Rachel's P.O.V.
I gathered my senses. We were in a slightly large room. The others slid in behind me toppling over each other like dissoriented children. The other side of the room held a thick glass wall. Behind the wall was a panel of people in coats. I couldn't help but stare. They looked pale and shaky, they all seemed very interigued and were talking amongst themselves, though I couldn't hear anything. These were the leaders of WICKED, I just knew it. Everyone seemed to be noticing the figures as well. Sonya walked up to the glass panel and hammered against it with her fist. "Hey!" she shouted. They seemed startled and wrote something down. A nervous feeling of anxiety built inside my gut. The Changing had revealed that these people weren't gonna let me live through the "trial". I was uneasy and nauseous. Yet, considering I didn't think I would have made it to here, I was relieved.
I couldn't focus on the figures in front of me. I couldn't think straight. My. Thoughts. Were. Choppy. And. Rough.
Instead I looked around the room. A glint of light shimmered in my vision. I looked up to find a window. It was positioned up near the ceiling, so I figured this hidaway was partially under ground. Through the metal bars I saw it. Sunlight. Beautiful golden sunlight streaming into the dreary confinement. It rippled on the glass, casting odd shadows on the metal floor. I could see the pale blue expanse of sky beaming and almost shining in its own light. This is the first real memory I can place where the sky wasn't dark. The sky was real.
Shimmers of orange glowed against the metal, displaying the silhouette of long beams over a figure. I jerked my head up away from the sunlight to focus on the figure. It was completely hidden by a gray hoodie, pulled tight to disguise its face. The figure twitched uncontrollably. Its fingers fiddled against something in its pocket. The figure looked possessed by the way it jerked and shook. Its throat made odd noises, as if it were trying to speak.
Then a thin shaky hand pulled up and slipped off the hood.
I gasped.
Beth!
I froze in fear. Though, I almost felt bad for her. She looked dazed and scared. Her pupils were huge. Her eyes were wide. Her face contorted into a hideous mixture of panic and insanity. She looked wild, physcotic, almost like a starved vicious animal.
"Beth......." I heard Sonya breathe. I couldn't tear my eyes from this animal-like human being. Memories of her hands tightened around my neck that night she attacked me in the Glade surged through my mind.
Beth slid her hand out of her pocket. She clasped something tightly and then loosely. A knife. It had a short metal handle and a long, menacing, serrated edge. The blade itself looked so sharp and heavy. Her wrist bent and she pulled her arm back.
Suddenly my senses returned in a rush of panic and I tried to will myself to move. I saw her arm fly and release the blade. It flew handle over blade directly towards me.
I finally was able to move, no longer frozen in time. I shifted my weight slightly, but it was too late.
The knife sank into my chest.