"A Safe Haven"
"Art."
Said Claudia Heartrey out loud at her desk, "Is that what they call this? Really?" She was peering down at a black-and-white school-issued drawing workbook. The lessons had been the same since the first week of class; copy the picture in the upper right hand corner of the page into the box below. "This is something that a machine should be doing!"
Claudia fancied herself more than a little bit of an artist, since she had been painting and performing since she was barely five… still, art did not bring in the money that her family wanted her to have, so she was studying to be a neurosurgeon. Her father's idea was a nurse, but Claudia thought that neurosurgery would be more exciting, and since it was not art, her parents did not complain. In truth, Claudia did not mind that she could not be an artist. She had plenty of passions, including human anatomy.
However, Claudia, unlike many other 15-year-old girls, had already memorized every part of the human body. The teachers said that she had a photographic memory. Claudia thought that was true, and then some. It was as if her brain was a huge hard drive, and she kept billions of pictures in it. She could search for them in her mind and see them in front of her as clearly as if she were seeing them for the first time.
Thanks to this innate ability, homework was easy, though work was another matter. She had a childlike way of putting off responsibility, like copying the pictures in her art workbook. It was now fifteen minutes before class, and she still had 28 drawings to copy for her midterm review.
"Screw it." She said, grabbing the book, and took off down the hall. "If art is reduced to copying pictures now, I think I'll just copy some pictures." Mr. Lazarro's computer lab was dark and empty, but the computer monitors were glowing and buzzing in a dim phalanx of blue. She flipped the power switch on one of the scanners, and it started up with a high-pitched buzz. Claudia could only faintly remember putting a page of the book face down in the machine before blacking out.
Out of the momentary dark unconsciousness, everything began to spin. First came the sounds, in and out like a gyroscope, then the pictures, twirling ever more slowly until at last they rested, still.
"Heather, I can't see this happen again, you know how I get. I have to leave," Said a high-pitched girl's voice. She sounded like she was in distress, and as Claudia began to make out her flush face and bright red hair. She looked as if she was about to vomit. "Oh god!" she said, running out of the room where Claudia was lying in bed. Something was wrong. She had never seen any of these girls in her life.
"What happened to me back there?" she asked.
"It happens different every time," Said the blonde one who was staring at her. "We don't know how you got here."
It was only then when Claudia realized that she was not in a hospital, or at school, or anywhere else that she had ever been before. "Where am I?" She asked, sitting up a little.
"It's a school for the gifted. Those with… special abilities. You're one of us now," Said another girl who was standing farther back from the bed. "Welcome to Tower Prep."
"What, you mean like the X-men, or like Harry Potter?" Claudia blinked, laughing a little, despite the fact that her head was still throbbing.
The girls were silent.
"Wait, you're actually serious?" Her eyes opened a little wider. "I-I mean, I always knew I was different! I mean, I have this thing, it's kind of a cool thing, but you know, here everybody must have a cool thing, right? I can take pictures, with my mind, just by concentrating. I even have some from all the way back to the day I was born. I guess I thought, I mean, I never thought that there might be other people that, you know, had stuff like this going on! This is blowing my mind! … and it hurts."
"The headache wears off in a couple of hours," Said the dark-haired girl. "I'm Heather Hamilton. Your uniform is in the top drawer, over there." With that, she walked out of the room, leaving her alone with the other girl.
"Jenna. Jenna May Becker." She said, holding out a hand to Claudia. Instead of shaking it, she used it to pull herself up off the bed.
"So what… is this some kind of surprise or something? I mean, I always wanted to go to a private school, but I thought that my family couldn't afford it."
"Your family doesn't know about it," Said Jenna. "Mine don't neither. I haven't seen em for what's goin on three weeks. They don't tell em where you are, they just take you."
"Oh my god… oh my god… does that mean that I've been kidnapped… that you've all been kidnapped? Do something! Call the police, or something! Why would they do that?"
"Look, calm down. Just relax. Ain't nobody gonna hurt ya. All they do is just give us some classes and some tests and stuff, and everybody's been fine… leastwise, everybody I know."
"But that still doesn't answer my question," Claudia persisted. "Where am I? Where is tower prep?"
"I don't know… They won't tell us."
"Oh god! Oh god! And there are no police? No … outside authorities? I never got to say goodbye!"
Claudia curled up and shut her eyes tightly. "WAKE UP!" she screamed at the top of her lungs. "Nightmare. It's a nightmare," she muttered. "HELP ME!" she screamed. "SOMEBODY HELP ME PLEASE!"
Claudia would not stop screaming, no matter what Jenna told her. Tears were rolling down both of their cheeks when two men in white lab coats dragged Claudia out of the room. They took her to an isolated area, and put her in a white, unfurnished room.
"Let me out! Let me out you bastards! I demand my rights! I demand to see my parents! I'm a minor! This is Kidnapping! Lawbreakers!" She screamed at them intermittently for nearly seven hours, and then broke down into more crying. After this, she began a rant filled with improbable accusations against her captors, and fell into silent thought again for a long time. She sat down on the floor there for two days, refusing anything they tried to feed her. It was just too much.
"Alright. You win, okay? I'll go to your stupid school!" she relented. "I don't know what you're going to do with me, but I can't stand being in this horrid little room any longer. Please, just let me out! I'll do what you want."
To her surprise, a reply came from a speaker in the ceiling, "Miss Heartrey, when you regain your composure, we will send you back to your dormitory. We understand that arriving at Tower Prep is a stressful process. A lot of students react the same way that you have, but you will come to understand that this is all orchestrated to help you, not to harm you."
Claudia took two deep breaths. "Okay. I can handle this," She said. "Keep talking. Tell me where I am, and what you want me for."
"Tower prep is a school for people with unique abilities like yours. We train you to maximize your skill, to grow to your full potential. We can help you. That is what this is for. Where you are physically does not matter. Tower Prep is, more than anything, located inside you. It is a journey inward, of self-discovery and fulfillment. You have been given a fantastic opportunity."
"So… why can't I speak with my family? Why can't they know about where I am? They must be terribly worried! Will I ever be able to see them again?"
"Tower Prep does not allow communication with the outside world. This might interfere with the concentration of your studies. When you graduate, you can go home to your friends and family. The school has notified your family that you have been accepted to this school, and that you are here, although they do not know its location either."
"Fair enough," Claudia said. "At least it sounds like you'll tell me the truth, even if it isn't everything that I want to hear. Fine. If this is a school, and all I have to do is graduate to get home, then I want to be put in the advanced program. I am three grades ahead of my age group back home, and I can take on any high school in a year. You know all about my ability, so this should come as no surprise to you."
"Miss Heartrey, I think you will find that Tower Prep is no ordinary High School. There are challenges here that no amount of memorization will make any easier. There is no advanced program. Every program is tailored specifically to the individual, their strengths, and weaknesses."
After a long, thorough, and rather unsuccessful interrogation of the voice, Claudia ate a little, and fell asleep. When she awoke, she found herself back in that bed in the dorm room. She was wearing a striped pair of pajamas, and her school clothes were folded neatly on the bedside table. It was midday, and this time, she was alone.
Claudia did not see her class schedule on her desk, so she really did not know if she should be in class, or where to go to ask someone about her classes. Like Claudia's mind, when Claudia did not know what was expected of her, she tended to wander. She wandered through the girls' halls and even one of the boys' halls before realizing her mistake. She found the café, a little courtyard, several academic buildings, and a library. She made no attempt to greet or talk to anyone. All the while that she was walking, her mind was racing. She only pretended to want to go along with these Tower Prep people. She knew that there was something really wrong going on here, although she did not know much else about the situation. "How does someone find their way home if they don't know where they are?" She asked herself silently. "Maybe… the stars. Yeah. Harriet Tubman guided the slaves to freedom in Canada with the stars. I'll look for the North Star, and maybe I can find my way back home."
Claudia's mind flashed through all the images she had of the stars. It had been a long time since she had studied stars, and though she saw the night sky clearly in her mind, some of their names were hard to recall. She strode up to the front desk. An grey-haired librarian peered down at her through rectangular spectacles. "May I help you?" She said in one of the least enthusiastic voices Claudia had ever heard. Claudia held her breath. This would be the first person she had spoken to at Tower Prep, besides that girl, somebody May Becker, she couldn't remember the first name. Janet? No.
"I'd like to find books about constellations, but I'm new here. I don't know where anything is, and it's not arranged in any form of categorization that I'm familiar with."
Claudia thought she saw the corner of the librarian's mouth twitch upward as her eyes rolled to one side in a sort of cynical understanding. But, to Claudia's surprise, she said, "Certainly." And with a much greater agility than Claudia expected from someone who looked like she had not moved from behind the reference counter for twenty years, the librarian took her down a long hallway to a section of astronomy books. Claudia picked up one of the books, but was unnerved by the librarian's icy, appraising stare. "That's all I need for now, thank you." She said, and the librarian retreated back to her aged armchair behind the counter.
Claudia made sure to copy the names with the pictures this time. She flipped through all 9 books in less than fifteen minutes, eager to finish her self-guided campus tour. Inside the last, smallest, and most pathetic-looking astronomy book, she found a type-written note.
"You won't find what you are looking for here."
Claudia found the note odd, but she was not sure if it was talking about finding the location of Tower Prep with knowledge of the constellations, or simply that this particular astronomy book was worthless in comparison to the newer, more detailed manuscripts. She didn't have much time to dwell on it, however, because Heather came up behind her. Startled, Claudia dropped the book, and the note tumbled softly to the ground. Heather picked it up.
"Yeah...This does look like a pretty useless book, but what kind of loser has time to type this just to tell other losers how lame this book is?" she said, placing it back in the shelf.
Claudia laughed. "Yeah, I guess it is kind of silly. I just picked it up so that I could take some pictures of it. I took pictures of all of them." She gestured to the shelf.
Heather smiled a wide, phony, but thoughtful smile, "You're quite the little shutterbug, aren't you? At this rate, you'll have this whole library in there before the end of term. It's rather useful, your ability, I think so anyway. I can see why they chose you. What do you think of mine?"
Heather's features slowly began to change. Her nose grew shorter; her skin became pale, her hair curled, and her back bent forward a little. "You have gorgeous blue eyes, Shutterbug. I think I'll keep them for awhile."
"Whoa," was all Claudia managed to say about the transformation. She had never seen anything like it before in her life. It was like looking in a mirror, but the girl staring back wasn't her. Heather's expression was more self-satisfied than Claudia's, though. Claudia was startled, and felt uncomfortable. "It's cool. Really cool," She finally said, trying to seem more relaxed than she really was.
"I know." Heather said, raising her eyebrows playfully, as if it were a fact that her ability was cool, and not a compliment, or even an opinion. "It comes in handy. As, I'm sure, yours does… you know what, I wonder…" Heather began changing again. She became a little thinner, a little taller, and her curls became more pronounced. Her cheeks became the perfect shade, and her fingernails manicured themselves into neat French tips. In short, Heather became her own ideal image of Claudia.
"Take a picture of this," she said, "and see if you can do it… you know, look like this. I'll bet the hair and nails would be easy. I could do your makeup."
"Woah, Heather, wait a second," Claudia said. "I really am not comfortable with this. I like myself the way that I am, and, to be honest, you're kind of freaking me out a little bit with the changing."
Heather let out a short breath, and looked away.
"No, I mean, I didn't mean anything by it," Heather said, "It's not that you're fat or anything, Shutterbug. I mean…" She looked at her pointedly in the eyes, "No one is perfect."
"Well I'd hate to be on bad terms with you because of a stupid misunderstanding," Claudia said, although she couldn't quite tell if Heather was trying to be nice to her, or trying to stab at her ego. "You're one of the first people I met here at Tower Prep. I don't want to seem like I'm unfriendly. Are we cool?"
"I think so." Heather was staring off into the distance. "I'm going to class."
Claudia was still confused. Were they friends, or not? Perhaps things weren't that simple. Everything was slowly becoming less horrific and more irritating. Was this how they broke your mind at a place like this? By trying to distract you from thinking about your captivity with teenage drama?
Claudia walked back up to the front desk at the library. "Excuse me. Do you have any music? CDs? MP3? I'd even go for some cassette tapes or records right now. Anything like that?"
"…Afraid not," Said the librarian, who looked more amused than afraid. "We have books about music. Would you care to pick up something of that nature?"
Claudia grimaced. No music? What kind of inhuman school didn't have music? "That depends. Is there anything around here that I can play?"
"There is a Piano upstairs," Said the librarian, "But it is for staff only."
"Then hire me." Claudia said, absolutely seriously.
The librarian raised an eyebrow. "I cannot simply hire you so that you can play the piano, miss…"
"Heartrey. Claudia Heartrey. I'm a new student."
"You don't say."
"I suppose it's a bit obvious, isn't it. I beg your pardon… But if I could, perhaps, properly apply for a position, I assure you that you will not be disappointed with my aptitude."
"You don't even know enough about this library to find your own books. Come back in a year."
"I'll be back in an hour."
Claudia set to work. She had made up her mind to take pictures of every inch of that library… it was more difficult than she had expected. Tower Prep's library was enormous. Some of the sections looked like no one had ever gone near them. When she had seen the title and author of every last book, she returned to the counter… 47 minutes later.
She put both hands down on the counter and leaned forward towards the librarian, "Ask me anything."
The librarian paused for a moment. "Why are you still trying? I told you that I am not going to hire you."
"President Lincoln ran for office and was defeated seven times before becoming president. You can read his life in, "Honest Abe" by Matthew Roberts, in the fourth row of the biography section, second to the top shelf. "
"Why do you want to play the piano so badly?"
"Why are you so determined not to hire me?"
"Because, Miss Heartrey, you are an insolent know-it-all. Thanks to your 'Special ability', you think that you are what they call a 'Big Shot.' Something special. Well you're not. You cannot expect things to simply be handed to you like back at home. Tower Prep is meant to be a challenge for its students, so grow a backbone. Accept it. You can't have everything you want."
"If I could have everything I wanted, I wouldn't need your stupid piano because I'd be at home with my family!" Claudia stormed out of the library. All she wanted was a little music. She wasn't a particularly talented singer, but she could carry a tune.
"Buddy you're a boy make a big noise We will we will rock you
Playin' in the street gonna be a big man some day
You got mud on yo' face
You big disgrace
Kickin' your can all over the place
We will we will rock you!"
As she walked, she sang as loud as she could. Heads turned her way, and students rolled their eyes. One greasy-haired boy in thick glasses gave her thumbs up and mouthed, "Rock on." Finally, an older girl in a thick sweater said, "Claudia Heartrey?"
"Yes." She stopped singing.
"Headmaster wants to know why you have not attended any of your classes today."
"Oh… I had classes… today?" Claudia wasn't entirely surprised; after all, Tower Prep was a school.
"Yes. Your schedule was on your desk this morning."
"I didn't see it. Really. I'll make up any work that I missed."
"I should certainly hope so." Said the older girl, and she walked away without another word.