Caught

Chapter Five

"What was that for?" The door slammed shut behind the very angry voice, making me look up from the book I was reading. Mom's face was firetruck red as she entered the room. I gulped, knowing this isn't gonna go well.

"What was what for?" I knew what it was; storming out of the arena, not finishing my opponent, showing emotion when she told me since waking up I didn't want anyone thinking I was weak.

She crossed her arms. "You know what I'm talking about. You can't do that."

I got up from my bed. "What the hell, mom? I can't walk out of a room because I wasn't okay with doing what people are forcing me to do? Honestly, you people are sick. Sick, I tell you. It's like you want me to kill the others, not just hurt them till I leave scars in their memories."

The words I spoke didn't feel right, although they were true. The instructors clearly stated that we had to fight till one of us were unable to go on. Sick, though apparently we were "created for this."

There's seventy of us so far; I knocked three unconscious and badly injured four, which is the most damage a single one of us have done.

It's just another test by the Institute. One to test our new found strength and abilities. It's their idea of a game of King's Court. A battle to find the strongest out of all of us.

It has something to do with the army they're building. I told myself.

"Killing them isn't a bad thing, Lauren." Mom stated. "It's just-"

"Excuse me, did you just say it's okay for me to be killing one of my own?" I shrieked. I heard my voice echo through the corridor outside, followed by footsteps leading outside the door.

They didn't come in though.

"It's good practice," She explained slowly. "So when you're out there-"

"I'm not going to do anything for you, mom. You or Dr. Walker or anyone in this freaking Institute, in that case. You can't expect me to do anything. You can't make me do anything. Especially hurt someone so bad that it means the end of their life."

She walked up to me, looking me straight into the eye. "You were made this way for one way and one way only."

"But I still don't understand!" I cut her off. "What's the whole point of this? Just give me a clear explanation and I'll consider doing what I'm told."

Her eyes were still as cold. "Very funny, Lauren. This is for the good of the world, honey, you should be glad you're apart of this operation."

"But don't you see!" I scream, spreading my arms wide. "What you're doing is wrong, mother. Wrong."

Her brows twitched at the sound of the word 'mother.' "And since when have I been mother?"

"Since you started considering me as less than human."

That's when I noticed she wasn't looking directly at me, but at my wrists. I looked down, fingering the two bands around my right one. She grabbed them, then looked straight into my eyes once again.

"You are not less than human, you're more. You're the future version of all of us, Lauren. Don't you understand? This is why we need this plan to work, for your future. The future of the world."

"But- but what you're doing is inhumane." I said. "It's not right. You're talking the childhood away from innocent children." Tears started filling my eyes. "You took away my entire childhood, you know that? Those are supposed to be the years you look back at when you start stressing about everything, but I don't have anything from them."

I saw the hurt in her eyes. It was there, it was present. She felt the same emotion I felt.

Although, in a split second, she hid it. Her eyes went from warm and welcoming to cold. She raised her hand.

The sound of her hand meeting my cheek echoed through the room, through the quarters.

"Did you like that, Lauren? That's a piece of your childhood right there." Her cold voice was the only sound I could hear between sobs, my face pressed against my mattress. "You're a weapon, and weapons don't weep. Remember that, Lauren."

She - that monster - headed towards the door, but Dad and Spencer came bursting in. My brother rushed to my side, holding me in his arms, making sure I was okay. Dad started arguing with mom, telling her I was just a little girl and I didn't deserve this.

"In case you weren't aware, your daughter is sixteen now," Mom said. "She's almost an adult and hardly a kid anymore, so we shouldn't treat her like one."

"But Ju-" Dad's voice was cut off as mom stormed out of the room, leaving me still in tears. Dad walked over to us, wrapping his arm around me.

That's when I snapped.

"Stay away from me," I yelled, moving his arm away from me. Spencer tried taking my hand, but I moved away from him too. "Go away, I don't need you."

"Lauren," Dad's soft voice said. "Lauren, we aren't gonna hurt you."

I jolted to a stance, slowly backing away from the men in my room. "No." My voice quivered. "No, you're just like her, like the rest of them. You just want to test us and study us and use us like we're nothing but experiments. You're. Just. Like. Her."

"No, Lauren, you trust me." Spencer said. "You trust me and you trust who I trust so you trust both of us." He was hurting, hearing my words. "Lauren, we aren't like her."

For the first time in a long time, I didn't trust what he said. They were all the same, everyone at the Institute. All with the same goal, same motive. They were all there to hurt me in ways that I can't explain.

I stormed out of the room, unintentionally leaving a train of frost behind me.

Being a genetically enhanced teenager sucks. I thought. Too many unwanted emotions.

I was hurting again, and this time I just wanted to be alone.