. Hershey, on the contrary, just looked uncomfortable and confused despite how well he wore a suit.

Beta looked around the room hastily, in awe at the décor that was too dark to notice the night before. The walls were a pure color of white, not a scuff in sight. The room definitely seemed bigger before, but in the gaze of morning he could see it was much smaller. There weren’t, in fact, four beds but just three and a blue pastel-colored sofa pressed against the wall. There were three windows in the room, one between each bed, and they were all open. The curtains hanging from the rods were aqua-colored as they flapped at the mercy of the early morning breeze. The lamp they had broken was swept up from the hardwood floor and replaced with a much nicer one, one where the base of the lamp was a statue of a mermaid sitting on a rock. As Beta turned to look at the adjacent lamp on the other side of the room, he realized that it was the same design, almost as if they planned for the 1st one to get broken. The two beds that his friends had laid upon were made up neatly without a pillow out of place. And, of course, all the sheets and pillows were white, bringing a great contrast to the smooth wood base of the bed frames. The place was elegant for Beta to say the least, and in a way reminded him of Plato’s mansions only lighter, fluffier, and…prettier. Beta thought about his earlier depiction of brown walls, and right about now he just felt stupid.

Beta’s mouth was still slightly ajar when Matrix sighed like he was about fifty pounds heavier and said, “I have a feeling I’m not gonna like this.” And as he said it, the door swung open.

A lady in a tan, tight dress with her hair up in a bun, wrinkly features though she tried to cover it up, heels, and red lipstick walked into the room. Beta looked up at her, feeling wildly underdressed in his sweats and morning hair.

And there it was, the moment’s twitch of confusion—seeing two grown-ups when expecting three teens—and then Beta’s mere gaze made it all melt away. Matrix wondered what would have happened if she set her eyes upon Matrix before setting them on Beta’s trap.

“I’m so happy you three are okay,” she said, her voice oddly calming. “Derek told me you came all the way from Utah.”

Matrix shot a glare at Hershey and Hershey glared back. “My husband and I will take care of you. Here sweetheart.” The lady went over to Beta’s bed and handed him—folded neatly—the same clothes she gave to the others and he took them cautiously. “Um…thanks. So, I thought this was a foster home,” Beta inquired.

“This is.”

“So why is it so—”

“Glorious! Magnificent!” The lady made big gestures to the room and it made Beta a little uncomfortable. “Well, who says all foster homes have to be so dull and dreary.” The woman snorted and let out a wholesome laugh, causing Matrix to glance over at Beta and Hershey in a comical manner. “Oh! And I’m Ingrid.” She greeted them all and no one said a word. She clapped to fill the silence. “Now! You better get dressed! Breakfast is in ten and I can’t wait for you to meet the family!” Ingrid walked out of the room in a hurry, leaving the boys confused and a tad bit intimidated. Beta exhaled sharply, feeling light-headed after the encounter.

“Yep,” Matrix exaggerated once she left. He smiled brightly at them. “Welcome to the family.”

Ten minutes later, the three boys walked out into the hallway. It was long with even paler walls, if such was possible. There were rooms on every corner and many children and teens were rushing out of them. Some socializing, some keeping to themselves. Either way it was intimidating, but all in all, they tried their best to bleed in.

“I’m telling you guys, something is always wrong with the rich foster homes, always,” Beta argued as they went down the hall. “I have never been in a sane house like this.”

“He’s not wrong,” Hershey muttered, recalling his own childhood. “The rich live different lives.”

Once they got down the long flight of stairs, they witnessed the dining room. It was huger than huge. The floor was covered with green marble. The walls were not as white but more of a light, light green. A chandelier hung from the high ceiling over the long and wide dining table that was covered with red and white fabric, knives, forks, spoons, plates, and food. The chandelier let out quick sparks of twinkle before disappearing, swaying as the air conditioning hit. Even the chairs looked specially made.

And to top it all off for Hershey, the room smelled of Jade Vines.

He grew up on Jade Vines.

“Alright now gather around! Gather around everyone!” Ingrid cried out, ushering everyone forward. Caught in the crowd, Beta got split up from the group. Hershey tried to go out and find him but he ended up getting lost as well. They all ended up standing in front of a seat cornered by total strangers.

“Join hands,” Derek, Ingrid’s husband, announced calmly as he grabbed Ingrid’s hand along with the small girl’s hand next to him. Matrix looked at the small boy standing beside him curiously holding out his hand. Matrix rolled his eyes and grabbed it firmly, maybe a bit too firmly. Hershey kindly took both of the hands of the two girls next to him, feeling forced to do so. Beta cautiously took the hand of the taller girl and the taller guy on both sides of him. Touching them was difficult, more difficult than it should have been. They all bowed their heads and closed their eyes as Ingrid began to say grace.

“Thank you God for the food that we are receiving, may it be nurturing to our bodies. And thank you God for blessing us with two more foster kids in need of a good home.” Beta, Hershey, and Matrix all took a moment in their minds to gather what she had just said, confused. “Hershey and Beta.” Beta, Hershey, and Matrix all lifted their heads at the same time to look at each other. Everyone else’s heads were still down and Matrix lifted his eyebrow, offended but not sure why so much. “Strange names, yes, but I believe they are do-gooder—Oh dear! And Matrix too, of course.” Matrix rolled his eyes and nodded, expecting as much. Hershey just shrugged it off. “Amen.” They all bowed and then re-lifted their heads to play off their silent conversation. “Now, let’s eat.”

They let go of hands, and Beta felt a part of him let go when they did. He wasn’t sure why or what it was until they sat down to eat.

One of the girls, closer to Matrix, raised her hand. Derek gestured for her to speak. “Yes, Olivia?”

And as soon as she started, it all went downhill. Beta had unleashed something, something much larger than his other incidents…something disastrous.

The brunette child turned to the three boys and started to ask questions with no filter. “Why are your eyes so weird? You look like aliens.”

“Olivia! Don’t be rude!” Derek called out.

“What, it’s a legitimate question! If I’m being honest, that one makes me uncomfortable.” She pointed to Hershey. “I heard him earlier, and he started talking in this alien language at some point. It was weird!”

“I’m Korean—”

Hershey was ignored.

A boy with black hair and mascara on wore a frown as he spoke. “I’ll just say it, I think Jared’s having sex with Penelope.”

Jared choked on his food, looking flushed as Penelope hid her face. “Wh-what? No I’m not!”

“Nah dude it’s fine. We all want to sleep with Penelope.” The majority of kids at the table mumbled in agreement. “See?”

Another girl sitting next to Ingrid laughed aloud, all attention now on her. “Yeah…I’m failing all my classes.” Her face contorted with sadness. “I just want to be a bird and fly free.” She cried.

A girl put salt on her food as she spoke. “I’m suicidal and tried to kill myself yesterday, but no one came to help so I’m pretty sick and might need to go to the hospital. Thanks for asking guys.”

“Vanessa!” Ingrid barked.

Vanessa dropped her fork and opened her arms. “Who wants to kill me! Anyone!? Anyone!?”

One child raised his hand. “I might be a sociopath, and I genuinely kind of want to kill her, purely for research.”

Hershey dropped his fork and straightened up, suddenly feeling woozy.

“Trevor stop it or I’m sending you to your room!”

“Fuck you Ingrid!” the little boy retaliated, feeling bad immediately afterward. “Sorry, I’m sorry. That wasn’t how I should have gone about that.”

“Trevor!” Ingrid yelled back at the boy either way. “Where are you learning this language?”

“I hate all these damn kids,” Derek admitted, sipping his drink.

“I’m a lesbian!” A small girl about Hershey’s age yelled. The table finally grew silent. Hershey started to feel sicker and sicker, his face flushing of color.

Beta and Matrix were looking as the girl’s face turned red. Then they slowly turned their heads to each other with the same look on both of their faces.

What did we just walk into?

“…So homosexuality is on the table then?” the guy next to Matrix asked, and gave Matrix a quick but shy glance.

“I think I’m pregnant…” Another girl spoke out. “…I also want to sleep with Penelope too.”

Penelope dropped her fork. “Why me!?”

Ingrid sighed. “I’m only doing this for the prestige. I wish I was divorced.”

At this point, Hershey had thrown up all over the beautiful cloth several times and Beta had scooted far away from the table.

As he did so, he noticed something. He could just grasp a glimpse of long brown hair walking around the corner. Beta got even more suspicious, but before he could follow her, the shiny chandelier that hung from the ceiling fell down and landed smack down in the middle of the dining table. Everyone stopped talking as a few pieces of broken glass carved into the table.

But to no one’s luck except possibly the girl that got away’s, the arguments reheated and no one even looked at their meals. A girl across from Matrix bit her lip suggestively and, surprisingly, all Matrix did was stand up and walk back up the stairs.

Usually Beta didn’t mind much, but now he was wishing that Elias would do more to help Beta in these situations, being in his head in all. Because, quite seriously, there was no doubt in his mind that his powers had a part to play in the outbursts…

And that this was all his fault.