Eleanor still remembered that first day so clearly even if three years had passed.

Now 13 she would still revisit the memory just to remind herself of why she must be polite and obedient. And never, ever fuck something up.

The alarm of her wrist watch had gone off when it was still dark. At first she was even unsure as to what the shrill beeping was that jostled her from her restless sleep only to quickly remember it was telling her she had half an hour to get to the bus stop. The adolescent flew like a bat out of hell through the dim early morning, she still wasn’t sure what ’half an hour’ really meant and the span of time it encompassed so she didn’t waste a moment.  Though other nonhumans were milling about along her route they seemed uninterested in her, much to her relief, and she made it to her bus stop without incident. Puffing and gasping loudly she took a seat on some rotten timber to catch her breath, head feeling a bit dizzy from the huge exertion she’d made and from lack of food; she’d missed dinner last night and there’d be no breakfast this morning.

After her breathing returned to normal she began to take in the scenery, nothing of real consequence or interest was around her so she looked at the watch strapped around her wrist, it read “7:02 am.” Linda had forgotten to tell her precisely when the bus came so she sat and clicked nervously, wondering if she’d missed it already; what a horrible first day at her job that would have been. But soon another nonhuman came and sat on the ground not far from her, he seemed rather indifferent to her presence. They traded quick, mismatched glances before he clicked bluntly, “Bus?”

She felt an awkwardness twist her insides since her interactive skills were still not the best but she nodded quickly, keeping her gaze away from him, “< Yes. You too? >”

“< Yes. Just wondering since I haven’t seen you before and I’m usually the first one here. >” he replied, scratching his neck with a dull expression, “< First day? >”

Eleanor nodded again, “Yeah.”

“< I’d welcome you but it’s nothing to celebrate. The first day’s always the worst with Holstein. >”

“< Why... do you say that? >”

“< Because he feels like he’s gotta show you who’s boss. >”

The adolescent didn’t understand then what he meant, but later that day she would. No further words were traded between the two, Eleanor did not feel the want to further speak to him and he seemed to feel the same about speaking to her, so they sat in silence. More came and milled about with one another before the bus finally arrived at 7:30, no others taking an interest in Eleanor. The bus was a claustrophobic ride for the umber prawn, she’d never been so close to others only to Louis and that was under different circumstances, but here she was surrounded by strangers and they were all older and bigger than her. Throughout the whole ride she was gripped with fear at the thought of being trapped in this thing with all these others and she was completely unable to keep her body from shaking slightly, something that before now she had never experienced. However it was the only way to release her anxiety other than fleeing, which obviously wasn’t an option.

When they arrived she followed timidly at the back of the group, completely uncertain what she should be doing. “Hey! You Meyers?”

The gruff human voice startled her and she squeaked as she turned obediently to the source. It was owned by a man just a foot or so taller than her, his hair and eyes were dark brown while his skin was pale like Linda’s, though he didn’t have the same feel to him at all. He held a clipboard in his hand and scrutinized her with a look that could only be described as blatant disgust. “< Y-yes, I’m Eleanor Meyer, >” she said quietly as fingers fidgeted nervously, correcting him gently since, after all, it was the only name she’d ever had so it should be said correctly.

“I don’t care what your first name is, prawn,” the man said, writing something on the clipboard then turning his attention back to her, nose wrinkling, “I’m Mr. Holstein, or ‘Sir,’ I’m the supervisor here and the first rule you should know right off is that when I tell you to do something you better fucking do it. Got it?” A quick, frightened nod was all she could manage in response, “Good. ANDERSON!”

His sudden bellow (addressing another nonhuman) startled her once again and caused her to flinch away. Everything about this man was frightening even though he had no weapons, just the way he carried himself and that he basically ruled this place made Eleanor uneasy. Well, these facts and that she did not want to fail Linda or Mr. Albert also drove her uneasiness; they’d gotten her to this point, especially Linda and all the ‘paperwork’ she’d done. She couldn’t do a bad job, it wasn’t an option.

The individual known as Anderson had come over now, he was even taller than Mr. Albert and a tad more bulky and he was colored a dark black-brown with dirty orange markings speckled across his body. He looked about as disgruntled as Mr. Holstein and though he towered over the man he seemed wary and unhappy to stand near him, “< Yes, Sir? >” he grumbled, though voice was disdainful there was a certain level of respect, if given only by necessity.

“This is the new packer, Meyer, teach her what she needs to know before lunch. If she messes up after that I’ll beat the shit out of both of you,” Mr. Holstein said sternly, jabbing a finger towards the larger creature though taking careful effort not to touch him. Had this been under other circumstance Eleanor may have found it humorous, but she was far too unnerved by the man.

After saying this Mr. Holstein turned and went to address some of the other employees, when he was out of earshot Anderson emitted a low growl and his eyes followed the human with a glare darkened by obvious hatred. “< Alright, and while you’re at it why don’t you just go fuck yourself, Sir? >” he hissed bitterly, throat clearly tightening and hands fisting at his sides.

The femme shied from him as he turned his angry orange eyes to her now, “< Quit cowering, I’m not going to hurt you, >” he grunted, voice softened greatly from the utterance moments before but still rough, “< We take care of each other here since no one else will. But don’t think that means I’ll carry you, gotta pull your weight like everyone else after today. Alright? >”

Eleanor nodded quickly, face still pressed with worry.

“< Come on, say something already, kid. What’s your first name? >”

“Eleanor...” she buzzed meekly, “< I’m sorry, it’s just my first job. I’m nervous and... >”

“< I don’t doubt that for a second, >” Anderson said, waving for her to follow as he began walking towards a conveyor belt that some other nonhumans were already sitting at, “< You’re way too young to be working, far as I’m concerned. Shouldn’t you still be in school? >”

“< Um... well- >”

He suddenly raised a hand to stop her speech, “< Sorry, I shouldn’t have asked, we really can’t sit here and flap our jaws or the boss will get his balls in a knot, >” there was a resurgence of that disdain from before with these words, “< We can talk at lunch if you really want to tell me everything, for now I need to show you how to pack these boxes properly. >”

They were standing at a counter which jutted at a right angle from the conveyor belt, underneath this counter was a pile of flattened cardboard boxes from which Anderson took the top one. He opened it and placed it on the counter, “< Get a box, >” There was a bin of hollowed out, v-shaped Styrofoam bits along the edge of the counter, “< Take two of these, >” he picked up two, “< And put them over the parts on this belt, >” With that he picked up a part and fitted the Styrofoam over it in one quick motion then placed it in the box.

“< You want to put the parts in so that they don’t rattle around or get damaged during shipping, >” as he said this he fitted 4 more parts and placed them in the box, showing her how they should line the bottom, “< You got all that Eleanor? >”

Her jaws clicked nervously, “< It’s not that hard... I think I can do it. >”

“< Of course you can. Now finish up this box and I’ll make sure you pack everything right. >”

The rest of that morning was spent with Anderson, being mentored on how the Styrofoam should fit and the proper packing method. This wasn’t so bad, Anderson was a little grumpy but he was nice to her, his occasional curtness even helped her to feel more motivation to do well, maybe she could get him to smile and be proud of her like Mr. Albert? When the lunch whistle blew she followed him like a puppy, mimicking his behavior so she was sure she would do nothing wrong. He seemed mildly annoyed by this but at the same time she could see it amused him as well, easy to see by the faintest of faint smiles that came to his face when he asked if she’d be his shadow back in the District too.

In the non-human cafeteria, situated away from where the human workers were having lunch, they were given a ration of raw meat and uncomfortable metal tables to sit at. Seeing Eleanor’s discomfort at the other aliens in the room Anderson made sure to find a seat for himself away from the others knowing the brown femme would follow. He sat down quietly and began eating quickly while his shadow sat as well and began mimicking his speed. “< You don’t look as fat as me, you’ll make yourself sick eating that fast, >” he commented, pausing from his ration for only a moment.

Eleanor’s inquisitive eyes searched his gruff face before she nodded slowly, “< I just thought that was how we were supposed to eat... >” she stated, flutters of embarrassment tickling her insides.

Anderson snorted and returned to his food, finishing it quickly, while Eleanor downed hers more slowly now, eyes flicking to him every few seconds. He was a curious individual, it was hard to tell if he liked her or not, and if he didn’t like her she now found a new feeling swelling in her. It was an honest worry of his opinions if he didn’t like her; so far she hadn’t ever been close enough to care about how others felt about her and all those that she now cared for (all two of them) had liked her thus far. Anderson was a new curiosity, a new kind of someone, not an enemy or one to fear but not quite a friend and one to smile and be completely at ease with like Linda and Mr. Albert. With this odd new relationship came the challenge of overcoming it, a challenge that both intimidated the young femme as well as made her mind buzz with excitement, if only slightly.

“< Do you still want to tell me why you’re here and not in school? >” Anderson clicked lazily after catching one of her fleeting glances, he seemed only half interested in actually hearing the story and if Eleanor was better at reading others she may have noticed it was a mask covering his true curiosity. He was a crotchety creature by nature but he wasn’t heartless and seeing how the younger creature had attached to him he resolved to be somewhat kind.

As Eleanor finished her last pieces of meat she looked at him shyly, wondering why he would ask if he did not want to know. He was so confusing. “< Um, well if you want... >” she muttered.

“< Wouldn’t ask if I didn’t, >” he responded bluntly, scratching lightly at his chest and continuing to attempt to avoid an over enthused demeanor.

So she told him: of how she had never had a name so when MNU found her they took her to headquarters and gave her one, how they had tried to teach her but she didn’t learn fast enough so they had to send her away, how they gave her a home and a job so she could have a purpose like she never had before. “< They’ve been very nice to me, >” she said, running a finger along her bright skirt and gazing at the fabric fondly.

“< I have trouble believing that, >” Anderson grunted, a look of displeasure on his face, “< You were born on this planet, kid, and I pity you for that. You don’t know no better. We may not have had a perfect life back on the homeworld but at least we were all the same. The jobs we had fit us. Here we’re unwanted, a nuisance. They like to say a bunch of pretty words and think they’re helping us with these jobs but we weren’t meant for them. They don’t fulfill a single bit of what we are. No matter what, no matter how hard we work here, we’ll all end up going insane... >”

As his words grew wistful Eleanor could see him remembering something from long ago, that far off gaze of longing. She’d felt it and done it, even if she had never seen her own face while it happened she knew that look. Now her own curiosity, not as easily hidden as the larger alien’s, began to flare up; her eyes danced as she locked on his face, bubbling questions of this mysterious homeworld he seemed to miss so much.

Before he could notice her wide, wanting eyes and before she could muster a coherent question the screeching of the bell signaling an end to their lunch period blared overhead. The umber femme flinched, startled by sudden sound, and unthinking grabbed onto the arm of her protector.

“< What?! What- yer fine, kid! It’s just the bell to get back to work, >” he rasped, uncertain as to if he should pull away or soothe her and as a result was stuck in an unnatural, stiff position looking like he might fall over off his seat.

“< Oh- I- Sorry! >” she chirped, releasing his arm and body growing warm with embarrassment, it had all been a reflex, she had meant no harm by it.

“< Yeah- Well... let’s go, >” Anderson muttered, a frown pressing on the plates of his face, however his eyes that sought anything but Eleanor were tinged with what could only be a growing warmth he wished to hide.



After lunch Eleanor was on her own, she packed her boxes slowly by comparison of the workers near her, worrying all the while she would make a mistake. In her peripheral vision she could from time to time see the dark shape of Anderson peering at her, taking time out of his own schedule (and dollars out of his pay) to keep an eye on the timid newcomer. With each box she filled another worker would seal it and take it away to be stored for shipping. At first their sudden appearance to do their own task startled her, as every new thing seemed to now, but this was before lunch when Anderson stood near to explain there was no need to worry. Now she only glanced at them as they came and went, occasionally one hovered near waiting for her to hurry up as she fumbled with a part and the Styrofoam that would hold it, antennae dancing with irritation at her slowness.

An hour had barely passed before her name was being shouted by the frightening man known as Holstein. “MEYER, wat de fok!?” he bellowed, waving his clipboard in the air as he stormed over to her station, “You’ve only filled two boxes so far, you’re nowhere near quota!”

“< I-I’m sorry, I’m trying to do it right, >” Eleanor protested, posture deflating submissively as she tried to escape the oppressive heat of his anger.

Mr. Holstein’s pale face was flushed red with unvented rage, “It’s not fucking hard, you stupid prawn!” he yelled, flinging his clipboard onto the ground with a clatter and causing Eleanor to flinch away, brown eyes widening as they darted between the clipboard and the human. The other workers pretended to ignore what was happening but their own body language clearly showed they were uneasy and their own eyes flicked from their work to the young femme being admonished.

“< I’m sorry, sir! I’ll go faster, >” Eleanor clicked desperately, pleading; if Mr. Holstein wasn’t happy then that means she failed Linda and Mr. Albert.

“You’re damn right, you will,” his tone was menacing as he reached into his back pocket and pulled out a short metal pipe. Eleanor had little time to even see the pipe before he raised it and swung it horizontally into the side of her head. As the metal made contact with cranium a white flash filled her vision and all she could hear was a crack then loud ringing.

The white of the hit had quickly shifted to black and she suddenly found herself on the floor, the metallic taste of blood in her mouth and liquid crawling across her face- more blood. She blinked, attempting to regain her sight, and made to lift her hand to her head, but her arms were heavier than she remembered. After some seconds the black began to clear slightly and she could see blurry shapes, one moved closer and there was a sudden pain in her chest. The kick knocked the window out of her and she choked, unable to draw in air; in that instant other than pain she felt the ice cold grip of terror. She was going to die. The blinding fear and the pain still shrieking in her head made her nearly unaware of the pipe now smashing one her arms. She had apparently rolled over and lifted her lead-heavy arms to block the attack. She could hear muffled cussing, felt a bone in her right forearm crack, then was faced with more kicks and the pipe slashing her legs, which seemed to move without her consent to try to push Holstein away.

This barrage lasted less than a minute before it suddenly stopped, but the damage was done. It took Eleanor another few seconds before her eyes cleared enough to see Anderson in Holstein’s place in the bleary world. She lifted her head gingerly, blinking hard, she could hear Anderson’s voice, heavy and hard to understand as her head was still swimming, but she saw him holding his foot on Holstein and keeping him on the ground as he click and sputtered at the human. He soon released him, roughly, and gave him a kick in the ribs before going to Eleanor. She felt his hands on her and the pain reawakened, flaring in her mind, however she was too weak and heavy to resist him. He lifted her up and cradled her to his chest, she didn’t understand in her sea of agony why he would or what would happen next. At that point the hurt in her body was too much and slipped once again into darkness.

When she awoke she was in a white room on a bed. Next to her sat a dark-skinned female human who was applying clear liquid to some cracks in the plates of her arm. It burned, but that slight hurt was nothing compared to the aching pain throughout her entire body, especially her head. She clicked, attempting to speak, but the effort was so great her tongue wouldn’t obey. The noise made the woman look up, however. “You’re awake!” she said, looking a little worried. She glanced at the door where an armed guard stood, he shifted slightly, tightening his grip on his gun.

“< I won’t be trouble... >” Eleanor muttered, shutting her eyes tight then blinking them open again, “< What happened? >”

“Holstein happened,” the female said, shaking her head unhappily, continuing to dab at El’s wounds, “I don’t know what’s wrong with that man, how does he expect you prawns to work if you’re beat up so bad?”

“< Anderson... saved me, >” El said, groggy, “< Where is he? >”

“Anderson? The prawn that brought you in? Oh goodness he’s lucky they didn’t send him straight to jail! But he got off easier since he was defending you and another floor supervisor attested to that. He’s fired now, probation, dangerous guy. Don’t go associating with him, ok? You’ll get in trouble too.”

Eleanor was too weak to respond. She lifted her right arm and found it in a cast that limited her movement. It still hurt deep inside, more than the rest of her body save her head, “< What... >” she started.

The woman saw where she was looking and spoke up quickly, “Ah! Broke your arm, there. Don’t go stressing it out, or fighting with it, you’ll just hurt it worse. We can take the cast off in a few weeks. I’ll tell you when,” she said with feigned sweetness, not like Linda, this woman was afraid and El could tell. “You’ve got a concussion too, be sure to take it easy.”

After she’d gotten bandaged up Eleanor sat up, but with her equilibrium still jostled she nearly fell over back onto the bed. As she recovered her ability to remain upright the woman told her about how Holstein had been reassigned after this incident, something less hands on with nonhumans. They’d get a new supervisor by tomorrow and Eleanor prayed it would not be a person like him.
Since she couldn’t function she was given the rest of the day off, what use would she be with a foggy head and being prone to falling over at any given time. She was given an MNU escort and transported back to the District. Everything happened so fast in her dim world and she was lucky her armed escort was not rough with her. In a flash, it seemed, she was out of the white room and back in her shack. She woke several hours later on the floor, curled into a ball in the corner. As she roused from her ‘bed’ she felt that light-headed, swimming she had before. For some reason, despite her head, she struggled to her feet and exited her home; it was as though she were drunk, the rationale to find blankets seemed logical at the moment. She sifted through some piles of garbage in the dusk and found what she needed. When she made it back home she made a nest of her blankets, though they smelled foul and were dirty, and slept the deepest and most quiet sleep she’d managed in many years. So deep she missed the alarm on her wrist-watch the next morning.

When she woke again it was noon. Her head was only slightly clearer and the though dull pain was still present. It ached to move but she was so starved she had to get food. Her shack had been nice and dark, outside she was nearly blinded by the sun until her eyes could adjust; at least her vision was clear again. As she walked through the District in the warm sun she remembered she was supposed to work today. She gently rubbed the swollen side of her face as tears came to her eyes, both from pain and shame. Linda would be disappointed, Mr. Albert too, she’d failed her first day and now her second. Stopping in her tracks a sob puffed out of her, her body shook as she attempted to contain her tears but it was no use; her head was throbbing and her body ached and on top of that she’d failed.

“< Hey. >” The suddenly utterance made her jump, her heart pounding in her chest as she looked towards the source, she was relieved to see it was Anderson.

“< How did you find me? >” she asked, still shaking and wiping the tears from her face.

“< I know people, >” Anderson said, shrugging, face pressing with the question, both with annoyance and nervousness, “< Doesn’t matter- you look like hell. You shouldn’t be just standing around crying. >” He looked around as he spoke and she realized on the fringes of the area around them there were nonhumans looking on curiously.

She felt his hand on her back, gentle, and they began walking together towards the meat stand. “< Defending you made me lose my job, >” he said without looking at her.

“< You didn’t hurt Mr. Holstein bad, did you? >” she asked, looking at him worriedly.

“< No, that bastard’ll be fine, he deserved a lot worse than a punch and a kick. But that was enough to call me dangerous and fire me. Just for protecting you! Fucking... >” Anderson hissed loudly, seething with palpable anger at the thought of humans and Eleanor shied from his hand at that. He looked at her apologetically, his hand falling to his side, “< Anyway, if you’re here you’re probably fired too. Tomorrow’s Sunday, you won’t even know for sure until Monday. >”

Eleanor rubbed her bruised face again at the thought, tears coming to her eyes again, “< I can’t be fired! This is the job Linda gave me, I can’t disappoint her! >”

“< I don’t know who that is but I bet she won’t lose any sleep over one prawn losing their job, >” he said bluntly. Eleanor realized he had a greater hatred for humans than she had encountered before, but what reference did she have really, when she’d barely talked to another nonhuman? Maybe they all hated humans...

She didn’t bother to answer, as they had arrived at the meat stand. They stood in line together for a few minutes before Eleanor realized she didn’t have any money, “< I can’t buy anything... >” she said, hands fidgeting as she looked at the ground, face tightening with sadness. She was so hungry but having learned right from wrong, having been calmed by her time with Linda and Mr. Albert, she couldn’t just steal food as she once had. She felt the blood thumping through her head as she thought about the food she wouldn’t be eating and the pain of her injuries seemed to flare again to her threshold of bearing them. She found her hand pressing lightly on the bruises on her face one more, though her eyes were clamped closed she felt tears threatening to come forth once more.

Anderson touched her on the shoulder, apparently trying to draw her out of the pit of disconnection she was spiraling into, she met his gaze and saw past the stony expression he usually wore to see his worry, “< Don’t worry about it... >” he said, holding up a few paper bills, “< I got that covered. >”

They each carried two chickens and Anderson had hoisted a cow’s head on his shoulder. El was dumb-struck by all the food and the fact that this other nonhuman had helped her so greatly. First by saving her from a greater beating and now by buying her food, suspicion was ever present, but she wanted desperately to believe that she had finally found another friend. When they made it back to her shack Anderson started a fire and they cooked three of the chickens. Eleanor found that talking to Anderson was like trying to talk to a rock, he was difficult, his answers were short and firm and every time she tried to ask about him he became visibly irritated, so she avoided that subject. When they had finished eating, he told her to be safe and go to work on Monday, “< Don’t assume you’re fired, maybe they didn’t replace that asshole with someone just as shitty. Maybe they understand you needed rest, >” his tone betrayed his doubt in that idea, but he was trying to be comforting best he could.

After he left, Eleanor returned to her dirty nest, belly full and feeling better, but still tired enough to sleep for a while yet. She had another day to sleep and heal and she hoped that would be enough to help her feel better by Monday. It would help if she wasn’t fired, too.