Experimented in Jail

By MPAE

Diablo threw me in the poisonous cellar again. I didn't blame him, I was out of control. For some reason, the Coach yelled at us more, and my powers just responded with out of control anger. Why Karson and I? Why couldn't some other kids be picked, why us?

It all started with just a walk back from school, in Hillsboro, OR. We missed the bus that afternoon. Karson and I were talking about his new videogame, Minecraft.

"You get to build anything you want," Kason explained. "You just have to get the right tools and blocks."

"Any monsters in the game?" I asked, curious.

"Yeah, they're called Creepers," Karson said, kind of distracted. "Hey, look!"

I followed his gaze to what he was looking at, a black van, speeding in front of us.

Before we could react, the van stopped an inch in front of us. We were both scared to death as a tall, black haired man wearing a black suit came out of the van with green spiked shoes. He was smiling as he said, "Oh dear! Did I almost hit you? How clumsy of me."

I disliked him immediately, as Karson sputtered, "What were you thinking?!"

The man seemed to expect this and only chuckled. "I am so sorry, I'll give you a lift to your house for an apology." He gestured to his car, which the backdoor opened automatically.

I blurted out, "No thanks, we like to walk."

The man's smile fell to a stern face for a second, but then went back to a smile. "Well, I'm sorry to do this to you, but it must be done." He said as he turned away.

I was confused and so was Karson by the look on his face. All of a sudden, this shock hit us after he turned away. After that, everything went black. ~

When I woke up, my head hurt like crazy. I couldn't move, but I could see. I looked up and saw a moving ceiling. The world felt like it was spinning, so I closed my eyes again. Then I heard wheels spinning as my hearing came to me, and it smelled like chemicals. I went back to sleep, hoping I would awake not spinning.

Awaking again was not easy. My eyelids felt cemented shut, so it was difficult to open them. Once I did, the pain in my head reappeared and started to hurt again. I looked around, and I on a lantern on the side of me, on and brightening. As my eyes focused, I got up and looked around more. I found out I was in a room in a bed with a lantern, a desk, a wardrobe, and a satchel hanging off a hook. What was all this for? The only thing that was strange was the door. It wasn't a door at all; it was one of those slide doors you can find at Fred Meyers. The only thing different was that it was made of metal, and you couldn't look right through it.

I looked at myself and I saw I was wearing a plain gray uniform and green boots on. I sighed, hoping I would get a better selection of clothes later on. Then I thought of Karson and wondered what happened to him. Was he safe or harmed?

I started to walk toward the door, as it opened, I peeked outside. I saw a metal ledge with a railing. The door slid behind me as I peered beyond the railing. At the bottom, there was a big wide open space with no objects on it. The other side of the room was a ledge with a metal railing as well. There were stairways leading to the ledge with other rooms like mine, equally spread apart on the ledge. This looked exactly like my side.

All of a sudden a platform started to rise in the middle of the room. Some guy that looked in his forties with a black uniform on, in shades, wearing black boots was on it. When the platform stopped rising, I also noticed he had a whip held to his belt. The man also had a clipboard in his hand and read off of it. "Jasmine Cay?" I nodded. "Welcome to SOP, Search of People. We have chosen you and your friend to join us in this program. My name is Steve Murray, but you can call me the Coach. We will have regular clothes once we get your regular size. Please come down so I can explain the rest."

As I went down the stairs, the Coach smoothed back his black and white crisp hair. When I got to him, he looked down at me and said "Why, you're quite short. I like your long black hair though. Where are you from?"

"Cambodia," I replied. "Any other questions?"

"No, now follow me. You will now meet the founder of this program."

I followed him down different halls, all made of metal. Until we reached a room made of bronze, then he stopped and turned to me. "This is it, be as quiet as you can, and only talk when he says so."

The door slid open as we walked in. There was a desk with one seat in front of it and one seat behind it. The Coach said to have a seat, so I did in the front. As I did, a man in red spiky hair with freckles across his face, whom looked in his twenties, appeared in the other seat. I jumped right out of my chair once I saw him. "Sorry to startle you," He replied. "My name is Diablo."

I gasped once I heard that. Diablo means devil! All of a sudden, his red hair looked like red horns.

"So, I was looking for new recruits and I saw you and your friend," Diablo said "And you looked so useful and alone we just had to have you."

So that was it, he steals kids, holds them captive, and uses them. But for what?

"You see," Diablo said as he continued. "We use kids for our experiments, which you'll find very interesting." He paused, thinking about the right way to put it. He leaned in closer and said, "We give them superpowers."

This new information struck me with millions of questions. What happened to the kids? What happened when something goes wrong during the experiment? And the worst question of all, did Karson and I already get experimented on? That question just took my breath away.

"You're probably wondering why we do this," Diablo continued. "Well with such power and responsibility; we give kids chances to become heroes and saviors to save our world!"

I blinked at this. Was this guy crazy? Is he high?

"We have the best scientists in the world, with tools and equipment only our institute has ever found!" He sounded proud of himself and waited for an applause. None came.

He cleared his throat. "Any questions?"

I had a million, but I told him the scariest one.

Diablo winked. "Think I would let you two out of the fun, didn't you?"

I felt like fainting. He already did? Now I knew this guy was crazy.

"Where is Karson, the guy I came with?"

"You mean the tanned boy with black hair, a little younger than you, and icy blue eyes? Oh he's fine. He woke up before you did and I already spoke to him. He's in the lunch room with the other kids. Any other questions before you join him?"

I shook my head.

"Good. Mr. Murray, please escort her to the lunch room."

We left quickly and quietly, going down tons of halls until we made it to the lunch room. As the door slid open, the scent of freshly made food exploded on me. The scent made my mouth water and my stomach growl.

"Go on in; if you need any help ask the lunch ladies." The Coach said as he pushed me in and walked away.

As I walked in, there were tons of tables filled with tons of chattering kids. On the side of the room, was the kitchen with the mouthwatering food. As I went up to wait in line, I looked for Karson. When it was my turn, I couldn't choose what to get. Everything looked so good.

"What kind of food would you like, dearie?" the lunch lady asked.

I finally decided. "Do you have any orange chicken?"

"Yes, of course," she replied. "and what to drink?"

"Lemonade please."

Once I got my food, I searched for Karson again. When I finally found him, he was sitting at a table with other kids, but he was only talking to one kid. Karson was also wearing the same uniform as me.

I sat next to him, and then he looked at me and jumped.

"Good grief Jasmine! You scared me half to death!" Karson said with a shock. "Oh, this here is Deana. She was telling me about this place."

Across Karson was this fifteen year old girl with medium length brown hair, beautiful brown eyes and very tall. With her black jacket and chewing gum, she looked a bit of a gangster.

"Hi, my name is Jasmine. I-"

"Yeah, Karson told me about you," Deana interrupted. "You got kidnapped with him. Well anyways, as I was saying to Karson, this place gets crazy."

"Why?" I asked, curious about this hostage.

"Kids here have powers you've never seen before," Deana explained. "And not just kids, people from five to eighteen get kidnapped. I've been here for two years."

"What kind of powers?"

"Oh, you'll know what I mean once you get to the Gym. You have regular classes like school, except Gym is different. Also, if you don't behave in Gym, they throw you in the poisonous cellar. You will get your schedules tomorrow; today you'll get unpacked and settled."

All of a sudden, a bell rang and everyone started to leave.

"Well, see you kids later." Deana said as she left the lunchroom.

"Ready to go?" Karson asked, looking excited.

"Sure, I'll see you tomorrow."

"Yeah, see you." ~

The next day I got my new clothes, my satchel, and my schedule and went to my first class, the Gym. As I walked in, I saw it was like a regular school with regular classes. I knew no one in my grade, seventh grade, since Karson was a year younger than me.

As I stepped in the Gym, it looked like a regular P.E. room. But then it wasn't. There were kids all my age using their powers. Fire, water, ice, flying, morphing, teleporting, weather, lava, light, wildlife, smartness, running as fast as light, swimming, breathing underwater, becoming a blob, glowing, and so many more powers being used. Plus, there was equipment all around the room for practicing. Then I just thought of something, what was my power?

A platform rose near the stage on the side and the Coach was on it. Everyone got silent, stopped practicing, and huddled by it. As they did that, the equipment was automatically putting itself away. I followed the kids and waited with them.

The Coach smiled. "Welcome everybody! Today we have a new student, Jasmine Cay. Jasmine, can you please come here?"

Stairs appeared and I climbed up them and stood next to the Coach. "Jasmine, everyone here has a power. Do you know what yours is?" I shook my head. "Well, it says here," the Coach said as he peered at his clipboard "Your power is levitation. Why don't you try to use your power and show us what you've got?"

This surprised me, not knowing how, and nodded. I focused on one object in the room, a five pound weight accidently left out. I imagined object lifting in my mind and gave it all my power.

All of a sudden, the weight lifted into the air but lopsided. I tried to correct it but instead it went in a circle and flew into the ceiling. BAM!

I think they need a new ceiling now… I thought to myself.

Then it fell and hit the floor with a thud and skidded across the floor.

Everyone turned to look at me, even the Coach. I felt embarrassed, but didn't show it. I lifted my hands and silently said, "Ta-da…"

The Coach cleared his throat and said, "Thank you for that… wonderful demonstration. Please go back to your seat with everybody else now, Mrs. Cay. Today we will start working on how you use weapons in a fight. We will use weapons such as a sword, knife, bow and arrow. Today we will start with archery. Everyone please get a bow, while the arrows and targets are being set up."

When I got to the floor there were targets, arrows, and everyone was ready. I grabbed my bow as he taught all of us how to shoot an arrow properly.

Even though I listened, my mind leaped back to my questions. How do my powers work? Why is my power levitation? What is Karson's power? My mind kept filling with these questions and more.

When gym was over, I went to my other classes but didn't pay attention. My mind was cautious, confused, and worried. What would happen to me in this place?

In the middle of the day, everyone went to lunch. I got my food and sat next to Karson and across from Diana. As I sat next to Karson, we both turned around to each other immediately and said, "What power do you have?" We both laughed as I got out, "Okay, you first."

"I'm a human gun! I eat gun powder! My arm can become a bazooka! My whole body can become a cannon! And the best part is, my teeth are bullets!"

He smiled for me and sure enough, his teeth were bullets. I also noticed gun powder on his plate.

"I can pluck them and throw them at people. It's so cool! But enough about my power, what's yours?" Karson stared at me with excitement.

"Well, I can levitate things, but it's really hard. I made the object I was levitating spin, hit the wall, and made a dent on the floor in the Gym."

Deana all of a sudden burst out laughing. 'You're lucky Jasmine! Some people's powers don't even work the first day! And people have had worse accidents than you!"

"What's your power, Deana?" Karson said. "You've never told us."

"Oh, I'm a human bomb and I can be any type of bomb," Deana replied. "I have no blood, so when I blow, I just put myself back together. I can knock people out, explode a building, and what the heck? I can kill half an army!"

"Wow, cool!" Karson said.

Deanna suddenly leaned in closer. "But the most mysterious kid here is-" Looks around. "Annabeth Chase."

She slowly points to a beautiful girl with long, blonde hair going just past her shoulders.

"No one knows how she got here, but her power is unbelievable."

I looked back at Deana. "What's her power?"

Suddenly the bell rang and everyone started leaving.

"See you guys later!" we all said to each other at once and I went to the rest of my classes, wondering how life would be and who Annabeth Chase really was.

After a couple weeks of SOP, and the poisonous cellar, I was getting used to this place. Even though I missed my parents, there was nothing I could do. I was stuck here, even though I wanted to leave. Everyone did, even Karson, but we were all forced to stay.

One afternoon at lunch, Deana sputtered something out to me as I sat down. "We're… being… tricked!"

"What?" I said, heart pounding.

"Diablo, the founder, is tricking us!"

This new information blew back on me. What was Deana talking about?

"Deana explain this nice and slowly."

"Okay, well my friend can shrink herself, and the hallway was a hurricane, so she went through the vent. She was running by when she heard something from Diablo as he was talking to himself in his office. He was congratulating himself on tricking us into thinking we were becoming super heroes. Diablo also said he was going to force and use us for war."

I slapped my head. Why hadn't I suspected anything? What made me feel as if everything was alright? Beats me, all I have to do now is get out of this jail and get help! I told the rest of the group this and they agreed.

"We have to break out of this prison, but how?" Karson said.

"We should turn off all the security cameras, alarms, and lasers, then we should escape." I replied.

"This is easier said than done. How should we escape?" Karson asked.

"I'll use my levitation powers to give Karson a lift to the windows on the ceiling in my room. Karson will use one of his bullets to break the window. Let's do this tomorrow night and get ready. Agreed?"

The both nodded. ~

Tomorrow at the Gym, my powers went out of control because the Coach yelled at us again. Diablo threw me in the poisonous cellar again, where I am now. I reminded myself of the plan and repeated over and over again in my mind.

When I got out, I grabbed my satchel and equipped it with a dagger, food, a bottle of water, and some other things needing to survive. Then, I gave the signal and the plan started happening.

Karson's job was to grab every supply they needed to survive for a while. Diana's job was to disable everything and knock out the guards. They both were supposed to arrive at my room on time.

After twenty minutes passed, Deana and Karson arrived with tasks completed. No time for talk as I lifted Karson into the air, to the window where he broke slowly and carefully in the perfect spot where Deana told him it would break without setting off alarms and hit the glass with his tooth. We all got out; slid down the building with the rope we brought, and ran for our lives. Deana brought a watch with a GPS on it to tell where we were. It also was waterproof and had some special abilities. After a mile or two away, I heard an alarm go off in the distance.

After three days and no sign of Diablo, we thought we were safe. We arrived at a beer bar, snuck in, and spent the night. Now the only problem was getting help, and fast, before Diablo caught on and took over the world.

The End of Experimented in Jail, Part 1.