Gifted Youngster

Gifted Youngster

Old Fiat

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Chapter 9: Legally Dead

"Remember Scott: Soh-Cah-Toa."

Scott bit his lip, running his fingers over the right-angle triangle drawn with glue.

"It's… sin 13 degrees equals H over 4, right?"

Jack beamed. "Perfect. Okay. Sine 13 is roughly 0.22495, so what's H?"

"4 times… whatever sine 13 is?"

Jack laughed. "Let's continue this tomorrow, okay?" Scott nodded. Trigonometry was difficult when you couldn't see the shapes.

It had been almost a year and a half since Scott was put up on the top floor. Jack knew it was driving the younger boy insane being trapped in this twisted routine. Whenever the tests were performed by Dr. Redding, it took ages for Jack to get him to fall asleep. He twitched for days afterward at the slightest touch. He was usually alright by Wednesday but on the following Monday the whole thing started again when they were brought back to that chilly room.

Scott stood up and stretched.

"Ugh…" he groaned, cracking his neck. "I hate being stuck in this stupid room."

"I know…" said Jack, nodding in agreement. "It sucks."

"Do you think that if I wrote a letter to Alex and gave it to Mildred that she'd send it?" asked Scott, flopping back on the bed. "You know, the way you and Victor do?"

Jack grinned. He and Victor frequently sent messages to each other through the house keeper, knowing she would never breathe a word about it to Dr. Milbury.

"I don't think so," he said, joining his friend on the bed. "Dr. Milbury would probably find out."

"Yeah…" said Scott, sighing. He missed his brother a lot.

Suddenly there was a loud shout in the hallway and both boys jumped. Jack ran over to the door, peeking through the slat where they got there soup. A girl with long dark hair and chocolate brown skin was being brought up, not by Mildred, but by three of the doctors. She was putting up a spectacular resistance to being put on the top floor.

"What's going on?" asked Scott, sitting beside Jack.

"They're bringing someone up," said Jack, looking through the slat. "And she's not liking it."

Scott grinned. "Is she fighting them?"

"Oh yeah," said Jack, laughing a little. "Yeah, she's fighting hard."

"Get off me!" the girl screamed, kicking one of the doctors hard in the shin. "You can't do this!"

Jack watched as the doctors opened one of the doors and shoved the girl inside.

"Let me out of here!" she shouted, pounding against the door.

"Did they put her in?" asked Scott.

"Yes, unfortunately," said Jack with a sigh.

"Too bad."

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Monday came far too quickly for Scott's liking and soon they were being ushered out of their rooms and towards the steps.

He heard Jack speaking to Victor when there was a familiar voice behind him.

"What's with the blindfold, kid?"

It was the girl, the one that had kept him up half the night with her shouts of protest. She seemed a lot calmer now. He turned as she spoke behind him.

"Excuse me?" he asked, knowing he probably sounded completely moronic.

"The blindfold," she said. "You know—that strip of cloth over your eyes…?"

He felt instantly stupid.

"Uh… yeah…" He wished Jack would cut in, but he was too busy talking to Victor. "I shoot these sort of… lasers out of my eyes and I can't turn them off so… yeah…" He really felt dumb.

"Cool," she said with nod. "I got dragged up there because I can control water."

"Seriously?" he asked.

"Yep."

"Awesome," he said, a touch of laughter in his voice.

They reached the test room. The pairs and groups were pushed out of the room and Scott led off to a room by himself. His heart pounding, he waited to hear Dr. Redding's voice.

"Hello, Scott."

It wasn't Dr. Redding. It wasn't any other doctor he'd been tested by before.

"Where is Dr. Redding?" he asked, not that he particularly wanted to see him.

"Dr. Redding is dealing with some of the other children," said the doctor, Scott thought it was a woman, but he wasn't sure.

"Who are you?" he asked.

"My name is Dr. Angela Royale." So it was a woman. "I was hired just a few days ago."

"What kind of tests will we be doing?" he asked, praying that she wouldn't give him another intelligence test.

"I'll be testing your hearing, reflexes and sense of touch and smell," she said. "Now, are you ready?"

He nodded.

"Okay, tell me when you can hear something."

It was silent for a long time until finally he heard a faint, low hum.

"I can hear a tone," he said.

"Alright. Now I'm going to play a sound and I want you to react to it as you would normally."

"Okay," he said. This was far better than those stupid intelligence tests or Dr. Redding's "physical exams".

The first noise was a high pitched scream. He jumped slightly and looked around, genuinely shocked.

"Good job," said Dr. Royale. "Now, find where I am. I will continue speaking as you search…"

He stood up, listening carefully. He'd done this many times when he was looking around the room for Jack. Slowly, he moved towards the right. The sound of her voice was getting louder. He stepped closer to the sound, putting out his hands. Finally, they connected with stiff cloth.

"Good work!" she said and he could hear the smile in her voice.

After several minutes of tests, she allowed him to sit down again.

"You've been doing very well," she said. "Would you like a glass of water?"

He nodded. "Yes, thanks." She placed a plastic cup in his hands and he took a gulp. "Dr. Royale?"

"Yes?" she asked. He thought for a moment. She seemed far more trustworthy than the other doctors. He took the chance.

"If I wrote a letter to my brother, would you send it for me?"

She was silent for several seconds.

"I don't think that would be a good idea, Scott," she said slowly, as though not wanting to say the words coming out of her mouth.

"Why not?" he asked.

"Because… according to state records, you died when you blasted through that wall."

"What?" He was legally dead? How did that even work? "Why have I died?"

"So that the government won't come asking why you aren't at school. Your brother has probably been informed of this. It wouldn't work to write him."

He sat in the chair, completely stiff. Dead…

"Let's continue the tests," said Dr. Royale, her voice a little tense. "Come on."

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When Scott was led back to his and Jack's room, he was silent, as usual. But it was different than it was normally. Normally, he came back and his shoulders were hunched, his hands were loose and hanging by his sides. This time he was standing up straight, his knuckles white, his jaw set.

Mildred led him into the room and he sat on the bed. For once he'd gotten back before Jack so he waited, totally still, until the door reopened and his friend entered.

"Hey Scott. You feeling alright?"

He stood up and walked over to Jack. Putting his hand on the other shoulder, he took a deep breath.

"Jack, I'm leaving this place."

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So much new writing! Oh well. I blame my being too sick to do anything. I hope you enjoyed it. Sorry if it was poorly written. I love math and I did some trig just this year for some reason.

Please review! That little button is right there!

-OFsI