"One minute Reynolds!" The guard's voice echoed throughout the shower. I sighed and stepped completely under the water trying to drown out the world around me. Sometimes it takes everything in me to keep from going mad from all of the screaming. There's never really a peaceful moment, but maybe that's the point.

It's a pity that I'm forced to have an escort, otherwise I'd have drowned myself in the showers already. "Time's up!" Her voice snapped me back to reality. The water was freezing as it ran down my body. Maybe I am crazy after all, I welcomed the numbness of the icy water. "I know you can hear me."

I smirked as I continued to ignore her. "Fine, you want to act like a child then I'll treat you like one. If you're not out in ten seconds then I'll drag you out myself." She began counting and I knew that my time had run out. I reluctantly turned off the shower and began wrapping myself in a towel.

Crash! Startled, I quickly turned and came face to face with a fresh blood stain dripping down the window. "I'm coming in." I felt my arm being jerked roughly behind me.

"Wait! I need to see something." I shouted. "You had your time." "The window, something hit the window." Curiosity had gotten to the guard as she stopped and faced the window. "It's just a bird." she replied hastily before once again jerking me toward the exit.

A bird? Why would a bird fly anywhere near a low barred window? That didn't make any sense, but I had no time to think as I was led down the hall in nothing but a towel. "Change into your clothes, lights out will be in two minutes."

I heard the cell door close behind me and I was once again alone with my thoughts. I did as the guard had ordered and exchanged the wet towel for some dry clothes. I couldn't get the bird out of my head though. What would have distracted it long enough for it to crash? It was unnatural.

Lost in thought, I settled myself onto my cot. The lights were shut off and I was engulfed in darkness.

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Sleep is just a five letter meaningless at Eichen House. I find myself drifting in and out of consciousness but the screaming makes it impossible to stay out for long. I laid on my cot trying to drown out the noise, and all at once the screams had stopped.

It was as if the mute button was pressed during an action sequence. I slowly sat up and made my way to the cell door.

Guards were swarming through the halls barking orders into their radios. Some were covered in blood with torn up clothes. I quickly went over to the window hoping to catch a glimpse of the attackers.

"Zoey!" I turned to see a very flustered Dr. Valack standing outside of my cell. "We haven't got much time." The door opened and I was quickly being dragged down a maze of hallways. "I don't understand, what's going on?" He didn't answer, he just kept dragging me behind him.

"Dr. Valack?" Before I could say anything else, the doctor shoved me into a dark room. "Guards." I felt myself being grabbed from behind and suddenly the room was flooded with a bright light. My breath caught as I took in my surroundings. I was in trouble. "Put her on the chair, we're running out of time."

Struggling was useless, the guards were twice my size. I was soon strapped down to a operating chair. "Can someone please tell me what's going on?" My voice hitched as I could no longer hide my desperation. Dr. Valack turned away from me and began prepping his instruments.

"Zoey I don't think you understand just how special you are. You're a really unique individual and nobody knows it. You don't even know it." He came towards me with a pair of scissors in hand. I felt his hands pulling strands of my hair and heard the snipping sounds. "I've spent a good portion of my life looking for a person of your abilities and I was foolish enough to think I'd have more time with you. I should've known that I wasn't the only one hunting you down."

He put the scissors down on the table and picked up a small drill. My heart began pounding at the sight of it. "Why am I so special?" I asked. A part of me hoped that keeping him talking would prolong my fate, but there was no escaping my binds.

"Did you know that Trepanation is used to treat mental illnesses? It's an archaic practice but is still used in rare medical cases. I recently have figured a way to access the memories of my patients. I can make them forget or remember, it can really come in handy. There are more painless ways of going about this but as you understand time isn't on your side. Desperate times call for desperate measures."

I could feel the cool tip of the drill against my temple as it began to pierce my skin. "Now do try to hold still dear." I felt the guard's hands hold my head in place and I screamed as searing pain shot through my head.

So Valack is back to his usual experimentation, but why is he so interested in Summer Reynolds?
Thank you for bearing with me, you can expect the next chapter to be up someone this week. Don't forget to review.