The Mind Games

3

"Andrew, Andrew wait!" Cami yelled after me. I walk back to my room silently. I stop in the middle of the hallway, realizing something is wrong.

"Oh, Andrew. I was worried you were mad at me," Cami runs up behind me.

I sit down in the middle of the hall, and untie my shoes. I remove my socks, and put the ankle parts together and fold them into each other, making the socks into a ball. That's a trick my mom taught me when I was little. So that you don't lose a single sock, or you lose them in a pair. Neat trick really.

I do not look at Cami. I put my socks in the right shoe, and I stand again. I do not look behind me. I leave them in the middle of the hall. I pass several other room, with Cami hurrying behind me. I find my room, I hear the girl next to me having a very interesting conversation about horses with herself.

I'm my anguish, I attempt to open the door to my room myself, I hope it's unlocked.

It's not.

I stand there impatiently, awaiting Cami to open the door. She opens the door.

I march inside and sit down. I stare at my plant.

"Andrew," She tries to coo. I'm not having any of it. Nope. None of her crap.

Cami steps inside and closes the door. The walls are fairly thick for the most part, and unless you have exceptional hearing, someone could be yelling and it would be hard to hear them. I think the girl I passed a few moments ago had her door open a crack. Maybe she was too deep in though to notice.

"Andrew," Cami says sorrowfully, "What can I do to make this better?"

I stand up, I watch her in the mirror. She's in my domain now. I have the advantage in the mirrored room.

"You... traitor," I growl, "Why on Earth would you ever consider touching a Gray!" I explode.

"Andrew," Cami stares at her feet, "I just forgot."

"Well forgetting doesn't make this any less painful! Do you know how awful it is to go through someone's memories?! Do you even know what I saw?!" I rant. I clench my fists at my side. It takes fiber in my body to refrain from throwing her across the room with my mind.

"No. I'm sorry. I don't. And I won't," Cami begs for my forgiveness. But there is only one thing she could do to make it better, "But is there anything I could possibly do to make this better? I'll do anything."

Cami had been working with me since I arrive here. We had a special bond. She treated me like a human, and never thought of me as a test subject. But never once did she ever touch me.

"You won't do, anything," I sneer.

"I promise, Andrew. I'd do anything."

"You wouldn't ever dream of it," I cross my arms and face Cami finally.

"You have to tell me, then I can see if I can make it happen."

I give her my best poker face, "I want to go outside."

Cami sighs with relief, "I can make tha-"

"Oh, but there's one more catch," I interrupt, I put my hand up to pause her. She stops.

"I want to stay with Kayla, or I want Kayla to stay with me. I want to go outside with the other kids. I don't want to touch them, or be really close to them, I just want to talk with them."

Cami bites her lip, "Is that the only way?"

"Yes, and no less. I want all those things. And no loop holes. I won't test until I see Kayla and she's staying with me or visa versa."

Cami frowns. I've put her in a tricky situation. Don't ever lie to me. Ever.

"Fine," Cami retorts and walks out.

I wait several minutes, hoping desperately my plan had worked. I hear two sets of footsteps coming down the hall my heart swells.

I imagine Kayla walking through the door, she'll look just like she did before, it's been so long. She'll be her happy smiling self. She hugs me and tells me about her new friends and she was happy.

Cami opens opens the door for real, and I see a girl with light brown hair, she's 10 now.

But it can't be Kayla. There's no way. The girl looks like my sister, but she can't be. Her face is beat up, and she drags her feet as she walks. She looks down constantly, and she's wearing an orange shirt.

"Kayla?" I ask, and the girl looks up. Her eyes meet mine, and she runs at me as I sit on the floor.

She tackles me in a hug, and I have no choice to see what happened to her.

I'm Kayla now. I'm working, I see other kids in orange shirts. They labor in a field, endlessly. They move objects with their minds, until they collapse, then the scary guard yells at them to get up until they struggle to their feet.

I feel so weak, and I just want to sleep. A bell rings and we drag ourselves to the dinner tables, which are only made out of wood and give me splinters. The food is disgusting, but I eat it gratefully. It's bland and has no taste. I hate it.

After we eat we work again, until it's to dark to work, then we go back to our rooms. I look at everyone else. They are only shells of people. Oranges and Reds and Blues and Greens are all put in rooms together. They all look the same way. A boy walks up to a girl, he hits her

The girl, who wears a red shirt hits him back. I get up and push myself against the girl wearing the red shirt.

I beg her to stop. She does.

"Ember, please. Don't fight," I beg.

"Only when I need to," Ember says with her black hair. She tucks me into bed, just like the real me used to do for Kayla when she was little.

I drift to sleep.

I pull away from Kayla back in the real world. How awful. We need to get out of here.

"I've missed you so much," I say.

"Me too."

I look at Kayla in the eyes, and very softly I say, "We're getting out of here."