Oblivion

Chapter 17 Part 3

            I was jolted awake at the sound of someone knocking on the bathroom door. I was still in the shower, the water still baring down on my back, the water had long turned cold.
The knocking came again and this time the knocker spoke.

         "Addieca are you okay?" Aris's voice rang through the bathroom.
I didn't have time to reply. Aris was already kicking down the door; he stepped inside the bathroom along with a couple of men and women.

They all stopped in their tracks.
     I must have been a sight to behold, curled in a fetal position at the bottom of the bathroom tub, with freezing cold water beating down on my back. I covered myself the best I could with my hands.

         Aris and the others stood around awkwardly, all trying to avoid eye contact with me. It was Aris who came to my unwanted rescue; he stepped inside the shower, turned off the faucet, peeled off his jacket and wrapped it around my naked body the best he could. He wiped the water from his face and glared at everyone else in the bathroom; they all piled out in an uncomfortable fashion.

         "What are you doing Addieca? Are you trying to freeze yourself to death?" Aris demanded as he helped me to my feet.

        "I – I d – didn't me – mean too. I f – fell asleep!" I stuttered out. "Wa – was it r – really ne – necessary to break down the d – door of m – my bath – bathroom?" I shivered, my legs felt like jelly.

        "Addieca, you slept through the whole day in the shower. An officer knocked on the bathroom door and when she didn't get answer back, she reported back to me." Aris explained to me, as he placed a hand on the small of my back to keep me steady.

      "Oh? I didn't think I slept for that long." I muttered groggily.
Aris looked down on me with disapproval, but he didn't say anything to me; he helped me to my bed. As soon as I had slid under the covers, Aris retreated back away from my bed.

        "Well I hope you rest easy. Try not to fall asleep in the shower again, Addieca."
I sat up a little in the bed. "Where are you going? I thought we were going to talk about the Testing?" I asked him.

      "Addieca, its midnight. Everyone is asleep, and you should rest as well and get yourself warmed up." He resounded with me and he moved towards the door. I wasn't going to give up that easily; the first part of my plan to escape was simple enough and that was to gain his trust. Whatever parts comes after that was still shrouded in mystery.

      "Stay."
Aris froze, his cool, formal persona creaked a bit, into a look of uncertainty.

       "That would be inappropriate, Addieca." Aris responded.
I shook my head, "Not if I said it was okay. And anyways you're just going to be sitting in the chair." I pointed to a chair that was tucked into the corner.
        A trace of a smile moved to his face and as quickly as it appeared, the faint smile was gone form existence.

He seemed to be debating with himself.
I raised an eyebrow at him, "Afraid I'll bite you?" I teased.

       Aris smirked before stepping back into the room, "Not really, your bark is worse than your bite." He countered and I was taken aback. Aris seemed to see my surprise because his smirk grew and he leaned against the door frame.

       "Does that mean you'll stay?" I asked him, cocking my head to the right in puzzlement.
He gave me a tight-lipped smile before saying, "Get some rest Addie. We'll talk about your Testing later tomorrow." He moved back towards the door. "By the way, you have another Testing tomorrow, so I suggest you rest well. You'll be going in alone." And the door slid back into place.

      My heart plummeted. I would have to try and survive another section in the simulations.
I laid back in my bed, looking at the ceiling. I didn't know how many of these "Tests," I could go through before I couldn't take them anymore.

       I rolled over on my side facing the window. An orb of gray and black swirled slowly in my view. Is that what my home looks like from all the way up here?

       When sleep came to me light come lazily from the window. My night was dark and dreamless, I had tossed and turned until was woken up by – what sound like – someone knocking with all their strength.

        "Are you up?" the voice of a woman called.
I groaned in response and the woman called again, "Hurry up and get dressed if you're not already!"

      I rolled out of bed. I still wore Aris's jacket, which was now damp. I peeled off his jacket and I tucked it in the back of my wardrobe, before grabbing clothes. I tugged on my clothes as quickly as I could, before moving back to the door. I knocked once and the door slid open, a woman guard stood in front of me.

         "Right this way." She said formally. She didn't wait for me to reply, she just whipped around and started walking down the hallway with me in tow.

         "Because of your little outburst yesterday, you missed Testing. Therefore, Aristotle requires that you do your Testing this morning. You'll be doing your Testing alone." She walked me right through the cafeteria.

        Everyone stopped eating to stare at me; they watched me with unblinking eyes. My own eyes wandered to Orion and Allister, who both watched me. I averted my eyes from all of them, I kept my eyes trained on the floor. She led me to the back room, she flicked on the lights and led me deeper into the room.

     I was brought to a table near the back of the room, I pushed myself onto the table.
The woman looked me over before saying, "Wait here. Someone will see to you soon." And the woman walked away rigidly, leaving me behind.

        Soon, two doctors marched inside the room. They didn't talk to me at all, they just silently and quickly hooked me up to the machines. Once they were done, one of the doctor's walked behind me and jabbed me in the neck with a needle. The serum worked almost instantly, I felt the thick liquid rush through my veins. It felt like fire was working its way up through my veins; it grew exceptionally hard for me to breath. The doctors just sat there, watching me with unamused eyes.

Luckily, unlike last time, the pain didn't last long. I was already fading into the simulation.