C H A P T E R T W O
A Month Later
9:46 A.M
Finn's P.O.V
I gripped the steering wheel and looked out the windshield.
I stepped on the gas pedal a little harder, and tightened my grip on the wheel.
I pressed harder against the pedal and heard a ear-piercing feminine shriek and an equally loud THWACK. I stomped on the brakes hard, lurching forward in my seat. Confusion swelling inside of me, I swiftly rolled down my window and stuck my head out. I widened my eyes.
There was an old woman that had raised her walking stick, menacingly sticking it out at the car's front. Apparently she didn't see me, or was either too outraged to care. She started whacking her walking stick on the car's engine, and my baby sputtered and grunted. I hurriedly got out and frantically waved at her to stop.
"Hey - Hey! Excuse me, Ma'am, please stop - Madam!"
Bystanders passing by stopped and watched the scene unfold. Some were trying to suppress their laughters. Some were just grinning freely. Others just didn't care, and started walking away from the stupid scene that was occurring. Two women that rested babies on their hips watched us, the mothers horrified and confused, and the babies giggling loudly and waving their rattles. A jogger trotting along the sidewalk glanced at us. He looked at me, then at the old woman who was screaming profanities at the top of her lungs. He widened his eyes and sprinted away as fast as he could.
"Excuse me - miss, this is my car - please stop!'' I yelled, trying to be heard over her loud tantrum. She whammed the car again and again, completely oblivious to my desperate pleas.
At least, I thought she was.
She finally stopped beating poor Blackjack up and turned towards me, breathing heavily and glaring at me with her cold blueish-grey eyes.
Now, if she was tall and towering over me, I would be scared out of my wits. But the old woman was actually more than two feet shorter than me, so she looked like an evil little elf who just got ticked off because you told on him to Santa Claus to give him more work or something.
"Hello sweetheart." She suddenly gave me a friendly smile, which took me aback. Shocked and a bit uneasy, I decided to give her a polite greeting as well.
"Hello m'am." I uneasily flitted my eyes between the old woman and the mob that had gradually crowded around us. Anticipation hung in the air between me and the woman, and watched with terror as the woman's face transformed from sweet to sour. Real sour.
The woman's face had morphed into complete outrage. "How dare you strike a senior?" She roared, and spit flew into my face.
"I-I'm- I'm sorry-" I was at a loss for words. But apparently I didn't need any, because the woman continued to bellow at me with her oh-so-lovely breath.
"You almost killed me, young man!" She ranted, placing her hands on her boney hips. "Is this a display of how young, supposedly-gentlemen are now? Carelessly speeding around in their fancy, little Mustangs and all those other expensive car brands?" She held up two wrinkly, bony fingers in the air and curled them when she said 'expensive car brands'.
I was about to protest and beg for dear mercy from her foul breath, but she just kept blabbering on and on.
"Is this the world now? My, back in my day, men weren't like this at all. Not at all. Such rebels." She grunted distastefully and seemed to realize for the first time the huge horde of people flocking around us, eagerly awaiting what's next. She glared at the swarm of people and shooed them away like pests.
"Go on! Shoo! Hurry on now, run along! Shoo!" She waved her arms about and shooed the onlookers away. "No need to cause a traffic jam!"
"I think you already caused a traffic jam, miss." A teenage boy wearing khaki shorts, a black top and a baseball cap called out and winked at the old lady. His friends snickered, and one of his friends patted him hard on the back. The old lady turned a violent shade of red, and fumed. She glared dangerously at the boys and raised her stick, and let out a booming roar. The boys all widened their eyes and dashed away, the short elder woman hot on their tails.
Well, that settles that.
I grinned victoriously to myself and turned. My smile drooped.
Of course.
Blackjacks's engine was still ruined. It coughed out smoke and greasy yellow liquid flooded out the front. It shuddered violently and puffed out more smoke. I accidentally inhaled some and burst into a coughing fit. My eyes brimmed with tears, and I immediately backed away. Blinking a few times, I took a long look at it.
I slumped down miserably next to my car and put my head in my hands.
A branch snapped.
I heard leaves crunching, and the sound was getting closer. I slowly looked up, and saw a tall shadow. But then the shadow turned into a dark, muscular figure. The figure stepped out and I saw his face.
I don't know why, but all of a sudden, a sense of deja-vu washed over me.
I stood up and gazed at the tall, well-built man before me. He had olive-colored skin, with wavy dark brown hair. His eyes were a dark, chocolatey brown, and he sported a goatee. He was wearing a blue and red plaid shirt with dark blue jeans like me, and some beat up dark-blue converses.
"Hey kid, what's the problem?" He grinned at me.
Oh, it's nothing, sir. My car just got beat up by a very angry senior who's on the hunt for more troublesome teenage boys just like me to give them a whipping.
"I need to get somewhere before it gets too late. But the problem is, Black-" I coughed, "I mean, my cars' all beat up and I can't exactly walk there." I decided to keep my destination a secret for now, despite my strange urges to tell him.
"Ah." The man whistled wistfully and inspected the battered state Blackjack was in. "Say kid, how about I fix your car for you," He pointed to Blackjack, "If you answer a few questions of mine."
I contemplated the situation for a second. He raised his eyebrows, quietly waiting for me to answer.
I slowly looked at the man, then at Blackjack briefly before looking back at the man.
"Deal."
~
Eden's P.O.V
10:07 A.M
I heard footsteps coming towards my room. The door peeped open, and in came a short, stout and dark figure. The lights flicked on, and my visitor came into view. And so had my room. My chamber was absolutely pristine now. The walls had been repainted, and I quickly detected the smell of fresh paint. I scrunched my nose in distaste.
The floor was so clean that it reflected my hollow face back at me. It was the first time I had gotten a good look at myself - or any look for that matter.
My cheekbones were raised, giving my face an oval form. My eyes were the color of the sky, the color of waves beneath a scintillating sun. Light blue. And my hair; a somber yet conspicioius gold.
I laid there, unmoving, as I watched my nurse walk towards me. This time, I didn't bother to react. And the nurse apparently noticed because she halted and gave me a look-over, and brushed it off.
"Good morning," She said, nonchalantly. She grabbed a chair and pushed it towards me, hesitantly. Thinking better, she scooted a couple feet away from my bed and sat.
I sighed deeply, and -
"Good morning!" I replied with over enthusiasm.
My grin was so huge, that my cheeks were starting to smart (A//N: Yes, I know. You must be thinking that this is a typo, but it's actually not. When something is about to smart, it causes either a sharp, stinging pain or a dull ache. Toodles!) after a couple seconds. I sat up, but remained on my bed.
"You need to learn how to greet people," Nurse What's-Her-Name rolled her eyes. "Good grief, child. You should also learn how to smile properly."
If it werent for the 24-hour surviellance cameras that were watching, I would be speaking a special language I like to call, Extremely Colorful Words.
I knew what was coming. I held my arm out, and almost jumped when I felt her soft hand push my arm away.
"No, not today." She gave a small smile and clasped her hands together in her lap,
Shock and relief flooded through me all at once. It was a wonderfully, terrible sensation that I couldn't describe. But then my stomach twisted, my breathing hitched.
If not this then what -
"It's time."
I stared at her in confusion.
"Time? What is time?"
"Oh - never mind that!" She shooed my question away, "Honey, it's time for you to leave."
Still confused, I kept gazing at her.
"It's time for you to see the real world."
~
The familiar scent of medicine and chemicals mixed in the hallway air, and I was surprised by the noise in the hallway. So many people talking at once.
I have only heard silence in my life until now.
I was paying no attention to my nurse, who kept on babbling on and on.
"Meet with someone -"
"- Is Mrs. Norman, and she's one of the staff that work here -"
"Maybe you'll get a better home than you did here. Or maybe not. We send you with our best blessings and friendliest wishes," She said, abruptly turning towards me.
But I was ready.
"Good morning," I said politely.
"You don't have to keep - oh, whatever," She shook her head and turned around. I grinned triumphantly.
It was so fun to act stupid in front of humans.
After a brief moment, I was shoved out into the main hall.
Well, so much for friendliest wishes.
Men and women in white coats were scrambling about, trying to get into rooms and ordering all clones to quiet down and follow their designated exits. And then I saw real humans. I gasped at the sight. They were all so different, but so similar. Different personalities, but all the same.
One little boy zoomed past my knees followed by a tall, blonde mother. I stepped back immeidently and watched the mother pick her child up and smiled when I saw him throwing baby punches at his mother. I saw two young adolescent girls that looked exactly similar, greeting and excitedly shaking hands with who looked like their clone. I saw another juvenile couple that were meeting the girl's clone. The girl looked rather frightened and gave out a little yelp and hid behind her significant other's back when the clone tried to hug her, and the boy laughed and tried to console the girl.
Finally, after quite a while of searching and roaming around like an idiot, I found the woman she was talking about.
She was a quite tall, fit woman with a petite frame. Her hair was thrown up into a hasty bun. She was wearing a short-sleeved blue buttoned down shirt with a black pencil skirt that matched her hair, and even matching heels. Her name tag read, 'Isabelle Norman'. She was looking around impatiently, as if waiting for someone to give her a special foot massage.
When her eyes landed on me, she sighed and motioned for me to come to her. I took small, cautionary steps towards the woman. When I had reached her, she didn't miss a beat.
"Name," She said, her eyes focused on the clipboard she was holding.
"N-name?" I stammered. I knew my name, but this woman looked quite intimidating. And by intimidating I meant she looked like she could snap someone's neck in an instant and make it look like an accident.
"Do I have to repeat myself?" Her dark eyes scrutinized me with obvious dismay.
"E-eden," I croaked. I cleared my throat and spoke again, "Eden."
"What?" She said, sounding bored.
"My name is Eden. I didn't choose it," I said, clenching my fists.
"At least you know your name," She sounded satisfied, and scribbled something on the clipboard. "Well, since you have a sponsor family set up, I'll release you. I'm not quite sure what use you'll have in society, but off you go!" She said.
Anger bubbled inside me.
What use I'll have in society? What use I'll have in society? I'll show you what use I have in society! Ridding the world of scumbags like yourself, you no-good hag!
"I didn't quite like the way that made me feel." I gritted my teeth.
"What? My comment?" She gave a hearty laugh. "Get used to-"
Shut up!
"Excuse me?" She raised an eyebrow.
Did I say that out loud?
"Yes you did, in fact." She said and glared at me through her thin-rimmed spectacles. After a couple of awkward glares, she said, "Your lucky that I wasn't your caretaker, or else I would've sent your rude little-"
"What family will I be released to?" I cut her off.
She glared at me for quite a while before checking her clipboard again. "Hmm." She huffed and checked her clipboard, her eyes scanning the page. "Ah, yes. You will be released to the Huddson family."
"Thank you." I forced a smile.
"Wait outside, and someone should pick you up," She said, putting the clipboard back on her desk.
I simply stood there.
"O-Outside?"
"I know there's not an echo in here. So why are my words bouncing back to me?"
"Will you show me where the - er - outside is?" I could feel heat spread on my face.
"Of course. Through those doors." She pointed at two double-doors across the room that had a large red EXIT sign over them.
"T-thank you. Good morning." I gave her a tight smile.
"Just go!"
~