Project: SOLAR

Chapter 6

    I returned to my room furious. I climbed on my bed and started to cry. I had lost Sahara as a friend all because of Drew.  At that moment, I knew I hated him. Nigel entered the room and walked over to me. “Leave me alone” I told him.  He ignored me, climbed onto my bed and sat at my feet.

  “Hey” he said. “I’m still your friend”

   I looked up at him. Nigel was definitely sweet and from the looks of it, he was trusting. I sat up and hugged him tightly. “You’re my bestfriend” I smiled.

  “Woot woot!” He cheered.

   We returned to the gym and Drew was teaching us how to punch. He placed each of us on a mat and robotic humans came toward us. “Punch them like I show you” Drew instructed us. “Fist up making your arms cover your face for guard. Right foot behind your left foot, make sure the only think that’s firmly on the ground is your left foot and the right foot, you should be standing on your toes, like this” He demonstrated.

   He was teaching the move I used when I was in the ring: The Jack Dempsey. Drew continued, “The reason the right foot should not be firmly on the ground is because you are going to kick them with the leg” He demonstrated once again on a dummy. “Alright begin” He finished.

   Everyone was punching and kicking the dummies. To my amazement, they actually dodged some of our attacks.  “Man, this is exhausting” Nigel said beside me. I laughed, “You only kicked once!”

  The day finally ended. We spent all day learning how to dodge punches, kicks, and all sorts of stuff. We had a short lunch break (I sat alone with Nigel). When Nigel and I returned to our rooms, we found Eli with earphones on and a letter on my bed. Nigel went to go take a shower and I jumped on my bed.

  I looked at the address. It was from my mom in Australia. I ripped open the letter and read it: 

           Hello honey! I’m doing fine. Thanks. Oh God, I miss you so much! Now that you mention it, dad did go to Harvard. Yes, your dad is American. He was sent here on a mission and we happened to meet each other and we fell in love. He give up everything up for us. The American embassy wanted him back so he asked to bring us along but they would not allow it because of the rebellions, they thought I was a spy.  I can’t tell you everything, the letter may be inspected. We’ll talk on Thursday. I love you sweetheart.

 I stared at the letter and read it over three times. Tomorrow was finally simulations. I was scared but felt calm at the same time. Sahara finally walked in. Eli smiled at her but she rolled her eyes at him. She slumped on her bed and fell asleep.

The next morning, I woke up early again. I took a quick shower and went searching for the girl. I went down the spiral staircase until I reached the section that of course read AUTHORIZED PERSONNEL ONLY. I opened it and walked inside. As I approached, I heard another voice in the room. I tiptoed and peeked from a corner.

Connie Harris, in a floral orange robe, was overseeing a procedure. Men in white suits were making the little girl breathe in a tube then pecked her with a needle. Black liquid was coming out of her. She didn’t seem to mind. She just stared upwards and giggled. What were they doing to her?

 I looked on more and saw they were mixing her breath and black blood inside a cauldron. The cauldron made a hissing noise and smoke blew from it. I watched in awe as one of the men grabbed a testing tube from his bag and dropped the contents from the cauldron into the test tubes.

 He did the same process 12 times then carefully handed them to Connie. I could have sworn I saw her jump from excitement. She carefully placed them in a box. She said thanks to the men and disappeared. The men gathered their belongings and began walking in my direction.

 I hid behind the door and watched them leave. When I was sure the coast was clear, I stepped into the girl’s room. She was once again playing with her dolls. She looked up at me and smiled. “Do you like to spy?” She asked me.

“I don’t like to spy!” I said. “Hey, how’d you know?”

She giggled. “I know everything”

“Can you tell me more about you?” I asked curiously.

“What do you want to know?”

“Who are you?”

“Sonal Sanders” She smiled proudly.

“Why are you here?” I asked. 

“Connie Harris kidnapped me!” she whispered.

“But how?” I wanted to more.

“She came to my planet and kidnapped me!” She shouted.

“We’ve never been to your planet”

“No!” she was crying now. “She kidnapped me” She yelled so loud. I was thrown against the wall. I stood up and understood now. We were using this little girl for her powers. Just then, strong arms wrapped around me and dragged me out of the room. I tried fighting the off but give up.

The arms let go and I finally realized it was Drew. I turned around and faced him. “What’s your problem?” I spat out.

“If Connie finds you down here then I guarantee you won’t remember a thing anymore” he tells me. I couldn’t believe him. I was already hated him and just as I was about to find out answers, he ruins everything!  

“Have you been following me?” I smirk. He blushes and stutters, “N-n-no”

I laugh and punch him in the arm. He smiles at me. “Sorry for what I did.”

I wasn’t going to left him off that easily. I shrugged my shoulders and walked away. I was going to play my mom’s game: Hard to get.