Look Closer

Well Then

I come to my senses and look around, seeing the room coated in black. The last few remains of my program dissolve into thin air and I turn to stare at the mirror. I know someone is looking at me through the glass that covers the other side, but there is no way to see who from here. Micah's face has turned pale and he gets up quickly, rushing for the door. He pulls it open and locks it before I can follow, leaving me to wonder what he was in such a rush to do. 

I crouch down to the slit at the bottom of the door and catch a few strands of conversation. I imagine Micah's furrowed brow as he talks to the man whose voice I can only hear a few words of. I hold on the few sentences that I hear and try and make sense of them. 

"I'm sorry. It won't happen again." I hear Micah say. There is a pause and I assume that the other man is talking, but I cannot hear his voice. "I understand that I wasn't supposed to take her through that simulation yet, but I think she is the one. She has to be." Micah's voice drops to a level barely above a whisper and I can no longer hear their words. 

I let out a sigh and feel my heart beating straight through my chest. Given the chance, I'm sure it could break right through and fly across the room with all of the power it holds. The one? What does that mean? I look down at my clothing and see the same things that I had changed into this morning: black pants, lace-up black boots, and a dark gray shirt. 

The muffled sound of footsteps comes down the hall and I release the breath that I didn't realize I had been holding. A man that I am sure is Micah unlocks the door and then presses down on the handle, walking right into the room. 

But the man isn't Micah, and he is holding something made of metal in his hands. He moves at me with inhuman speed and puts the metal object in my mouth, wrapping my hands behind me with an itchy rope. I feel as if I am an old Prevalent horse with the metal jammed in my mouth and I let out a scream that only I can hear. 

As if this all a huge a joke, the figure laughs. He moves right in front of me and bends down as if examining me. I can feel my eyes widen and keep wondering where my breath is going as I gasp to try and get it back. His gaze bores right into my head and I can feel the heat of it burning in the back of my head. His eyes are piercing me with their extreme green color and I can see them smiling more and more as I suffer. What a monster! 

I try and force something into my face, a hint of anger or confidence, but it gets lost before I can even move my facial features. I can feel my heart beating fast and echoing all throughout my chest as I struggle to control my fear. His hot breath lands on my face as he leans closer and closer and suddenly I realize that I know who this man is. 

It's Warren. And I'm almost 100% sure he's here to kill me. 

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The last thing that I remember when my eyes fly open is Warren's piercing green eyes right in front of me and how he laughed, cherishing my fear. I imagine that he is made of metal and picture myself destroying him in my mind, the anger that I had been calling for earlier suddenly rushing back to me. 

I hear something explode and snap my head to the right, seeing a metal block in Micah's hands turn into shards. I flick my wrist and they all fall to the floor. He sees this and frowns in approval. "You're getting better by the second," he says, staring right at me. 

The first thing that I notice when he comes closer is that there is a difference in the amount of hair on his head. The fringe that I have become accustomed to is no longer there, instead his hair has made its way back to the top of his forehead. I stifle a laugh as I take in the new look. "What happened to you?" I gasp out in between my fingers, which are now covering my mouth.

He glares at me and proceeds to touch his hair. I notice that some of the strands have come off onto his fingers. "I was practicing and my lightning hit a little bit too close to me. If you look closer you can see that some of my hairs are now black from it." My laughter grows and I finally let go, bursting out into an uncontrollable fit of giggles. 

"That is the worst way to lose your hair." I choke out while I clutch my stomach from laughing too much. "You look like an old man who is trying to look young with that hair style. It's hideous!" 

His face reddens and he looks a bit surprised at my bluntness. He then proceeds to cross the room and pick up a white hat with blue stripes around the rim. "I'm sorry that Warren terrorized you," he says while putting the hat onto his head and making sure that it covers all of his hair. "I had no idea that he would be here. He wasn't supposed to visit until next week." 

"Wait a second," I gape while putting a hand up, "You knew he was coming? And you let him come! After what he did to you! Are you insane?" 

He swallows and turns to face me, staring at me with the eyes that live in my dreams and make my whole world brighter. "I have to let him come. My board makes me." 

"Board? Like a group of people? Does this mean that you have people who tell you what to do and you didn't bother telling me? I'm the next leader of this country and you let this one thing slip from my notice! This is important Micah!" I realize that I'm yelling and take a deep breath in, hoping to calm myself down. 

"Yes, I do. They tell me what to do all the time. I can't make any decisions for myself. When they saw that I was using the simulation room without their permission they sent Warren to come and punish you. They think that if they hurt everyone I care about then I'll finally start listening to them." 

"Everyone you care about? Oh my goodness Micah you should have told me. I can help you. We need to fight back." 

"You're not going to want to when you hear what I've been keeping from you. I should have told you when we were both ready to hear the truth." He blinks back tears and comes to stand closer to me, whispering the next words. "Your parents are dead. Warren killed them as soon as you left. He 'couldn't have anyone knowing the truth about where you were.'" He closes his eyes and his head falls. "And I let it happen" 

I feel my jaw drop and I can no longer control my body. I don't feel anything when I hit the ground and fall right onto my face. No pain goes through my body; I am only numb to the core. My bones are lead and I am a metal weight, plunging further and further through the ground.

My parents are dead.