I woke to the faint smell of baked beans. I could hear Doctor Pival whistling an old hymn as he cooked breakfast. I had submitted my order, as usual, on a small card the night before, pushing it through his letterbox. It was late, probably gone eleven o clock, so I was surprised that he'd obliged.

I quietly ate my rashers of bacon, dipping them into my poached egg. Doctor Pival was a good cook, but he couldn't quite nail a full English Breakfast. It had been eight years since I'd had it cooked by a Brit, and it was never the same. I could never pinpoint what they got wrong: the egg kept good structure, the bacon was from a decent cut of Canadian pig, heck, they even managed to get hold of black pudding, but it just wasn't the same.

Breakfast was eaten, with the usual quiet murmuring between the boys. As I sat down, I noticed that Damien, a new recruit was sobbing into his cereal. I hadn't spoken to him yet, but had heard on the grapevine that he was a sensitive kid who wasn't adjusting too well.

'Hi.' I said to him. He took a quick glance at me before burying his head into his soggy bran flakes for another outburst. I placed my hand gently on his shoulder and he jolted up, as if I was about to attack him.

'Look, I just wanted to say, that... I know this move can be a little scary, but we've got a really nice environment with some good people. Once you get used to it, I'm sure you...' Before I could finish, he'd sprinted to the door, wailing for his mother, and chased by three laughing older boys. I sighed, finishing my mediocre eggs, alone.

After breakfast, we read our oaths, had a quick wash before dressing one another, and getting to work. Today, I would be wrapping the candles. I'd been working on candles for six months, and the pungent smells of 'Lavender', 'Sun & Sands', and 'Autumn Leaves' had developed an automatic gag when entering the production room. I was one of five wrappers. My friend Joe added the bows and passed them on to Dhani, who would box them. Then the address was written in black marker by Li, who would leave them by the back door for the courier to collect. Li would always gloat about his role, as he'd be able to sneak a look through the letterbox, at the paper-thin green creatures hanging from the great brown pillar outside. None of us had the heart to tell him what a tree was.

As I opened my box of twenty assorted flavours, a miasma of artificial smells hit my lungs and I coughed over my wrapping paper, shooting it high into the air.

'Man, the girls aren't taking prisoners this year, huh?' Dhani joked.

'I know. Don't they know it's based on how many we make, not how powerful they smell?' I carefully placed a white candle labelled 'Cottage Breeze' into the paper and fingered it shut, carefully. 

'Still. Can't blame them for trying. It's all they can do, really. You know, I barely even remember what they look like? It's only the ceremony that tops my memory up for another year,' Dhani replied, gloomily.

'Don't be ridiculous. They're just like us, but with long hair and big orbs on their chest. I don't see what the big deal is.' I undid the string of my candle for the fifth time and let out a short, frustrated noise.

'You my friend, are an enigma. I for one, cannot wait to explore the kind of candle making that they've got in mind. That's why I'm going to win this year and leave you losers in my lavender scented dust!' We both laughed. Then Dhani paused and lowered his voice.

'Did you hear about the old girl in 22A? They say she's been on candles since she was fourteen: never paired. My friend Rodrigo told me she's thirty-seven now. Thirty-seven! What's the point of living?! There's no way an old maid like her is getting paired now! Rodrigo says she towers over the rest of the girls. It's super humiliating.' Dhani's distracting side smile was one of my favourite things about him. The pushing up of his chiselled cheek bones made his deep brown eyes pierce through the natural light.

'That cannot be true,' I chuckled back, before catching myself staring, and quickly focusing back on my 'Cottage Breeze,' which still somehow hadn't been wrapped.

'Why would Rodrigo lie?! He's like the most truthful person I know!'

'Except the Grand Master,' I quickly corrected.

'Oh, yeah ... of course.' Dhani's smile dropped, and he went back to work.

We'd been told that the benches we sat on had been bought at a low cost from an elementary school. I was forced to contort my long legs into the ground, making thigh cramp a common occurrence.

Our grafting was interrupted by the arrival of Mistress Maria, a long, slender woman with a harsh glare. she walked briskly towards Doctor Pival, avoiding the stares at the thousand pairs of eyes locked onto her white frock and exceptionally high heels.

'Whoa...' Dhani said under his breath.

I scoffed and continued to box my candles, but kept an open ear.

'What is the meaning of this Mistress?' Doctor Pival snapped with a shouted whisper.

'I'm sorry. There's a problem down in IT,' she replied in equally hushed tones.

'What do you mean?' His eyes were fixed on her brutish face, penetrating through an inch of white make up and bright green lips. Their faces softened to one another and they quickly looked aside: they were not paired. She whispered in his ear and as she pulled away, I saw his face, as white as our palest candle.

'Not here.' She said sharply, gesturing at us. Doctor Pival glanced our way and gave a shaky nod back.

'Boys. I have to see to something. Make sure your quantities are met. I expect the same level of work to be completed as if I were here.' His long, stained lab coat soared behind him as he awkwardly jogged towards the huge wooden doors, keeping so close to the High Mistress that they looked like conjoined twins. As they left, two heavy men on the door, Isaac and Robert, slammed it shut and placed the enormous padlock back around the handles.

'It's a breakout. It's got to be.' Joe said quietly.

'Don't be stupid. We haven't had a breakout attempt in years. It's the creature that she was talking about. I've heard them say its name before. "IT". They call it "IT,"' Dhani retorted.

'There's no monster, Dhani. I reckon Joe's right. I've never seen Doctor Pival look like that before. He's been told something bad. I bet there's been another raid.' I replied.

'No, Dhani is on to something with this monster stuff. Why do you think Tyler went missing? And then Devon? They're sacrificing them to "IT!"' Li cried.

'You're wrong.' A great shadow loomed over, nearly covering us. Robert, a huge man of seventeen with a deep voice stomped over. He was at least six foot and wore a black standard issue security uniform that made him look like a spectre than a man. He was also a legend within the commune: a boy who'd been granted maturation at the unheard-of age of eleven, simply on the virtue of his physical prowess.

'There's a demon in this room. Someone is trying to damage the family's reputation. That's what Pival is so worked up about.'

'How do you know?' Joe plucked up the courage to ask.

'We were told last night. If it was any of you, I'd fess up, fast.' The room was now nearly silent, with eavesdropping boys trying to listen to Robert. He slowly walked back to his patrol corner next to the doors and folded his arms.

After about ten minutes, Doctor Pival returned, alone. His left eye was twitching and his right was wide and manic. He took three or four great breaths before finally addressing us.

'I will ask this only once. Who here has access to the internet?'

His question was met by a sea of blank faces. Those few that weren't totally blank looked puzzled. I'd heard rumours of the internet, but whenever anyone had asked a high-ranking member of staff, they'd said it was nothing more than a fairytale. 

'Boys. There is a demon in this room. Someone is possessed and is telling lies about our family. We know who it is and we want to help them by purging the evil from the inside. But first we require a confession.' He was now more composed, pacing between the benches.

'I assure you, that confessing now will make this far easier.' He made eye contact with one boy, Luca, who looked as if he'd wet himself.

'No? No one? Nobody is going to own up to the lies? Nobody wants to take claim for '_nosleep_forum'?'

The room remained still. There was no sound at all, beside the light breeze shaking the large oak tree in the courtyard. I locked eyes with Joe and noticed a large drop of sweat fall from his brow.

'Such a shame. You've made this much harder on yourself. Isaac, please come here.'

The boys turned in unison, to see Isaac, Robert's security partner. He was sixteen, successfully matured last year. Nobody recalled what his name had been before, but I remembered the envy of my friends as he'd been paired with the most beautiful girl in the commune, Atarah. After their pairing, they'd been granted a private room, with its own bath area, and a small kitchen. The high-ranking members of the family would tip their hats and curtsey to them as they walked through the courtyard, for ceremonial events. However, they were seldom seen together. She spent her free time socialising with friends, while he tended to read, alone.

'Do you have something to tell your family, Isaac?' Doctor Pival's words felt as if they were delivered in slow motion.

A sea of wide-open mouths engulfed the room like thirty small black holes. Isaac stopped in the centre and stared down at his feet, intensely. His athletic body was hunched, and his security shirt was stained with sweat patches underneath his arms and on his back, almost making the shape of a nightjar. The boys sat impeccably still around him, awaiting any sudden movements, or demonstrations of demonic power. Nothing came and he instead stood and began to weep quietly, before exploding into an outburst.

'It was me. I told them everything about this place. Everything you people do is sick, and the world needs to know. I don't want to be here. I just wanted to travel and you took my life away from me!' He shouted at no one in particular, letting out a demonic cry to the roof before reverting to looking back at his sandals.

'I did it.' He affirmed to himself, slowly nodding.

The sound of Doctor Pival's heavy footsteps from his military boots echoed through the hall. I looked around to see the face of Robert who, with pleading eyes, was desperately trying to catch the glance of his former colleague and friend. Occasionally, as the Doctor passed a boy, he'd ruffle their hair or stroke their cheek. I looked at Dhani who was focusing on his work, his brown eyes glistening with tears. I smiled at him, but he gestured for me to get on with my wrapping. I ignored him and continued to watch.

The traitor showed no signs of resistance and held his wrist out as the Doctor approached him. Neither said anything, before he was solemnly marched out of the room, presumably to the top tower. This time, the room didn't erupt in gossipy buzz, and all that could be heard were the sounds of folding paper and the low hum of Robert's wailing. I shuddered to myself at the thought of the demon getting loose.

That night, I knelt down over my bed, ignoring my dorm mates and their silly games and thanked the Grand Master and his overseers. I barely slept that week, my eyes were peeled back, staring at the stone roof above me, listening to the sounds of the rain.

It was a whole week before any news of the demon came. Then, one morning, at breakfast, we were called out to the courtyard. The demon lay, beneath the grand oak tree, naked, gagged, with its arms bound with blue rope. We circled it, singing hymns and holding hands as the youngest members laid the pyre, making pretend as pirates, with planks of wood for swords. One girl made a crown of daisies for it to wear. Before the match was lit, and the spirit ripped from the body, the women offered each boy heavy thatched baskets, weighed down by beautiful rocks of eclectic colours, shapes, and sizes. Dhani declined and leant back against the wall, looking away. Li picked a stone so large, he had to hold it with both hands. Anyone who made a hit was granted immediate maturation. Myself and three others became men that day. Two women were also born. 

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