Yes, I'm back with another story! It's part of a series, I've neglected long enough. Enjoy it!
I own nothing familiar.
Olivia Smith, affectionately known as Ogie by her teammates, was a smart girl. Heck, she was better than smart. She was brilliant. She got the highest marks in all her classes, came up with all the designs for the 2x4 technology, and manages to teach the 'unteachables,' Lenny and Ashlynn. She was considered the smartest kid in all the KND, maybe even the world.
"But if I'm so smart," she said from her prison, her own subconscious, "why can't I figure a way out of here?" She was trapped inside her mind.
A prisoner in her body.
A soul, condemned stuck inside someone else's body. She would see everything this...this...this imposter did to everyone. She would hear the screams and cries of the people her body hurt. She would taste every once of guilt she felt for hurting her friends. She would feel the pain of every punch her once comrades threw at her, but she couldn't fight back.
It was like a game of chess. But no mattered where she moved her king, he'd be captured. She couldn't win.
She couldn't stop her body. That was because it wasn't her body. Not anymore. Now it belonged to the Others.
The imposters. The fakers. The liars.
It wasn't hers any more, and whoever controlled the body that she desperately wanted to have made sure that she knew that it wasn't hers anymore. And she wasn't smart enough to get it back.
The imposter made a deal with Ogie long ago. If Ogie could figure out the answer to a riddle in three days, she would let her have her body back. Ogie, feeling confident and painfully unaware how clever her imposter was, accepted the challenge thinking that it would be a piece of cake. She didn't even consider the possibility that her imposter could be smarter than her.
After all, she is the smartest kid. Like ever.
The riddle: A man was to be sentenced, and the judge told him, "You may make a statement. If it is true, I'll sentence you to four years in prison. If it is false, I'll sentence you to six years in prison." After the man made his statement, the judge decided to let him go free. What did the man say?
Needless to say, she was stumped. She spent every minute of every day trying to figure out the riddle. She didn't have the answer in three days. She never had the answer. It frustrated her to no end that someone - something had been smarter than her. She couldn't believe it. She gave up on trying, and soon enough, didn't care who her body hurt. After all, it wasn't her body anymore.
It was Olivia's. That's her name. She's Olivia and she's polite to adults and she hates all other children, including her 'siblings.'
Ashley (because Ashlynn was such an unconventional name) was stupid and weak. She was always in her head, constantly fighting with the KND member.
David was rude and arrogant. He constantly boasted on how he got his member to quiet down on the first day of captivity. He bragged and bragged and that irritated her to no extent. She's lock herself in her room, just to be away from him.
Bruce was much to bossy to her liking. He tried to control everything, and it angered her. She was a perfectly capable child, just like him. She knew how to take down the KND and pilot the robots, which she made.
Lenny...she really liked Lenny. He was sweet, kind, and sincere. It infuriated her how he could be so calm and relaxed. She could never relax. It's like the KND member wasn't there. Sometimes, she thought he wasn't. The way Lenny's eyes shone with delight after a mission was foiled, even though he sulked. The way he betrayed them sometimes. The way he stood up for what he believed in. It wasn't like any of their 'siblings'. It was something she hasn't seen in any of them, including herself.
Ogie felt the same way. She hated all of them, except Lenny. She just knew that he managed to free himself from that horrid body. She felt it when he walked by. That familiar sense that could only be Lenny. Her Lenny.
He managed to free himself, and he was trying to tell her something. Something she told him all the time.
"If at first you don't succeed, try, try again." She smiled and that helped her determine her next move.
She was going to fight. She was going to get out of here, one way or another.
She imagined that she moved her queen, and captured two of Olivia's pawn. She was closer to checkmate - freedom, than she was in the very beginning. And if she failed, she was going to try again until she managed to break out.
"Ugh! I can't do this Ogie! It's too hard!"
"C'mon, Lenny! You have to do this!"
"It's haaarrrdd."
"If at first you don't succeed,"
"Try, try again."