Whirlwind

There stood a girl, eighteen. Looking at herself in the mirror, a long mirror. When she looked, she saw someone with long, curly, ginger hair, pale skin, and a long hospital gown with tiny blue flowers all over it. She stood roleplaying in the mirror imagining herself as an explorer finding lost treasures, like Indiana jones. It was really all the entertainment she got, besides reading books. But she had grown tired of reading lately. Reading can only go so far when it comes to being your only form of entertainment. She grew up in a small room her whole life, the four walls she was in this very moment. The only thing that filled the room was a bed, a desk, a chair, books, and the very mirror she was looking at. Lorelei heard as though someone was getting ready to come in so she stumbled back into reality in a matter of seconds. Grabbing a book and fakely reading the book on her bed. Inside came a man who had seemed to believe the idea that she was reading. He was an old, pale man with a light tan and a tie. He had lost quite a bit of hair due to growing old. He would wear a toupee to give himself this false reality that he was still young, just to come home every night to take it off and come back to the truth that he was old again. Soon after he came in, another doctor, just as forgettable as all of the other doctors Lorelei had seen, came in.

“Hey! Me and Doctor Anders here are just gonna give you some shots. You know. The daily vitamins.”, The forgettable doctor said in a happy tone.

Everyday Lorelei has to get shots, it is so she gets the vitamins she needs that she can’t get, like calciferol. Dr, Anders doesn’t want Lorelei to take pills, in the case that she tries to purposely choke on the pills. They put three shots in her. Each with a different type of Vitamin. Calciferol, ascorbic acid, and cobalamin. The feeling of a needle going into her skin became normal after she was five. Though the feeling of the vitamins soaring through her body took a little bit longer to get used to. After she got the shots, they left. It was routine, making everyday the same. She knew she had about two hours until they came back to give her lunch. So when they left, she layed on her bed, arms under her head and stared at the roof.

“When will life decide to change its course?”, Lorelei thought. “When will something exciting happen, instead of the same old dumb stuff.”.

As time passed, out of the blue, Dr. Anders came back.

“Your pen pal has brought you a letter! Get to writing, I’m sure they are excited for you to write back.”

His wrinkly hands, with his veins popping out, handed the letter to Lorelei. Dr. Anders then left, knowing she would want to be alone. Lorelei was excited. Though life was always a continuous, boring routine, there was one thing that made life exciting. Her pen pal. They have been writing to each other since Lorelei was six years old. Every month, she gets a special letter. One that brings her the most enjoyment she has ever had. After she reads her special letter, she immediately writes back, writing anything that comes to mind that she wants to express or tell her pen pal.

As she looks at the letter, it’s a small, white envelope that has a stamp with light pink carnations, as always. It’s Lorelei’s favorite flower. In her pen pals’ writing it says, “To my amazing pen pal, Lorelei.”.

On the back of the letter it had pink wax with an imprinted carnation, sealing the letter shut, again, as always. Lorelei loved it though, one of those things that even though it was always the same, it was special every time. As she opened the letter, a tan paper began to show, then opening it, she began to read.

“Dear Lori,

I hope you are doing well. Life has been simple back home. I was bird watching yesterday and I saw some really pretty birds. I tried to get some photos that I could send you, but by the chance I was gonna take the photo, they flew away. Sometimes I tried taking a photo, but the bird would somehow fly away before I knew, and I would just have photos with no bird in it. And when I did get a photo of a bird, it was out of focus! These birds are teasing me!

After I birdwatched, I painted a rainforest. It came out better than I thought it would! So that was great. I’m about to go hunting. I’m hoping to catch a rabbit or something, and have a nice meal tonight. Alright, I’m gonna stop writing for now, I’ll let you know what I get.

I’m back! I caught a wild boar! That was awesome. After I caught the boar, I butchered it and cooked the meat for dinner tonight. Obviously I can’t eat all that, so I put the extra meat in the freezer. Anyways, I’m dying to know how you are doing! It’s been a month. How is your training going? Read any cool or interesting books lately? Alright, talk to you soon, excited to hear your response. Take Care!

— W

The letter brought a warmth to Lorelei’s heart. She began to write back-

Hey!

I’m glad that you caught a boar! That’s cool. Life has been the same. Training has been going as it goes, they say that I’m getting stronger, which is good, I guess. I really wish that something can change. Some excitement. Like if in a snap of a finger, everything can change. Like a whirlwind I guess. Like Harry Potter, everything hit him like a whirlwind when Hagrid talked to Harry about being “The boy who lived”, and how he is a wizard, he was the chosen one.

I might have read all the books in my freetime. But, I just want change as the new normal. Anyways, talk to you sometime soon.

- Your Pal, Lorelei.

It wasn’t a lot, but she felt that was all she needed to say. what’s there to talk about- her getting shots this morning, like every morning? She had then folded the paper, ready to give to Dr. Anders to mail. So she waited. And As she waited, she realized something. She is not allowed to know her pen pal’s name, for some weird reason. And in past letters from him, he would normally put “- Your pen pal.”. She then looks at his letter and see’s that he put, “W”.

“What is “W”?”, she thought. “That must be his name.”

She started pacing back and forth thinking.

“What could it be? William? No. Walter? No, that’s too ugly. Wyatt? Mm, maybe. Winston? Ok, it has to be winston. Ha! I figured it out! My pen pal’s name is Winston! YES!”.

The thought that her pen pal, of twelve years, had finally figured out his name. It was amazing, should she tell Winston that she figured it out, she didn’t know. But after thinking, she figured it would be best to maybe say it in the next letter.

After she calmed down from all this excitement she had had, she waited, probably for hours. She was tempted to read a book but, before she got the chance to, Dr. Anders came in.

“Hey, I’m guessing you finished the letter?”, Dr. Anders asked.

Lorelei was sitting with her legs crossed on the bed. She didn’t reply.

“Well, I brought dinner! the cafeteria made pizza rolls!”, Anders said excitedly.

He then placed the food on Lorelei’s desk.

“I’ll take you and mail your letter as well, make sure you stay awake for training tonight. Ok?”, Anders said.

“Ok, thank you.”, Lorelei replied.

Dr. Anders then walked out. Lorelei sat for a minute while the steam came off the pizza rolls. She then looked over. Contemplating if she wanted to eat the rolls. She then eventually got up to her desk and ate the pizza rolls. They were Eh. Nothing special. There were about twenty pizza rolls there. She had eaten three when she thought about how there were seventeen pizza rolls.

“Huh, one, two, three……… Oh, that’s my age. Funny. And soon, I’ll be eighteen, wow.”, she thought.

After a little while, she eventually finished and washed her hands in the small bathroom connected to the room. Afterwards, she began to read the Narnia series, “The Magician’s nephew.”. A great book filled with excitement and suspense, she thought. She was halfway through the book when her eyes began to be droopy, it was a battle of keeping herself awake.

“I’m just gonna rest my eyes, I’m not gonna fall asleep, I’m just letting my eyes have a break.”, at least that is what she thought.

Though soon after, she was knocked out. She then eventually began to dream.

There was a man with hair as black as the night, smiling with a woman next to him. The woman was young, beautiful, and had ginger hair. Her hair was as orange as the fruit. She was pregnant. They were in a grassy field, Beautiful jade green grass. There was a boy, young, probably seven years old. He had dark ginger hair, running towards the two adults. As the child came close, he held his arms out and hugged his parents legs. Then he looked up to his mom and said-

“When will my little sister be born? I cant wait any longer!”, he said excitedly.

“I know”, the mom said, “She will be here soon, just give it time.”

“Okay”, the boy said disappointedly.

“Come here bud”, the father said as he picked up his son and put on his shoulders. “The wait lasts long, but what comes out of it lasts even longer. Ok?”.

“Okay”, the boy replied.

The father began running with the boy on his shoulders, making the boy laugh with excitement. But the mother stayed there, she looked and rubbed her belly.

“Your brother is so excited to see you. We all are. I can’t wait to see the woman you become. Oh, I love you, my little carnation.”.

Immediately after, Lorelei was woken up by Dr. Anders.

“I told you not to fall asleep”, Dr. Anders said.

It seemed to be late at night, maybe ten o’clock. Looking up, Lorelei see’s guards in the room as well, just in case Lorelei tries to escape, they will easily catch her, it would be five guards against one girl. Tiredly, Lorelei gets up and Dr. Anders puts a blindfold over Lorelei’s eyes. Even though it’s dark already. They don’t want Lorelei to know the layout of the building. They then lead Lorelei down what seemed like multiple flights of stairs, The sound of a door is heard, and then the blindfold is taken off Lorelei’s head.

“Alright, lets see what you got”, Dr. Anders said. “Today you are going to fight one of these guards.”

“What!”Lorelei replied,”Are you insane? There is no way I can do that.”

“But you can, you are my machine, my machine that I have built to be my weapon. You are capable of being what you were made to do.”

This was one of the worst parts of Lorelei’s days, but it was the only part of her day that isn’t repetitive. It’s the time of day when she is put through what feels like torture, as she is forced to put herself through pain because of her mutations.

“We need you to start working on your photographic reflexes. Now you’re right there, you are going to fight Lorelei.”, Anders said.

Anders pointed at the toughest looking guy out of all the guards.

“Give it the best you got.”, Anders said.

“But she is just a girl sir.”, the guard replied.

Lorelei stood scared, not wanting to fight the large man who was triple her size.

“I don’t care, she is to be trained to be a killing machine. She is gonna have to learn the definition of pai sometime.

And you aren’t gonna kill her anyways, she’s been made to have to heal from wounds ten times faster than any human! “, Dr. Anders said as if he was trying to brag.

Though the guard was the toughest out of all the guards, he also had the softest heart out of all the guards. Having a daughter of his own, not being able to imagine himself to do that. But he had to do as his boss said, after all his pay was immaculate.

the guard began to walk to the girl, holding his arm up, he began to throw a jab at Lorelei, but she ducks. Realizing she Potentially had the power to beat this guy, she had more confidence, and chose to fight back. Lorelei then does the same and throws a jab, hitting the guard, catching him off guard. They began to fight, hitting and blocking the other person. But then, the guard uses his leg and makes Lorelei trip. He then holds Lorelei to the ground, choking her, Lorelei unable to set herself free, no matter how hard she tries.

“Alright, alright.”, Dr. Anders called, “That’s enough.”.

The guard let’s go. Lorelei gasps for air. She looks up and see’s Dr. Anders shaking his head in disappointment.

“Take her back to her room,” Dr Anders said.

They then put the blindfold back on her head and brought her back to her room. When she was back in the room, they took the blindfold off and left.

Lorelei laid in her bed crying. At night, Dr. Anders was a whole other person. He is like a baby that needs his sleep at night, he gets mean. Lorelei cried for a good while until she eventually fell asleep. Not knowing what tomorrow would bring.