June 15, 3037.
She stared after him. “What?” The girl said aloud, then after a minute of silence, shook her head and lay back down. Staring at the ceiling, she thought about his voice. That voice. She knew that voice. Leslie closed her eyes and sighed. “Why is it that of all the lives in the world, I ended up with the shittiest one?” She knew it would be no use to pretend that everything all right, but wallowing in deep shit wasn’t going to help either.
That dream still haunted her — she wasn’t used to remembering her dreams, but this one seemed to stick in her mind. The feeling of hands pulling her away, the taste of those empty names on her tongue. They seemed almost familiar - almost right. she thought, I hate this.
———
“Leslie May Tenhe, you have been gracefully given permission from Agent Akira to socialize with fellow captives. You have been classified as unthreatening, The doorway on your right, which was formerly locked from the inside has been unlocked. At the end of that hall, you will be permitted to enter the Common Room. Express your thanks and proceed to the Common Room for lunch.”
Unthreatening, my ass. she thought, What’re the bulletproof glass walls and iron door for, then? But everything was just like the boy had said. The voice through the speaker was cold, superior, and she could hear the sneer in his words.
“I… I thank you for you kindness.” she said, standing herself up and brushing herself off. She nodded at the ceiling, knowing that there were cameras embedded into it.
“You will also be provided with new clothing. That clothing you are wearing is just-” a scoff, “-a disgrace.”
Leslie sighed. “You are very… gracious.” and taking a deep breath, sauntered to the door. Lifting her middle finger at the ceiling, she walked through the door without another word.
Once on the other side, she leaned against the wall, and sighing, closed her eyes as memories flooded into her head.
———
January 22, 3035.
She walked through the door then looked back at her house for one last time. “Are you sure, Em?” she said, as her half sister finished filling out the paperwork.
“Yes, Les. You can’t live here all by yourself anymore.” She signed the bottom of the paper and the landlord nodded. It had been two weeks since her parents had left — suddenly gone. No messages, no calls, just silence from them. She hadn’t cried though; not a single tear escaped her eyes for them. For the parents that had never treated her well, and finally left her altogether. The only thing she regretted was not being born into a different life.
“I’ll send you girls some support.” The landlord, Ms. Jones, said. “It’s been really hard for you two.” She shook her head, “I always knew that there was something off about your parents.” Emilia just glared at her.
“Don’t talk about her parents like that to her.” and dragged Leslie away.
“It’s dark, Em, we shouldn’t drive at night.”
“Let’s go.”
“Em, it’s almost midnight, we should go to a hotel.”
“I’m not wasting money on a shitty hotel when we can drive back to my house.” Her face was still angry. “What, you don’t trust me?”
“Em, you’re angry right now. You could make a mistake.”
“I’m fucking twenty-three, Leslie. I can handle a bit of driving.”
She yanked open the car door and slammed it behind her, starting the engine. Leslie flinched and slowly got into the passenger seat.
“Drive slowly.” She said, buckling herself in. Her half-sister just slammed her buckle in.
“Like hell.” Leslie heard her sister mutter.
“Seriously, Em. We can’t get in an accident.”
“Just let me fucking drive.”
“Look, I’m-”
“Shut the hell up!”
And that was how it was for the next thirty minutes.
“Shit, the roads are slippery.” Em said, squinting at the dark road in front of her, “And i think one of my headlights burned out.”
“Em, be careful. Should we stop?”
Em looked at her incredulously. “Where? In that forest?” She pointed with one finger at the thick forest on the side of the room.
“Em, this is an extremely old car - its been in the family for generations. It could break down because of this weather.”
“Well then what should I do about it?” Em retorted, “I can’t just pull out of my pocket the two million dollars i need to get a MobiDrive? Huh?”
She scoffed when Leslie sat there silently. “You don’t understand anything - you’re still in high school. You don’t have to worry about getting a job, or dealing with financial needs. You just had mom and dad to do all of that for you.”
Her knuckles were white as she clutched the wheel. “This Tesla is fine.”
The car slid on the road, and Em turned the wheel viciously. It skidded back into the lane.
“Em…”
“Cut the crap. Let me fucking focus.”
She fell silent, gripping the armrest.
Em drove over a large pothole and a part of the car began to hiss.
“We need to stop and check that out.” Leslie said, glancing at her sister.
“We’re almost to my house. We can do it there.” Em said curtly, but Leslie could see a hint of worry in her eyes.
Some sort of animal jumped out into the road, and Em veered sharply to the left.
“Shit! We have a flat tire!”
There was a skid, and then they were sliding. Something opened in front of her, and she could see Em frantically turning the wheel, trying to get the car back onto the road.
Then everything went dark. And… pain. Unbearable pain.
Unable to handle it, she slipped into the world of darkness.
———
June 15, 3037.
She gasped, opening her eyes quickly, and walked into a long tube-shaped hallway, struggling to stay balanced on the curved floor. The whole thing was made of bulletproof glass. She looked to her left and could see the usual outside - people in spotless white coats or dark suits, people with prying eyes that stared at her like she was one of their… specimens.
She finally looked at the wall to her right, and found a large dresser. About twenty different drawers lined the walls. She raised her eyebrows,
“Thought you might need those.” A voice said from behind her. She whipped around.
It was the boy from the last night.
“Funny meeting you here.” She muttered, “I would think that such communication is… unacceptable since no other Leader comes within ten feet of my cell.”
He smiled.
“Well I’m special, aren’t I?”
She scoffed. “You wish.”
The boy narrowed his eyes for a second, then smirked. “Get changed. The others are waiting.” With that, he turned away. His figure flickered twice, and before she realized what had happened, it disappeared.
A hologram. She should have known.
Sighing, she did as he instructed.
———
Fifteen heads swiveled her way as she walked into the room. Blue eyes, green eyes, hazel eyes stared at her.
“And this must be the last one.” An asian boy said, throwing his arm around the back of his chair to shake her hand. “Hyunsoo Park.”
She shook his hand. “Leslie. Leslie Tenhe.”
He smiled and gestured around the circle. “Introduce yourselves, kids.”
“Augustin Taspyn.” A kid said immediately.
“Janetta Danton.”
“Travis Despon.”
“Jacob Starkwood.”
“Maia Shante.”
“Jake Silton”
“Yanessa Hest.”
“Layla Falm.”
“Ryder Campbell.”
“Brooklyn Sax.”
“Chase DeGraff.”
“Sonia Kowalczyk.”
“Violet Sasett.”
“Devon Skye.” The last boy smiled as he shook her hand. Leslie quickly memorized every face that she saw.
“You’re all captives?” she asked, raising her eyebrows. Was this some sort of trick?
“Your memory’s wiped, too?” Yanessa said, twirling a strand of her toffee-colored hair. Her amber eyes darted all over the room, and she shifted uncomfortably away from the other kids.
“This is all kind of strange, isn’t it?” Chase said, cocking his head to one side.
“No way.” Brooklyn said sarcastically, rolling her eyes. Her caramel hair was tied into a messy bun and she casually cracked her knuckles. “Our lives are pretty fucked up.”
“Way to state the obvious.” Jake said from beside Chase, showing a hint of a smirk.
“How long have you been here?” Leslie said, reaching to drag a chair over to the circle. “Days? Weeks? Mon-” Her hand seemed to pass through the chair. “What the flying fuck?”
“Huh?” Augustin queried, only seeing her hand resting on a chair.
“Was it just me, or did my hand just pass through that chair?”
They all scoffed.
“Like hell your hand just passed through that chair.” Leslie racked her brain for the name. Jessica? Jamie? Dexon?
Janetta Danton.
“Fine, whatever.” she dismissed it and pulled the chair over, and sat into a large gap in the circle. “So how long have you been here?” she repeated.
“About fifteen minutes before you showed the hell up.” Travis said.
Leslie glanced to her sides and observed that she was in between a scowling brunette and a glaring boy with piercing green eyes. A black and blue bruise hid half of his face.
“Why the hell do you two look so pissed?” she glanced between them.
“It’s not you, hon.” The girl said, pointing at the boy. “It’s that bastard.”
“It’s not my fucking fault that the moment that bitch saw me, she punched me in the face.” the boy shot back, throwing his hands in the air.
“I swear I know you!” She seethed. “-Not in a good way.” The girl added after a moment of silence.
“Hey, break it up, you two.” Hyunsoo said, waving a hand, annoyed. “You’re not each other’s biggest problems.”
“You’re right.”
Points: 29096
Reviews: 862
Donate