Revolution

- 04 -

Today, I wake up in a cold sweat.

I shove open the lid of the sleep shell, feeling like I can't breathe. I don't know what's real. Maybe this is all an induced dream too. Theo, my little brother, a mop of brown curls and chubby cheeks and blue stripes, he's not real. Or maybe he is real, and he just doesn't know me. How would I ever know? And my mother and father, who both loved me very much, who signed me over to this company under the idea that I'd be able to control my abilities better, do they even know who I am?

I slip out of my sleep shell and run my hands through my tangled hair. None of this makes any sense.

There's a click from the other side of the room and I whirl around towards it. The door isn't even open and my fingers are already splayed out, ready to take control of someone's mind. The weight of the collar is abnormal again, and I realize it's the only thing keeping me and nineteen other teenagers my age from ripping this place to shreds.

It's just Doctor Selden. It takes me a second to see her terrified expression, but my eyes slide down to the syringe in her hands.

She's the one who showed me this. She's the one who tore me out of the water. I was safe, I was fine, and she showed me evidence, she's the one who planted the thought that I wasn't. I snarl at her, not caring how animalistic I must look right now.

She closes the door and I'm trapped in here with her.

No; she's trapped in here with me.

"Paige..." she trails off. The needle is still in her hand. What are they putting in me?

I back against the wall but keep my breathing heavy, trying to keep the adrenaline running. It's just a fight. It'll be easy. I'll push off the wall, grab the neck, spin around the back, pin the wrist to the floor, crush the syringe. My foot inches up the wall as she takes a step closer.

"I'm just here for your medication."

I sneer and don't respond. Theo, Mom, Dad, it's all a lie. They lied. They lied.

"Paige, if you don't back down, I'm going to have to call the guards in here."

Was she threatening me? She knows I can kill them all even without their bodies. I will. I'll do it. Call them. At the same time, it feels like my jaw is frozen in place, and I resign to just hissing through my teeth.

I bite my tongue as I feel a shock go through my body. It's not paralyzing, but I fall to my knees nonetheless. Just because I'm not twitching on the ground doesn't mean it didn't hurt, and I wait for the fire to pass.

What a sick game.

I feel the needle slide into my arm and I'm vaguely aware of Doctor Selden's presence next to me. The shock was just a reminder, a subtle threat that if I acted out again, I'd get something much worse.

Doctor Selden follows and I keep my gaze focused straight ahead. I hate that they think they can control me, but the worst part is they know they can. They've been doing it for sixteen years. Family or not, I'm still me. I need to leave. I need to find the colored candy wrappers and frayed shoelaces.

I watch Doctor Shelden carefully out of the corner of my eye. She caps the syringe with practiced precision and blots at my arm with a cotton pad. The crimson soaks the fabric, bright and unnerving against the brilliant white. I keep my gaze focused. I can't afford to mess this up.

Her hands reach up to my temples, slowly peeling off the gelatinous leads. My fingers twitch. Wait.

She drops the used ones in her pocket and draws two more small ones out, separating them from a thin plastic sheet. Wait.

She puts one on my left temple, gently pressing it in place. I shift slowly, and she takes a moment before applying the second pad to my right temple. She leans backward to inspect her work before reaching towards me, thumbs exposed, pushing down on both to make sure they're secure.

Now.

I lash out. Grabbing both her wrists, I simultaneously yank her towards me and kick upward with a knee, catching her just below the ribs. She gives a pained yelp and falls back to the floor. I catch her legs with one hand to make sure she doesn't retaliate and reach deep in her pocket until my fingers wrap around the syringe. I tear it out and back away from her, popping the cap off.

This is going to hurt, but I don't care. Before I have time to think, I dig the needle shallowly into my skin and drag it down my arm, biting back a gasp. Blood wells up in a straight track and I swap hands. Doctor Shelden is slowly starting to get up and I launch off the floor away from her, intentionally swiping my arm on both the floor and the wall I slam against next. Scarlet ran down into my palms and I push off away, steadying myself on the wall. I throw the needle to the opposite side of the room.

The door is slammed open and two guards rush inside, guns drawn. I look at them with what I hope are wild, crazed eyes. They corral me into the corner in seconds, and I slide down the wall, holding my left hand in my right, watching the blood flow into the little whorls of my finger pads. I'm not faking curiosity at the garish liquid; it was so extreme, a stark contrast to the sterile feeling of the room, a grounding reminder, a direct rebellion against the system that kept me sheltered, kept me fighting.

But no one is here to protect me from myself, and I fully intend to take advantage of that.