HIDDEN !¡ MIKE WHEELER

01. ✰

~ NINE YEARS AGO ~

TWELVE HELD PAPA'S hand as he walked her into her new bedroom. She was almost old enough for difficult experiments, almost four years old. "Eight, Eleven," Papa called for the two girls playing in the corner of the room.

"Yes, Papa?" the oldest one walked over to Twelve and smiled. "This is your new friend, Twelve. She is three years old, same as Eleven. Make her feel welcome," Papa put his hand on the little girl who was sucking her thumb.

Her hair was recently shaved off, matching the two little girls who stood in front of her. Eleven went back to play when Twelve followed her and sat down on the play mat. "Play?" Eleven handed Twelve a doll. Twelve hesitantly took the doll and began to play with Eleven.

Papa stood above the two toddlers and smiled gently. They were both three years old and he would be able to experiment on them in a few months. He left the three girls to play together in the small bedroom.

~ SIX YEARS LATER ~

EIGHT AND TWELVE giggled as they tip-toed out of their room. It was about three in the morning and most of the workers and kids were sleeping. They had covered the camera in their room with a blanket and had to hurry before someone noticed.

The girls ran along the cold hallway floors as fast as they could. They finally reached their destination, Eight taking the key card she picked out of the staff's pocket and opening the door. They hurried inside, locking the door behind them.

"Okay, look for your file," Eight told her younger sister. They opened the filing cabinets, searching for their numbers. "Found mine," Twelve held her binder up. "Mine too. Ready to find out our real names, sis?" Eight smiled mischievously. Twelve nodded. "Three, two, one," Eight counted down as they both opened the binders and searched for their birth names.

"Kali!"

"Mabel."

They looked at each other and squealed. "Look for Eleven's. Quickly," now known as Kali lightly shoved now known as Mabel's shoulder. Mabel frantically searched through folders, until a loud ringing noise beamed from the speakers above.

"Shit!" Kali whispered, Mabel laughing as she always did when Kali said a curse word. Kali grabbed her younger sister's hand and dragged them both back to their bedroom. When they entered, Kali pulled the blanket off the camera and jumped into her bed.

Mabel did the same, sighing. Her name was Mabel. It was pretty, but odd. "Sister, we never found Eleven's name," Mabel muttered across the room. "Shh! They will come running in here any minute. Pretend you're asleep," Kali shut Mabel up. As the girls faked being asleep, Mabel couldn't help but wonder what Eleven's real name was.

~ PRESENT DAY ~

"HELLO? EARTH TO Mabel!" Kali threw a pillow down to Mabel, hitting her in the head. "Ow! What?" Mabel glared at her sister. "Papa wants you for a lesson. Eleven won't do it," Kali says. Before Mabel could say anything, a pained "No!" ripped through the hall.

Mabel sat up and walked into the hallway. Eleven was being dragged down the hallway by two of Papa's men. "Papa! What are you doing?" Mabel cried. "Eleven is being a bad girl," Papa spoke from behind Mabel.

"No!" Mabel raced to help her sister but Papa whistled to call more staff. She struggled against their strong grip. She screamed, using her telekinesis to send the men flying into the wall.

She started to sob as the two men who held Eleven threw her into the punishment room. "What did she do?" Mabel sobbed as Papa woke up to her. "She disobeyed me. She did not kill the cat," Papa blankly said. "She doesn't want to hurt living things. I told you, Papa," Mabel breathed heavily.

"Exactly. That's why you're going to do it, Twelve," Papa grabbed a syringe out of one of his men's hands and injected it harshly into Mabel's arm. She sniffed as her brain turned foggy. The hypnosis acid.

She felt herself being carried into a room. A door slammed and she was placed onto a chair. "You're going to kill this cat. Understand, Twelve?" Papa bent down to speak to Mabel. "Yes, Papa," Mabel smiled as tears fell down her cheeks. Her powers couldn't stand a chance to the hypnosis acid.

Her body turned itself to a cat's meow. More tears fell down her face as her hand was lifted, killing the cat instantly. Another syringe was injected into her arm, clearing up the fog in her mind. "Very good, Twelve," Papa smirked. She felt her eyes getting heavy as she passed out on the worktable.

When she woke up the next morning, she had terrible cold sweats. She looked over to her sisters. They were sound asleep. Parts of last night began to come back to her as her breath quickened.

She had to leave before Papa makes her hurt something human. She pulled herself out of bed, going to the small closet in the corner of the room. She opened the door, pulling out a bag and clothes Mrs. Park — the nicest worker Papa has — had given to the three girls.

She stuffed the clothes in the bag and stood up. She looked lovingly at her sisters as a few tears escaped her eyes. She kissed both of them on their forehead and quietly walked to the door.

In order to escape, she had to create a distraction. She could use her powers like Kali does and create a fire illusion and being able to make the fire alarms go off. She closed her eyes, creating the picture in her mind.

The fire alarms went off, causing her to jump out of her thoughts. Using her illusion powers, she turned herself invisible and ran throughout the hallways unbothered as the workers ran out rooms panicked. The fire raved through the halls as Papa came out and started coughing.

Mabel flipped him off even though she knew he couldn't see her and ran down the exit escape stairs. She made her way into the lobby and ran past the front desk lady easily. She stepped outside, furrowing her eyebrows as she took her first breath of fresh air. It was time to begin the walk of a lifetime.

author's note !
i have the worst stuffy nose ever 😠