It was a few hours later and Layla was getting comfortable on the couch when there was a knock at the door. Hayley poked her head in.
"You getting adjusted alright in here?" she asked.
"Yeah I am," Layla said. "It's all so beautiful here."
"It is isn't it? The nicest place our patients could possibly come to get help."
"Help with what?" Layla asked. "You never got around to explaining what this place is." Hayley smiled and came over to the couch, sitting next to Layla.
"Sorchwood is a place for people who are... sick, in a manner of speaking," she said. "We do everything we can to make them feel comfortable while we help treat them and, hopefully, let them go back into the real world some day."
"In a manner of speaking?"
"Yes well, the people here are sick in their minds," Hayley said. "They can't function in society. Some can't tell fiction from reality, some have done terrible things for insane reasons... some hear voices that no one else can hear." Suddenly Layla understood.
"Do you think I'm insane or something?"
"What I think is that you've been through some things," Hayley said, "traumatic things that you shouldn't have been put through. Trauma's don't necessarily make people insane but they can mess a person up. That's not the point though Layla. The point is that you're here right now because we can help you to silence any unwanted voices in your head. It'll take time but it's what we're aiming for. You understand right?" Layla processed this for a moment before nodding.
"Yeah... yeah I understand."
Hayley had left Layla there and as Layla prepared herself to go to sleep in her new bed, they came. The voices were back but this time different. Instead of sounding like the voices of everyone in her school it sounded more like patients were screaming in her head.
"... swear I'm going to skin the next orderly I see to death..."
"... I'm mother fucking GOD! I'd smite them all if I weren't so forgiving..."
"... around the rosey, pocket full of posies, ashes, ashes, they all fall..."
"... INSIDE ME WHY WON'T ANYONE HELP OH GOD IT'S INSIDE ME FUCK FUCK FUCK..."
"... knife to my mouth..."
"... nothing is real..."
"why so serious? Why so..."
Just like last time the voices were getting louder and louder and more unbearable. Layla held her head wishing, begging for the voices to go away. When they didn't, the window cracked, curtains swayed without a breeze, furniture rattled as if being rocked back and forth, the light bulb in Layla's lamp exploded and Layla suddenly sat up.
"Get out of my head! You're not real! Get OUT!"
The voices began to get quieter and everything in the room stopped, returning to the normal positions that they had previously occupied.
Everything went silent.
Off in another room two figures, one male and one female, stood in front of monitors that showed the live feed of the new girl in Scorchwood. Activity had started up in her room and the furniture, the window, everything really had begun moving on it's own as the girl held her head in apparent pain. Suddenly the girl sat up and and yelled for something to get out of her head and suddenly, everything returned to normal.
"My God..." the female muttered in shock. She wore a white lab coat and as shocked as she was, couldn't help but smile.
"Insane isn't it?" the male, a security guard said. "What was that?" The female ran her fingers through her dark hair.
"I... I have an idea. It's crazy but... get director Caulfield, tell her what we just saw. Do we want to bring this one in for testing or continue observation?" The security guard nodded, grabbing his cell and dialing.
"Are you sure this one is safe to test on Doctor Harding?" he asked. "Just wanna be sure you're absolutely sure before we let Caulfield know." Hayley turned to him, smile still plastered on her face.
"I'm sure," she said. "Make the call." The guard shrugged and put the phone to his ear. Hayley looked back to the screen and watched as Layla lay her head down and began to drift off to sleep.
Hayley was sure. This girl was strong. So strong it seemed that she was unknowingly moving objects with her mind. She'd survive the process. She'd survive and be the most effective mutant they'd ever made. A queen in the new and perfect world they were going to make.