The Facility | ✔️

Chapter Five

My throat is so sore... ugh. But that's the price I pay for having Krispy Kreme ;)

There was a light knock on my dorm door just as Emily had turned off the lights. She opened the door and shouted, "Whoever you are I'm trying to get some beauty sleep so I actually look half-decent tomorrow so goodnight!"

She tried to slam the door shut but a foot stuck out and caught it. The person whimpered, "It doesn't look so painful in movies."

I paled, "Em! You probably just sprained my brother's foot!"

Em rolled her eyes, "So what? My ankle's sprained too."

She lifted up her leg and dangled the knee that held the bandaged foot in front for us all to see. Shawn wrinkled his nose, "I, uh... I just thought you might want to know what happened in the doctor's office, girls..."

"Welcome," Em brightened immediately and hobbled back into her bed, switching on the light above her bedframe. 

Shawn sat down on the end of my bed, crisscrossed. He groaned, "Well, first of all... it's painful. There are needles involved. They jabbed one right up my arm and took a blood sample. Apparently, the blood holds the hormones. Next, they put me in a small air-tight closet and something sort of scanned me. It was hard holding my breath but I think that was for the physical sample and the pheromones..."

"And next?" Em said, suddenly energetic.

"They inserted some sort of mechanical device chip onto the side of my stomach," he frowned. Then he lifted his shirt up slightly to show where you could just see the dark grey square embedded in his skin. "It hurts like a bitch..."

Emily's eyes weren't focused on his chip, though. I mentally groaned and fell back into the pillows, "Anything else we should be prepared for other than pain?"

"They asked an awful lot of questions," he rolled his eyes, "Favourite foods, colours, subjects to study, mental disorder history - if any - eating disorder history - if any... uh... sleeping patterns, like sleeping disorders and stuff... If I regularly read Playboy or watch pornography," I interrupted with an 'EW'. Shawn chuckled, "Only the former, sis, calm down."

That didn't help me at all. I shuddered. 

Emily was almost bouncing on her bed, "Anything else?"

"They asked what I dream about, what sports I play, my current relationship status - happily single, by the way." 

I held in a small smile as Emily's face dropped. 

Shawn pretended not to notice, "Hobbies... Fetishes... Turn-offs. I don't think there was much more than that. It was quite simple actually."

"Wait, Shawn..." Emily interrupted, "Did you say that they asked about what you dream?"

Shawn shuddered, "You should have seen Dr Demonico's face when I told her. I think she would have been better off not knowing. But Dr Weston... he was laughing so hard that he was crying."

"Shawn, what the fudge do you dream?" I cringed, "Dr Demonico seems so reserved!"

"I dream about what I read in Playboy," he said as if it was obvious.

"Ew!" I shouted, "Out! Out! Out! Shawn, you aren't welcome here again!" 

My twin brother just laughed but he stood up to kiss my forehead, "Night Nattie. Goodnight Em."

He closed the door behind him and I risked a glance at my best friend, "You've fallen for him, haven't you..."

She blushed, "No. You heard the man. Get some sleep, Nat."

***

He grabbed my hand as soon as we exited the cafeteria. Well... this was new. 

"Park," I whined, "I'm hungry..."

"And so am I," he winked, "For you."

I smirked, "Okay, that's cute and all, but I am seriously starving..."

Christian just rolled his eyes, "Come on... I can guarantee you'll be back in time to finish your lunch."

"Really?"

"No," he admitted, dragging me into an empty classroom. 

I sighed and sat down on one of the tables near the back. He grinned mischievously at me before he was suddenly pressed lightly on top of me, with my back against the table. 

"Park... ah," I moaned as he nibbled on my ear. He moved down to give me feathery kisses across my neck. 

He leaned back and smirked, "Did you just moan?"

"No. My belly growled. I'm hungry," I pouted. 

He sweftly dipped down and bit my pouting lip softly. I rolled my eyes, "You're so cheesy, Park."

"And you're my Dove."

"Dove?" I raised my eyebrows, "Isn't that a little cliche, Park?"

"You're my Dove, because you're too fragile and...," he smirked suddenly, "Pure."

Then he leant down and kissed me again.

***

I sat down - on time for once - at breakfast. I hungrily eyed the muesli and coconut yoghurt but before I could make a move to eat it there was another crackle from the microphone. I scowled and looked to the front of the room. Dr Weston stood there, with a large grin, "I think it's safe to say that the samples from the boys last night were a success. I'm sure you've already noticed some of your chips working?"

How?

My eyes scanned to find Shawn's but instead they landed on Christian's. He was plainly staring at me from the front of the room. I raised an eyebrow to say 'What?'. He let out a small smirk and looked away. I looked nervously down at my own plate. My dream had been extremely different last night. For one - he called me Dove? The guy in the dreams has never had a pet name for me before. And for two - he listed reasons on why he liked me... Something changed. And I'm sure seeing a real-life version of the guy had something to do with that.

"Christian, can you please recite the school pledge for us all to do?"

My eyes followed Pa-Christian as he moved up to the podium. Everyone stood up, chairs scraping. The boys' school and girls' school were run by the same people - with the same school song and pledge. 

Christian's eyes sought out mine and he narrowed his eyes. Then he looked back out to the sea of students. We recited the passage along with him and then finally he looked me dead in the eyes and said, "Natalie, I'll need to speak with you in the hallway."

I pressed my lips together. He'd cornered me. With so many people watching, plus the faculty, I couldn't turn it down. Besides... I want to know what he knows.

I scraped my chair back even further and then stepped around it to tuck it back in. I flipped my blonde hair over a shoulder and made my way back down to the doors to the hallway. 

Christian closed the door behind him a minute later and crossed his arms, "Tell me why in hell I'm having these freaky-ass dreams."

Song: Heathens - TØP