Sooner than I’d expected, a nurse walked up the hall that made up the stem of the T. She approached the door, holding a keycard. I tensed getting ready. It was almost time to begin our plan. She swiped it and then put in her pocket. That was my cue. It was time to act. I took a deep breath and stepped out into the hallway.
I began walking towards the nurse, making the appearance of being slightly disoriented. Stumbling, I caught myself by clutching at the wall.
“Are you alright?” The nurse said, turning to me, a look of concern on her face.
“I…” I looked around, as if confused. “I just… I’m not feeling well. Would you help me get back to room one twenty-eight?” By this time I was right by her.
“Of course,” she said. “Do you need help walking?”
“I…I think I’ll be…” I stumbled forward, grabbing at her uniform, as if to catch myself. “I’m just so dizzy.”
Just then Vanissa rounded her corner, giving the impression she’d been running. The nurse looked up and I saw my chance. As if straightening up to see Vanissa, I pulled my hand away from her in one quick motion, pulling the keycard with me.
“Oh, there you are,” Vanissa said. “I was afraid you’d gotten lost. Are you okay?”
“I…I’m fine,” I said.
“Here, I’ll help you get to your room,” said Vanissa. Then she walked over and pretended to help me walk.
Once we’d rounded the corner and were out of sight, we stopped and waited. Since the nurse had already swiped the keycard, hopefully she wouldn’t notice it was gone. All she’d have to do now was put in the passcode. We stood there, hardly daring to breathe as we listened for the sound of the door. When we finally did hear it, I let out a breath. I guess I hadn’t realized how on-edge I’d been the entire time.
We hurried back around the corner, and ran over to the place where Priscila was waiting. I could tell, just by the look on her face that she’d succeeded; spied on the nurse and memorized the passcode. So far the ‘strategy’ was going wonderfully. Although, it did seem odd that things were going almost exactly as we’d planned them. It was too perfect. I glanced up and down the hallways to see if anyone was coming and seeing that no one was, I said hurriedly:
“Okay, just follow me. We’ll have to go quickly, but I think it’ll be fine.”
And remember,” Vanissa said. “The goal is to get in, find out information and then get back out as soon as possible.”
We hurried over to the door and I swiped the key card in the slot. Just as Priscila was beginning to type in the passcode I heard something. Footsteps; approaching at a rapid pace...
“Hurry,” I whispered urgently to Priscila.
She punched in three numbers and then hesitated.
“I couldn’t see whether the fourth one was a four or five," she said.
The footsteps were so close now; that I knew at any moment they’d round the corner and someone would see us.
“Five,” I said. “Just try it.”
She hit the five and, like a miracle, the door slid open. I tossed the keycard into the hallway so the nurse would just think she'd dropped it, and then we all darted through the door. It slid shut behind us and I leaned against it for a moment to catch my breath.
“That was close,” said Vanissa. “But we have to hurry. Whoever that was, could be headed this way.”
“You're right,” I said. “Let’s just get this done as soon as possible.”
We didn’t seem to be in part of the hospital at all. No white tiled floors or odd smell. Only a very shiny, almost slippery, blackish floor that appeared to made of glass. I walked a little ways up, to the spot where two halls crossed. Every single door I could see was shut. I’d been hoping our answer as to what was back here would simply be right in front of us; in plain sight. So, I guess we had no choice but to keep going.
Just then, I heard voices; coming from the left. I motioned for Priscila and Vanissa to follow me and then went straight. We kept going, dashing down one hall after another. Every time we reached a corner or cross paths we’d stop and peer around it, making sure no one was there. This went on for some time. Peering around corners, darting across cross paths and running silently up long hallways, we avoided any signs of people.
Finally I saw something—a room with a window. It looked like a kind of observance window, the kind tourists might look through at something they couldn’t touch. (At least that’s the impression I got.) Of course, there really wasn’t any way of telling exactly what it was for or even why it was there in the first place.
I ran forward and looked through the crystal-clear glass. Inside, was a room that’s walls were covered in panels with all sorts of controls covering them. There were screens above the panels but at the time they portrayed nothing. On the walls were a couple of maps, none of which seemed at all secret; like anything they’d need to hide. I saw a map of a city with a building near its edge marked ‘The Island Program.’ I realized that must be the building we were in. On the edge of the city there was a wall that extended off the map, so I realized that must just be showing we were near the border. Another map simply showed the wall, with the city on one side and stripes of color on the other: a stripe of red, then purple, green, and last of all black. At first I was confused, but then I saw a key at the corner of the map. But what it said didn’t make sense to me, either. Red equals Danger. Purple equals Dread. Green equals Risk. Black equals Horror. But why would they mark areas on a map with words like ‘Dread’ and ‘Danger’? Could it really be true that none of this had anything to do with us? Maybe it was something completely unrelated?
“Vanissa,” I said. “Do you think it’s possible that the secret area really doesn’t have anything to do with us? Maybe they don’t have anything to hide back here, but simply don’t want people wandering around back here?”
Vanissa looked thoughtful. Then she shook her head.
“No, there’s definitely something off about the whole set-up. If they had nothing to hide, wouldn’t a simple ‘employees only’ sign be enough? They wouldn’t need key cards and passcodes to get in.”
“Good point,” I said. But I think we’ll have to figure it out later. Listen.”
Voices... And they were close, very close. We turned and ran, back the way we came. We went as quickly as possible while still being quiet. Everything was going fine. We were almost there, just about to run through the place right in front of the door where two halls crossed, when…I heard more voices coming towards us. Desperate, I pulled the nearest door and, to my surprise it opened easily. I darted in, pulling Priscila and Vanissa inside, shutting the door behind us.
“What are we going to do?” I whispered frantically to Vanissa.
“We’ll just wait until we think they’re gone,” she said, sounding as if she was trying very hard to stay calm. “And…just hope they don’t come in here.”
I lay down on my stomach and peered through the crack between the floor and the door. A set of feet was walking past. To my relief, they completely passed up our room. In a moment I could see another pair of feet walking on the opposite side of the hallway. I thought they would pass us as well, but then they stopped and stood still. I caught my breath and didn’t move a muscle. And then the feet, turned and began walking straight towards our door!
I jumped up and looked around the room desperately. But, in the total darkness I couldn’t see a thing. I stumbled forward and ran right into something; a desk, I think.
“They’re coming!” I whispered, as loudly as I dared. “Hide!”
I could hear the sound of someone putting their hand on the door. I dove behind the desk and somehow, despite the darkness, Vanissa and Priscila managed to just in time. And then the door opened.
Light flooded the room and I practically felt the presence of another person, directly behind us. I could hear the person move around the room. I closed my eyes for a moment; trying to stay calm. I heard the sound of a closet door opening. (That is, I assumed it
was a closet door, because the sound came from my left.) I barely dared to breathe. There was a moment of silence and I was sure we’d been discovered, but then came the sound of footsteps, leaving the room and retreating, back the way they’d come.
When at last, I couldn’t hear anything but the beating of my own heart; I finally let out a breath. It had been such a close call. What would we have done if we’d been caught? After that experience, all I wanted to do was get out of there. So, only seconds later, we were all back in the hallway, darting towards the door.
Fortunately, the door didn’t require a passcode or key card, but when I tried to open it, it wouldn’t budge. I yanked and pulled, and still, I couldn’t do it. Breathing heavily, I motioned for Priscila and Vanissa to help me. All three of us tugged as hard as we could but it was no good. The door simply wouldn’t open. Then a thought occurred to me. Why would the door be this hard to open? It just wouldn’t have been practical to make it nearly impossible to open, if people were going through it all the time. So, there must be some other way. That’s when I saw there was a button right to the side of the door. How could we have missed it? I pushed it and the door slid open.
Once out in the hall I turned to Vanissa and said:
“I can’t believe we made it out without anyone seeing us.” At that point I honestly wasn’t worried about cameras. Who would have cameras in a hospital anyway? And why would they need cameras in the secret area if it already had other securities—right?
“Yeah,” said Vanissa, with a shrug. “But, we didn’t really find anything out.”
“Why don’t we all go to your room, Britta?” said Priscila. “Maybe all it’ll take is going over everything we saw again. I feel like there’s something we’re missing…something obvious.”
But, when we reached my room, an attendant stood there, waiting. Not a nurse but an attendant. Right away, I knew something was wrong. I hadn’t seen them since before the test. I’d assumed they had jobs separate from the hospital. So why was one here?
“I’m sorry,” she said. “But only Miss Lockhart can go in. You’ll have to return to your own rooms.”
Priscila and Vanissa both looked at me nervously. But having no choice they turned and walked away.
Oh no! I thought. This is terrible. What was I going to do? Had they figured something out? Had someone seen us in the secret section? How was that possible? I had to find a way out of this situation. But, at that moment I couldn’t find a single possible thing to do except walk, petrified into the room.
The attendant turned to leave, but I stopped her just in time.
“Wait!” I said. “Why weren’t my friends allowed to come in?”
“That’s information I can’t give,” she said, and walked out the door, closing it behind her and leaving me alone, without any idea of what was going on.
I walked over and checked to see if the door was locked, and of course, it was. I went over and sat on the window seat only to find that where the window had been, a white panel had now been sealed into place. I’d been completely cut off from everything. I had no idea of what was going on outside my own small room. And I had no idea of why.
I tried to think of what we could have possibly done wrong during our venture into the secret section. Could it be possible that some had seen us? Or maybe, it wasn’t that at all. Maybe all the patients had to stay by themselves. But somehow, that didn’t make sense. It must have been something they saw us do. Maybe they really did have cameras in the hospital. Then, they would have seen and heard everything. They would have heard our plan, seen us carrying out the plan and then seen the three of us together on the way back to my room. But if they really had known about our plan then why did it go so perfectly? Once more, nothing made sense.
Hours passed. I was still sitting in the exact same place, sometime around eleven p.m., when the door finally slid open. I turned, to see an attendant walk in.
“Come with me, Miss Lockhart," she said.
I got up slowly, and followed her, out the door and into the hall. Two more people, (I think they were guards), followed close behind. As we walked down hall after hall I tried to figure out where we could possibly be going. But, try as I might, I couldn’t come to any conclusion. Eventually, we ended up in an area of the building that gave the appearance of being an office building. It had carpet instead of tile floors and the coloring was slightly darker than in the hospital.
“Here we are,” the attendant said, stopping by a door. “You may go in.”
I put my hand on the door handle and let it sit there just long enough for me to gather my thoughts and remember to at least pretend to be calm. Then I slid it open and walked into the room, the door automatically sliding shut behind me.
Just as I’d suspected I was in a sort of office. Only this room wasn’t as plain and boring as all the other rooms I’d seen. Pale blue, decorative drapes, patterned with white hung to the side of a small bookcase to my left. Photos of picturesque scenery hung on the walls and the floor was soft carpet.
I took in the whole room in an instant though, because that’s how much time it took me to realize who was at a desk in the center of the room. Challan sat, stony and cold, looking at me as if I was a bug and she was deciding whether or not to crush me.
“Miss Lockhart,” she said curtly. “Please sit down.”
For some reason, her telling me to ‘please sit down’ was annoying. And even though I’d been trying to keep a low profile and not do anything noticeable, it looked like I’d already failed to do that anyway, so I didn’t sit down. Instead I said coldly:
“No thanks. I’d really rather stand.”
Her expression didn’t change. She simply sat back in the chair and flipped a pen around absently in her fingers.
“I noticed how close you are with your brother and sister,” she said. “What are their names…oh, Priscila and Kendall.”
I was stunned for a moment. Was she implying that the reason I'd been brought here had something to do with them? And, was she threatening me?
“Now,” she said, with an icy smile. “I believe I asked you to sit down.”
I decided I would sit down. But if Challan could act, lie and change personalities in the blink of an eye; well, two could play at that game. So I sat down in a chair on the other side of the desk and looked at her, showing her, or at least pretending that I wasn’t afraid.
“Miss Lockhart,” she said. “You don’t seem to agree with some of the things going on around here.”
Don’t agree. That was an understatement.
“Oh,” I said. “It’s just a lot different than what I’m used to.”
Challan seemed slightly surprised. I guess she didn’t know acting went as far as changing from a girl who felt very strongly about her opinion, to a girl seemingly oblivious to any strange goings on—a girl who trusted The Island Program. I was just beginning to relax a little and was feeling pleased with my acting, when Challan said:
“We have cameras everywhere you know. We know you went into the off-limits area. We heard what your sister said about strange things going on. We even heard you and your friends talking when you first got here about going along with us and trying to find out information.” She paused for moment. “All those things you tell your friends, about not trusting us and getting away. I want you to stop. I want you to tell them that we’re simply trying to help. And I want you to cooperate with everything that goes on the next few days. If you do all these things then, like we said, you’ll be free to go. If you don’t, then your sister will die.”
12
That completely changed everything. Before, it had been a simple matter of trespassing and stirring up distrust. Now, it had transpired into a matter of life and death—Priscila’s life and death. I could no longer speak. I just sat there in shock.
“And don’t tell anyone about this conversation,” she said. “Your trick of writing it down won’t work either. Now, I believe I’ve said enough. You may leave.”
>
I turned, walking straight out the door and passed the guards. They didn’t even try to follow. I walked down the hall and into the hospital section. Then I just kept going, headed in no particular direction.
I simply couldn’t believe what had just taken place. My sister had just received a death-threat behind her back and I couldn’t tell anyone. Challan had said if I cooperated we’d be free to go. But how could I believe that? After all, The Island Program had been going for more than fifty years. And it had never been meant to end. In fact they were probably going to start it up again. So, really there wasn’t any reason for me to believe we’d really just be ‘free to go’. Only, the problem was, I didn’t see any other choice but to do exactly what Challan had told me to. I just didn’t have any idea what to do.
And suddenly, more than anything, I wanted to go back to the island. As terrible as it had always seemed, being forced to live there, being deprived of a normal life etcetera. As well as being my prison, it had also been my home. It had been so much safer. So free of death-threats and cameras watching every move I made. I guess I’d never been completely happy there. Even when I’d been enjoying myself, there’d been something holding me back. Questions; they filled my mind every waking hour. Questions like: Why am I here? When will I leave? What will I do once I'm in the outside world? But despite even that, the island really had been a dream compared to this. And as far as being a prison, I had been ten times freer on the island.
I kept going, walking through an endless maze of hallways, until a nurse told me that:
The Other Side (The Other Side Trilogy Book 1) Page 8
