Chapter 1
I awoke with a start and let my eyes adjust to darkness around me. It was a dream that had woken me up—or maybe it was a nightmare…I couldn't decide which it was, really…but, I would let myself become fully aware of my surroundings before I could consider it. Why not kill any time that I could? I wasn't in any hurry.
I paused to look around my "room." I was sitting up on my miniature straw mattress in the corner of the little cell. Next to it sat a small wooden crate that was supposed to serve as a bed-side table—I liked to think of it as my personal wardrobe; it was where I hid a single spare uniform. On the far side of the room, right beside the door, hung an unlit lantern that was used whenever an attendant needed to see me for one reason or another. The little bit of light that crept into the room came from the crack under the door that lead out into the hallways of Ward 036. Ironically, the darkest part of my chamber was the most modern part—it had indoor plumbing. There was a little bathroom-stall-like walled off section of the room for necessity. These things all soon came into focus as the cobwebs cleared out of my head.
I tried to remember last night. I had dreamt about something but I couldn't be sure as to what that something was. It was the kind of dream that upon waking left me with an unsettling sort of feeling. Although this morning, it was particularly frustrating because I could not figure out what the dream was about. All I could sort out from the whole mess was that today was not going to be a normal day. It wasn't that my visions had told me that; it was that annoying feeling that I woke up with. If any of these thoughts had been running through any other girl's mind—any other normal girl's mind, she would have been called paranoid. I however, was different andI had learned to trust myself awhile ago—I was almost always right.
0 0 0 0
There was an old, important-looking man in a grey suit—the superintendant probably—shaking hands with a what looked like a newly-hired young man in a clean white coat. I could only see the new-comers back but even from this angle he looked impressive. He was tall and thin—but not in a girly way—more lean, really and noticeably chalky, too. There was also a strange, almost overwhelming, aura about him that surrounded every inch of him—from the very tips of his toes to the top of his blond head. The superintendant may have also noticed this as he was trying to suppress a look of mixed curiosity and alarm directed at his new employee.
"Thank you, sir. I will be sure to follow your instructions," the strange, young man said in a silky smooth voice as he was about to turn and leave.
"Hold on, Mr. Whitlock, I'm sorry I'm afraid I must ask—"
Before the words were out of his mouth, the already eerie atmosphere became down-right chilling.
"Yes?" the young man—Whitlock—asked courteously, pausing to address his employer.
"I…uhh…… that is…ummm……..well……you see…….errr………you—ah…." The superintendent was obviously floundering as the atmosphere gradually grew more intense. "Good luck with your first day," he finally squeaked.
Immediately the room felt more peaceful. Whitlock—turned slightly, just so I could see part of his face. I could immediately see another reason for the superintendent's alarm in his mischievous, red eyes. "Thank you, sir," he replied. And with that, he smiled—his expression remaining oddly cold, as he walked out.
0 0 0 0
Back in reality and in a room that suddenly seemed a little too dark, I shivered.
