Null

Chapter 3

My head throbbed painfully. The fluorescent lights above didn't do much to help.

I gently prodded at the bump on my temple, wincing when the action brought about the expected surge of pain. My other hand rested limply in my lap, its wrist encased in the cold metal. The handcuffs confining me to the bench I was seated on looked shiny and brand new, rarely used. They also felt... different?

I lifted my hand to inspect the cuffs more closely. Something about them was off. As a young and starved, newly independent, young adult I didn't have many options but to steal food at some low points in my life. Not when those willing to hire a homeless teenager didn't do it out of the kindness of their hearts. As a result, I have had a few run-ins with the law, leading me to be aware that all handcuffs were regulated to be able to detain an Elemental.

These didn't seem like they would hold a Fundamental, let alone an Elemental.

My eyes narrowed when they caught on something. Something familiar. Something everyone was taught at a very younger age to look out for and report.

A Spirit Mark.

That explained how unused they looked. I doubted Nulls stood enough of a chance against anyone but another Null to warrant handcuffs. That didn't explain why they thought I was such little of a threat that they wouldn't ensure I could use any of the elements. Was it because of how easy it was to take me down last night?

I ground my teeth together.

Why wouldn't they place me in Null cuffs? Even these were overkill for someone like me, someone who was nothing.

My nails dug into my palms.

As time continued to tick by, I was still no closer to figuring out why I was still at the Null Center. Their mandatory testing would prove that I wasn't a Null, not that it stopped them from using Null handcuffs.

My fear from the previous night had faded. While I was unconscious, there was no doubt they had conducted further tests to verify Nancy's claim. The injection sites where blood was drawn from my arm were proof of that. It wasn't unheard of for Fundamental to lie and try to gain the "benefits" that came with being a Null, so it was a mandatory process. My blood would have proved them wrong.

My eyes widened a fraction as another thought occurred to me. Did the test reveal that I had no affinity for any of the elements? Were they using Null cuffs on me because they knew they didn't need stronger ones?

My wandering thoughts had only proven to make me more restless.

I scratched at the base of my throat as I impatiently bounced my knee, trying to shift my thoughts in a different direction. The minutes ticked by slowly. The silence that stretched down the empty corridor had me feeling uneasy. It was too quiet. I hadn't seen anyone since I had been left chained here.

When I had first awoken with a splitting headache, one that made my current one feel like a joke, I hadn't put up much of a fight when pills were shoved in my face along with a cup of water. I welcomed it if it would make the pain stop. The woman who gave me the pills had then led me from the infirmary, through the white-walled halls to here, where she surprised me with the cuffs. The moment the confinements made their appearance was the first moment since I had woken up that I snapped out of my pained daze enough to remember what exactly had occurred before I lost consciousness. I had panicked for a moment before I saw the small marks indicating where my blood was drawn while I was unconscious, reminding me of the procedure.

Maybe I should still have made escaping a higher priority than pain management.

But it was too late now, I thought as I tugged at my cuffed wrist. If I hadn't already been cuffed to the metal bench that was bolted to the floor, then I would have been long gone by now.