"Thank you very much, Mr Makari. We hope we didn't cause you any trouble." My dad said and extended his hand for a handshake.
"Oh no! Don't worry about that mate, it's been taken care of. You have nothing to worry about." He responded cheerfully.
My mum snorted from where she stood but they didn't hear it. The doctors looked at us one more time before they gave us privacy.
"Dad please." I begged him. My dad looked at me with sadness in his eyes, then nodded his head in the negative. I went down on my knees to beg him.
"Dad please, don't do this. I promise I won't do this anymore. Dad please, one more chance."
My dad joined me on the ground and took my face in his hands. He was already crying. "Sweetheart, you need to go there. You know your mum and I can't help you here. Your abilities is so much more than what we can handle. You know I love you so much right?"
I nodded my head while crying.
"And I love you too, so much. But you need the best help you can get. If I and your mum can offer anything, It'll be best to take you to where help is. I've been assured by this gentleman here that they'll give you the best help you can get. And when you're ok, I'll come back for you. Ok?"
"Yes dad" I said while crying.
My mum joined us on the ground and we just stayed there, crying our eyes out.
It must have been really weird for Mr Makari because he coughed loudly to get our attention.
"Uhmm, sorry about that but we need your signature and we need to get going immediately.."
"Immediately!! Why?" My mama asked.
"You see, Mrs Micheals, our search radar has found all the people affected by the blast, and my teammates have gone out to retrieve them. Everyone, as we speak, is in Oasis and we cannot continue the process of treatment without the victims being complete and in order."
"Ok, then get the rest of the people." My mum responded.
"We only need one more person, Mrs Michaels. And it's Rose. She's the remaining person." He explained.
"Do we have to go now, I mean she's going to be away from us for a while. She'll need her clothes, she hasn't said her goodbyes to her siblings and her friends, she'll need a new hairdo, she'll need to go to church so the members will pray for her, she'll..." My mum was quickly interrupted by my dad.
"Mr Makari, would it be ok if she just said goodbye to her siblings and then get her things? We won't waste too much time." My dad concluded.
"That'll be alright by me." He responded and then left, saying he'll meet us at our house.
"My baby needs a new hairdo." My mum said to my dad, warming up for an argument.
"No she does not." My dad said and tapped my hair. "Her hair is perfect."
"You say that because you don't have African hair. It needs styling." I held a fistful of my hair and looked at it. It looked like a wild cats fought on my hair. I inherited my mum's African hair while the rest of my siblings had curly hair which they got from both my dad and my mum. The only thing I got from my dad was his green eyes. My siblings all had brown eyes.
"She can just comb it, tie it up and leave. It's fine." My dad responded.
While they were arguing, I couldn't help but feel numb. My fast rising anxiety made me feel like there was more to it than they seemed to tell me. But there would be others in OASIS. I need help so I won't have such an attack and injure any of my family. I also had to think of the many lawsuits that would be piling up against my parents because of me and the amount they'll spend to take of the damages caused by me. I really hope they find a way out of this.
I didn't say anything as we drove back home. My parents tried reassuring me that everything would be fine once I get there. But I had this lingering feeling that something was not correct. Why would my mum of all people agree to send me of to Oasis.
Because you killed four people and injured 1, genius.
I know I killed people but...
Ok I got nothing. I see why I'm being sent there.
We got home and sure enough, Mr Makari was there in the parking lot, waiting for us. He joined us in the elevator going to our apartment. Which my parents didn't find weird at all. But I did see them exchanging glances at each other.
We reached our apartment and my siblings were all waiting for us in the living room. I quickly went to my room and started packing. I didn't want to wait to hear what anyone had to say. I packed all my necessities into one suitcase. I turned to leave the room when I saw Roland and Joan standing at the doorway with sad expressions on their faces.
"Guys please don't say anything. I just want to go and I'll stay for some time. Before you know it, I'm back like nothing happened ok." I assured them. But I knew they could sense the lie in my tone. They stood looking at me with teary eyes. I wanted to say more when they ran to hug me.
That was all it took to let out the water works.
We stayed crying like I was with my parents at the hospital. I knew they were going to miss me even after all our arguments, we still had love for one another.
After a few minutes, I pulled away from them and made for the door. Immediately I opened the door I met Jayden standing with tears in his eyes.
"Aww come on." I said laughing and using my hands to wipe my tears. "Don't tell me you're crying too."
"I can't help but think that this is my fault. I can't help but beat myself up whenever I think about that day. You should have left me and Andrew out there. If you had left us there, you wouldn't be like this now." He said, letting his tears fall.
"Hey, don't say that ok?" I playfully hit his chest "who knows what would have happened if I didn't help you? Don't beat yourself up ok? You have to stay strong for everyone here. And with all the things I've done, it's only going to get harder from now on. You guys should please stay strong ok?"
"What do you mean?" Jayden looked at me confused. "They've been sorted out already. We're moving out immediately you leave. I thought you knew."
"What? What do you mean it has been taken care of? It can't be taken care of. People died, I killed people." I said confused. I could see the way they cringed when I said I killed people but I couldn't care less. "Won't the families file lawsuits against me?"
"Nope, mama and the Aussie said it's been taken care of." Joan said.
"They said that! How come no one told me? How was it taken care of so fast? Why are you guys moving out? Where are you guys moving to? How did I not know about this?" I asked in one breath. Things have been hard for us so to get the money to move out to another place is quite suspicious.
"Stop over thinking this. Did you read the paper Aussie gave dad to sign? That's where everything is. And mum and dad didn't tell us anything. We overheard them. Apparently it was something about payment for being part of OASIS' project and consent to allow their ward be used for the good of science or something like that. I don't know. You can check it your...." Jayden stopped explaining and looked at me.
"You think mum and dad sold you off to be used as an experiment?" He whisper-yelled.
We all looked at each other curiously.
"I don't think that's what happened. Let's not think the worst." Joan said, but her tone implied she was not sure of what she was saying.
"I mean it wouldn't hurt to check, right?" Roland asked.
I gave Joan and Roland my bag to help keep in the living room while Jayden and I went to find the paper.
My parents and Mr Makari were talking in the balcony so it was easy for us to find it. We went to my parents room where Jayden was sure the papers were kept, I saw the folder which I remember Mr Makari showed my dad to sign on laying on the bed. I opened it and brought out the only paper in the folder.
"This letter of consent has been specially prepared for Mr and Mrs Michaels.
Firstly, the company of OASIS would like to apologize for the complications caused by the nuclear power organisation that affected you and our country at large. But we at OASIS are more than willing to assist the victims of this national disaster.
In order to do so, we would like you to release your daughter to us so we can help her and the lives of other victims.
We have the best medical equipments there is and we plan to use these devices for the greater good of science.
We have noticed that the victims from the blast have been discovered with some abnormal abilities and we plan to create a treatment for the victims so they will not end up hurting their loved ones. And your daughter is one of those victims. So we have come with a proposal.
In exchange for your daughter, Miss Rose Micheals, we are offering you the sum of Fifty two million US dollars. ($52,000,000) for your family and personal needs. We also assure you that any casualties made by our new OASIS property; your daughter, before, during and after she was enrolled in the facility would be taken care of by the company.
Thank you for your cooperation.
From the management of OASIS."
Jayden read aloud. I tiredly sat on the bed and looked at my brother.
"Sorry sis. I can't believe mum and dad would agree to this." He said looking sorry for me.
If it was possible to scream, have another episode and wipe off my family, I would have done it there and then. But I understood their plights. Things have been really tight for us all. OASIS is literally offering them $52m in a platter of gold. They'd be stupid not to accept it.
The sad thing is they did it at my expense..
"It's ok, Jay Jay. It really is. Think about the good part of all this. You'd have your own room. You'd have your college tuition ready. Rolly and Joan will be going to good schools. Life will be better" I said to him, mustering up any courage I had left. It was hard for me to accept it, but as long as my family was happy, I knew I'd be comfortable.
"Still I'm not ok with all this!" Jayden said exasperated.
"It's ok, everything will be fine. I'll just go there and stay at OASIS for 2weeks tops. Before you know it, I'm back home and we'll all move on like it never happened."
"Rose!! It's time to go!" I heard my mum say. I hugged Jayden one last time before I went to the living room. Rolland was already crying, Joan was trying to hold herself but I still saw hie her eyes welled up with tears, my parents were said and tried to cover it up and the Aussie was smiling like he just had a trip to candy world.
"Do us proud ok?" My dad said and patted my shoulder. I nodded in response and took my bag but Jayden held it back for me.
"I'll walk you out." Was all he said. I didn't say anything, I just left the house and went to the jet black van that Mr Makari drove. Jayden helped put my bag in the truck. When he was done, he stood beside my parents and gave me a mock salute. My mum hugged me and promised to visit every day. All I did was nod in response. I got in the back seat of the van and waved them good-bye.
"I promise to visit. Be a good girl!"
"It'll soon be over, just get through it."
"Hurry up and come back to us."
My mum, dad and brother said at the same time, returning my wave with theirs. The door was closed and we drove off. The ride was silent until we reached a bus-stop and Mr Makari opened the door to let two other guys in. They both wore black suits, with badges that had the word OASIS imprinted on it.
"She the one huh?" One of the asked.
"Yah! That's the bitch." Mr Makari answered.
Bitch??? I looked up at Mr Makari confused. The guy suddenly got rid of his Australian accent and was speaking with an American accent.
"Bro, her family's so dramatic. They were all crying by the time I got there. She would have blasted me if I didn't use the device." He continued
"What?" I asked. I was right, he was the one who caused that episode. I knew there was something wrong about him.
They laughed at my expression, seemingly enjoying that they took advantage of my family's emotion just to get me to Oasis.
I instantly got angry, I could feel my body brewing and another episode happening, my eyes drew into slits as I sized up Makari. As that was happening, their phones just blacked out, the car stopped driving and sparks flew out from the dashboard. The car skidded to a stop in the middle of the road and they all jumped out.
I followed suit, my eyes red with anger and only focused on Makari.
"You lied to my family. You toyed with their emotions you stupid twerp!"
"I also forgot to mention that she's still unstable. Mentally and emotionally." he said looking behind me to talk to his colleagues.
"That won't be a problem" one of the suited guys said and came at me. He turned me around to face me and punched me hard on my face. When he saw I didn't move, he punched again and again and again. But I didn't move. He punched one last time but the sound of bones cracking filled the air, followed by his screams.
"Bro! What's your hand made of? Steel?" He asked nursing his hands that were badly injured.
My hair was already floating above my head as I came close to him and delivered a punch of my own. I've never beaten up people before, but my new found abilities coupled with the adrenaline and my anger seemed to fuel me to have a strong punch.
Immediately my hands made contact with his face, sparks flew out and zapped him, rendering him unconscious immediately. I turned to look at Makari and I saw the evident shock shown across his features. Same with his colleague.
"You also didn't tell us her ability was fucking electricity Makari!".
"I didn't know either!". Makari responded. He brought out the same device he used on me days ago and tried to use it again but it seemed the electricity fried it too.
The suited guy opened the back door of the van and brought out two baseball bats and threw one to Makari.
I ran towards them, heading for Makari first but before I could get to him, I felt something hard hit the back of my head and I fell down, feeling the warm blood pass through my hair to my face.
My vision was getting blurry but I saw Makari and his colleague stand in front of me, poking me with their bats. When I didn't move, they both let out a breath of relief.
"That's a strong one, Makari, damn."
"Oasis will have their hands full with this one." I heard Makari say before I drifted off to sleep.