Chapter I The Institution

Arya was sitting at the piano and playing while her parents, younger brother and her baby sister were sitting on a sofa in the sitting room. The room was filled with light and fine music tunes. On the table there were fresh flowers, white roses, her step mother loved so much. The window was slightly open and a breeze from the garden made the curtains flutter a little. Arya was smiling as the music came to an end the spectators clapped their hands and praised her. Father even got up and patted her hair.

“My child is so talented, I bet you will be a dominant Alpha.”

Aria woke up, she could still hear her father’s voice in her ears. She had that dream again. It was one of the last memories she had from time before the Institution. The time when she still had a family and a home. When she slept in a clean bed and ate fresh food three times a day. She sighted, she wasn’t dumb she knew there was no point in thinking about that. Arya stood up and it was still dark outside but in a moment Ms Stella will bump in and start yelling at them to move their lazy asses. In the big room there were 32 beds close to each other, all of them were occupied by female Omegas in various ages from five to sixteen years old. Arya was one of the oldest here while Stella was the youngest.

“You’re up?” Little Stella murmured, rubbing her sleepy eyes.

“Hush, you can sleep for a little bit, it’s not the time yet.” Arya patted her gently, made her bed and went to the toilet.

 She was on duty today so she fetched some water from the well outside the house and poured six bowls standing in a row for the girls to wash their faces. The water was cold and it always wakes everyone up. Arya could hear Ms Stella’s loud voice calling everyone to get up. Soon a line of young girls appeared in the bathroom washing their faces.

“Fuck this water is getting colder day by day.” Piper the ginger haired girl was cursing. “How come you look so fresh?” She asked Arya.

“You know I can’t sleep longer than till five.” Piper nodded, she knew, she even knew why. They all had their stories. 

Aria used to be the most privileged one, She manifested as Omega when she was ten, in that moment her parents decided to sent her to an “Institution for Omegas”, at five in the morning Arya was drag out of bed and taken here, without any explanation, without a single word from her parents or siblings. Nothing. A bunch of strangers took her here and she wasn’t allowed to take anything from home, even her mother’s medallion was left behind on the night table. After that Arya waited, just like every child here. For the first two months she waited every day for her parents to come after her. Every time the front door opened her heart was pounding. Whenever some people came to the house she thought they might be sent by her parents. She hoped it was all a mistake.

“Any news from my parents?” She kept asking.

 Then she worked hard and tried to be a “good Omega” thinking that maybe when the caretakers tell her parents about her proper behavior they will take her back but no. It took her almost a year till she realized that she was abandoned and that right now she is an orphan. The final kick gave her the fact that she was forced to change her name. Now she was Arya. She had nobody, not even a surname. Ever since she woke up precisely at five o’clock as if her body was unable to sleep after that hour.

This “Institution” was settled in an old building. The rooms here were spacious and cold. The walls were lacking color, the old paint was peeling off the walls. The girls slept in one room, another was for dining and next for tutoring. That was all. They received here two meals a day: one consisted of bread and hot tea and milk on Sundays, the other was a soup. It was hard for Aria to get used to it. She felt hungry, like all the time. What’s worse, girls here would steal your bread if you were weak, so some younger girls learned to eat the whole slice while still standing next to the kitchen stuff.

The best thing was tutoring. Everyday for an hour they have been listening about proper behavior, a lowly Omega should apply in daily situations, they weren’t taught how to write or read. Those skills were unnecessary. They had lessons about cooking and they were also sewing pretty nice clothes that were sold in the big shop on the high street. And yes they also had lessons about sex, how to please an Alpha. They were theoretical but detailed.

There was one part of tutoring that Arya and all the other girls feared and hated the most. Every Friday Mr Xavier, the headmaster, gave each girl a beating with wet thongs. The procedure didn’t leave any scars but hurt like hell. It was done to remind all of them about their positions. It was all right according to the law to perform corporal punishment on a disobedient Omega. 

“Punishment will become part of your life, accept it without snapping back at your owner.” Mr Xawier always said that before starting his obedience lesson. 

 When she got her first beating she was screaming and crying now she just counted, usually it was about ten hits. The younger girls were sobbing, some were trembling, one even pissed herself from fear. Mr Xavier gave her five more as punishment. So life went on and now Arya was sixteen years old she was about to turn seventeen in five months. That will be the end of her stay in this fine “Institution” than after that she will be sold to a customer willing to pay for her. The money will be used to cover the expenses the Institution carried for bringing her up. Sometimes there was an auction if there were more customers interested in buying a young untouched Omega. Today it was Meghan’s turn.

Megan looked pale from the very morning, her hands were trembling, she had problems braiding her hair.

“I’ll help you.” Arya offered.

“Thank you.” 

Megan was a pretty blond haired girl with large blue eyes. She was gentle and kind, and Arya felt sorry for her. It was always a great unknown who the buyer will  be? It could be an Alpha looking for a well tamed wife, or a side lover or maybe you will be bought to work in a brothel or even to give birth to offspring for an Alpha and Alpha marriage and then the Omega is being disposed of or sold to gain some money back. Either way it was shit.

 Arya knew it and was getting ready for her future. It was not that she couldn’t run away, nobody looked after them when the work was done. The dinner was served at six pm and after that they had time off. The problem was that they had nowhere to go. With only one simple dress and wooden clogs it was hard to start a new living for an Omega. The main rule, except full obedience, was that they couldn’t meet with any men. One girl got pregnant and was beaten to death, they were standing there and watching her dead body. An impregnated Omega was useless. They all knew that.

“Come with me.” Arya held Megan’s hand tightly and led her to one of the unused rooms. There was an old piano there and Mr Xavier allowed Arya to use it twice a week. The instrument was old and definitely needed a tuning but still it was nice to play it even if it was for a short moment. Arya played. She played a cheerful melody for Megan. Megan sat quietly and smiled.

“It was beautiful, you are talented. Thank you Arya.” She said when Arya finished. “I will carry this melody in my heart.” Then there was silence.

“Aria?”

“Yes?”

“Will you remember me when I’m gone?”

“I will.”

In the afternoon Megan clad in a blue dress with styled hair and some make up was put on sale. From what Arya could overhear an older man aged fifty bought her as his private whore. Could be worse, Arya thought.