"Z, you need to hurry up or you're going to be late for the dance." I hear my sister yelling from downstairs, the sound echoes and floats around me like water.
I'm lying on my bed staring at the roof, except it isn't my room.
"Z!" Her voice gets louder and I hear footsteps coming up the stairs, there are so many stairs by the sound of it, the footsteps and creaking stairs has been happening for about twenty minutes now.
Where am I?
I try to move my head and fail when I hear the door opening up and slamming, repeatedly.
My sister's voice on repeat telling me to hurry up, getting angrier each time.
"I'm trying to get up!" I try to scream but no sound leaves my mouth.
"Mom! Dad! She won't get up! Tell Thomas to just go with Ella."
Who the fuck is Ella?
Why would I go to a dance with Thomas fucking Edison?
Thomas is one of the biggest losers in my school, he is completely obsessed with me and creeps me out.
Well, I secretly have a crush on him but no one will ever know this.
"Z, you need to try to get up! Please get up and run!" She's over me now, straddling me and shaking my shoulders but I don't feel anything.
Her eyes are wet and cheeks flushed, she looks scared
"Zara, can we go swimming please." Cole appears beside me, his blue eyes are bigger than usual and his face is slanted to the side.
"Cole..." I try to say but still, no sound comes.
"Where is Thomas, he is my best friend ever." He throws his arms up in excitement and starts jumping up and down.
"Don't look at him, Z. Keep your eyes open and try to get up." My sister is frantic, her hands are on my face but I don't feel them either.
The more I think of it, she's sitting on me but I can't feel her nor can I feel Cole trying to grab my hand and shrieking in my ear to take him swimming.
"Z, we don't have a lot of time, try to get up." Adrianna is pleading with me now.
What is she talking about?
She's scaring the shit out of me and if I could speak I'd tell her to get the fuck off me and get out of my room.
"Mom, tell her..." she trails off, standing next to me now, how did she get off me so fast?
"Zara Bell Coulter, you get your ass out of that bed right this minute! I mean it, young lady." My mom is tossing her finger at me and shaking her head in disgust.
"Your father will be disappointed in your behaviour recently." She sneers at me and takes a few steps closer.
What did I do?
Everyone is screaming at me to get up, even Cole is crying next to me saying I needed to get up before it's too late, I don't understand.
"Thomas is here. She isn't even ready." Adrianna says and everyone goes tight-lipped and walks to the side of the room as Thomas steps in.
He is wearing skinny suit trousers, a tight white shirt with the sleeves rolled up and black bow tie.
He really is attractive, why is he not popular at school? Everyone hates him, not for being a bad person but because he was just far too intelligent for his own good.
If only being the smart guy was the new thing.
"You ready, babe?" He smiles at me.
Why is he speaking in a Scottish accent?
And why the hell is he calling me babe?
He sat on the bed next to me and his fingers glide up and down my arm, I can feel it, the electricity running through me from his touch.
"Come back to me baby."
Why does he sound so different? The voice isn't unfamiliar to me but I can't think of who it belongs to.
Come back? I'm right fucking here.
I use every muscle and try to pull myself up, the feeling of tension pushing me back down and makes me feel dizzy.
"Keep going, Z." Adrianna whimpers over his shoulder.
Then I do it, I pull up as if all the pressure had gone and everyone stands up with me.
"Right, Princess get back into bed." A man wearing a white coat shoved me back down, Thomas, Adrianna and Cole are no longer here.
Wow, I'm losing my fucking mind.
They stopped injecting me a while ago but the side effects made me hallucinate like crazy.
This is the same hallucination I had every morning.
I keep seeing these random people throughout the day, shouting at me, hitting me and then the worst one was Cole.
He kept appearing at the bottom of my bed, a hole in his head and blood coating his face and clothes, shouting at me that it's all my fault.
It was enough that I tried to end it all but a guard came in before I went through with it, I no longer have bedding from my bad choice.
My dad has visited me a few times, giving me food and water, some tablets that he said were vitamins to keep me healthy. I never spoke a word to him, even when he said it would all be over and I would understand one day.
He is due in today, I timed it so he comes in every third day.
My memories have been piecing together more and more each day. I can now remember what my mother looked like, Adrianna, my mother and I all had the exact same features, blue eyes and brown hair, freckles littering our bodies in the sun.
Thomas, he is so handsome, I could never forget his face.
Cole is six now, his hair is presumably crazy but then again, Thomas is good at looking after him.
I hear a knock at the door and my head snaps in the direction of my dad, edging in with a tub of food and a tumbler of water. I tried to smash the glass over his head so now they use plastic cups.
"Just bringing you something to eat sweetheart. I thought we could have a little chat about your sister." He places down the food and cup, claps his hands together, rubs them and sits his fat ass down at the bottom of my bed.
"Your daughter, your fucking daughter that your idiotic friend killed," I swear at him, picking up the box and inhaling the smell of fruit.
"It was one of his soldiers, not Mac specifically. Besides, she must have deserved it." He shrugs.
"Deserved it? She was stopping me from being killed!" I slam down the food and raise myself up to my knees.
"You are nothing to me, nothing."
"I'm sorry to hear that sweetheart, I really am. With your condition there is only one thing we can keep doing, maybe it will help this anger you have surfacing." He stands and taps his fist on the door. "She's ready."
"My condition?"
Two men enter and I jump up to my feet, trying dodge away from their grasps but I'm not fast enough.
Kicking my legs and yelling at my dad over my shoulder, calling him every name under the sun while he shakes his head as if he were disappointed in me.
I know where I'm going, the pods are in this room, there are five lined up next to each other and every time I'm in them, it fills up with water.
The last time I was in it was a few days ago, not being sedated made things a lot worse. I passed out after the pressure to my head and fighting for air had taken over me, only to wake up in bed with dry clothing on hours later.
"Please don't, dad," I beg him as he comes to unlock the pod door. "Please."
"Zara, you really are the architect of your own misfortunes. Maybe one day you will understand."
He pulls the door open and the men start pulling off my clothes, his eyes don't leave mine while I'm pushed in and the door is closed over. A loud banging noise indicating it's locked and about to start filling up with the ice-cold liquid.
I'm panicking, this is something I wouldn't wish on my worst enemy, not even that Theo dude.
I haven't seen his badge since maybe he refused to work with me because I tried to bite his ear off through his mask. He's practically the same height as me so it was a clear target.
"Maybe if you get your act together your mother wouldn't have died for nothing." He smirks at me through the glass window.
What? Died for nothing?
"What the fuck did you do to her you sick fuck!" I yell at him and slam my fist against the glass. He shakes his head and walks away, nodding at the man to start.
The pod filled up really quickly, I didn't have much time to try catch my breath before I was flooded in the freezing water.
My dad explained to me why they are doing this. Supposedly, it places me in some strange conscience where I basically re-jig my emotional state.
Don't worry, It made no sense to me either.
My body goes numb fast, it's hard to move and my mind starts playing tricks on me.
I usually give it a minute before the illusions start back up.
Most of the time, Thomas appears and starts reassuring me, telling me I can do it. To hold on to everything that I have deep down and battle against it.
He always has blue eyes.
He is always the height of a damn tower.
This time, I see him running in. He looks a bit smaller than usual but I blame the fact I'm close to blacking out.
He isn't talking, he's fighting off the two men.
I gaze at him, knowing it wasn't real, I've learned not to react to them anymore so I don't get my hopes up.
He's at the controls and pressing switches, looking agitated.
My dad grabs him from behind but he elbows him in the face and wraps a wire around his neck and throws him from side to side until he is passed out and falls to the ground.
I'm close to the edge again, my body threatening to fall into oblivion once more.
Thomas is right there, his face at the glass, banging his fist on the pod and yelling my name.
I smile at him.
He picks up something that looks like a crowbar and starts whacking the glass, it's cracking.
I feel the pressure leaving my body, the darkness already threatening me while my eyes close over.
My body lunges forward and strong arms wrap around me, a hand wiping over my face and pushing my hair out the way.
"Zara, wake up." I hear his voice, his real voice and not some crazy Scottish accent. I open my eyes when I feel different, not the hallucinations that take over my mind.
He's here.
He's really here.
He's saved me.
I'm spluttering up water, trying to clear my lungs.
"Thomas?" I cry out in a croaky voice and wrap my arms around his neck.
"It's me, baby. I got you." I can hear the emotion in his voice.
He cups my cheeks, his hazel eyes are dancing with happiness.
Hazel?
"You found me." I smile at him before he pulls my face to his and let his lips cover mine.
This is a messed up chapter I was dreading to release. Basically, she confuses Thomas with Theo and struggling with her memory loss from the drugs, drugs that are causing hallucinations of her family when they were stopped.
Also, she thinks Cole is alive.
Does this make sense? I can try to explain more if need be.
-OLD VERSION-UNEDITED