[I] “Get yer arse up, boy.” [/i]

  Arrow's eyes flew open at the sound of his father's drunken, slurred speech.  The room was dark and silent, and it took him a few long seconds to remember where he was.  His hands clenched the edges of the mattress and his heart hammered against the inside of his ribcage.  He sat up slowly, squinting into the darkness.  Across the room he could see the dark shape of his roommate on the other bed, so he must still be in his room.  It was not uncommon for someone to come and collect him just before wake-up, so it might have been the first time he actually woke up there.

  His hair stuck to his sweaty forehead, and he brushed it back, using his fingers like a comb.  Was it hot? He was probably just from the nightmares.  He pulled his white tee shirt off and tossed it to the foot of his bed, then flopped back onto his pillow.  What time was it?  There was no way to tell, because there wasn't a clock or a window in the room.  In fact, he hadn't noticed much more then the two beds.  Each of them had a small night table with a single drawer.  He rolled over and opened his, but it was empty.  

  He laid there for what felt like hours.  He drifted in and out of sleep, but not really enough to actually feel rested.  Just when he thought he would go crazy from waiting, the lights came on in the room.  He groaned and covered his face as the sterile white light filled his vision.  Just as he started to regain his sight a nurse walked in the room.  She didn't say anything, but handed him a little plastic cup with a few pills in it, as well as a bottle of water.  She smiled ever so slightly at him, maybe amused by his extreme bed-head, then set a clean set of clothes on his table and left.

  He eyed the cup of pills suspiciously before setting it down on the table.  He wasn't going to take those nasty thing willingly.  Besides, it had always been the injections before.  Why would they suddenly switch to pills?  Maybe because of the biting incident?  Either way, he didn't trust them.

  He wasn't sure what they were supposed to do after the lights came on.  Perhaps he was supposed to go find breakfast or something, but he had no idea where it would be.  So, instead he sat on the bed and leaned against the wall, eventually dozing off again.