Chapter 3

We now sat in a very uncomfortable silence around a long white table, in a clean, white room. The silence was so thick I thought I might have choked. Alicia took a deep sniff of the air. "Can you guys smell that?" she asked.

"Yeah, bleach. Always pleasant to the waking nostrils," said Chris.

"It's not that…it smells…like bagels…" Ali continued to sniff the air. "…With cream cheese….and chocolate milk….and muffins…blueberry…no…bran with chocolate chips.."

"How are you smelling all that?" asked Shawn with a raised eyebrow.

"With her nose," said Meme.

"Good observation Sherlock," said Chris sarcastically. "He meant how can she smell something that…detailed!"

"I don't know, but it's here," said Ali. Just then the door opened and a few people came pushing carts with food on it. Everything Ali had mentioned was on the carts.

"Okay...that was rather.." I started.

"Creepy," said Jake.

Dr Williams just sat and smiled. What was with this guy? After serving all the food, the people with the carts left, and once again the room was silent again.

"This is good," said Chris after swallowing a huge mouthful of bagel. Since when did hospitals serve food that was good?

"Uh...Dr Williams?" I said. "What exactly is going on? When can we go home?"

"You are home," said Williams.

I looked around me. "No I'm not," I may have just had a spasm in the hallway, but I wasn't crazy enough to think that this was my home.

"This is your new home. You will be living here for the rest of your lives " Williams said matter-of-factly.

Meme laughed. When Williams didn't say anything she stopped. "You're not serious are you?"

"Do I look like I'm joking?" said Williams. No, he definitely looked like he was serious.

Jake stammered to talk. "You can't just take us out of our homes and tell us we are living here. We have families that are wondering where we are. What gives you authority to do that?"

"Your guardians are under the impression that you are dead. I told them you died in the accident."

I starred at him, I was very confused. "Why would you do something like that?"

"Would you like to see your rooms?" Williams completely changed the subject.

"I want to go home," said Meme.

"You are home, get used to it." With that, Williams got up and left the room. We all sat around the table, questioning if what just happened was real.

"So what, we're just suppose to live here the rest of our lives like our pasts don't matter?" I asked.

Shawn took a drink of his chocolate milk. Then he made the strangest face, like he had just bitten into a lemon. "Uh.." he shuddered, "that was the strangest tasting chocolate milk ever!"

"Mine taste alright," said Meme.

"So does mine," said Ali. 'Maybe it's just yours. What did it taste like?"

"At first, it tasted like normal chocolate milk, the it got funky."

"Funky how?" asked Jake who sniffed his chocolate milk carton.

"Like…it was if the flavors separated," said Shawn.

"Say what now?" I asked. Shawn wasn't making any sense.

"Like…I could taste chocolate milk…then the individual flavors of the ingredients."

Chris tossed Shawn a muffin. "try this," he said.

Shawn stared at the half-eaten muffin, then he took a bite. He made the same face and spat the chewed up muffin on his plate. "Gross, baking powder…." he shuddered again.

"Arm and Hammer baking soda to be exact," said Chris.

"What?" asked Meme.

"You know, Arm and Hammer? They make baking powder?"

"I know that," said Mem. "But how do you know that is the company name?"

Chris shrugged. "I don't know, it just came to me when I tossed it to Shawn. Same with this bagel," he lifted his bagel that was almost all eaten. "The cream cheese is from that No Name company, and they purchased it this morning."

I didn't know about everyone else, but I was so confused my head hurt.

Meme screamed suddenly. "What? What is it?" Asked Jake.

"A spider! I hate spiders!" she said as she stood up from her chair.

"Where?" Asked Ali as she lifted her hands off the table.

"Over there!" Mem pointed to the farthest corner.

Even on a white wall, I couldn't see the spider. I had to walk over to the wall to see it. It was a baby spider, no bigger than a spec of dust. "You saw this from all the way over there?" I asked.

Mem nodded. "Couldn't you?"

I sat back down at the table. "What…is going on?" I said slowly. "First, Jake starts hearing things louder than the rest of us, Ali smells things we can't, Shawn is tasting things we can't, Chris is getting information from touching things, and now Mem can see things better than us."

"Weird," said Chris as he finished drinking his milk. "This is going to expire in a few days," he said.

I sat there and thought bout what was happening. Then, like the transport, it hit me. "Oh. My. God."

"What?" asked Jake.

I pointed at Jake, then Meme, Ali, Shawn and Chris as I said "Hear, sight, smell, taste and touch. The five sense. Those freaks enhanced one of the sense for each you."

"Oh crud!" said Shawn.

"But…what about you Chase?" asked Mem.

"What about me?"

"You don't have one of the five sense. Or do you?" asked Mem.

She was right. I didn't have any enhanced senses. "Maybe she has the sixth sense" smiled Chris. "Do you see dead people, Chase?" he joked.

"That's not funny Chris," I said. "What do I have to do with any of this?" I asked.

Everything , someone said. But I was the only one who heard it. In my mind.

Chapter 4

"Chase that's crazy! You're crazy!" said Meme.

"I am not…crazy!" Sure, I just had a mental breakdown in the hall and lived out a repressed memory, and now I was hearing voices, but I wasn't crazy! Was I?

"Hold on," said Ali, "let's just…try to make sense of things," Ali was quiet as she tried to collect her thoughts. "We were just in an accident," she started.

"And in the process of saving our lives," said Shawn, "they enhanced one of the senses in each of us."

"Except, Chase," said Chris.

"And they told our parents," said Meme.

"And guardians," I interrupted. I didn't live with my parents anymore.

"Right," Meme continued, "they told our guardians that we died."

"What did they tell them about our bodies?" asked Shawn as he wiped up some chocolate milk off his dress shirt.

"What do you mean?" asked Chris.

"Our parents, and guardians, are going to want to bury us. How can they burry us if they don't have our bodies?" said Shawn.

I shuddered at the thought. "These people, who ever they are, are messed in the head."

Now, now, be nice, the voice said again. I jumped out of my chair. "Who said that?"

"Who said what?" asked Alicia.

"Someone just told me to be nice," I said as I looked around the room frantically.

"Okay, Chase, now you're scaring me," said Mem. "First you spas out in the hall, and now you're hearing voices? What's wrong with you Chase?"

"Shut up Mem!" said Jake.

"Don't tell me to shut up! I want to know what is going on here! What do you know that I don't?"

I reached for my necklace, it was a force of habit. When I couldn't feel where it was suppose to be, I started to freak, again. "Where is it?"

"Where's what?" asked Shawn.

"My locket! Who took it? Why would you do something like that?"

Jake stood up. "Chase, no one has your necklace. It must have fallen off in the hall, or in the crash."

"No, no it can't be gone! I need it! I need that locket! Please, please help me find it!" I got down on all fours and looked around. I crawled out of the room and stood up. "Chase wait!" called Ali as I began to run down the hall.

"I have to find it! I have to find it, Ali"

Mem stepped into the hall. "Chase, you can get another one. It's just a necklace."

"IT'S NOT JUST A NECKLACE!" I screamed. "What would you know? You don't! You don't understand! You'll never understand!"

"Oh, but Jake and Ali can?" she yelled back.

I shook my head and continued running down the hall, I was heading back to the room where I woke up. The only thing was, I couldn't remember where how to get there. I looked at the doors as I passed by, but none of them were familiar. I could hear Jake running after me. I flung through the door to the stairs and went to the floor below us. The echo of my footsteps were soon joined by Jake's.

I pushed opened the door at the bottom of the stairs an continued running through the hall. Again, nothing seemed familiar. Everywhere I turned it all looked the same, but I had no idea where I was. "No," I cried. "It can't be gone," I started to jog now. My lungs ached and my heart was pounding. "It can't be gone. You can't be gone! I won't let you go! COME BACK!" I started to cry some more. I was really started to hate myself for crying so much. I usually just suppressed my sadness. But now, I had no control, and that's what scared me the most. Maybe I was a bit of a control freak, but I had a good reason to be.

I stopped moving now and just stared to the end of the hall. There wasn't much to look at, just a window. A doctor appeared in the hall now, in front of me, as Jake came up beside me. He wasn't even panting, but that because he was used to running. "Where's my necklace?" I asked the doctor quietly as he came closer.

"Pardon me?" he looked up.

"Where. Is. My. Necklace?"

The man stopped walking and stood in front of me. "I'm sorry but I have no idea what you're talking about."

I lost it again and started yelling at him. "It's a silver chain with a small heart that opens up! Inside there is a picture of a man and a little girl!"

Jake placed his hands on my shoulders. "Chase," he started to say.

I pushed away his hands. "You haven't seen it?" I yelled again.

"Young lady I haven't seen any chains of that sort here. I am terrible sorry," he tried to walk away, but I wouldn't let him.

I punched his chest. "Where is it?" I yelled over and over again as I punched him, harder and harder. I felt something crack under my fist. I think it was his rib. What ever it was, the Doctor collapsed to his knees and I spun on one foot and kicked him with the other. What was happening to me?

A rush of footsteps came our way and I turned to see several men running towards me. They weren't doctors ; they weren't dressed like them. Instead they wore all black.

"Who are you?" I asked, my hands still bunched in a fist.

The men stopped running and stood in front of me and Jake. One man stepped forward. "We take care of security and discipline," he said monotonously.

"Discipline? In a hospital?" I asked.

"Who told you this was a hospital?" asked the man who stepped forward.

"This isn't a hospital?" asked Jake. The shock and confused feeling he had was evident in his voice.

The man shook his head. "No, it isn't"

Me and Jake exchanged glances. "Then where are we?" I asked as fear started to build up inside me.

The man smiled. "I'm afraid you have to come with us," he said to me.

"Where? Why?"

"You assaulted one of the scientists, you need to be punished," he said lightly. Before I could object, two men in black seized me by my arms and started to walk me down to the end of the hall.

"Where are you taking her?" asked Jake as he walked briskly beside me, not quite sure with what he was suppose to do.

"Where all bad experiments go," said the man as he unlocked a door. Behind the metal door was nothing but a closet. Nothing to be scared of, right? Wrong.

The black suited people throw me inside. My body tensed. "No, you can't leave me in here! You can't leave me in a closet! I can't handle it! You can't do this!" My pleas were ignored the door closed on me. Everything went black, and I started to hyperventilate. Outside I could here Jake yelling at the security. But it was soon drowned out by my own screaming, as once again, my mind snapped back to when I was six.

Chapter 5

Alicia had caught up with Jake just as Chase was being thrown into the metal closet. "What are you doing?" she asked the group of men wearing black. "Who are you?"

"We're in charge of the security around here," answered the head of security.

"And you are?" asked Ali.

"Dan," he simply replied as he started to turn around and leave.

"Uh, listen, Dan," said Ali. Dan stopped and turned to face Ali.

"Yes?"

"You can't just stick my friend in a closet," she was interrupted by Dan.

"It's not a closet. It's the detention room."

"Detention room? What kind of a hospital has a detention room. What is a detention room anyway?" asked Alicia.

"This isn't a hospital," said Dan.

"Then why does it smell like one? Why did we wake up in hospital rooms? Why are there doctors here who operated on us after the accident?" Alicia pressed.

"It isn't a hospital," Dan repeated. "And the detention room is where 'bad experiments are sent."

Alicia raised her eyebrow. "Bad experiments?" Alicia shook he head to dismiss the question. She had to get Chase out of the small, closet-like room. "Listen, you can't put Chase in there."

"Yes we can. She broke the rules, therefore she must be punished."

"What were you brainwashed or something?" asked Jake impatiently. "You sound like a robot! 'She broke the rules and now she must be punished'. Give me a break!"

"I'm sorry, but your friend has to be punished," Dan said over the muffled sounds of Chase's screams and the pounding of her fists and feet on the door.

"Let me out! Let me out!" she cried.

"What do mean rules?" continued Ali.

"There are rules that must be followed during your stay here," said Dan.

Chase's screams grew louder and her kicking became more vicious. "You don't understand, you can't keep her in there,' said Ali, losing her patience. "Something has happened to her a long time ago. Something horrific. All of this is too much for her to handle. Her mind is too weak! She can't deal with this! YOU HAVE TO LET HER OUT!"

"Young lady," said Dan calmly. "If you just come with me, you too young man," he referred to Jake, "everything will be alright. You'll see, it's for the best."

"The best? This is making things worst!" Jake protested. He was getting anxious.

"Like I said," said Dan as two guards seized Ali and two more grabbed Jake. "Everything will be alright." Then Ali and Jake were dragged out of the hall as the doctor that Chase has assaulted was lifted onto a stretcher.

"I think she broke his rib cage," was the last thing Alicia heard before being forced into the stairwell.

Doctor Williams stormed down the halls towards the security office. He flung open the door and took his anger out on the first person he saw. "What in tar nation is going on here?" he demanded the young security guard who sat at a chair in front of a display of monitors.

"I'm…eating my lunch.." he held up a half eaten sandwich.

"That's not what I meant you fool!" boomed Williams. "Why was the girl thrown into detention! I haven't gone over the rules yet! She didn't possible know that assaulting one of us is wrong so it is unfair that she is being punished!"

"Uh…you're trying to talk about being unfair?" the guard said smartly.

"You're fired!"

"But Sir it's my first day," the man said in shock.

"Well you obviously aren't cut out for the job!"

"Um...I just watch the screens. I don't make any of the decisions."

"I'm not an idiot! I know what your job is! But I won't put up with staff who disrespect me! Now get out!" Williams fumed. Normally he wasn't the type of man to flip out on people. But this was different. They has screwed up. How would the experiments trust them if they punish them without telling them the rules?

After the now fired security guard left the room, Williams picked up the phone. "Give me Dan Parkinson please," he said to the receptionist who picked up the phone on the other line.

Williams heard the inter-come in the halls crackle as Dan's name was paged to pick up on line one. "Hello?" Williams finally heard Dan say.

"What the heck do you think you're trying to pull, Dan?" Williams shouted.

"I'm sorry?"

"I didn't tell them the rules yet! That makes me look bad, Dan!"
"Do you want me to take her out?"

Williams sighed in frustration. "No, I'll do it. I need to talk to her anyway."

"Sorry, Sir," Dan said apologetically.

"Don't ever let it happen again. A man lost his job because of you."

"I understand," said Dan before Williams hung up on him. He rubbed his eyes and sighed again. A replacement for the security guard came in, and Williams left.

When he reached the Detention room, he took out his keys and unlocked the door. Without hesitation, he opened the door and peered in. Chase was sitting in a corner. She has her knees pulled up against her chest and she hugged them. She was whimpering and muttering softly as she rocked back and forth. "hi there," Williams said softly.

Chase pulled herself in closer and rocked faster. "I'm terribly we had to do that to you. There has been a…misunderstanding," said Williams. Chase didn't look up. "Look, I think I have something that belongs to you," Williams held out his hand.

Chase looked up at Williams, then at what he held in his aging hands. It was a necklace, her necklace. "I had to take it off to operate. Would you like it back?" said Williams.

Chase snatched the locket from Williams. She opened it and looked inside. Satisfied with what she saw, she closed it and fastened it around her neck.

Williams held out his hand to her still. "Come on, would you like to get out of here?"

Chase didn't take his hand, but she stood up and unsteadily walked out of the closet. Her eyes were red and swollen from all the tears she shed today. Soon she wouldn't always be like this. Soon her mind won't be weak, but strong. Stronger then she could ever imagine.