New places can be so much fun. Depending on where you go. New homes are great because you get a clean slate somewhere you've never lived. And maybe you change schools, meaning no one knows you or what you're capable of. It can all be very welcoming. At the same time, new places just mean new nightmares...
~@~
A man sits in a chair behind a desk, many screens before him. "Send a dispatch out to Southern Road, I'll send a list of addresses," he says into a radio. The voice on the other end comes in statically.
"Ok. Dispatcher F4 is on it's way, should arrive promptly with 3 kids to Base H." The Recruiter nods, going through papers as phones ring in the spaces around him and people pick up phones, talking to parents or the Tower.
~|~
An unmarked vehicle drives around a neighborhood, picking up kids. With three kids in, her radio goes off. The Recruiter's voice comes in, "I'm adding a new address to the list."
"Ok make it quick I'm about to leave the neighborhood."
"Yeah, sure thing. Also, this one is rare, the last house you'll be picking up a 13 year old female with already developed abilities. Her guardians described her abilities to be able to manipulate heat, so be careful with this one," he says informatively. The kids in the back, shift uncomfortably. Not knowing how it would effect them.
The woman paused at a stop sign, looking both ways before making a right turn. "Are we allowed to take her? Isn't that STYA's job?" she asked, confused.
"Normally it is, but it's been approved by the tower so head that way. It said she won't have any possessions, just a necklace that they insist stay with her. Dunno why though." The Dispatcher looks at the kids who stare blankly out of the windows.
"Ok, I'm on it," she says, heading towards the new address.
"Fair warning, you may need to take extra precaution if she resists. I'll have back up on stand by if you need it." The woman grins to herself and pulls off the road. Thankfully she was close to the house.
"Thanks. And I'll call if back up if needed. See you on the flip side."
~@~
A few weeks ago, I found out that I could do something amazing. Only problem, is what I can do is dangerous. I nearly killed a woman, possibly and could've severely burned my dad. Or my mom.
I know I don't have the world's best pick in father figures, but he's mine. For the most part. Mom came clean to dad about an affair she had about 13 years ago. Around the time I was born. He seemed really upset, but didn't hurt her. And so far, life has been happy. I haven't been hurt since that night. And neither has mom, which is an improvement for dad. He's also tried to cut back on how much he drinks.
"Mel?" my dad calls. My head snaps towards the stairway in my room. He smiles at me and I smile back. "You ready?" I nod. Dad said I'm going somewhere to help with my ability. Seeings how I nearly burned down our house three times, I think it's for the best.
"Okay. I've got my stuff. How long will I be gone?" I ask. He shrugs and kisses my forehead.
"Dunno Hummingbird," he says. I groan and poke his side. He laughs as I grab my suitcase. "You won't need that love. The place said they already have clothes and whatnot."
"Oh. Really? But I really want my stuff. Like the book Jake gave me," I whine. He embraces me tightly, making me flinch.
"Sorry Hummingbird." He let's go and my hand moves to the necklace my brother gave me for my 6th birthday. It has a mini candle on it.
I take a deep breath and settle for just the necklace. "I'm ready." The two of us walk all the way downstairs to the front door and my hand pauses when I reach for the doorknob.
"Wait!" I hear from behind me. 'Gladly.' Turning around, my mom comes running down the hallway. "I wanted to give you something." She holds her hand out and opens her fingers, palm up. A beautiful eighth note charm sits in her palm.
"Pretty," I say, picking it up. Mom takes off my necklace and adds the second charm to it.
"Never forget who you truly are my daughter." She smiles and I receive yet another kiss on the forehead. I wave goodbye and open the door. Three people wait for me. Two women and a man. The man is in a police uniform almost. He looks like a soldier while the ladies look nice and welcoming.
"We will be taking you to your destination Ms. Smith," the guy says. I nod and cling to the necklace. I walk to the car they stand by and look back at my home. It's been so long since I've left the house. Well, no one ever succeeded without taking risks right? I get in the car, as do the other three. A black bag is placed on my head and someone clamps their hand on my neck. Then, lights out.
~@~
Once the door closes to the Steinfeld residence, everything changes. Richard looks at his wife with a murderous look. "Now that the bastard child is gone. I can deal with you...properly," he says. She gasps and freezes.
Richard grabs Peyton by her wrist tightly and she cries out in pain. "R-richard..please. I-I'm sorry. It was an accident!!" she yells, tears forming in her eyes.
"Shut up!! You don't know the meaning of sorry. How dare you cheat on me?!" He backhands her with all his might on her right cheek. She cries out again, tears escaping and running down her now miscolored cheeks. "After everything I did for you?!" Another slap. Peyton pulls against his clenched hand and he let's go, making her fall.
"It was a mistake, please for-"
"For what? Forgive you?! Ha! Why would I forgive a slut like you? I'm sure you've had sex with any man you met. Am I right?" He screams at her and she cowers under his angered glare. Shaking her head he grabs a hold of her hair. "Don't you dare lie to me."
"I-I'm telling the truth! I-I swear it!!" she yells, her voice thick with pain and laced with hurt.
"ENOUGH WITH YOUR LIES!!" Richard uses her hair to throw her down. She grunts in pain, but lays there. Believing it's better to stay in place than move. He pants, out of breath and tired from yelling. "Go get me a drink. Now." Peyton scrambles to get up, her head throbbing from her hair being pulled. If only she had the courage to do what her daughter did.
~@~
I blink and I'm seating in a chair. I've been stripped down to my underwear and I feel extremely exposed. 'Who would do this to a thirteen year old girl? The pervs...' I think to myself. "Hello Melody. How are you?"
I roll my eyes. You're the ones who took my clothes, how do you think I am? "Use your imagination," I grumble. The voice laughs. I take a small moment to look around. It almost looks like I'm in a testing area. I wonder why.
"I'm sorry dear. This is just protocol." I sigh and just sit there. If I could get better at the thing I can do..
~@~
A scientist looks from computer to computer to see live footage of one of the new kids. "Hm... One of the very few.."
Another scientist sighs, looking at the girl through a two way window. She tugs at the restraints, as the temperature starts rising rapidly. A machine starts up and blasts her with cold air. "Ahh!!" she yells, shivering from the coolness. "You guys are cruel!!"
"She'll get sick soon. Don't worry," a woman says, standing next to the head scientist.
"I'm not worried. I know she will," he says with a eerie grin.
"Since she developed abilities before her sickness, her sickness is going to be crucial. Her abilities are going to be intertwined with everything she's feeling. She'll be highly dangerous. Especially with the ability she has. Like your daughter was." The last part was said under her breath. She looks towards the man, who's watching the girl on a monitor. Clearly he didn't hear, and if he did, he didn't care. This time.
"Oh I know. And I can't wait to watch." He clicks button on the computer keyboard to talk to the guards. "Have her assigned to a Isolation Room, immediately."
"Yes sir," the guards respond. The man takes his eyes off the computers to look at the woman he was talking to.
"She'll follow the same procedures like the rest of the Bloomers, and I'm putting you in charge Sarah. Don't mess this up. Or else." The woman nods, looking away as the girl is taken from the room. The girl yells and clings to the doorway, before being put to sleep. The head scientist clicks the radio again, "Keep her in there with high security. Only interact with her when she needs food. She'll have to be quarentined until her sickness breaks." He grins at the woman again. "Let the games begin."
~@~
Okay. People say first impressions count and they're very, very important. My first impression of this place? It. Sucks. Home was better than this. Even with the abuse. "Ugh," I groan, sitting up. I have on a white tank top and white shorts. "What's with the outfit change?" Out of instinct, my hand goes to my neck to clutch the necklace only to find that it's missing. "No! My necklace!"
I search everywhere, but there's only a toilet, so there's not too many places to look. Not to mention the entire room is bright and white. I look at the floor and it's like I'm staring into a mirror or something. I see myself for the first time in years.
As a kid, I loved my reflection. Then the abuse started and all I could see was my, pale sickly figure, along with the numerous bruises I had. I woke up in the middle of the night once to use the bathroom and nearly passed out from how horrifying I looked.
I sit on the floor and curl up in the corner. I wonder why they're keeping me here. I'm not hazardous. I don't want to use my ability either. I want them to take it away. Fire is dangerous and it only brings destruction. Sighing I close my eyes. It would be impossible to sleep in this room. Instead, a song I heard once comes to mind.
"Two am, where do I begin? Crying off my face again, the silent sound of loneliness wants to follow me to bed. I'm a ghost of a girl that I want to be most.
"I'm the shell of a girl that I used to know well. Dancing slowly in an empty room, can the lonely take the place of you? I sing myself a quiet lullaby. Let you go and let the lonely in, to take my heart again.
"Too afraid, to go inside. For the pain of one more loveless night. For the loneliness will stay with me, and hold me till I fall asleep. I'm a ghost of a girl that I want to be most. I'm the shell of a girl that I used to know well. Dancing slowly in an empty room, can the lonely take the place of you? I sing myself a quiet lullaby.
"Let you go and let the lonely in, to take my heart again. Broken pieces of a barely breathing story, where there once was love. Now there's only me, and the lonely.
"Dancing slowly in an empty room, can the lonely take the place of you? I sing myself a quiet lullaby. Let you go and let the lonely in, to take my heart again..."
I curl up as hard as I can, tears making streaks down my cheeks. No wonder dad was so quick to let me go. He just didn't want me to be there. "If you guys are trying to break me, you win," I say as loud as I can, my voice breaking. Looking around the room, I see nothing that anyone could listen to me with. "Did you hear me?! You broke me!! I'll do whatever you want!!" The tears fall faster as a pain in my chest starts.
Maybe this is God's way of punishing me for being an affair child. My throat starts to close up and I can't hold it in any longer. Long painful sobs erupt from my frail body. Tears flow fast and heavy, dripping to the white bottoms I wear. I let it all go. Let the pain find its way from deep within. All those years of bottling it up inside, afraid to show weakness to a man that never showed mercy.
My shoulders shake with the force of my crying. The sobs get louder in volume until I'm screaming at the top of my lungs. "WHY ME?!" I yell. My heart starts to pound, until I feel like it's gonna beat out of my chest. "OUT OF ALL THE KIDS, WHY ME?!" No answer comes to my questions.
What feels like hours later, my tears are spent and my throat feels raw from my brokenness. I sit in the corner making smudge marks on the floor. "We're broken people now," I sing to myself quietly. A small smile creeps onto my face and I laugh a little. I let my anger out at dad a few weeks ago, I let my pain wash away in a flood of tears. I'm empty now. And I'm tired.
~*Days later*~
After being here for a while, I got used to being alone. It sucked, but it's not like I didn't already know how it felt. I guess Dad was good for something. I open my eyes from a very unrestful sleep and everything is hot. I touch my forehead and it's slick with sweat. "What the..?" I mutter, looking at how wet my hand is. Even my clothes are soaked. Touching the wall and the floor, they're cool. It feels great against my feverish skin. But with these clothes on, I can't feel it. I wiggle out of the sweat drenched top and peel off the bottoms, throwing them into a corner and laying flat on the floor. Instantly, it all feels so much better.
"Can I get a fan?!" I yell out to whoever is listening. No one comes so I lay there miserable. "Why is this happening to me?"
"Well, I could answer your question, or I could get you a fan, which one?" someone says from nowhere. I sit up like I just had another awful nightmare.
"Who are you?" I ask. There was another person sitting in my room. He was in the corner where my clothes were, but he didn't seem bothered by it or anything.
"My name is Felix Drew. At least, I think it is." He sits there, pondering what he told me.
"Oh cool. I used to know someone by that name!" I exclaim. Then my nose wrinkle as a memory comes to mind. "They weren't very nice though."
"That's too bad. I'm nice though. Would you like that fan now?" I nod and he stands up. His clothes look a little bloodied, but I'm so hot, I don't even care. I close my eyes and air starts blowing in my face.
"Ah," I sigh in relief. The air feels great. My body starts to ache slowly. First it was just a dull pain in my feet. Then slowly it grows until everything hurts and I feel very uncomfortable. Laying down, the pain gets more intense. "S-someone. H-h-help." I feel dizzy and nauseous. My head is pounding, like my dad hit me with that one tree branch in our backyard.
~@~
Two guards stand outside the Isolation Room holding Melody. One can hear her speaking to herself. "I think her illness has started," one says to the other. He looks towards the door. "Go get Ms. Hersh."
"On it." He bounds off as the first guard hears her screaming and crying.
"Sometimes this job is too much," he mumbles. Soon Sarah and the second guard appear.
"Is she alright?" Sarah asks, gesturing to the door.
"I don't know. We were instructed not to interact with her unless food was needed," the second one says. Sarah sighs and bites her lip. She knew if she opened the door, she could be killed or fired.
"Has she eaten today?" Both guards shake their head. "Get her something small to eat, like some crackers and water. When it's time for her to eat, that's it. Just in case."
"Yes ma'am." Both soldiers head off and Sarah stands there listening to Melody yell in pain.
"Poor girl. Y'know, I had a son who got sick. Him and his twin sister. Their dad told me so. They were so cute. I loved being with them, until I was transfered here," Sarah confesses to no one. She smiles to herself and leans against the door. She was so busy in her tale that she hadn't noticed the screaming stopped. "Their names were Ace and Joan. Polar opposites those two were, like day and night. Ace was energetic and always happy. Joan like being inside in her room. I didn't understand it. A few weeks ago, their dad stopped talking to me and I fear what happened to them."
"We've got food for 213," one of the guards says as he returns with a pack of crackers and a bottle of water.
"Her name is Melody. And that's how you will address her," Sarah sneers. The soldiers look at each other then back at Sarah and nod.
"Yes ma'am." They open the door and gasp at the sight. Blood everywhere, leaking from a wound on Melody's head. She blinks at the people and laughs.
"You guys look funny. Why are you dressed like monsters? Halloween isn't until January," Melody says as blood flows from the side of her head.
"She's delirious and that doesn't help with the blood loss."
~@~
Three people rush about. I look down at the red paint on the floor. I wonder how that got there. I know I'm not hot anymore though. So that's good. "Melody? Can you hear me?" a nice lady says. She wears a yellow suit made of...rubber? I blink and nod.
"I can hear you mom," I say happily. "I missed you! It was getting kinda lonely in here. That was until Felix showed up. The lady that sounds like mom stops and looks around. Felix was sleep by my sweaty clothes.
"Oh. That's nice. How are you feeling?" Mom asks as two more yellow people come in and start cleaning the paint.
"I'm fi- hey! What are you doing? I was gonna make a picture!" I try to stand up and collapse, slipping in the paint. My head hurts and I'm feeling dizzy again. "Why is the room twirling?"
"It's okay. Just close your eyes." I do as told and everything starts feeling better. Someone places a hand on my head, where the pain is the most at right now. "Does that hurt?" I nod and regret it. The dizziness comes back.
"Mhm. It was hot in hear and I slipped. I hit my head on the toilet," I admit quietly. She sighs and lays me down.
"Okay," she says. Soon everything goes quiet, but I'm still hot. The pain is gone though. I open my eyes and I see some crackers and water.
"Ooh, food." I wiggle my way to it and uncap the water, taking a long swig. The coolness of it did wonders to the heat I was feeling. I gotta save it though. I open the crackers and nibble on a corner of one. Kinda salty, but it made my belly feel better. I wonder why that lady was so nice to me. Oh well, that's for another day to think about.
If I live that long.
End of Chapter 4