Status: Finished; working on the sequel
In The Dark
Chapter Twelve
We go to the cafeteria, and I’m surprised to see that it looks nothing like a cafeteria. It’s more like a fancy dining room. There’s an expensive looking carpet over the floor, and the chairs are big and have designed covers over them. Yeah… this is nothing like a school cafeteria.
All of the adults get these excited looks on their faces when they see me. They wave their hands, indicating for me to sit with them. I look around at all of the kids here, and finally spot Lana at a table in the back, all by herself.
“Um,” I point her out to the adults, “I want to go sit with my sister. Sorry.” I can see the disappointment on their faces, as I make my way back to her.
I pass Ryan and the gang on the way, all of them looking bored out of their minds, and wave, indicating for them to follow me. They do, quite eagerly.
I slide in next to Lana and purposely bump shoulders with her. “Hey what’s up? Why are you sitting by yourself?”
She shrugs. “I guess I’m not much of a people person. I’ve always been that way.”
Ryan and the others slide in on the other side. Lana looks at me, eyebrows raised. I smile at her. “Lana, this is Ryan, Jenna, Zoë, Treyvon, and Leon. Everyone, this is my twin, Lana.”
They all smile at each other. Tapping my fingers on my thighs nervously, I wait for someone to say something, but I can see it’s not going to happen. “So… Um, what do you guy think we’re having for breakfast?”
They just shrug, staring at the table. I sigh. Loosen up a little bit people. The whole room has been silent all this time. Everyone looks uncomfortable and bored. I’ve had enough.
I stand up and bang my fists on the table as hard as possible. All heads jerk around to look at me. I have to yell to make myself heard.
“What is wrong with you guys? Why isn’t anybody talking? You all need to loosen up, big time. Have some fun! Don’t do anything crazy, but just try to enjoy yourselves. Some of us, and I include myself in this; do not want to be here right now. We want to be back home, back to our normal lives. Right?”
I get nods all around.
“But that doesn’t look like it’s gonna happen anytime soon. So now that we’re here, lets just all try to make the best of it, hoping, that one day soon we’ll get to be ourselves again. You want to be happy don’t you? You don’t want to live the rest of your lives depressed and bored.
“So you’ll feel a lot better if you start making friends. Find people to talk to.” No one makes any move to talk. I shrug.
“Fine then. Go ahead and live miserable lives. But I’m not gong to join you. But for the record, Depression stunts your growth. Girls, do you want perfect skin and hair? Well you won’t get them if you get depressed and bored. Guys, do you want to be short for the rest of your lives? You want the biggest muscles? If so, you’d better get happy. Fast”
Suddenly the room just explodes with chattering kids. I don’t think they want to be talking, but I obviously scared it out of them. The adults are beaming at me, and I roll my eyes and go over to them.
A man who looks to be in his forties [at least] jumps up and grabs my hand, and pumps it up and down with enough force to break my wrist if he’s not careful.
“Wow. That was really something. I cannot believe it’s really you. I’m Robert, the head trainer of these facilities. I have been waiting and waiting to work with you, and now it is finally going to happen. Gosh, you look just like your mother.”
That gets my attention. “You know my mom?”
He winces, suddenly looking like he want to take that back.
“Uh, no. I did, but she’s not…” he scratches his head. “I worked with her once, that’s all. I’ve never been able to forget her face.”
Oh. My stomach growls. Loudly. “When are we eating? I’m starving.”
The words are barley out of my mouth, when he turns and yells, “It’s time!”
I go back to sit with Lana and the others, just as tens of people walk out, each one with a big plate of food. They each place a plate in front of a kid, and then station themselves directly behind them.
A guy puts a fully loaded plate in front of me, and then waits behind me. I’m about to dig in, but I can’t. I keep getting a funny feeling. I turn around slowly. The guy who gave me my food is still there, staring straight ahead like a… robot or something. He’s freaking me out.
Looking at the other kids, I can see that they are disturbed also. One of the adults, an Asian woman, stands up. “Um, excuse me?” We all turn to her.
“Please do not be alarmed by the people behind you. They aren’t actually human, they’re just androids. They were made just before you arrived. Each one of them has been assigned to one of you, and they are to serve only you. They will and can do anything you tell them to do.”
“But be warned, they have feelings just like you, so do not treat them badly. They don’t need food or water, and will wash themselves every two days, afterwards of which they are to put back on their black suits and boots. Please don’t dress them in your suits. The first thing you should say to them should be their names, so they can record your voice patterns for future recognition.”
She smiles. “Please feel free to name them whatever you want, as long as it is not offensive. They do sleep, when you do, and automatically. You should have your androids with you at all times. If not, you will face the punishment. Overall, they should be enjoyed, and used as much as possible. If you need someone to talk to, or if you just need a towel, that’s what they’re there for.”
A boy raises his hand, and I can tell that he’s about to make a wise crack. The woman nods at him.
“So we’re supposed to have these things with us even in the shower? How ’bout when we use the bathroom?”
The woman’s face goes red, and I stand up, unable to take it. “Well only if you actually want an android with you in the shower. And if you do, I really think that you should keep that to yourself anyway,” I sneer.
The room explodes in laughter, and the boy’s face goes red now. He glares at me and I smile innocently back, sitting down.
The woman smiles at me thankfully. “Your androids have over two million acts programmed into their systems, so I encourage you to test them all out.” She sits down again.
I turn around and smile at my android. He looks down at me, seeming curious, and smiles back. I start to eat. What should I name him? Rodney? Trevor? No… I have it!
I turn back to him, excited. “Jaiden,” I exclaim. He cocks his head to the side. “Jaiden,” he repeats. He sounds so human, I’m startled, and can’t do anything for a second. However, I snap back quickly, and nod at him.
“That’s your name. Do you like it?”
He doesn’t answer for a second, but then he grins, nodding. “I like it a lot, Loli.”
I wince at my real name. “Could you call me Kyra for now?”
“Of course. Kyra.”
I decide to experiment. “Can you go get me a soda, Jaiden?”
He walks off without a word. Wow. All around me, people have named their androids, and are making them do things.
In the front, I see an android doing cheerleading moves with a six-year-old girl. Jaiden comes back with my soda and holds it out to me. I smile. “Can you open it for me? I don’t want to break a nail.”
To my surprise, he chuckles and shakes his head softly, before opening it. When I take it, my fingers overlap his. I feel the metal underneath, and am so surprised by it, I drop the can. Before it hit’s the ground though, Jaiden swoops down and catches it. He holds it back out to me.
I have to admit, I’m a little shaken. Jaiden seems to wince a little bit, but he sets the can down on the table and takes a couple steps back.
I get up and edge carefully around him, going to the adults’ table. Jaiden follows me. I sit in an empty chair, and bite my lip a little.
Nick is back. I didn’t even notice him come in. He stares at me, a fair amount of concern in his eyes. I don’t want his concern! I don’t want anything to do with him, but he’s here, so I have to deal with it.
I look pointedly at the Asian woman.
“I have some questions that need answers. Now.”
She smiles politely. “Please ask; we’ll try to answer them to the best of our abilities.”
I nod and open my mouth to start, but am cut off by a bell similar to the ones they have in school to signal the next period.
The Asian woman stands up. “Tell you what; we’ll have to do this later. So sorry.” Not waiting for an answer, she leaves.
I narrow my eyes after her. How rude. Nick sees my look and gives me a small smile that tells me to hang in there. I scowl at him.
My head feels heavy. I touch my hair. Maybe I should cut it. Then I would look just like Lana.
“Don’t cut your hair,” Nick burst out, “Your hair long hair is the only way we can tell the difference between you and your sister!”
I’m taken aback. “How did you know that I was thinking that?” Then realization dawns. “You can read minds can’t you? That’s one of your powers!” I glare at him. He grins. “Well you better stay out of my head, or one day soon, you’ll find yourself waking up at the bottom of the ocean!”
The entire group of adults laugh at this. Robert takes something out of his pocket, along with a mirror. He hands them to me. “Here. This’ll make sure that nobody can get into your head. Put it in the middle of your forehead.”
I look at the device. It looks just like the crystal on my hand, except that it has four other mini crystals attached onto it as well.
I open the mirror and carefully position it on my forehead. I wince as I feel five tiny pricks as the things attach themselves to my face. I look at myself.
I have to admit, I look good. I look sort of like one of those girls in India.
I look at Robert. “Is this on right?”
He seems to observe it for a few seconds, and then he reaches over and whacks my forehead hard.
“Ow! What was that for?”
He doesn’t answer, but smacks my forehead again. He’s about to do it again, but I grab his wrist and shove him backwards, tipping over his chair and sending him sprawling on the ground.
“What’s the matter with you? Why do you keep hitting me? For goodness sake! If you’re trying to bug me then it worked. Just quit it!”
He takes what looks to be a mini flashlight out of his pocket and a beam of light shoots out and would have fried my face, if I hadn’t jerked to the side. He shoots again, and this time the beam cuts my cheek.
I touch the line he made and when I remove my finger, it’s covered in blood. Nick mutters something under his breath and brings over some napkins. The whole cafeteria is staring. Lana is seething and I look at her, concerned. She takes a threatening step toward Robert, and when he sees, he raises the beam thing again.
Just before he shoots, I jump forward with a hand and… then….
… The whole world stops moving. Literally.
Robert’s hand stays frozen in the air, the beam just emerging from the device, and everything is frozen. Just like that. Lana is stuck glaring at Robert, and looking next to her, I find Ryan’s gaze directly on me. No one is moving though.
Not at first at least. Then someone moves. My head jerks over. Nick is right next to me now, not smiling, not even blinking, but I can tell he is not frozen with the rest.
“You know what you just did?” He doesn’t sound mad. Not happy either, but not mad. That’s good.
I look around again in amazement. “I… I stopped…time…?”
He nods slowly, his face blank.
I sense that he’s nervous, but I don’t know why. Then I find out.
“You could kill them right now if you really wanted to, Kyra.”
I look up at him, startled and scared all at once. “What? No I couldn’t.”
He swallows. “Yes you could. But I know that you don’t want to do that. So why don’t you go over, slowly, and get the flash from Robert, then unstop the time. Be very careful. You’re not nearly as aware of your powers as you will be.”
When I don’t budge, he nods once. “Go on.”
I go, very slowly, and slip the… flash… out of Robert’s hand, then turn back to Nick. “I don’t even know how I froze the time. It was an accident.”
Nick sighs.
“Why don’t you sit down and just imagine the way this room was before you froze the time. That should do it.”
I sit down on the floor, and concentrate on the before picture in my head, and almost instantly, the room is moving again. But this time I get dizzy, and end up on my back, staring at all of the clashing colors of the room spinning wildly.
Nick, Lana, and Ryan are all at my side in a minute. Nick takes something out of his pocket and sticks it in my mouth. Air pumps in, maybe gas, and my strength comes back [along with my vision] and I sit up.
Nick jerks Robert to his feet. “ Why’d you have to pull that thing out? She didn’t even use her powers. She could've killed you just now."
Robert dust himself off. “ I couldn’t risk it. You know good and well how fast it can happen if they get mad.”
I glare at him. He just smiles, pointing to my crystal.
“ I was trying to get your crystal to glow. It glows according to your moods. White is happy, blue is sad, yellow is bored, pink is sick, red is mad, orange is scared, and purple is… well… we’ll tell you that time comes. The brighter the glare is, the more you’re feeling that emotion. Sometimes the colors blend, indicating mixed emotions.”
Everyone in the room, after hearing this, except Nick, backs away from me. Robert has started to sweat.
“ I’m sorry I’ve upset you Kyra. I really didn’t mean to. Please just try to calm down a little bit.”
Confused, I look at Nick. He holds up the mirror. The bit crystal in the middle is glowing the brightest orange I’ve ever seen, but the four others are glowing a dull blue.
“Calm down,” he tells me simply.
I take a few deep breaths and try to calm myself. Nick wait patiently by my side, looking like he understands, and I get myself worked up all over again thinking about all the things he didn’t tell me before.
“ Calm. Down.” He put heavy emphasis on each word.
“ I can’t,” I hiss back. “ You’re getting me all worked up again!”
This earns me a small smile, and my temper lessens a bit. Robert relaxes, obviously grateful.
Nick cups his hands around his mouth.
“ Come on people! We’re all taking a tour of the facilities. Everyone get into groups based on your suit colors. Remember to keep your androids with you at all times! You have five minutes!”
All of the adults get these excited looks on their faces when they see me. They wave their hands, indicating for me to sit with them. I look around at all of the kids here, and finally spot Lana at a table in the back, all by herself.
“Um,” I point her out to the adults, “I want to go sit with my sister. Sorry.” I can see the disappointment on their faces, as I make my way back to her.
I pass Ryan and the gang on the way, all of them looking bored out of their minds, and wave, indicating for them to follow me. They do, quite eagerly.
I slide in next to Lana and purposely bump shoulders with her. “Hey what’s up? Why are you sitting by yourself?”
She shrugs. “I guess I’m not much of a people person. I’ve always been that way.”
Ryan and the others slide in on the other side. Lana looks at me, eyebrows raised. I smile at her. “Lana, this is Ryan, Jenna, Zoë, Treyvon, and Leon. Everyone, this is my twin, Lana.”
They all smile at each other. Tapping my fingers on my thighs nervously, I wait for someone to say something, but I can see it’s not going to happen. “So… Um, what do you guy think we’re having for breakfast?”
They just shrug, staring at the table. I sigh. Loosen up a little bit people. The whole room has been silent all this time. Everyone looks uncomfortable and bored. I’ve had enough.
I stand up and bang my fists on the table as hard as possible. All heads jerk around to look at me. I have to yell to make myself heard.
“What is wrong with you guys? Why isn’t anybody talking? You all need to loosen up, big time. Have some fun! Don’t do anything crazy, but just try to enjoy yourselves. Some of us, and I include myself in this; do not want to be here right now. We want to be back home, back to our normal lives. Right?”
I get nods all around.
“But that doesn’t look like it’s gonna happen anytime soon. So now that we’re here, lets just all try to make the best of it, hoping, that one day soon we’ll get to be ourselves again. You want to be happy don’t you? You don’t want to live the rest of your lives depressed and bored.
“So you’ll feel a lot better if you start making friends. Find people to talk to.” No one makes any move to talk. I shrug.
“Fine then. Go ahead and live miserable lives. But I’m not gong to join you. But for the record, Depression stunts your growth. Girls, do you want perfect skin and hair? Well you won’t get them if you get depressed and bored. Guys, do you want to be short for the rest of your lives? You want the biggest muscles? If so, you’d better get happy. Fast”
Suddenly the room just explodes with chattering kids. I don’t think they want to be talking, but I obviously scared it out of them. The adults are beaming at me, and I roll my eyes and go over to them.
A man who looks to be in his forties [at least] jumps up and grabs my hand, and pumps it up and down with enough force to break my wrist if he’s not careful.
“Wow. That was really something. I cannot believe it’s really you. I’m Robert, the head trainer of these facilities. I have been waiting and waiting to work with you, and now it is finally going to happen. Gosh, you look just like your mother.”
That gets my attention. “You know my mom?”
He winces, suddenly looking like he want to take that back.
“Uh, no. I did, but she’s not…” he scratches his head. “I worked with her once, that’s all. I’ve never been able to forget her face.”
Oh. My stomach growls. Loudly. “When are we eating? I’m starving.”
The words are barley out of my mouth, when he turns and yells, “It’s time!”
I go back to sit with Lana and the others, just as tens of people walk out, each one with a big plate of food. They each place a plate in front of a kid, and then station themselves directly behind them.
A guy puts a fully loaded plate in front of me, and then waits behind me. I’m about to dig in, but I can’t. I keep getting a funny feeling. I turn around slowly. The guy who gave me my food is still there, staring straight ahead like a… robot or something. He’s freaking me out.
Looking at the other kids, I can see that they are disturbed also. One of the adults, an Asian woman, stands up. “Um, excuse me?” We all turn to her.
“Please do not be alarmed by the people behind you. They aren’t actually human, they’re just androids. They were made just before you arrived. Each one of them has been assigned to one of you, and they are to serve only you. They will and can do anything you tell them to do.”
“But be warned, they have feelings just like you, so do not treat them badly. They don’t need food or water, and will wash themselves every two days, afterwards of which they are to put back on their black suits and boots. Please don’t dress them in your suits. The first thing you should say to them should be their names, so they can record your voice patterns for future recognition.”
She smiles. “Please feel free to name them whatever you want, as long as it is not offensive. They do sleep, when you do, and automatically. You should have your androids with you at all times. If not, you will face the punishment. Overall, they should be enjoyed, and used as much as possible. If you need someone to talk to, or if you just need a towel, that’s what they’re there for.”
A boy raises his hand, and I can tell that he’s about to make a wise crack. The woman nods at him.
“So we’re supposed to have these things with us even in the shower? How ’bout when we use the bathroom?”
The woman’s face goes red, and I stand up, unable to take it. “Well only if you actually want an android with you in the shower. And if you do, I really think that you should keep that to yourself anyway,” I sneer.
The room explodes in laughter, and the boy’s face goes red now. He glares at me and I smile innocently back, sitting down.
The woman smiles at me thankfully. “Your androids have over two million acts programmed into their systems, so I encourage you to test them all out.” She sits down again.
I turn around and smile at my android. He looks down at me, seeming curious, and smiles back. I start to eat. What should I name him? Rodney? Trevor? No… I have it!
I turn back to him, excited. “Jaiden,” I exclaim. He cocks his head to the side. “Jaiden,” he repeats. He sounds so human, I’m startled, and can’t do anything for a second. However, I snap back quickly, and nod at him.
“That’s your name. Do you like it?”
He doesn’t answer for a second, but then he grins, nodding. “I like it a lot, Loli.”
I wince at my real name. “Could you call me Kyra for now?”
“Of course. Kyra.”
I decide to experiment. “Can you go get me a soda, Jaiden?”
He walks off without a word. Wow. All around me, people have named their androids, and are making them do things.
In the front, I see an android doing cheerleading moves with a six-year-old girl. Jaiden comes back with my soda and holds it out to me. I smile. “Can you open it for me? I don’t want to break a nail.”
To my surprise, he chuckles and shakes his head softly, before opening it. When I take it, my fingers overlap his. I feel the metal underneath, and am so surprised by it, I drop the can. Before it hit’s the ground though, Jaiden swoops down and catches it. He holds it back out to me.
I have to admit, I’m a little shaken. Jaiden seems to wince a little bit, but he sets the can down on the table and takes a couple steps back.
I get up and edge carefully around him, going to the adults’ table. Jaiden follows me. I sit in an empty chair, and bite my lip a little.
Nick is back. I didn’t even notice him come in. He stares at me, a fair amount of concern in his eyes. I don’t want his concern! I don’t want anything to do with him, but he’s here, so I have to deal with it.
I look pointedly at the Asian woman.
“I have some questions that need answers. Now.”
She smiles politely. “Please ask; we’ll try to answer them to the best of our abilities.”
I nod and open my mouth to start, but am cut off by a bell similar to the ones they have in school to signal the next period.
The Asian woman stands up. “Tell you what; we’ll have to do this later. So sorry.” Not waiting for an answer, she leaves.
I narrow my eyes after her. How rude. Nick sees my look and gives me a small smile that tells me to hang in there. I scowl at him.
My head feels heavy. I touch my hair. Maybe I should cut it. Then I would look just like Lana.
“Don’t cut your hair,” Nick burst out, “Your hair long hair is the only way we can tell the difference between you and your sister!”
I’m taken aback. “How did you know that I was thinking that?” Then realization dawns. “You can read minds can’t you? That’s one of your powers!” I glare at him. He grins. “Well you better stay out of my head, or one day soon, you’ll find yourself waking up at the bottom of the ocean!”
The entire group of adults laugh at this. Robert takes something out of his pocket, along with a mirror. He hands them to me. “Here. This’ll make sure that nobody can get into your head. Put it in the middle of your forehead.”
I look at the device. It looks just like the crystal on my hand, except that it has four other mini crystals attached onto it as well.
I open the mirror and carefully position it on my forehead. I wince as I feel five tiny pricks as the things attach themselves to my face. I look at myself.
I have to admit, I look good. I look sort of like one of those girls in India.
I look at Robert. “Is this on right?”
He seems to observe it for a few seconds, and then he reaches over and whacks my forehead hard.
“Ow! What was that for?”
He doesn’t answer, but smacks my forehead again. He’s about to do it again, but I grab his wrist and shove him backwards, tipping over his chair and sending him sprawling on the ground.
“What’s the matter with you? Why do you keep hitting me? For goodness sake! If you’re trying to bug me then it worked. Just quit it!”
He takes what looks to be a mini flashlight out of his pocket and a beam of light shoots out and would have fried my face, if I hadn’t jerked to the side. He shoots again, and this time the beam cuts my cheek.
I touch the line he made and when I remove my finger, it’s covered in blood. Nick mutters something under his breath and brings over some napkins. The whole cafeteria is staring. Lana is seething and I look at her, concerned. She takes a threatening step toward Robert, and when he sees, he raises the beam thing again.
Just before he shoots, I jump forward with a hand and… then….
… The whole world stops moving. Literally.
Robert’s hand stays frozen in the air, the beam just emerging from the device, and everything is frozen. Just like that. Lana is stuck glaring at Robert, and looking next to her, I find Ryan’s gaze directly on me. No one is moving though.
Not at first at least. Then someone moves. My head jerks over. Nick is right next to me now, not smiling, not even blinking, but I can tell he is not frozen with the rest.
“You know what you just did?” He doesn’t sound mad. Not happy either, but not mad. That’s good.
I look around again in amazement. “I… I stopped…time…?”
He nods slowly, his face blank.
I sense that he’s nervous, but I don’t know why. Then I find out.
“You could kill them right now if you really wanted to, Kyra.”
I look up at him, startled and scared all at once. “What? No I couldn’t.”
He swallows. “Yes you could. But I know that you don’t want to do that. So why don’t you go over, slowly, and get the flash from Robert, then unstop the time. Be very careful. You’re not nearly as aware of your powers as you will be.”
When I don’t budge, he nods once. “Go on.”
I go, very slowly, and slip the… flash… out of Robert’s hand, then turn back to Nick. “I don’t even know how I froze the time. It was an accident.”
Nick sighs.
“Why don’t you sit down and just imagine the way this room was before you froze the time. That should do it.”
I sit down on the floor, and concentrate on the before picture in my head, and almost instantly, the room is moving again. But this time I get dizzy, and end up on my back, staring at all of the clashing colors of the room spinning wildly.
Nick, Lana, and Ryan are all at my side in a minute. Nick takes something out of his pocket and sticks it in my mouth. Air pumps in, maybe gas, and my strength comes back [along with my vision] and I sit up.
Nick jerks Robert to his feet. “ Why’d you have to pull that thing out? She didn’t even use her powers. She could've killed you just now."
Robert dust himself off. “ I couldn’t risk it. You know good and well how fast it can happen if they get mad.”
I glare at him. He just smiles, pointing to my crystal.
“ I was trying to get your crystal to glow. It glows according to your moods. White is happy, blue is sad, yellow is bored, pink is sick, red is mad, orange is scared, and purple is… well… we’ll tell you that time comes. The brighter the glare is, the more you’re feeling that emotion. Sometimes the colors blend, indicating mixed emotions.”
Everyone in the room, after hearing this, except Nick, backs away from me. Robert has started to sweat.
“ I’m sorry I’ve upset you Kyra. I really didn’t mean to. Please just try to calm down a little bit.”
Confused, I look at Nick. He holds up the mirror. The bit crystal in the middle is glowing the brightest orange I’ve ever seen, but the four others are glowing a dull blue.
“Calm down,” he tells me simply.
I take a few deep breaths and try to calm myself. Nick wait patiently by my side, looking like he understands, and I get myself worked up all over again thinking about all the things he didn’t tell me before.
“ Calm. Down.” He put heavy emphasis on each word.
“ I can’t,” I hiss back. “ You’re getting me all worked up again!”
This earns me a small smile, and my temper lessens a bit. Robert relaxes, obviously grateful.
Nick cups his hands around his mouth.
“ Come on people! We’re all taking a tour of the facilities. Everyone get into groups based on your suit colors. Remember to keep your androids with you at all times! You have five minutes!”