An Experiment
Joe Joelle
The classical music that was audible throughout the room was clashing horribly with the sound of a Disney movie next door. It was a harsh comparison to see a grade nine honours English class writing lightly on pieces of paper, straining their minds to figure out a simple short story,while the grade nine Socials class next door lazily sat back in their seats and watched an animated comedy that probably involved a talking mouse.
Most of the students were able to get something worthwhile onto the plain piece of paper. Some were writing a rendition of a story they had only read the summary to, others were telling true stories, and a few were going with the old school vampire idea. The assignment was simple:write an action story. Make sure you put in setting, a theme, some character development, and the conflict and plot. Easy, right?
I didn't think so.
I had been sitting here, staring at my paper for twenty minutes now. Sure, there were a few lines of text down, but after I reread it I realized that it was boring. The premise was nice(a guy wakes up with a totally useless superpower), but all I had managed to write was a long description of'Jerome', my main character, getting out of bed.
The sound of the bell ringing loudly shocked me out of my thoughts. Cleaning up my stuff and mutely getting up, I waved my friends goodbye and started on my way home. It was a particularly cold day, and even though the sun was shining, there was no heat to keep me warm. I lived up a hill, so I started on the short trek upwards.
Cars drove past me, some with parents and students inside, the students relieved at the long day finally being over, others with just parents inside, hurrying late to pick their children. A few vehicles held people trying to commute to somewhere that wasn't related to school, although whoever decided to do it at
this time was crazy.
I eyed a strange van that was driving down the hill. It was a deep black that stood out in the light atmosphere. The van drove down the hill slowly, before coming to a stop in front of me. I suddenly felt frozen in place. Even if I could tell my body to run, it wasn't like I could beat a van in a race. I looked inside of the driver's window and saw a man staring at me. His almost pitch-black eyes could probably be compared to the blank eyes of death. Panicked, I stepped back, away from the road. The man slowly opened his door, and I could tell by the malevolent look in his eyes he wasn't stopping just to ask me for directions.
I kept stepping backwards, my gaze never leaving the man in case he tried something funny. My heart hammered in my chest as he stepped forwards, I stepped backwards, he stepped forwards, and I stepped backwards... right into a ditch. My bag went flying out of the hands, as I grappled for something to hold onto. My eyes darted to the man's face as I saw his lips forming into a smirk. That man's smirk was the last thing I saw before my head hit ground and I blacked out.
:..:
When I awoke, all I could see was darkness. There was a throbbing pain in my left arm. I was laying on my back, but I tried to sit up and look around,
Radii Thriller Shoes, I found that I was unable to; there were strips of cloth holding me down to what looked like a medical stretcher. I pulled at the cloth but it was to no avail. I decided to look around the room the best I could while being restrained. The ceiling, walls and even the floor were all white. The only thing in this room that wasn't was the brown chair in the corner. I looked up to see an opened sunroof. The stars looked fuzzy and dim.
Great, I thought sarcastically.
It's night already.
I heard a sound to my right and turned to see two men walking through the only door into this room. A shiver went down my spine when I saw their eyes. Their irises were black, just like the man that was driving the van. The tall blond one in front stepped up to me. He looked at me with disdain, and mumbled, "Oh, great, she's woken up." He sighed and turned to the other man in the room,
mens polo shirts, a chubby brunet. "Hand me another dose of her prescription. It seems like she needs it."
The other man glanced nervously at me before switching his view back to the blond. "Are you sure?" he asked, pushing up a pair of glasses as he did so. "We've never given someone so much of this at once..."
The blonde sneered and looked angrily at the shorter man. "I'm the experienced scientist here, if you remember correctly, Brett. I know what I'm doing." When Brett nodded sadly and pulled a syringe out of his pocket, my eyes widened and I started to panic. I tried to yell out at the men, and demand to know what they were doing, but my mouth didn't want to cooperate.
The blond man sauntered over to me and I noticed with fear that his face was slightly out of focus. I didn't know how I hadn't noticed it before, but my fingertips were also very tingly. I had a bad feeling that whatever was in the syringe was making me feel like this, and I dreaded to think of what another dosage of it would do to me. The scientist smirked and without any hint of sympathy or hesitation plunged the syringe into my shoulder and my world quickly turned to black.
:..:
The sound of a chair skidding against the ground was the first thing I heard when I woke up again. I had a horrible headache, but I could tell almost immediately that whatever was in that syringe had almost worn off. The feeling in my fingers had came back, and my vision was much more lucid. Ignoring the tumult in my head, I turned myself as best as I could to check out what was making so much noise beside me.
Brett was standing there, and there was a chair fallen behind him. He looked at me like a deer caught in headlights. I noticed now that his eyes were different than the other men's. His irises were only a dark gray color, as opposed to the pitch black the other people had. He took a step closer to me and I became shockingly aware of the fact that he had another syringe in his hands and was ready to stab me with it again.
"No," I managed to croak out. My voice was raw and it hurt to talk, but at least I was able to. By the shocked expression on Brett's face I was sure that I wasn't supposed to be able to talk.
"I'm sorry," he mumbled, and looked to the ground in shame. "But... I kind of have to." I looked at him with begging eyes. He came closer to me and leaned down to my level. "...Alright," he whispered, "I won't give you anymore of this drug. But, whenever someone comes near you, act like you're asleep, alright?"
I nodded. I was so relived to not be drugged. "Why?"
"Well..." said Brett. He looked around the room, as if to make sure that no one was going to hear him talk, then continued. "You see my eyes? Well, this drug is slowly making your eyes go like this, too." He looked around nervously again, before lowering the volume of his voice again, making me strain to hear him say, "It's a project run secretly by the government. This drug slowly turns the people given it into human weapons. It also brainwashes you into blindly following the government." He looked away from me guiltily for a moment, before confessing sheepishly, "They didn't really give me enough to brainwash me fully, and once I realized what was happening I altered my dosages so that there would never be enough drug to completely brainwash me."
I stared at Brett in disbelief. Something clicked in my mind. "Then... the kidnappings?" I said hoarsely, in reference to the recent massive increase of unsolved teenage kidnappings. Brett nodded solemnly. His gray eyes looked regretfully at me.
"Its all been the government,
manolo blahnik deutschland," he sighed. "That's why no one was able to find the children taken; the police are being controlled."
"Why are you telling me this?" I demanded. My vison was slowly becoming sharper and my head was clearer.
The drug must be wearing off, I thought. Now that I was sober I was acting a lot more like my usual, bossy self.
"Well, because I'm done with all of this," he said. "I can't take the guilt anymore."
"Then get me out of here!" I hissed loudly. Brett looked alarmed and glanced around again. I growled and started to get impatient. "Brett!"
He hushed me, stood up, and turned around so that his back was facing me. "H-hello, Sir," he stammered.
I tried to move my neck so that I could see who he was talking to, but I quickly found out when I recognized the snotty voice of the blond scientist from earlier. "What are you doing?" he snapped.
"Just giving the patient her dose,
juicy couture, Sir," Brett said nervously. He moved not-so-subtlety in front of me a bit more to hide the fact that I was awake, but unfortunately, the scientist seemed to of noticed. Before I knew it, he had stalked up to me and pushed Brett out of the way. I glared hard at his chocolate brown eyes, before I realised that by doing that he would know I was awake.
Crap.
His face contorted into an ugly grimace. He whirled around to face a trembling Brett, and hissed out, "Why is she awake!" Brett whimpered as the taller man took a threatening step towards him. When the blond man realized he wasn't going to get an answer, he reached out and snatched the syringe from Brett's hands. I felt fear encompass me when, just like earlier, the blond man jabbed the syringe into my shoulder and I promptly passed out.
:..:
I groaned as I woke up once again. Just like last time, I had a terrible migraine, but also like last time, I was almost sober. I was blinded for a moment by the brightness of the room, but my eyes quickly adjusted. It wasn't until I habitually sat up that I realized that the strips of cloth were gone. I flipped my legs off of the stretcher and almost collapsed to the ground right away when I tried to step off.
Alright, I thought.
One step at a time. I grabbed the every present brown chair and sat myself down. After stretching out my limbs, which felt
very good, I tentatively placed a leg on the ground, and after realizing that it wasn't going to collapse again, I gleefully jumped off of the chair and started to sprint to the door.
I quickly found out that wasn't a good idea when my face rammed right into said door. Embarrassed, although I knew no one was around, I took a step back and pressed a button near the door. Above it, 'OPEN' was written in large letters.
Just blame it on the drugs, I thought to myself. I stepped outside and the door closed behind me. Looking around, I saw there were two long hallways,
supra shoes for cheap, the walls coloured white like everything else. I sighed when I realized that I had no idea where to go. I started to walk down the hall directly in front of me, deciding that it was as good place to start at as any.
Then, suddenly, I heard loud yell and then a crash coming from the other hallway. I retraced my steps and headed down that hallway. I wondered what that sound could of been before having my query answered when I came upon the unconscious form of the blond scientist on the ground in front of me. I looked up from him in shock to see Brett standing above him with a steel pipe in hand. The chubby brunet smiled. "Hey."
"Um... hi," I said, confused at the sight before me. I stepped over the blond's body and stood in front of Brett. "What happened?"
"Well," started Brett, as he pushed up his glasses, "Kellen here walked in on me when I was untying your restraints. He had an extra dose of the drug on him, and was going to use it on me." Brett laughed sheepishly. "I guess a grew a backbone. I'm glad I found this pipe, though. I'd have been a goner without it."
I stared down at the scientist, who was apparently named Kellen. That name was a bit too feminine to use on a guy for my tastes, thanks. "Why did you untie me?"
"Well, I was gonna break you out," he explained. "I guess Kellen was suspicious and decided to check up on me."
"Not calling him Sir anymore?" I jeered.
"Ha-ha," he mock-laughed. "I grew a backbone, remember? Now, c'mon, I gotta get you outta here."
"Where am I going to go?" I asked, as I followed him down the hall. He looked back at me with a raised eyebrow.
"What do you mean? You'll be going to your home."
"But... won't the government just come after me again?"
"Nah," said Brett as we turned a corner. "You're a special project only Kellen, Robert, and I knew about. And Kellen wouldn't
dare risk his reputation over getting you back. If people found
out about it, his image would be trashed. No one's ever lost a patient before. Oh, and Robert's the guy who kidnapped you."
"What will happen to you?"
Brett was silent for a few seconds. He stopped in his tracks and looked to the ground, sadly. "Well, I'll probably be killed."
"I can't let you do that!" I yelled, walking right up to Brett. "There's no way I'd let you do that!"
"It's too late. Kellen doesn't like it when people disobey him. Anyway, he's probably already figured out that I'm not brainwashed. Unlike me and most people here, he joined the project because he wanted too."
I stared at Brett for a while before saying, "But how would it be a problem for him to grab me again and not a problem to kill you?"
Brett sighed, seemingly irritated. I didn't care if he was getting annoyed by my questions; I wanted to know and I wanted to know
now. "We're moving base tonight, so it'd be weird if Kellen asked to stay any longer. He's done some shady things in the past and the higher ups will probably be suspicious. And about him killing me, let's just say that Kellen and Robert have a way of making things seem like... accidents. Now, c'mon, let's go," he urged, yanking my arm roughly.
I looked at him incredulously. "What happened to you?" I asked quietly, in reference to the fact that he was acting totally different then how he had before. Instead of cowering fear of Kellen, Brett had gained some courage and assaulted him. Brett's attitude was different, too. He seemed to be really impatient and he was even speaking with an accent. Brett stared at me, mute. And then I noticed it; his eyes weren't gray anymore. They were a deep and relaxing azure. He seemed to notice that I realized that his eyes weren't gray, as he quickly averted his eyes from mine.
"Your eyes," I stated plainly.
"Yeah��" he said, and then sighed. "Look, ever since you got kidnapped, and I decided to break you out, I haven't been taking my doses. Without the drug, I've reverted back to who I really am. I don't have any of the benefits that the drug provided, but that also means that I don't have any of the drawbacks. Along with being kidnapped, the drug made me lose my true personality. This," he said, pointing to himself, "is who I really am. Now, we have to-" The suddenly, Brett
stopped talking and his eyes widened. "Move!" he screamed. I looked at him, confused. Why did he want me to��? I though, before my silent question was answered. I heard what sounded like a battle cry and whirled around to Kellen running towards me with yet another syringe in hand.
I felt the needle enter my arm with a sensation that had become so familiar lately. But unlike normal, I didn't pass out. I did, however, crumple to the ground in a haze. The horrid headache was back in full force, and it brought along its friend, numbness. My vision and hearing were messed up, too. Everything was one big blur of white and all I could hear was a low buzzing sound. I leaned against the nearby wall when I noticed that the drug was wearing off, and fast.
I could hear now, although every noise was like a bomb was going off in my head. I heard some yells and battle cries. I looked over to see two figures who I couldn't properly make out. Once turned to me and started to walk closer. I back up against the wall as far as I could but it was hard to move my body anymore than I already had. The second figure leaped after the first one, but the first one had me by the shoulders and I realized with fear that it was Kellen who was holding me and not Brett like I had hoped.
The blond scientist whose face was becoming clearer and clearer by the second pulled me up off the ground and tossed me like a rag doll towards the wall across the room. I braced myself for the pain I was going to feel when I hit the wall but was horribly surprised when I felt my back hit glass. Said glass shattered on impact and pieces of it lodged themselves into my back.
And then I was falling.
The cold night air hit me like a ton of bricks and I immediately sobered up. Pieces of glass flew around me as I stared up at when looked like a large airship. It probably was. I held out a hand towards the ship, but it wasn't like it would do any good. I closed my eyes, not wanting to see anything anymore. I was going to die. I knew it.
Suddenly, a hand grasped mine.
I opened my eyes to see that Brett had jumped out of the window after me and was yelling something at me. I stared at him in disbelief as we headed closer and closer to the ground.
Was he crazy? Jumping off of an airship like that! I thought. I didn't pay attention to what he was saying much, since, I mean, what would it matter? We were going to die anyway...
"KATHRYN!" he urgently screamed at me.
Where did he learn my name? I thought absentmindedly, before deciding to actually
listen to him for once. "Say 'float!' Say it, Kathryn! Say it! HURRY!"
"Float...?" I whispered in confusion, before realizing why he wanted me to say it. My bodyimmediately became lighter, just as we were nearing the ground. Brett grabbed my other hand and I noticed that he felt lighter. I looked around and saw that we were slowly descending to the
ground, like we were feathers... Then I realized it. We were
floating. "Float..." I mumbled under my breath again.
Brett looked at me, panicked. I wondered why but a split second later I had my answer. We were falling. Again. Luckily we were so close to the ground that the impact was light, although I didn't appreciate having Brett land on top of me.
After we got ourselves sorted out, I looked around the area while stretching out my sore back. The airship was hovering above us, silent. We were on a grassy hill overlooking the sea. What surprised me was that I recognized this place. It was just a half hour drive from my house. It was night, and of course it was cold, but I quickly put my discomfort into the back of my mind and looked to Brett. "What happened there?" I asked.
He rubbed his bare arms, obviously cold as well. "Well, remember how I said that the drug was turning you into a human weapon?" he asked, and I nodded. "That was the first thing the drug does; gives you the ability to make your body and anything you touch almost weightless. And when you said 'float' again, you reversed the effect."
"How?" I asked. "I doubt man could change the rules of physics. Newton would be rolling over in his grave."
Brett rolled his eyes. "But you already did, remember?"
I shook my head. "Whatever, Brett. I still have a few more questions."
"Go ahead," he said, then looked up at the airship. "But make it fast. They'll be coming for me soon."
"Right," I said, nodding. "Well, first off... how do you know my name?"
He stared at me incredulously. "
That's what you wanted to know? We're practically on the run and
that's what you wanted to know!"
"Just answer the question!" I yelled at him, impatiently.
He rolled his eyes. "Fine, fine. I know it because Kellen and Robert didn't just pick you out at random. They planned this. You fit what they needed, physically, and so they researched you. Stalked you, even. And so, they told me about you. Kathryn Tyra Anderson, right?"
Well that's creepy, I thought, while nodding. "Why did you go along with this?"
"Because Kellen asked me to," he stated plainly. "As mentioned, Kellen could have me killed at any moment and not have anyone notice. I couldn't refuse. Even if I went to the higher ups, they'd never believe me over Kellen. Although... I guess I'm dying in the end..."
I averted my eyes from his, guilt starting to well up inside me. "Why was the experiment done on me any different from normal?"
"Because most people don't gain their first ability until weeks after the first dose," explained Brett. "We injected way more into you than we were supposed to. You had your first ability after two doses. Which is why your eyes are already turning gray."
I put my hand up at my eye. "Really...?" I mumbled. Gray eyes, eh? "What day is it?"
"It's Saturday night. Your eyes should return to almost normal tomorrow; the drug causes you to gain abilities faster, and also lose them faster."
"Okay," I said. "What did Kellen inject me with back there?" "It's a lower dosage of the drug. It just causes momentary confusion. Anything else?" he asked.
"We need to hurry."
"Yeah... what's gonna happen now?" I asked, then suddenly wished I didn't. Brett looked away from me and reached into the pocket of his lab coat. He pulled out a long, pointy object. "No," I said in horror. "Not another needle! What's in that?" I started to back away from Brett.
"It has something that will force amnesia," he explained as he closed in on me. "This is a government secret, you know. Can't have you blurting this out to the police in hopes of stopping it and then getting yourself taken away again. I'm sorry, Kathryn."
He came at me so fast I barely had time to blink before the needle hit my skin and I was knocked out.
:..:
I sighed as plopped down in my desk, English being the very first class of the day today. I hadn't gone to school in two days because my mom was so paranoid. I received strange looks from everyone in the class. Most of them, if not all of them, knew about how I had been reported missing Friday afternoon. They later found me in the bottom of a ditch on Sunday morning. I told my mom that I had tripped into the ditch and that I didn't remember anything after that, which was mostly true.
As I asked my friend if I could borrow a piece of paper, like I always did, I remembered that today was supposed to be the last day that we were going to have to work on our action short stories. I sighed as I started to rack my brain for another idea. C'mon, brain, think... The class gave a collected groan of annoyance as our English teacher, Mr. Toa, turned on the classical music again.
"Alright everybody," he said, gaining our attention. "Remember, this is the last day you have to write this."
My eyes widened as I remembered something from when I had been in the ditch. The dream. I did remember the strange dream I had, although something told me not to tell the police about it.
Anyway, it's not like it would make any difference, right? Although the dream was fuzzy, and I could only remember parts of it, I knew I could make it into a great read.
"Let's get started, everybody!" said Mr. Toa. "Don't forget to make this chock full of action!"
Okay then, Mr. Toa, I though, smirking, as I grabbed a pen.
You want action? We'll here's action!
"
The classical music that was audible throughout the room..."
:..:
A/N: This was written for my English teacher, as you may be able to tell. I changed his name, though. The beginning, with the classical music, the Disney movie, and the whole 'guy with useless superpowers named Jerome' thing was all true, although the rest wasn't. Also the thing about me borrowing paper from my friend was, too. Oh, but my name's not Kathryn.
R&R, please~
Joe Joelle,
new era baseball hats, signing out!
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