One day in the middle of September, I was sitting in the cafeteria with my classmates when the kids behind me started panicking. As I looked around, I saw a bunch of fifth grade kids at a nearby table who were getting up and trying to get away from it. After a few seconds I realized that it was the table that my sister was sitting at. Through the gaps in the crowd, I saw that my sister had collapsed into her food.
"What's going on?" I asked, getting up. No one answered as the adults in the room started pushing the kids away from my sister's slumped over body. My teacher, Ms. Haywood, pulled me away from the crowd and directed me toward the principal's office.
When we walked into the room, she told me, "Wait here." I looked at her confused as she walked back out of the room.
I waited for a few minutes under the watchful eye of Mrs. Vanderbilt, the receptionist, before I asked, "what happened to my sister?" Mrs. Vanderbilt looked confused.
"You don't know?" she asked.
"What?" I asked, sitting up straight.
"I don't know if I should tell you this, but kids around your age have been dying in droves. The survivors have been given these strange powers," Mrs. Vanderbilt stopped for a second. "Are you sure you don't know about this?" I shook my head. A second later, mom was walking into the office, tears running down her face.
Two months after my sister died, my mother called to me from downstairs, "Sheila, come downstairs real quick." I looked around confused, before getting up and walking to the stairs. Since you couldn't see the front door from the stairs, I didn't realize that mom wasn't alone until I was at the bottom.
As soon as I realized that there was a man standing behind mom, I asked "What's going on?" The man was dressed in all black, but his head wasn't covered. His chest was emblazoned with the letters PSF. I looked at mom confused and saw she was dressed in her Sunday best. The moment I noticed she was smiling as hard as she could, I knew he wasn't here for a friendly chat.
"This man is taking you to a place where you will be healed," Mom said, waving at him.
"What does that mean?" I asked as I began to back up. "I'm fine."
I started running as soon as the man stepped forward to grab me and mom snapped, "Just stay with him." Suddenly, a loud noise erupted from behind me, and I fell to the ground like a stone. I grabbed my head to try to block the sound, but it didn't seem to help.
As soon as the sound stopped, the man grabbed my arms and held me against him. He picked me up and carried me out of the house in a hurry, as if afraid I might be able to hurt a grown man. Because my head was pounding, I did not realize I was in a small van until a few minutes later. When my vision cleared I looked around, I saw that there were two men in the driver and passenger seat, which was separated by a door and some bars. There were two women sitting closest to the back doors, the other two girls and I were sitting, handcuffed, on a bench that was on the drivers side of the van.
"What's going on?" I asked the woman "Where are we going?" Instead of saying anything, she swung around and hit me in the head with the but of a gun. I grabbed my face as best as I could and when I looked toward the two girls and saw that they were shaking their heads. I didn't complain about it, instead I held my head. Luckily there was no blood coming out of the wound.
We drove for a few hours and as the sun started to set, we pulled into a warehouse on the edge of some large town. We backed up to the warehouse, and as soon as we pulled to a stop someone from the outside opened the two doors. The woman on the opposite side of us stood up and waved her hand, prompting us to stand up as well. The woman stepped out of the van and onto a plank that led from the van to the front of the warehouse.
We followed her, and as soon as I was walking on the plank, the other woman stood up and followed us out of the van. I didn't look anywhere but the plank until I was on the ground. However, when I was on the concrete and walking towards one of the large doors, I noticed that another van had pulled into the fenced area of the warehouse.
After walking into the building, we were led through several hallways into the main factory section of the warehouse. Nearly a hundred kids were already in the room, sitting together in the middle of the floor where they could be seen by the PSF's. None of the lights in the building were on except for the tall lamps that surrounded the circle of kids.
The woman in front of us led us to the center of the room and forced us to sit on the outside edge of the circle. At first I refused to sit until one of the PSF's forced me onto the ground with a sharp shove. I looked at the men with a look of distaste. None of the PSF's seemed concerned about my head.
Like in the van, no one spoke. Whenever someone tried they were hit across the head by one of the PSF's. Some strange things happened from time to time. Small fires would break out, the lights would flicker from time to time, and random things would move from place to place. Whenever something strange happened, one of the kids were taken from the circle and forced into a tiny one ten feet away from the larger one. Some of the kids were handcuffed when they were forced into the smaller group, but not all of them for some reason.
Kids would occasionally be brought into the building. Two minutes after the last group of kids came in, I noticed that one of the girls that was brought in with me was holding her right hand strangely. I leaned forward a little bit, and I noticed that there was a small flame in her palm. What is going on? How is she doing that? I thought as I heard footsteps approaching.
She tried to close her palm before one of the PSF's saw, but before she could, one of the PSF's hit her across the face. She fell hard against the floor, and as she grabbed her jaw, the PSF grabbed her and dragged her away to the smaller circle. The woman slid a pair of rubber gloves on her hands before she slapped a pair of handcuffs on her wrists.
We waited for hours before the PSF's started grabbing the kids. They started with the smaller group first, and as they were being led out, some of the PSF's started standing up the larger circle. Where are we going now? I stared as I was led out of the building. As I walked out of the building, I saw that it was dark outside, and from the position of the moon, maybe three or four in the morning. In the dim moon light, I saw that there were three buses waiting in the fenced area of the warehouse.
As we were divided into groups, I saw the buses were black instead of their usual yellow, even their windows were painted black. I looked around scared as I started walking up the stairs of the bus. One of the PSF directed me to sit next to the girl who started the fire earlier.
Kids moved past me and I heard them all sit down in their seats. When everyone was sitting and the buses were locked, the drivers started moving forward. Because the windows were painted black, no one could see out of them
Like in the van, and in the warehouse, no one was allowed to talk. Though I knew most of the kids had to go to the bathroom or needed to eat. Though I couldn't see the outside of the bus, I could see the PSF's and how they acted. For most of the trip, they took lazy walks up and down the bus. They gave harsh looks to the kids, especially the ones who had been taken into the second circle. However, when we got close to our destination they all stood up at attention.
They all seemed nervous about something, but I couldn't tell what. The answer seemed pretty obvious when we turned left, and I caught the edge of a fence through what vision I could see through the front windshield. When we pulled to a stop, I heard the distinct sound of a gate closing somewhere behind me.
We waited for a while as the other buses were unloaded. When it was getting close to time to unload our bus, the door opened and a man who looked like he belonged in a cartoon walked onto the bus. He looked at the kids in the first few rows, who were all from the second circle, and his face turned to disgust. As he was about to start talking, the bus driver attempted to give him a microphone that he pulled from somewhere, but the other man waved him off.
"Do not run, do not try to escape. Do not do anything that is not asked of you. You will line up in groups of ten and walk calmly into the Infirmary. There, you will be tested to see what disorder you have," the man shouted. The man turned and walked down the steps, and one of the PSF's forced the kids in the front seat to stand up and start walking down the steps.
When the man finally grabbed me, I scrambled for cover as he shoved me toward the door. I stumbled down the hallway and down the steps. As I walked off the bus, one of the security guards grabbed me and forced me in the direction of a line with eight kids. The girl who I had been sitting with joined me, and as she joined the line, a PSF started leading us forward.
I looked around and saw that there were two two story buildings near us that the PSF seemed to be leading us to. Smaller one story buildings surrounded the two story buildings and kids dressed in what looked like nurse scrubs were walking to and fro. The kids who were wearing red, orange and yellow scrubs were all in handcuffs, with the yellows wearing plastic gloves and the orange kids were wearing muzzles.
We walked into one of the buildings. As we passed through the door, I saw a small sign read Infirmary. As we walked into the building, doctors and nurses lined the hallway, shaking their heads disapprovingly. We filled one by one up a dark cement staircase at the back of the first floor, which was filled with empty beds and limp white curtains.
When we got upstairs they finally released us from our plastic bindings, and divided us again. Sending half of us down the left side of the hallway, and the other half to the right side of the hallway. Both sides looked the same, no more than five closed doorways and a window at the end of the hallway.
A doorway opened at the end of the hallway, and a middle aged man appeared. He looked at us for a second, before whispering something to one of the PSF's. He shot a suspicious look at us and slowly one by one the doors opened and more adults appeared. Each adult had two things in common, their white coats and their suspicious looks.
PSF's shoved kids into waiting rooms and doctors' arms without uttering a single word. The commotion created an uproar from the kids, which was immediately silenced by loud noise. The doctor who led me into her office looked like she was a pediatrician a few years before retirement. The look on her face ruined the image for me.
After the woman shut the door behind me, she led me to the small bed in the room. Which was one of three things in the small office, one being a tall desk with a computer on it, the other a big poster that was covered in a triangle. As I sat down on the bed, I saw that there was a chair behind the desk and an X-ray machine above the bed. I recognized the x-ray machine because I broke my arm when I was seven. I lay down on the bed as the woman walked around the desk.
"Where are we? Is this a hospital?" I asked the doctor, taking the risk of being hit again, but the woman didn't hit me, instead she asked a simple question.
"What is your name?" the woman asked.
"Sheila Alan," I said and she typed something into her computer and she swore.
"They are not getting any better at recognizing colors," the woman said and I heard the x-ray start up above me.
"Color?" I asked and she looked up at me.
"Yes, color," the woman said and walked in the direction of the poster. She pointed at the bottom of the triangle and as she revealed each color she pointed at it. "Greens are at the bottom, and they are extremely smart or have a photographic memory. Blues have telepathic powers. Yellows can control electricity. Reds can control fire and oranges can control people's minds. But since reds and oranges are not common, you have nothing to worry about."
Something on her machine beeped and she walked the short distance back to her computer. She typed something on her computer and she gasped. Instead of saying what I was, the woman hit a button on the underside of her computer. After a few seconds, a PSF walked into the room.
He looked at the doctor, and then at me. He grabbed a pair of handcuffs and I knew that whatever I was, I wasn't green. I scrambled backward and the man grabbed me forcefully. He wrapped the handcuffs around my wrists, but luckily he didn't reach for the muzzle that was on his belt.
When he stepped back, I saw that the doctor had grabbed a bottle of paint and walked around the desk. She handed the bottle to the PSF and he shook it before rubbing some on my head. Once he was done, he handed the bottle back to the doctor. Confused, the man dragged me out of the office. The adults in the hallway pulled away from me as the PSF pulled me down the hallway. As we stopped by the last door by the stairs, it opened and I was pushed into a room. It was covered wall to wall in shelves with clothes on it. Several other girls were in the room, with different colors on their foreheads.
The woman inside looked at me, looked at the paint on my head, and walked toward the shelf with red outfits. She grabbed a shirt and a pair of pants. She threw them at me and after a few seconds of staring at her she sighed and said. "You need to change," the woman said and as quickly as I could I changed my pants and she had to unlock the handcuffs to let me change my shirt.
Once my shirt was changed, she handcuffed me again, but this time she handcuffed my feet. She led me to the door and shoved me out again, and when I was out, the same PSF from before grabbed my elbow. He dragged me down the stairs and out of the Infirmary. As we started walking down the street, I noticed that the buses were still standing by the Infirmary.
When I looked back at the man, I saw that he was checking his watch. He sighed and pulled me along toward another large building. As he led me into the building, I saw that there were maybe thirty long tables in the room, and a door on the back wall. Almost every table was filled with kids. I was led to a table with red girls who looked like they had sat down right before my bus had pulled into the camp.
The girl who I sat down next to gave me a small smile. I saw that she was looking around as if she was expecting someone to come and grab her food. A second later, I was surprised to see the red girl who had used her powers earlier had sat down beside me.
I jumped again when someone sat two bowls in front of me and the girl. I looked at the woman confused. However, since I hadn't eaten in two days, I grabbed the spoon and as fast as I could, I forced the food down my throat. The other girls looked at me confused for a second, but didn't say anything.
I had maybe ten minutes to eat all of my food before a PSF ordered us off the benches and onto our feet. We were led out of the building and were forced to walk around randomly as the buses were pulled out of the camp. When the last bus left the gate closed and we were finally led to one of the poorly made cabins.
As I walked into the room, I saw that there was a small bathroom in the back of the room. In addition, there were fifteen bunk beds spaced evenly on each side of the room with one on the far wall. All of the kids dispersed to sit on their assigned beds. While one of the PSF's started unlocking the handcuffs on the other reds, the other one led me and the other girl to the far wall beside the door to the bathroom. I was assigned to the bottom bunk while the other girl took the top one.
Once we were both sitting, the woman unlocked the handcuffs around my hands and feet, and I gave a sign of relief. When all the handcuffs were off of the kids, the two women walked out of the cabin, and they locked the door behind them. I looked to the other girls for direction, and since they weren't talking, I didn't either.
I laid back and waited for someone to do something, and when a buzz rang through the cabin, the girls started talking. "What's going on?" I asked after a second of confusion. "Where are we?"
"Thurmond," one of the girls near me said. "We don't really know where."
"Can we really control fire?" I asked and she nodded.
"I wouldn't recommend trying anything," another girl said and others in the room nodded. "When we use our powers, even if it's an accident, they use white noise. Bit of advice, ignore the guards. They'll bother you most of the time, but usually it's harmless."
"Thank you," I said and looked toward the front of the cabin where some of the girls were talking excitedly. "Why didn't they let us talk earlier?"
"They're worried about us talking about escaping," the first girl said, "but they figured that if we weren't allowed to talk, we would rebel or find some other way to escape."
"Is there a way to escape?" I asked and the girls shook their heads.
"There have been five attempts so far," the second girl said. "They were reds, oranges, and yellows. No greens or blues, no idea why a blue hasn't attempted to escape considering what their powers are. All of the escape attempts ended up with the kids being captured and killed." I gulped and paled at her words.
"What are they planning to do with us?" I asked and they shook their heads and raised their shoulders.
"Now be quiet," the first girl said, "we are about to do story time." I looked at her confused as some of the girls in the front started talking anitimately about a story, waving their hands around. Due to the fact that I and the girl above me were just arriving, we did not know what was going on because it was the end of the story.
The girls stopped five minutes before the allotted time we had to talk was finished to introduce themselves. The girl above me was named Susie, the girl who had first spoken was named Emily and the second one was Abby. We didn't wait too long before we were falling asleep.
A week later, around midnight, a loud alarm rang out in the room. As five PSFs made their way into the room, my ears were still ringing from the alarm. They walked around the room and handcuffed everyone's hands and feet. When everyone was cuffed, they dragged us out of the building. As we walked toward the street, I realized that there were buses waiting for us on the main street.
I looked up and down the street, and saw that we weren't the only ones who were being forced from their cabins. All the reds, oranges and yellows were being forced from their cabins and into the buses. I looked at everyone around me confused, and they seemed to be just as confused as me.
As I was waiting to be led on my bus, I saw some of the guards line the oranges up in the fields. Some of the PSF's were drawing their guns as I walked into the bus. As soon as I sat down, gunshots rang out. They were finished less than a minute later, and after we waited for the orange bodies to be moved, the buses moved forward.
When I was finally able to look at anything but the back of the seat in front of me, I saw that the girls' faces were ones of horror and shock. I wanted to ask if the kids who died were related to anyone, but fear of being hit silenced me.
No one said anything until we arrived at another camp at sunrise. Surprisingly the buildings were much smaller than Thurmond. There seemed to be as many cabins as possible, maybe more, but they seemed to be a lot smaller than the ones from Thurmond. As we pulled through the camp, a PSF stood up and started yelling.
"You must listen to every single order that you are given, and if you fail to listen, you will be punished," the man said. "You will be trained to use your powers to fight and nothing more." No one said anything as the man sat down, and we pulled to a stop. We all remained silent as the guards took us off the bus, and toward the small cabins.
The newly constructed cabins were a lot smaller than the Thurmond ones, with only four beds in the room, and a much smaller bathroom that was behind it. Another cabin was placed in the new ones first so Abby, Emily, Susie, and I ended up in cabin number fifteen. When I was brave enough, I asked, "Did you know anyone who was an orange?"
"My little sister was an orange," Emily said, "she was eight." That shocked everyone else to silence.
The camp we ended up in was named Sawtooth, who focused on the training of reds into child soldiers. Sawtooth was ten percent more dangerous than Thurmond. At Thurmond, we weren't allowed to do anything except eat, walk, and lay in silence until we fell asleep. At Sawtooth, we were up before dawn, and we endured a mixture of training and torture to break us with breakfast, lunch and dinner intersecting the training.
Things got stranger and stranger for me as my time at Sawtooth marched on. About a week into my stay, I realized that I had a really sharp memory. A month later, I could hear the thoughts of the PSF's and the kids around me. I spoke to no one about my powers, not even the girls in my cabin, because I knew what would happen if someone found out.
The blue and yellow powers didn't really show much, because they were the last two to show up. Therefore, when they did appear everyone assumed it was something else causing the problem. This is because no one thought the red would cause the lights to flicker, or some food to disappear from the cabinets in the dining room.
When my rage and fury released, I was in hand-to-hand training with a PSF when he kicked me in the knee. Rather than hitting my knee, he was thrown into an opposing wall. Seeing what had happened, I jumped back and gasped with everyone else.
One of the meaner PSF's, a man whose name was Hagen, pointed at me suspiciously and said, "She threw him." As I was about to say something, a burst of white noise sent all of the children in the room to their knees.
When I woke up, I wasn't in cabin fifteen at Sawtooth, or in one of the medical bay beds. I was in a room that was painted a stark white, and when I moved to sit up, I felt handcuffs around my wrists. Oh, come on, I thought as I laid back down against the uncomfortable bed.
I didn't have to wait for very long to find some answers, because five minutes after I woke up, a young doctor walked into the room. She was Hispanic, and about twenty-five years old. When she looked at me, she couldn't see my eyes. She typed something on her tablet before modifying something on one of the machines that I was attached to.
When she was distracted, I reached for the tablet, but instead of finding answers, I accidentally blew it up. She screamed as it electrocuted her, and then ran out of the room after dropping it.
Rather than the young woman, an old man walked in when someone opened the door again. "Did you have to do that?" The man asked, and when I felt the urge to look at him, I did. "Do you know what you are?" he asked as he moved to sit next to me, and when he sat down, I shook my head.
As he leaned back in his chair, the man said, "You are the purple, someone who has all the powers of the other psi. Purples are unique. They are the most dangerous kids, yet they lack a unique power. There are probably ten other kids like you. Therefore, you are very rare, and we do not know why you have these powers, so prepare yourself for a long ride."
As he stood up, the man smiled. He laughed as he left the room. There was no doubt in my mind that I was in a more dangerous hell than Thurmond or Sawtooth combined.