A/N: Hello, I'm back once again! So I was busy editing 'Hidden' and I've made some chapters better. You'll like it. Back to this story, I was on writers block and I fractured my left arm, so from when they leave Kim's room to the end of the chapter, I typed that with ONE HAND! So enjoy.

Disclaimer: I don't own Cyberchase, I own Kim.

McKenzie

Dasiyfan5534

Chapter 4

Kim woke up the next morning screaming. Hitting her alarm clock to shut it off, she climbed out of bed to stand up and stretch. This routine has become very normal for Kim.

Her face felt sore, but she didn't worry about it, Kim just walked over to her dresser and pulled out a pair of pants, along with a bra and pair of underwear. Kim then walked over to her closet and pulled out a white tank top. Changing into her clothes for the day, Kim left her bedroom, grabbing a blue mini-jacket, and throwing her pajamas in the hamper in the corner of her room by the door.

She walked over to her computer station. On the desk was a calendar; grabbing a pencil she marked a small 'X' in the top right corner on today's date. Sighing, Kim threw her mini-jacket on the back of her chair and walked to her bathroom, shutting the door behind her when she entered. She turned on the light and opened the drawer to grab a hairbrush. As she pushed the drawer closed with the brush in her hand, she started brushing the tangles out of her hair, but she couldn't because she froze the moment she saw her reflection. Her left cheek was red – Swelling, red. She held her hand up to touch it and winched when she did. Now comparing it to her hand, it looked like that she – herself – did that on her own.

"Shit." Kim leaned closer into the mirror to get a better look. "I can't believe that I did that in my sleep."

Kim quickly brushed her hair and sat on the counter to brush her teeth. Since brushing her teeth required water, Kim had to sit on the counter to do it. Sometimes she'd get lucky and not get water on herself, other times she wasn't so lucky. Today was one of those lucky days. Hopping of the counter, Kim dropped her toothbrush in the cup and left the bathroom, now on her way to the kitchen.

'Okay, what's for breakfast… How about cereal?' Kim thought as she opened the fridge. 'Dang, the milk's a day old. Maybe it's still good?' Picking it up, Kim opened the lid and took a whiff and quickly put the cap back on. 'Yep, it's bad. Note to self, get more milk.' she thought as she walked over to the sink to dump it out. 'Okay, how about something that's not expired?' Kim put the empty jug on the counter as she walked back over to the fridge. 'Okay, let's see. Toast? No. Apple? No. Yogurt? Yeah, yogurt sounds good.' Pulling a peach yogurt cup from the bottom shelf, Kim shut the fridge, opened a drawer, and grabbed a spoon. She shut the drawer as she put the spoon on the counter to peel off the tin foil lid. Licking the yogurt off foil lid before throwing it in the trash – an odd habit she had.

Kim heard a door open. She scooped some yogurt into the spoon and ate it as she looked who came in. She saw three kids.

"Hey guys." she greeted as she scooped up more yogurt and leaned against the kitchen table. "You three do know it's about eight in the morning, right?"

"Yeah, but we were wondering something." Jackie said. "You didn't happen to know where you lived when you were on Earth, do you?"

"Um… No, I was really young when I left Earth." Kim said. "I remember going to a park with Mary Beth and a few other orphans a couple times and I climbed a tree with my sister. I also remember something about Abby and Spencer talking to Mary Beth about all of us not getting adopted because we live in a small town, or something like that. Other than that, I know nothing on where I came from."

"We told you, Matt." Inez said.

"Anyway…" Matt said glaring at Inez. "Is anything new with you."

"Not really, I saw you kids yesterday." Kim said before eating some more yogurt.

"I kind of find that hard to believe." Matt said looking at her red cheek.

Kim, now knowing what he was talking about, started to panic, but she didn't show it.

"You kids really wanna know?" Kim said as she took another bite.

"I kind of do." Matt said.

'Shit. Okay, do I tell the truth or do I lie?'

"Well," Kim said putting the yogurt down on the table behind her.

"I was in R-Fair City fixing the brakes on Lucky's cab. – 'Lie' – "When I was done I made my way back to my coop, until I was cornered by these two guys. Long story short, I walk away with a good slap to the face and they're probably waking up from unconsciousness right about now."

The Cybersquad went bug-eyed.

"What? I told you kids that R-Fair City wasn't a safe place." Kim heard something growl, it was faint, though. "Now I have a question: Did you kids even eat breakfast?"

"What makes you say that?" Jackie asked.

"I can hear a stomach growl from here. What's with you three?" Kim asked.

"Wasn't hungry." The three chorused. The response surprised Kim and it looked like it surprised them too.

"Okay… So you guys want yogurt?" Kim said grabbing her cup as she walked over to the fridge.

"Kim, you don't have to do that." Jackie said.

"Hey, I'm not gonna let you kids starve all day." Kim said pulling three more yogurt cups out of the fridge and putting them on the kitchen table and sliding them to the other side. The Cybersquad approached. "Besides, I'm going to Mallopolis to get some milk and who knows what else. And speaking of going places, I'd love to hang out with you kids today, but I'm really busy." Kim pulled out three spoons from the drawer and handed them to the Cybersquad.

"So, what are you doing today?" Matt asked.

"A lot. And thanks to the slap, my schedule has filled up completely." Kim said.

"Not exactly what I asked, but okay." Matt said. "So, what's it like to live here all alone?"

"I know what you're thinking, and it's not all fun and games. I've got chores in here and around Control Central. On top of that, I'm not all alone; I've got Motherboard, Digit, and Slider. And when I was younger, Dr. Marbles would be around." Kim said.

"And speaking of Dr. Marbles, where is he?" Inez asked.

"I have no clue. He left about a week after my 10th birthday, I saw him in a few of your missions, but other than that, I haven't seen him physically." Kim explained.

"Well, since he's been around you a lot, he's probably hidden away somewhere and we don't know about it." Matt said.

"Very funny, Matt… But probably true." Kim said taking the final bite of yogurt before throwing the empty cup in the garbage. "So, what are you kids planning on doing today?"

"We don't really know. We were hoping that you were available." Jackie said.

"Sorry guys." Kim said as she put her spoon in the sink. "I wish I was."

Kim heard her landline ring. She walked over to her computer station and picked it up.

"Hello?"

"Kim, I'm glad I was able to get to you." It was Ms. Fileshare. "You wouldn't happen to be available today? I could use a good hand at the Cybrary."

"Can you hold on a second?" Kim said quickly. She put her hand over the receiver and turned to the three children eating. "Hey, do you guys think you can help Ms. Fileshare at the Cybrary today?"

"Yeah, I think we can." Jackie said.

Kim nodded as she put the phone back up to her ear. "I'm sorry, I can't come in today, but the rest of the Cybersquad said that they would."

"It's okay, Kim. At least I get some help around here." Ms. Fileshare said.

"Yeah, I'll drop them off as soon as I can." Kim said.

"Alright. Bye, Kim." Ms. Fileshare said.

"Bye." Kim said before hanging up.

She grabbed her mini-jacket from the back of the chair and put it on. Kim walked to the bathroom and plugged her straighten iron in and turned it on. As it was heating up, Kim went back into her desk and pulled out a radio and turned it on. Humming the song 'Kerosene' by Miranda Lambert, Kim walked to the bathroom and straightened her hair. When she was done she turned off her iron and put it away. Leaving the bathroom she went back into her room to put on her silver locket and to grab her pull-string backpack and packed her blue knee-length shorts, a black tank top, and blue and black Nikes, along with her black converse and socks. Kim went back to the bathroom and packed deodorant after applying some onto herself. Kim went back to her desk and put a rubber band on her wrist and grabbed her sqwak pad and put it in her bag. She sat in the computer chair and put her socks and converse on, then picked up the keys to the four-seater.

"You kids ready?" Kim turned off the radio.

"Kim, we've been ready." Matt said who was on her couch with Jackie and Inez.

"Give me a break, I'm a girl." Kim said as she stood up.

"Well, then it's a good thing I don't have any sisters." He said with a small hint of regret at the end. Kim caught it.

"Well, come on then." She said turning off her radio and walking out. The rest of Cybersquad followed.

The four climbed in the cybercoop, sitting in the same spots as they were yesterday for R-Fair City. Kim took off into the depths of Cyberspace. Flying at a moderate speed, Kim made it to the Cybrary and landed at the drop-off deck.

Kim felt her bag vibrate at her feet, she opened it and picked up her sqwak pad as Matt, Jackie, and Inez were getting out.

1 new message: Unknown

Well, looks like it's just you and me for today. I'm looking forward to it.

Kim bit her lip, wondering if she should delete it or not.

"Kim, you okay?" asked Jackie.

"Huh?" she looked up from the message. "Oh yeah, I'm fine. Just call me when you want to go back to Control Central."

After a goodbye, Kim took off, looking at the message on her sqwak pad again. ' I'm not gonna let some creep give me more crap today then I already have to do.' She deleted the message and headed to R-Fair City.

20 minutes later….

"What do you make of it?" Kim asked. She was sitting on the couch in Dr. Carrie's office.

"Kim, you said that this happened during one of your nightmares?" she said.

"Well, it wasn't there when I went to bed, and when I woke up from a nightmare it was there." Kim assured.

"I've never seen any thing like this." Dr. Carrie said getting a closer look at Kim's red cheek.

"What? Someone hurting themselves in their sleep?"

"Not that, my co-workers had a few cases of people hurting themselves unknowingly. I meant how nasty that slap was." The doctor said. "My guess is that you forced someone else's actions upon yourself to relive the dream. It's likely that something during your day triggered a physical reaction in your sleep."

"So what you're saying is that I dreamt that someone slapped me, and when that happened in my dream, that's when I did that to myself." Kim summarized.

"Yes, but it wasn't probably that hard in your dream. Take the slap in your dream and add that to how long you suffered in nightmares, the fact that you are a very tough girl, and the trigger to cause the reactant. That's probably why it's that bad and I'm pretty sure that it's also why there are small scratch marks mixed in with the slap."*

"And I thought that the nightmares couldn't get any worse." Kim said. "Anything else?"

"Yes there is." Dr. Carrie pulled out a small piece of paper. "I'll write you a prescription for some ointment for your cheek. If you use it the swelling should die down in a day or two, and the redness should wear off by the end off by the end of today or tomorrow morning. The scratch marks, however won't be that noticeable, since they're small; but you'll probably have to wait for a week for them to be gone."

"Okay, thank you." Kim said as she took the paper and left.

After getting her ointment, Kim walked back to her coop and left the cybersite, heading to her next destination: Gollywood.

When most twelve year-olds go to Gollywood, they usually are hunting for their idols, seeking fame, or they're baby-sitting for the rich people's kids when their nanny is sick. Although, Kim went there once for a baby-sitting job when she was eleven – The last time she would ever sit for the spoiled cyber-girl scouts – Kim actually had a different job that she actually enjoys and gets paid for: A mechanic for Gollywood's cyber-vehicles. She only had to work there once every few weeks, so it fits nicely with her schedule. Landing in the employee parking lot Kim grabbed her bag and entered through the back and made her way to the girls' locker room.

Since Kim was one of the only two female employees it was a small room that contained one shower, four lockers, one long bench, and two bathrooms. After changing into her blue jumpsuit, Kim pulled out a hairband from her locker so she could put her hair up. She heard a door open and she knew who it was.

"Hey, Martha."

"Oh, Kim the boss wanted me to talk to you." Martha said.

"Am I fired?" Kim asked as she pulled out her ointment and looked at Martha's reflection in her small locker mirror.

"No, actually he said that he's giving you a raise." She said.

Kim paused for a minute as she applied some to her cheek. Another one of her co-workers: Markus, who happens to work next to her, gotten a raise a few months ago, only to be rewarded by cleaning the storage area. The big, messy storage area.

"We have a new employee, don't we?" she asked, praying that it wouldn't be true as she put the ointment away in her bag.

Martha gave her a sympathy smile. "Boss's daughter."

After hearing this, Kim slammed her locker shut. "Damn it!"

A/N: Hey, so this isn't as long as I wanted it to be, but not bad for one hand. I'll work on the next chapter as soon as I can.

*- Thirteen reasons why. (Ironically)