The Gemini

1. The Atalka Experiments

Lena Matthews

Forty-five, forty-six, forty-seven. Into the elevator. Down. Then it's one hundred and two paces forward, the echo of stone slowly driving me insane. Left. Twenty-three paces. I faltered on one of my steps, and an agent quickly lunged to catch me. Fainting wasn't uncommon among the subjects, but I remained upright. I dragged my feet through the last twelve paces, my entire body screaming to stop.

One of the agents escorting me got irritated with my pace and shoved me forward. My body limply tumbled to the floor. "Watch it." I muttered, but it came out as a dry croak. Someone lifted my body and tossed it haphazardly into a wheelchair. I didn't bother to fight back as they wheeled me into the Lab.

Without my glasses, I had no idea what the Lab looked like. All I knew was that it resembled a giant cube that radiated fluorescent light. I also knew that when we reached my assigned room, there would be a soft whooshing sound from the automatic glass door as it slid open. It was eerily cold inside, but I'd learned to expect that too. Those were the only details I had gathered from the blurry mystery that was the Lab.

A couple of agents transferred me from the wheelchair to a cold metal seat for whatever sick game that was planned for me today. It was one cage to another. Always. Nothing changed here, and I hated it.

"Subject 27B. Dryad. Day 199 of the Atalka Experiments." There was a man who had to narrate everything that happened within the Lab. He had a monotone voice that made me want to scream every time I heard it, but I didn't have the energy to do anything except sit in the chair as directed. I waited for the agents to click every lock into place, making sure that I wouldn't escape.

Tying to escape was my favorite past time when this whole thing started, and I wasn't the only one. Apparently the Forbidden downstairs had gotten themselves recreational time every day in order to quell the countless fleeing attempts.

I thought that I would be out of this place in less than 100 days, and now it's almost been twice that. Only one person has managed to get out of here, and she probably wasn't going to look back.

I waited patiently as cold stickers were adhered all over on my face. They itched, but my arms were locked against the armrests. Someone grasped my wrist, and forced it to turn around. Even though everything looked fuzzy, I could still make out the Forbidden brand imprinted on my skin.

A steady beeping began to sound from a monitor. It was to the left of me, but I couldn't turn my head to look at it.

"Subject 27B is now ready to begin trial." the narrator announced. "Testing empathy theory with heat."

"Um, sir?" one of the agents asked the narrator.

"Yes, Agent Pettigrew?"

"That's the noisy one. We've dealt with it before, and it can be particularly difficult. I might recommend doing something to make sure it stays quiet."

"Noted."

The taste of cotton suddenly filled my mouth as someone wrapped a cloth over the bottom half of my face and tied it around the back of the chair. I tried to protest, and slammed my wrists against the restraints of the chair. The golden bracelet I was wearing clanked loudly against the metal armrest.

The bracelet I was wearing was from the Night of Shining Stars. It was decided that it wouldn't be removed because doing so was too much of an inconvenience. So now, wherever I went, I had cruel irony shackled around my wrist. The bracelet signified everlasting love, but it also got me trapped here in the first place. I hated it, but it also felt like an extension of my own body. Cutting off the bracelet felt the same as chopping off a finger.