Nora~~
The room is quiet. No one has any questions. No one stands. No one does anything. I open my mouth to protest, but nothing escapes. I spread out my palms in my lap. Ten fingers. This is real after all.
As a collective, we turn our heads to the open door—the way out. Security guards file into the classroom.
First come the sniffles. Then the murmurs. And then the yelling.
Aaron stares at the desk in the row in front of him, tears collecting in his eyes. I strain my own eyes, trying to keep my tears from falling. Swallowing the lump in my throat, I lay my hand over his. He flinches but makes no move to pull out his hand from underneath mine nor does he thread his fingers through mine.
There has to be a way out, but I can't see it. Did Dad hide from me what he did so that I would never learn why I was to be brought here? Is he all right with this? Is Mom? I think back to when she cried this morning—an action Aaron said was only due to me growing up, but I feel like she knew. Until today, she was the only other member in our family to know where Dad works. She let him take me. Let him give me away in the name of what? Science?
Under his breath, Aaron's whispers that it's going to be okay. That we're going to be okay. If it were only an hour ago, I would be freaking out that I'm holding his hand. But at this moment my heart is beating fast for an entirely different reason.
"You're not serious, are you?" the girl Pace referred to as Miss Dacy says.
"I am."
A girl behind Dacy jumps up, lunging toward the door. It being open has been taunting me, and I'm sure it's the same for the others. Before the girl can reel back, a security guard raises her gun and fires.
The girl's knees buckle as she grasps her shoulder. As she cries out, she falls to her knees, her body curving in on itself.
My heart races too fast; my breathing is too shallow. "You can't do this."
Pace has the gall to look confused. "I already have though."
Aaron tenses. "The government can't sanction this."
"They can and they do."
"Our parents," Dacy says.
"They brought you here, didn't they?"
The disappearances. The rise in them over the past decades. OneirTech, a company I never heard of until today, must be behind them.
Pace continues, "Your parents, your legal guardians, have offered you to OneirTech to further their life's work, to place you inside of a world where you can't be killed. They want to protect you. They want you to live in a better world, and that's exactly what I offer."
Thank you so much for reading! The next chapter will feature the other point of view character in the story.
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Remember to count those fingers.
~Mikaela