It was three days before I saw any of the twelve boys.  I was beginning to fret, wondering if they were only here temporarily and I’d never get my questions answered.  As usual, though, all of my panicking was for nothing. When it was time for my scheduled period in the recreation room, there they were - or at least half of them, anyway.

My eyes desperately scanned the room, hoping to meet those of the mysterious number 12 boy. Ignoring the faces and numbers of those I had already met, I counted six new people. Number 12 wasn’t one of them. While I was disappointed that he wasn’t present, one little setback would not prevent me from seeking answers.

I decided to observe the six of the boys whose brains’ I had access to for a little while before attempting to confront any of them. After sitting down in an arm chair with a book from the facility’s tiny collection, I took a look around the room thoroughly, yet discreetly. It was a pretty pathetic recreation room, with a couple of arcade games, random furniture, some board games and a few books. There wasn’t even a television or radio.

Three of the members were sitting on one of the sofa. The tallest, number 00, was reading a book whilst the other two, numbers 21 and 99, chatted quietly to each other. Number 68 was in the armchair next to the sofa and seemed too concentrated on his watch to notice anything else. I immediately ruled out talking to any of them, as they were in a group. Although approaching a big group might look more normal, I would rather talk to one of them alone, which left numbers 07 and 10.  

Number 10 was playing one of the arcade machines while the final member, Number 07, sat alone at a table twirling a pen. I glanced between the two, trying to come to a decision of who to talk to. Out of the corner of my eye, I thought I saw 07 twirling the pen in front of him without touching it. When I shifted my gaze from 10 to him, however, the pen was being twirled by his fingers. I brushed off what I’d seen as a minor hallucination due to lack of sleep and decided to talk to him, as number 10 seemed far too busy playing his game.

I quietly made my way towards the table as to avoid drawing attention to myself and sat down opposite number 07. He didn’t seem to pay any notice to me and so I opened up the book again, pretending to read it. Every so often, I peeked up at the boy in front of me and silently observed. He had a baby face, which made it quite difficult to estimate his age, and his dark eyes refused to focus on anything but the pen. There were dark circles under his eyes, probably from sleep deprivation. It didn’t surprise me - I still don’t sleep enough despite being here for months.

He yawned all of a sudden and mumbled under his breath, “I wish I was still in bed”. Without thinking or shifting my eyes from the novel in front of me I replied to the boy, expressing my similar emotions about early mornings. It was a couple of moments before I realised what I’d done and when I looked up, Number 07 was staring straight at me. I pretended not to notice but he wouldn’t stop. What was I supposed to say to him? That I was being a creepy stalker and wanted to know his whole life story?

Luckily, no explanation was required on my behalf, as he restarted the conversation for me. “Good to know I’m not the only one who feels that way. Why do they make us use the rec room so early?” I sighed with relief - maybe this wasn’t going to be so awkward after all.

“I don’t know, honestly. My schedule is so random the time slot changes for me everyday. Are you always here in the morning?” I queried and was answered with a nod. That would explain why I hadn’t seen these boys for three days.

Number 07 seemed to be mentally comparing what little he knew of our schedules. Seconds later he snapped back to reality when he remembered something else. “Oh! How rude of me, I didn’t introduce myself! I’m Luhan, nice to meet you.”

I gulped. How was I supposed to introduce myself if I couldn’t remember my name? I glanced nervously around the room. The women in red and white were watching us from their positions beside the door. “Nice to meet you Luhan,”

Luhan could tell that there was something wrong when I paused mid-sentence. He gave me a puzzled yet sympathetic look, which encouraged me to not give him false information. “I’m number 53.” He almost fell off his chair in shock.

“You mean you don’t have a name? Or you don’t remember?” he exclaimed loudly. I shushed him, desperate not to get in any sort of trouble. I vaguely explained that I did have one, but I had lost part of my memory. That was the only way to describe my background  without giving Luhan an impression that I was totally insane.

To change the subject, I asked Luhan why he was in the facility. He claimed that he didn’t know why, it had just happened out of the blue when he met up with the rest of his “gang”.  One by one he pointed them out to me, so I could attach faces and names to the numbers. The tallest member was Kris, number 00. Numbers 99 and 21, the two sofa chatters, were Xiumin and Chen. The watch-obsessed male’s name was Tao, whose identification number was 68. Which left number 10 to be identified by Luhan as his gaming partner, Lay.

Our casual chat did not continue for long, as it was brought abruptly to a halt when Luhan and his friends’ time in the rec room came to an end. The six boys were being approached by the women with the red visors. Before one could reach us, Luhan and I said our goodbyes and I moved to ensure we didn’t get caught talking to each other. I occupied the seat on the sofa which had been left as Xiumin and Chen departed.

Kris was still sitting at the opposite end of the sofa, waiting for the women to reach him. Right before one approached, he leaned over and whispered in my ear, “If you see Number 01 or the giant with flaming red hair, let them know you’ve been speaking with the deer.” I didn’t quite understand what he was saying, but as the woman was now near I simply nodded in response. Kris smiled and stood up, leaving me puzzled and pondering why I had to let the other six boys know I’d met Luhan and the others.

***