The Formation of Team 55

by Neo Nidhi Baghel

  ‘Excuse me?’ she gave a huge fake smile. ‘Can you help me a bit?’

  The girl seemed to be in a hurry, but she looked at Vanya from head to toe. ‘Where are your shoes? Why aren’t you wearing a jacket and who the hell are you?’

  Now that the girl had mentioned the jacket, Vanya felt her body getting cold. She felt herself shivering suddenly.

  ‘You have no idea how happy I feel hearing this right now.’ Vanya clapped her hands together and continued. ‘It feels like, I am dreaming and I need to wake up because it’s my birthday today. So, I want you to help me. Now, do you mind pinching me? I need to wake up.’

  The girl kept gawking at Vanya. Suddenly, she pressed some sort of switch on a device strapped around her right wrist and brought it close to her mouth. ‘We’ve got code green. A girl in shorts and top is here, without shoes or jacket. Over!’

  Vanya frowned. ‘Alright, I think I might be still dreaming.’

  Someone responded to the girl. The device on her wrist, which Vanya could only imagine to be some sort of radio said - ‘Get her to twenty-two, sector zero, right now! Over!’

  ‘What’s twenty-two- Ouch!’

  Before Vanya could say or move, she felt something sting her hand. She realized that the girl in front of her had used some sort of pin which was taking over her body already.

  ‘Am I still dream-’ before she could finish her question, her body hit the ground and she began feeling numb.

  Her eyesight became very blurry as a boy approached and picked her up in his arms.

  ‘Call team fifty-five. She’s here.’

  She heard the girl’s voice for one last time as it echoed in her head which felt heavy. Her eyes went shut and she was asleep now.

  ∞∞∞

  ‘Do you think she died?’ Vanya heard a girl’s voice in her head. I hope not, she thought to herself.

  ‘It was just an animal tranquilizer.’ a male voice echoed. ‘She’s going to be alright.’

  An animal tranquilizer? She was pinned with a drug that was made to numb down animals. Her eyes snapped open and she sat right up.

  A boy and a girl were standing very close to the bed on which she was sitting. The boy wore a white sweatshirt and a pair of black cargo pants. Vanya looked down at his feet. He was wearing slippers. ‘So, you’re up?’ he yawned. ‘Can I go back to sleep now?’ he stepped back nodding his head at the girl.

  Vanya looked at her. The girl seemed to be completely chilled and hadn’t blinked even once as she glared at Vanya.

  ‘Yay!’ she finally showed some fake enthusiasm. ‘She’s alive.’

  Her golden eyes were quite piercing as they stared deeply into Vanya’s eyes. Her black hairs were tied up in a tight ponytail. She wore a jacket, leather pants and a pair of boots which made her look like some rouge biker.

  ‘I told you,’ The boy pouted looking bored as they stared at Vanya. ‘It was just a small tranq-”

  Vanya jumped out of the bed and stood face to face with the boy. Alright, she wasn’t standing face to face to the guy, because he was taller than her. She was actually looking up at him.

  ‘Where the hell am I? Why am I not able to wake up?’ She glared at the boy.

  The boy raised his hands as if he were surrendering and smiled innocently. ‘I am Justin, by the way.’

  ‘Stop being creepy, you’ll scare her even more.’ The girl stepped closer to interrupt attempting to push them a little away from each other. ‘We need to make sure that she is safe here until Dawn shows up.’

  Vanya wasn’t scared at all from Justin. But she chose not to dignify Kathy’s assumption with words.

  ‘I love this part.’ Justin ran his hands through his hair, setting them perfectly well. He pushed the biker girl with his shoulder, urging her to speak. ‘Come on, Kathy! Tell her where she is.’

  The girl took a step forward, stepping in front of Justin and faced Vanya, looking down at her. Vanya was hating all of this so much. everyone was either hotter, prettier or taller than she was. Kathy was so stunning and beautiful, it made Vanya feel very conscious about herself.

  ‘I am Vanya, not Kathy.’ Vanya had a feeling that the girl standing in between her and Justin was even taller than he was.

  ‘I am Kathy. And, you are wrong. You have finally woken up forever.’ said Kathy, looking down at Vanya. ‘Welcome to Team fifty-five.’

  The look on her face prompted Vanya that this girl was considering her to be some tiny little kid.

  ‘Is this some sort of prank?’ Vanya stepped closer to Kathy, glaring harder. Her head tilted up as they got closer. ‘It is my birthday today. I am supposed to be spending it with my mother and not with a couple of retards.’

  Kathy and Justin exchanged a look.

  ‘Well, it is your eighteenth birthday, right? Happy Birthday!!!’ said Justin, tilting his head sideways to have a look at Vanya. She couldn’t help but notice their heights. He was slightly shorter than Kathy. ‘I am Justin, one of the members of team fifty-five, introducing myself officially to you.’

  Now she felt the anger within her boiling up the blood in her veins. She had never experienced anything like this before. What kind of crappy dream was this? Or was it the reality?

  Without even noticing who was around or where she was, she sped towards the first door her eyes could locate. She felt like an animal for being drugged like that. What was happening? Why was it happening?

  She seemed to be in some sort of hospital wing. Running towards the door, her eyes noticed a series or beds on her either side, on which some patients were resting. Only the doctors weren’t wearing any white coats. Instead, they all wore casuals, just like everyone else. A girl carrying a tray moved aside just in time as Vanya sped past her, still running. Why weren’t the doctors wearing white coats? Why weren’t they following the dress code?

  ‘I want to go home!’ Vanya ran like her life depended on it. The door was so close. She could hear Justin’s voice calling her name from behind. ‘Mom!!!’ she kept calling her mother as she ran.

  Today, she felt like no gifts were needed. The best thing that could happen to her was only if she could just wake up so that this maddening dream would end. Vanya had almost reached the door when somebody entered the hall at the same moment. She banged her head on something or someone’s chest and fell on the floor. She caught a glimpse of a boy standing there with his mouth wide open. His hand was pressed against his chest as he turned away to hide the painful look of his face.

  ‘Vanya!!!’ Kathy came running after her. She grabbed Vanya by her arm and pulled her up like she weighed nothing at all. Vanya felt dizzy as her head was hurting. She wanted to look around and see who was the boy but Kathy had picked her up in her arms like a small baby and was walking towards her assigned bed already. She dropped Vanya on the bed and rolled her eyes.

  Yes, the bed had a very soft mattress, but that doesn’t mean you go around dropping people like a pile of clothes, do you? Vanya gritted her teeth and gave Kathy a look full of hatred.

  ‘If you run this time, I will be forced to tackle you to the ground and punch you in the face.’ Kathy warned her, motioning a fist towards Vanya’s face.

  ‘Did her head explode or not?’ Justin rushed towards Vanya.

  What? How come every person in here talks like they are crazy? Why would her head explode after banging against someone’s chest? She kept rubbing her palm on the side of her forehead where it was hurting badly.

  ‘Drop it! You’re totally fine.’ Justin had grabbed a piece of rock from the patient who was fast asleep on a bed nearby. He carefully placed it on her palm and used both his hands to cover it up into a fist. ‘Hold this. This is called a soothing ball.’ He winked at her. ‘Trust me! It will calm your nerves.’

  There was an awkward moment of silence. Vanya raised an eyebrow. Did he mean to say something which she wasn’t expecting him to say at all? Her doubt was cleared when she noticed the look on Kathy’s face. She looked so disgusted and pissed
>
  ‘My apologies, you had to hear that.’ Kathy casually kicked Justin in the shin. ‘That is a soothing rock.’

  Justin gulped silently and gave Vanya a painful smile, still covering her fist with his hands.

  ‘Try to feel its warmth.’ Kathy urged Vanya to focus her attention on the healing rock.

  She didn’t want to do it. All of this felt like a big joke. But, then again, the pain in her head was real. So, she decided to give it a go. She closed her eyes and focused all her attention on the rock that was clutched inside her tiny fist. And, suddenly it felt warm. Vanya felt something different. The rock was icy but it had a warmth that began to flow within her veins. She lay there, breathing heavily, thinking about nothing at all. She didn't dare to ask if this was a dream. This was like magic. Her heartbeat was getting back to normal along with her breathing. The headache was subsiding as well. Her concentration was interrupted by someone clearing their throat.

  ‘How’s she doing?’

  Vanya sleepily opened her eyes and tilted her head slightly to look at the speaker. The same boy stood there looking guilty whose chest had knocked her down. He couldn’t stop staring at her. His dark hairs were long enough to reach his shiny blue eyes, but he had pulled them back with a little gel. His body wasn’t as buffed but looked very tough and well built. His face was so innocent. Why would the creator make him look so cute and hot at the same time? What the hell was happening in this dream?

  ‘Oh I could just die right here!’ she said to herself, letting her head pathetically slump back into the pillow.

  ‘I am sorry, I think you hit your head pretty hard.’ He touched his chest. ‘I felt it too.’

  Vanya tried not to stare at his chest which was visible because of the deep neck cut shirt he was wearing. But according to her the most hurtful thing right now, was that she banged her head on that very chest and didn’t fall in his arms. Instead, Kathy had picked her up.

  ‘This is the wall on which you banged your head!’ Kathy interrupted Vanya’s thoughts. She nodded at the tough guy.

  This couldn’t be real at all. Maybe she was dead already. Maybe this was the afterlife. Here, every next person was just so dashing and perfect in their own way. It made Vanya wonder how many good deeds she had done in the last seventeen years because of which God had finally decided to send her here. This seemed like the heaven she would approve of. Was she dead already?

  ‘My name is Dawn.’ said the hunk as he pushed Kathy aside dismissively and sat on the edge of the bed. ‘I hear you are on our team. I look forward to working with you.’

  Suddenly, Justin seemed to be in distress. His head instantly turned to look at Dawn.

  ‘How come you never seem to look forward to work with me?’ Justin let go of Vanya’s hand and left her closed fist on her belly.

  Vanya kept clutching the rock closer to her belly, which was transforming the headache into a warm feeling.

  ‘Hey! Answer me. I spend so much time with you. We have spent almost every single day together since the day I arrived here.’ Justin looked at Dawn seriously.

  ‘We do not spend a lot of time together, I swear.’ Dawn corrected Justin smiling apologetically at Vanya. ‘He’s being crazy.’

  Vanya smiled softly at him.

  Before Justin could even think about adding another word to the conversation in protest of what Dawn had just said, Kathy grabbed his arm and pulled him to the other side of the room. Vanya could see the two of them whispering to one another as they decided to stop by a patient’s bed. The girl lying on the bed had a huge plaster on her right leg. The two initiated a conversation with the plaster girl and started laughing.

  ‘Awkward!’ breathed Vanya.

  Dawn had been sitting there with her for over two minutes now and he hadn’t uttered a single word so far. Silence increased the awkwardness between the two of them as she looked at this burning hot creation of god. He was still staring at her deeply with his shiny blue eyes. It made her feel uncomfortable but gave her the butterflies too.

  ‘Hey?’ Vanya snapped her fingers in front of his face and broke the silence making his eyes blink.

  ‘Yeah?’ The expression on Dawn’s face became very serious, letting her know that he was giving her his full attention.

  Vanya found his voice so erotic. She exhaled deeply and forced herself to focus on what was important right now. And, what was that? The hot guy? Nope!!! She scolded herself mentally.

  ‘Asking this, I know that I might sound crazy, but can you tell me if I am dead or dreaming?’ she tried to sit up on the bed.

  Dawn laughed and then shook his head looking away. ‘Well, I don’t know how to tell you this, but all those teenagers you saw near the CafeZone, where they tranquilized you are no different than you. And, this includes Kathy, Justin and even me.’ he bit his lip, bobbing his head up and down slowly. ‘We all thought that we were dreaming when we woke up here.’

  Vanya's heart skipped a beat. ‘When did you wake up here?’ she seemed to be getting interested in his story. If there were more people here, who had woken up just like her then there might be some of them who have escaped this place.

  Dawn gulped. ‘Last year, during the month of September.’ he looked at Vanya with a blank face. ‘The people who wake up here, never get to go back to their old lives.’

  Vanya remained still, listening to him, then her eyes blinked. ‘But, I have my Mom and sister back home. What about them?’

  Her mom had wished her Happy Birthday at midnight, right before she had gone to sleep. They had plans for today. Her younger sister, Vartika had done all the preparations for her birthday party.

  ‘Let me put it this way.’ Dawn grabbed Vanya’s fist with which she had clutched the rock and opened it very gently. ‘The people who wake up here, lose their old families.’ He pulled out the little rock and kept it on the side table, right next to Vanya’s bed. ‘The moment you woke up here, your close ones and your family forgot you. Their lives became as they would have been if you would have never existed. The world became the way it would have been without you.’

  Vanya felt her eyes getting watery. She wanted to say something but didn’t know what to say. Of course, she was tired of asking people if this was a dream or not.

  ‘Vanya,’ Dawn glanced back at Kathy and Justin who were lost chatting up the girl with the plaster. ‘everyone here you will see has experienced the same thing. We all woke up here, we all realized that it wasn’t a dream and we all got stuck here, but eventually we all realized something and you will realize it too.’

  ‘And what is that?’ asked Vanya, in a very low voice as a drop of tear rolled down her cheek.

  Dawn exhaled. Now she could tell that he was feeling uncomfortable. He pulled out a handkerchief and patted her cheek softly. He made sure that Kathy or Justin didn’t see the two of them.

  ‘You will realize that this was meant to happen. This is where you were supposed to be from the beginning.’

  ‘William told me that.’ Vanya took the handkerchief from him and started wiping her tears quietly.

  ‘You met him?’ asked Dawn. ‘He is supposed to become our Prime Descendant within a few days.’

  ‘He told me that too.’ Now she started sobbing furiously.

  Dawn couldn’t help but stand and look around. He didn’t know what to do.

  ‘Why am I surrounded by good looking people here?’ she looked around with her blurry eyes filled with tears. Every man and woman in the hall, no matter if they were a patient or a doctor looked like a model. ‘This can’t be real. This has to be a dream.’

  She said that so loudly that the guys around stopped whatever they were doing and began to stare at them. Dawn gave them a stern look and they looked away instantly. Vanya wiped her face with the handkerchief which was completely soaked in her tears now.

  ‘I think, you should keep that.’ said Dawn. ‘Look, no matter whatever you do or try to do, you won’t be able to go back because this was supposed to happe
n. I mean, we all tried to run away, but nothing works out ever. And, if any student has ever been able to find their family back, they simply won’t recognize them.’

  ‘You are not making it any better!!!!’ she wailed even louder now. Kathy and Justin were now sitting on the plaster girl’s bed, writing GET WELL SOON remarks on her plaster. Justin pouted sadly glancing at Vanya and Kathy made him look away. They knew what was happening here and chose to let Dawn handle the situation.

  Dawn didn’t say another word. He simply sat there uncomfortably, waiting for Vanya to finish crying, which took about fifteen minutes. She finally decided to stop crying and grabbed the rock on the side table again.

  Dawn immediately jumped up and took away the rock. ‘No no no no!’ he kept the rock in his pants’ pocket and grabbed Vanya’s hand in which she had been holding it before. ‘You see?’ he pointed out her palm. It was a shade of red now. ‘Too much of any drug or medicine, or for that matter even magic or power, is harmful.’

  Vanya, Who seemed to have stopped sobbing now, looked up at him. He was staring into her eyes just the way he was when he saw her for the very first time.

  ‘Thanks.’ she mumbled politely. ‘How does that rock work? Is it magical or something?’

  Dawn smiled at her. ‘We can talk about it later. I am here, alright? We are a team and all of us are here for you.’ he nodded towards Kathy and Justin. ‘If you have any problems, we all are here to help you. We are your new family.’

  ‘So, we four are a team?’ asked Vanya, gently, pulling her hand away from his grasp, which he had forgotten to let go off.

  ‘Oh, no!’ Dawn shook his head in denial. ‘There are three more. Victoria and Brent had to go to the museum. They had some exploring to do. And, then there is Ace. He is supposed to be at William’s Cabin right now. If I’m right, they are having a meeting regarding your arrival.’

  Vanya sat there for a moment, not knowing what to think, say or do. Was this real? Had her mom forgotten about her?

  ‘Where am I right now?’ she asked Dawn. ‘What place is this?’