The Kids From Yesterday

Daydream continued to drive around in Zone 6 for a couple more hours. It wasn’t boring though, because there were fucking seven of us crammed into one convertible. It was just a little crowded. We slept, we joked, and once we even tried to play I Spy, but that ended quickly, because everyone’s always started with ‘I spy with my little eye something brown’. When Daydream finally started slowing down, we saw a big building in the distance.

“Ladies,” Daydream started.

“And gentleman…” Mark interrupted. Daydream rolled her eyes and R.J. reached back to thump him over the head, but he dodged it.

“Anyways, I present to you, Camp Sunshine!” Daydream announced in a cheesy voice as she pulled up to a warehouse.

“Is that really what you call this place?” I asked while looking around. It looked like anything but a summer camp.

“No…we don’t really have a name for it” Crush answered quietly. I nodded my head and continued to look around. It was something else.

The walls of the warehouse were covered in graffiti. Killjoys by the dozens were running around outside wrestling, shooting targets, spray painting, fixing cars. This was my kind of place.

“Wow…” Mark and I said in unison.

“Wows right bitches!” R.J. cheered as she and Crush jumped out of the car. Skizzy and I hopped out and ran after them while Mark helped Audrey.

“So what is this place?” I asked while looking around in awe.
“This my friend, is home” R.J. said as she pushed through the doors. Daydream walked in behind us and picked up a large piece of cardboard that had what looked like a map on it.

“Ok so we have one empty room so we’ll give that to the happy couple.” She said while nodding her head in Mark and Audrey’s direction. “So Python, you can bunk with R.J and since Crush already has a roommate, Skizzy you can bunk with…Two Shot!” Daydream finished with a nod of her head.

“I’ll show you guys our hall” Crush said leading the way. The place was huge. There were dozens of killjoys crawling around inside and dozens of rooms.

“So how many people stay here?” I asked looking around at everyone.

“Um…I don’t know the exact number…you’d have to ask Daydream…She and her friend, Jetsetter basically founded this place. They got a little help from these two other guys…I forget their names though...” Crush explained.

“Where’s Jetsetter?” Audrey asked.

“Oh she was ghosted a while ago… She and Daydream attempted to get this group of kids out of a BLI camp, and she uh…well she didn’t make it out…” Crush sighed.

“Shit…” Mark sighed.

“Well anyways, this is our hall.” Crush said while clapping her hands together. “This is my room, and my roommate, Night Hawk,” she continued while poking her head into the first room in the hallway.

“Sup?” Night Hawk asked.

“Newbies” Crush explained. Night Hawk nodded and went back to doing whatever she was doing before and we continued down the hallway. Crush then pointed to an empty room.

“Phantom, Sparrow, that rooms all yours, but please no more baby making” Crush giggled. Audrey blushed and Mark’s ears turned red as they walked into their room.

“Skizzy you’re here with Two Shot…but I think she’s on patrol right now…” Crush explained. Skizzy thanked her and checked out her new room.

“And this is yours and R.J.’s room” Crush said pointing at the end of the hall. “You know where to find me if you need me!” She finished while skipping off towards her room.

I poked my head into my room to find R.J. was nowhere to be found. Our room was small but it was still pretty badass. The walls were red and covered in graffiti and neon paint. There was one mattress against the side wall covered in ratty patchy blankets.

“Knock knock” someone said behind me. I jumped up and twirled around to find a guy with shaggy dark hair and covered in tattoos carrying a ratty stained futon.
“Daydream sent me up with this” He explained.

“Oh…yeah I thought I was just going to sleep on the floor” I laughed quietly. He smiled.

“I’m Zombie…and you are?” He asked

“Python” I answered.

“Ah, well Python pleased to meet you, here is your lovely top of the line futon, and I shall be on my merry way.” Zombie said with a grin after he plopped the mattress on the ground. I tried to stifle my laugh but I ended up snorting. Zombie laughed.
“See you around” He said as he walked out the door. I waved then turned to shove my mattress against the wall.

When I was finished, I decided to go exploring. I found the bathroom and decided to have a narcissistic moment and look in the mirror. I immediately regretted it. My ‘blue’ hair was now almost grey and I had about an inch of mousy brown roots. My face was covered with dirt and hollow because I we were starving back at the strip mall. I pulled up my shirt. I could see every rib. I turned and I saw every notch and groove of my spine.

I quickly scrubbed my face to try and get the dirt off and then ran down the hall to my room, grabbed my bag, and ran back to the bathroom. I walked over to a sink that was stained almost ten different colors, pulled out some hair dye, and started to go to work. When I was done, I was a totally different Jen. My hair was now dyed black on top and I bleached the shit out of the bottom. I went back to my room to find R.J. sitting on her bed.

“Wow kiddo look at you! You look like a human being again, kudos! ” She laughed. I smiled and rolled my eyes.

“Hey you know anyone with a tattoo gun?” I asked her. She stared at me like I was an idiot.

“Do I know anyone with a tattoo gun?” she snorted. “Look at me I’m covered from head to fucking toe! I own a mother fucking tattoo gun! What do you want?” she asked.

I told R.J what I wanted and she agreed to it and quickly had me set up. About three and a half hours later, I had my first two tattoos. One of Medusa’s head on the top of my left arm, the other was Freddie’s name on my right shoulder blade.