by Jaclyn Lewis
I scowled, remembering. “I can’t help it if I switch. I have no control over it.” It was like he just enjoyed the pain of others. Actually, when I thought about it, he did enjoy the pain of others.
He laughed. “That’s why this is so funny. They’re still going to burn you, even if you’re not consciously doing anything.”
He forced me out the door, and he led me through a bunch of winding hallways. I never saw one window anywhere. I hadn’t seen one when I made my escape attempt either.
I was so screwed.
Finally, we arrived into a huge, gym-sized room. It had the same boring, white walls.
That was what I hated about this place, besides the obvious, of course. This place was colorless and boring, everywhere, but it also had walls that fire couldn’t burn, water couldn’t flood in, was airtight, and couldn’t be broken down.
“Okay,” Andrew said finally, taking off my handcuffs after he’d locked the door. “Here’s what we’re going to do.”
He switched into his easiest form; Water.
“Now, you try.” he said, his voice sounding strained because of his water-body, kind of like bubbles. “You need to learn to do it on-command.”
“Won’t it hurt?” I asked, scared. It had hurt me so badly the day before…especially Water, Earth, and Fire forms. They also drained my energy the fastest.
He shook his head. “No, you’re all adjusted, cellular-wise, to the switching between them, and you’re getting stronger every day. Now, we need to work on controlling which form you use, and when you use it.”
I nodded. I closed my eyes and thought of water, and what it felt like to become it. I just focused on what I’d felt yesterday, you know, except for the excruciating pain it caused while I was still getting used to it on a cellular level.
I could feel the water pouring off of me. Water was coming from inside me, not sweat, but I couldn’t change into that form.
My fingers then began to drip off.
I opened my eyes, and my fingers were slowly turning to water. The drops were falling to the floor.
I closed my eyes and sped up what was happening, and my body took over. I melted into a puddle on the ground, and then I controlled the water on the ground to form my body again.
I opened my eyes and looked at Andrew. I was made completely out of water, in my Water form.
I smiled, forming a mouth out of the water. I forced myself to speak like I normally would, even though it was only really lips made of water. Have you ever tried talking with lips made of water? No? I didn’t think so.
“I did it,” I said. I smiled.
Andrew was unimpressed. He quickly switched to Fire form. “Now, do fire,” he commanded, still giving me no instructions on how to do so.
I sighed and pictured fire. I pictured fire consuming me, making me fire too. I felt heat coming off the water. It was steaming, the water evaporating. In its place was fire.
I smiled again. I liked all the forms, but this one was just amazing. I could see in the direction that my head was pointed toward, just like as a human. I knew, though, that while in Fire form, I could touch someone and not burn them. I could control not to transfer thermal energy to the person touching me, so they wouldn’t get the energy transfer and would never experience a burn. It was something like that. I really should have paid more attention in science class.
Later, I was finally allowed to go back to my room. I’d gotten nothing to eat or drink all day, so I was feeling really weak and sore, especially after training. It was my punishment for trying to escape. At least, though, I had unlimited water, but it took energy that I didn’t have to be in Water form. I just didn’t have the energy to spare. Also, it would kind of be like drinking what I already had inside me. You couldn’t just make it appear out of nothing; it had to come from somewhere.
I just wanted to go home.
I knew I would never go home, though. I would die there, in that stupid place. They were going to kill me as soon as I was finished training.
Andrew said it would take two more weeks to fully train me, at the rate I’d gone today. They’d kill me the day I regained all my energy from the last training session, and absorb my very essence.
I wasn’t ready to die.
Chapter 8
I’d never liked days where I had nothing to do. I’d always felt that if you don’t have anything to do, and you were just bored, you’re wasting the limited time you’ve got.
I would take that over what I’d had to go through at this place any day. When I’d gotten to go back to my prison of a room, I’d fallen asleep instantly, worn out after the day of using energy that I didn’t really have to begin with.
After waking up the next morning, I groaned. My stomach was hollow and I was dehydrated. I wouldn’t be able to change into Water form at all today; my human body had used too much water to run the Water one. There wouldn’t be anything but a drop.
I added the hunger pains to the list of all of the other pains my body was experiencing. I still felt a little bit of pain from my body going against me, and it was pure agony when I experienced an “aftershock”, which is what I called them. They sucked worse than even the hunger pains.
“Get up,” Andrew demanded when he came in.
I groaned. I couldn’t force myself out of the bed even if I wanted to, which I didn’t want to. I didn’t want to at all. When you get to be that tired and energy deprived, nothing can help get you up.
I tried to focus on just lifting my arm, but I couldn’t do it.
He did the same thing he’d done the day before. He grabbed my arms, but I screamed out and flailed until he released me. It felt like both my arms were just big bruises, and it felt like he’d just punched both of them, even though he’d only grabbed them just bit too roughly.
By the time he’d gotten me on my feet, the second he let go I went tumbling to the floor. My legs wouldn’t hold me.
He cursed and left the room, leaving me on the floor in a heap.
A minute later, he returned with several bottles of water and a few bags of chips, the family-size kind. He tossed them in my general direction and left the room again.
I crawled over to where they’d landed and opened a water bottle. I drank it down and opened another one. When that one was also drained, I grabbed a bag of chips and ripped open the top. I began putting handfuls of chips in my mouth at a time, but I also made sure not to let a single crumb get away.
When I was finished, I felt so much better. My entire body still ached, but I wasn’t hungry anymore.
That was when Andrew came into the room, again. He’d come to take me back to the gym, where he’d make me use up all the energy that I’d just gotten back, and I knew I’d be even more tired than before.
I groaned again, but I allowed him to handcuff me. He’d hurt me if I didn’t.
This time, though, I was never burned with them. It was an improvement over yesterday.
Today, he had me control the elements while maintaining my human form, making the elements come out of my hand. The easiest was the air; I’d even blown him back about ten feet, smacking him into the wall.
I laughed, seeing his shocked expression, but then he became extremely angry.
He walked over to me and slapped me with a fire-hand, leaving a long, handprint-looking burn on my cheek. It made the slap hurt four times worse.
What was with people slapping me? Did I just have a face that made people just want to smack?
He then had me use my energy to make a flame-thrower hand. I managed to get a tiny spark, but I couldn’t make a flame yet.
At least he’d begun to actually help me a little. He never specifically told me how to do anything, but he wasn’t as impatient.
“Why is it that I get so tired when I make elements through my hands?” I asked later, while we were walking back to my room.
He was too tired himself to really look annoyed at my question. “Well, you can’t just make something appear o
ut of nothing. You’re using your energy to create something else. The same amount of energy is still being used. You’re also unlocking the powers that are ingrained in your blood, allowing you to create matter from energy. The matter simply leaves when you choose for it to or if you run out of energy to feed it.” He sighed, thinking before continuing. “Even if it’s not physically touching you, you’re still feeding it your energy. It can’t get energy of its own, so it has to use yours.”
It was one of the best explanations he’d ever given me about anything.
I put the thought away for later that to get Andrew to be nicer, I just had to get him so tired he could barely function correctly.
“Our bodies need a lot more energy,” he said suddenly, continuing on with what he’d been saying. “You need more water and more food, or else you won’t be able to do anything. Just so you know; it’s normal to be extremely hungry earlier than you used to be.”
I nodded in understanding. I only had one more question. “I’m usually in human form. How is it that I can breathe? All the oxygen should have been used up a long time ago.”
We walked inside my room then. He pointed at the corners. “There’s a vent, but it only works when it senses a human or someone that looks similar. It closes when you’re in Air form.”
That I understood. It frustrated me to no end, but at least I had vents in the room.
He left without another word and locked the door behind himself.
I ate a little before I crashed, processing what Andrew had told me in the hallway. It made sense, but I was still a little confused.
I looked at my arms. They were filthy, and I really smelled. I wished for a shower, but I knew I would never get one again, since I only had around thirteen days to live now, more or less. That was my last thought before I fell into an extremely deep sleep.
Chapter 9
I was out of food. When I woke up the next day, too early, since that was when Andrew liked to wake me, I’d immediately consumed the last of my chips.
We walked to training, and I felt normal, but as soon as we were inside the training room, I had this growing hunger.
My stomach growled, and Andrew looked at me with a funny expression. “Didn’t you just eat?”
I nodded, but I ended up grabbing my stomach a minute later. “I need more food,” I said through clenched teeth.
My stomach was aching. It was like all the food was gone, and I needed more, but since there wasn’t anything to eat, it was feeding off my energy.
That was when fire started coming out of my hands, taking even more energy from me. I tried to rein it all back inside, but I couldn’t.
Water began shooting from my feet, and I felt like I was going to faint.
I began to weaken. I looked at Andrew. “I can’t control it. I need food. If I don’t eat something now, I’m going to pass out.” I was now swaying, and Andrew knew I wasn’t lying.
He looked confused, but screamed for food immediately, knowing the guard outside would hear. The Leem guarding the door came hurrying in with a glass of orange juice and a foot-long sub a few minutes later.
By then my legs gave out. I could feel the darkness coming.
I grabbed the juice from the guard and practically inhaled it, causing me to cough a bit, but I didn’t care. I needed the vitamins. I then grabbed the sub and ate it quicker than what was possible when eating a foot of sandwich.
My energy came rushing back, but then, as soon as I was finished with the sub, it began to eat my energy again.
I looked at Andrew in horror, knowing that it hadn’t been enough. “Help,” I said, right as I passed out.
***
“Stable,” I heard someone say from far off. The voice sounded familiar, but I didn’t know who it was in my state. “I know that… not stable…”
Another familiar voice shushed the first. “She’s going to regain consciousness any second, and we don’t know that for sure.”
“No one acts like that without a` good reason.”
“… stable… sure of it…”
I groaned then, and the voices stopped abruptly, but I didn’t notice. I did, however, notice the pain.
I threw the blanket off with the little strength I had, noting the IV that was in my wrist, and looked at myself.
My stomach was hurting.
I lifted my shirt just enough to see it. The kind of pain was familiar, reminding me of my cheek, but I wasn’t really thinking about it.
What I saw made me gasp.
My stomach had one giant bruise, as if I’d been hit by a truck or something. I stared at the purple skin in horror. It looked awful.
That was when I noticed Andrew staring at me. There was a weird reddish thing next to him. It was hovering in the air, but with a human-like shape. I realized I was seeing someone in Air form. That was what other Leem saw.
Andrew was studying me with a strange expression. “You passed out.”
I nodded. “I remember,” I said hoarsely. I pointed to the air. “Who’s that, and why do I have an IV?”
He smirked, ignoring my questions. “It was actually amusing to see the look on your face as soon as you were about to pass out. Who just says one word and then passes out? And help is, like, the funniest thing to say. It’s not like we could help you.”
I scowled. “I’ll suck all your energy out sometime and let you see how it feels.”
He laughed. “Amy, the only way that would happen would be if I was in a fight against you.”
That confused me. “What do you mean?”
He smirked. “Wouldn’t you like to know?” he taunted.
I nodded. “Yes, I would, actually.”
He shook his head and continued to laugh. “Like I’d tell you,” he managed to say through his laughter. Water, not tears, water was streaming from his eyes. He finally changed into his natural form because he couldn’t hold his human form from laughing at my ignorance.
I smiled. I held up my hand and felt a fire appear on my palm just as I’d practiced. I threw it at him and manipulated it into a fire-bubble around him, boiling the water, heating him.
Then the fire shot out back at me and covered my arms and legs. I was still thinking on fire terms, so I couldn’t physically get more than first degree burns, which was what I’d figured out when I’d played with fire the day before, burning my finger. With that in mind, it still hurt.
I screamed out.
“Don’t mess with me, Amy Saunders,” Andrew warned. He was back in human form again. He stalked up and got in my personal space. “I can end you with a single thought.”
“Right back at you,” I retorted. “I’m far more powerful than you, Mr. Weak Alien. Remember, you need me if you’re ever going to be worth anything.”
He slapped me again, right on the burn from the last one. He followed with smacking my arms once each.
I screamed out again, but I knew it was still worth it. If I could get him angry, he might actually kill me. I wanted my life to end if I was just going to die later, after more torture and pain.
For the first time, I thought of suicide. It had crossed my mind before, but I knew not to even consider it.
I did now, though.
I shook my head, taking the thought away. I wasn’t going to do that to myself. I knew I might still be able to escape later.
It was highly unlikely that I’d get away, but I knew I’d have to try again.
They couldn’t just expect me to give up so easily. It wasn’t the way I did things.
I wasn’t a quitter, and I wasn’t about to let them break me.
***
That night, instead of being asleep, like my body wanted to be, I moved over to the door.
I knew that Andrew had a guard outside my door during the day, but there didn’t need to be one at night. I was asleep as soon as I ate something every day, so there was no need to guard someone who couldn’t escape, and it wasn’t like there was anyone that would dare come for me besi
des Zane. He’d never make it out with me, though… not in that place.
I swirled my finger, and on the other side of the door, I heard the lock undo. It reminded me of what Zane had done in my room the day he’d told me he was an alien. He'd locked the door by swirling his fingers.
Wow, it had really freaked me out at the time, and there I was doing it myself.
Zane would be so proud of me.
A wave of pain and grief hit me. I couldn’t think about Zane again. I missed him too much.
He was my friend, my protector.
I smiled, thinking that if I could get out, I could see him again. Then, I wouldn’t hurt just thinking about him.
I inwardly scolded myself. I couldn’t hope like that. It would make me daydream, and then I’d never get out of la-la land. I’d become one of those loony people that believed that their deceased husband/wife was just gone to the store and would be home any minute.
I quietly opened the door and glided down the halls. Everything was black, so I figured no one would be able to see me.
I got down on my hands and knees just in case. It hurt my burns, a lot, but I continued on. I couldn’t trip on anything if I was already down.
That was when a shoe slammed onto my back, pushing me down.
The bruise on my stomach got most of the impact, and I instantly went unconscious from the extreme pain that overcame me.
I’d been passing out an awful lot lately. That just proved how bad of a place I was in, and I was never going to escape. I was never going home again.
I’d never see Zane again.
That was the one thought that made my heart feel as if someone had stabbed it, twisting the knife as it dug into my flesh.
Chapter 10
I was back on the cot. I looked around, and that was when I saw him.
He was sitting in the corner, leaning against the wall. His eyes were closed, and his head was tipped back. He was just sitting there, looking like he was sleeping very peacefully. A small smile was on his lips.
