Chapter 1
“NO!” I yelled, my voice cracking, “You can’t do this!” I screeched, “STOP! Please!” My voice rang through the room.
“I’m sorry, but this is for the better,” her voice way too calm.
“No! STOP! No, NO,” I repeated, but it was no use. The doctor’s syringe sank deep into my arm and I felt a tingle of calmness creep through me. It was just like they said it would be like. I tried to fight it; to fling up my arms, but the chains cut through my flesh to the point where blood dripped down onto the floor. Thick, dark, blue blood fell down to the white floor, and I screamed again. This can’t happen. This can’t happen, not now. Not ever.
“Don’t fight girl,” she shook her head, “you’re already gone.”
No, no, no.
This. Can’t. Happen.
“Goodbye, Alison,” she said.
“No, that’s not my name,” I insisted, “You can’t do this…” my voice was fading away, I felt my body drift, “Please, stop, please, don’t do this,” but it was too late. I felt my mind and body float away until I was greeted by just, empty, bottomless, black.
“Alison Rose?”
My eyes bashed open and I shot up, gasping for air. I was in a long white robe and my hands were chained to the side of the bed, the hell. As soon as I calmed down my breathing I saw someone standing next to me. The walls were all an odd, bright white, making me squint to see. I looked to see the person who had called my name. She had dark red hair that flowed down her shoulders lightly matched by her hazel brown eyes.
“Good to see you awake,” her voice soothing.
“Where am I?” My mind is racing with questions. My body tensed.
“All in good time, Alison,” nevermind, not so soothing, “be patient.”
“I asked one question,” I retorted, rolling my eyes, “Where am I? Who are you?” My body felt hazy and my brain was going crazy.
“You are in The Recognition,” she said, “I am Mrs. Ross, middle name meaning crown.”
“Okay,” I replied cautiously, “so why am I here?” I asked again, “and why are you telling me your middle name meaning?”
“You were previously broke the law, and were in a flat crash. The government brought you here for us to save you. Second, saying the meaning of your middle name is how you are supposed to greet people.”
“Wait what?” I can’t remember anything. Fear crippled my body and I felt my arms start to shake, “Am I, g-going to jail,” I asked, my voice unsteady, “W-why don’t I-I remember? Is that really how you greet people? What does my middle name mean? What is my middle name? What’s my name?”
“Calm down, Alison,” what does she mean? I literally don’t remember anything. Halden, that name is keep coming up in my head, but I can’t remember why, “unfortunately through the process, you have lost your memory,” that explains it, “but we could fill you up on everything. Only if you’d like,” I now hated the sound of her voice. This didn’t seem right.
“Yes, please do,” I said. Who am I? Then my mind focused a bit, Halden’s my brother. That’s right, my memories of my brother started to pour in, little and still confusing, but they were there, and they were the only things in my head.
“I will be back in a moment; please take this time and relax,” her voice sounded so robotic, her words perfectly coming out. Relax? Relax--she was kidding right--.
“Wait, where are you going?” my voice was desperate.
“I need to get the doctor, please wait a moment,” she smiled, and left the room.
The door shut closed, locking me inside the room, or cell. I tried to get up but I felt chains locking my hands to the seat. Why were these chains even attached to me? I lied back down. I committed a crime? Why would I do such a thing? How old was I? I heard the door open again and whipped my head around at the sound. Mrs. Ross came in with another man, he looked to be around fifty and had salt-and-pepper colored hair.
“Hello, Alison,” he said. His voice was rough, but a nice kind of rough, like smooth. I liked his voice better then Mrs. Ross’.
“Hello,” I smiled.
“My name is Doctor. Mark, middle name meaning dark stranger,” eek, his middle name was terrible, I thought as I suppress a laugh. “Mrs. Ross told me that you wanted some memories,” he said it as a question.
“Yes,” I paused, “please.”
“We have a small clip you can see,” he tapped his watch a few times and a blue light fell down like a laser beam and a man came up.
I cursed in surprise.
“Sorry, this may be new to you,” Mrs. Ross said bitterly.
“Yeah, obviously, everything’s new to me!” No, I wanted to say sarcastically, I remember everything, but I bit my tongue
“This was a previously recorded video by Mr. Ross. He died soon after he gave you surgery, but recorded this before he passed.
“I’m sorry,” I turned to her, and she smiled weakly.
The man started to speak, jesus, my god, how the heck is he talking.
His voice filled the room and I listened closely; if my hands weren’t chained to the bed, I probably would’ve been on top of him.
“Hello, Alison Rose. I am Doctor Richard Ross, and operated on you, middle name meaning king,” pretty decent. “Enough about me, here’s what you should know.” Yeah because he said so much about himself, “Your name is Alison Rose. When you go back home, your family will tell you your middle name. The reason we say our middle name, and you need too also, is because Society made it so on the day you turn two years old parents will name you off of what they think your traits are or what they want you to be,” ooh, harh for Dr. Mark, “Whenever you meet someone, that is how you are to introduce yourself, and only when you are extremely close, you tell them your middle name. Okay, now that we got that part down, we can talk about yourself. You are eighteen-years-old and recently you got your driver’s license, then got into a flat crash. After the flat crash, we found out that you stole a great deal of Societies weapons. When Society found you, they brought you here, a recovering factory. They wheeled you into surgery, but your memories were all already gone,” It took a second to all sink in. Why would I steal the government’s weapons?
“You must be wondering about your family,” not really, “you have an older brother, Halden Crell, who is twenty-one,” Halden, Halden, I remember him. I remember him. He looked the same as me, almost. I remembered Halden, I remember he’s my brother, but what else? I tried to look back in my mind about him, but I only remembered snippets of his presence… “and two twin sisters, Brynn Ashland and Emily Amber, thirteen-years-old. Your mother disappeared after giving birth to your two younger sisters, and your dad is alive, but, well, unsteady,” this seemed wrong. Everything seemed wrong. What was I missing? What is it I can’t see?
“Before today, you were the best student in your class, and were the second smartest in Society’s Senior High Program. You were on track to work nicely Society, but your flat crash and crime quickly ended that. For the next few weeks you will be here, and we will locate you back in your home in Cresvella. I hope you have a wonderful stay, goodbye Aly,” I felt weird, like I was missing something.
“Is that it?” I asked Dr. Mark.
“Oh,” he answered, “do you want to know more?”
“No, it just, this all seems a bit weird,” I told him. He tapped his watch, brought it close to his lips, and muttered a few words into it.
“I assure you, everything here is safe,” I believed him. Maybe things would’ve turned out differently if I didn’t...
“Okay,” I smiled, clueless.
“Would you like a mirror?” I heard Mrs. Ross ask me.
“Oh, yes please,” I didn’t even think of what I looked like until now. I felt my hair behind my back, but of course I couldn’t move my chained hands.
“Can you, uh,” I looked at the handcuffs. Doctor Mark looked cautiously at Mrs. Ross who nodded anxiously.
“Yes, of course,” Doctor Mark bit his lip anxiously. He reached into his black pants pocket and pulled out a small silver key, and unlatched the cuff from my hand. I breathed out, grateful.
“Thank you,” I brought up my wrist and turned it around. He quickly did the same to the other wrist.
“I’ll bring you a mirror,” Mrs. Ross hurried out of the room and Doctor Mark followed.
I lied down in my bed and closed my eyes. I feel like I’ve seen Mrs. Ross before. I’ve seen that red haired brown eyed person before. I laughed at myself, I forgot all my memories, what am I thinking. Pushing the thought away, I reached for my hair. It was thin and whispy and when I brought it to my eyes, it was a light blonde shade. I hesitantly touched up to my face, my skin was smooth and soft to the touch, giving me a slight feel of comfort.
The door opened again and Mrs. Ross came in with a small circle mirror attached to a plastic handle. She handed me the mirror, “you’re beautiful,” it sounded like she really meant it, “you look like my daughter….” her voice trailed off.
“Thank you,” I said humbly. I wonder what happened to her daughter. What do I look like?
“Here you go,” I took the mirror greedily.
I looked at the mirror and almost stumbled in surprise. I had light blonde hair that fell in whips down my head. I also had thin pink lips below my small nose. Small brown freckles dotted my pale face, but the prettiest feature I found was my eyes. They were a deep ocean blue, striking out all of my other features.
“You are beautiful,” Mrs. Ross said again. I smiled gratefully, secretly agreeing.
“Come here,” She smiled and I got up.
Mrs. Ross led me out of the room into a dark blue hallway, we kept walking until we were in front of two wooden doors, “This is the cafeteria. Many other teens like you are in here, and we expect you to behave,” she said as if I was a toddler. I nodded my head eagerly, I would see others like me!
“You can go in,” she motioned me inside. When I opened the door I almost fell over in surprise. Kids clattered every seat in the huge cafeteria, each girl wearing a dark purple uniform matched with black pants and each boy wearing a navy blue shirt and gray pants. They each sat in a girl boy order, talking quietly. I started to walk through the isles seeing some kids as young as around six and the older ones looked around my age. I kept walking hoping there would be one seat open. Then, I saw a girl who waved for me to sit down. She had dark brown hair that fell down her shoulders and matching brown eyes. There was an empty seat next to her and I looked to Mrs. Ross sitting at the end of the hallway. She nodded, anxiously.
I sat down, “ I’m Lily,” her voice was dark and empty. Not what I was expecting.
“Hi, I’m Alison Rose, or Aly,” I smiled.
“Al?” She asked.
“What?”
“Jesus, nevermind?” What?
“My middle name is Melantha, meaning dark flower.”
“Why are you telling me your middle name?”
“Because,” she paused, “I don’t know. I like you.”
My eyes suddenly start to wander and I saw a man start to walk toward us, “A m-man i-is.”
“I know. He’s going to kill me. Just remember, this is a lie, everything’s a lie. I love you Al,” Al? Did she literally not hear that I just said my name was Alison or Aly? My GODDDDD. The man towered on top of Lily.
“Lily Creed,” he had ugly black hair and his voice was serious, too serious…
“Call me by my real name, Reed,” he flinched, acting like she punched him in the gut, “I have minutes to live,” he slapped her across the face. No one in the cafeteria--besides me--even flinched.
“It’s Hailey, Hailey Melantha Steen,” she’s so badass, I thought to myself.
“Let’s go,” he dragged her up.
Hailey punched his gut and pried away from his grip. Then walked to me and whispered furiously in my ear, “it’s a lie. This is a lie. They’re lying.”
Cursing, he dragged her off of me.
A smile spread across her lips, her teeth all in a perfect row, too perfect, everything too perfect.
I sat there in silence. Was she lying? Maybe she was just insane. She probably wasn’t going to die, it was probably just a prank. Al, what a joke. I laughed at myself for being so stupid.
I felt someone’s arm wrap around me and I screamed in shock, “Alison?”
“Oh my god,” I panted. It was just Mrs. Ross.
“Come with me,” her voice was stern.
“Why…” This had to do with Hailey. It had too. I knew it had too.
“Come. With. Me.”
She led me out of the cafeteria and into a hallway which led to a room with dark maroon colored walls. I saw a patient bed and a small syringe on a metal tray, with a dark green liquid inside, “please sit down,” she said. I sat down on the bed, my arms shaking so hard that I had to fold them.
“We just realized you didn’t get your last dose of the Tetanus shot yet,” thank god, “we’re just going to give it to you really quickly, is that okay?”
“Yeah, sure,” I said cautiously, “but, um, it’s gree-,” Mrs. Ross cut me off.
“That’s great,” her voice sarcastic. I don’t know what she was saying, that’s great about, the greenness or that I didn’t take the tetanus shot?
“Just lay back and relax,” I layed back and she got the shot, “it might sting.”
“It’s fine,” I bit my lip so hard I tasted blood.
Her cold, bony fingers pressed the needle into my arm and I was greeted by a sharp pain. I felt its effects right away. The shot relaxed my body and my mind and I felt as if I was drifting away. I felt so empty. I knew instantly, this wasn’t a tetanus shot. Did I feel this before? I felt my body fade away, and my mind slowed down. My eyes closed, this isn’t a tetanus shot, this is something much worse…
I woke up. I woke up again. In a room with white walls. I was greeted by Mrs. Ross and Doctor Mark, again. They told me everything they told me before. They said the exact same words as before, this time though, without the mirror. I pretended like I forgot everything. Then it it came to me. They thought I forgot. They thought I forgot what they told me.
They thought I’d forget. But I remembered. I remembered. Everything.
I didn’t forget…
“You can go in,” she motioned her arms to the wooden doors again.
“Thank you,” I told her, almost bored. I guess she forgot to tell me I was good at acting.
I walked in, this time not surprised by the neat order of kids sitting side by side. When I couldn’t find a seat Mrs. Ross motioned for me and I followed. She sat me down next to two boys, probably twins, around seventeen or eighteen years old, and one girl straight in front of me, who looked around my age. The guy with the blue eyes raised one eyebrow, and whistled. I felt like I saw him before. Have I? Who the hell knows?
“Hi,” I smiled, instantly thinking of Hailey.
“Hey,” the boy said on my right. That’s who I think I’ve seen. I don’t know,“I’m Alex,” he pretended to cough, “Vick, I mean Vick. My middle name means warrior and protector, and that’s my twin,” he pointed to the boy on my left, “and he’s Daniel, but you could call him Dan.”
Vick, or Alex, I don’t know anymore had light blonde hair tossed on his head, and blue eyes, piercing into mine. His arm almost tore through his short sleeve shirt and I could see his strong back muscles. His brother, Dan, had the same blonde hair, and the same body, but the only different feature was his deep brown eyes. They looked a little like Hailey’s…
“Oh, okay.”
“I can introduce myself by myself,” the one on my left, Dan I think, said annoyed, “Yeah, as Vick said, I’m Dan, and my middle name means the second son.”
“Cool, you could’ve, but you didn’t, idiot. Just a second son,” Vick, let’s just call him Vick, rolled his eyes. Maybe it was a little interesting here.
“Well maybe I would have, if you didn’t say everything,” Dan’s voice rose.
“Don’t mind them,” the girl said, “they’re always fighting,” she laughed. Her laugh was a beautiful light sound, that ringed in my ears.
I laughed back, mine wasn’t as pretty, “I can see,” I said, through the twins violent and threatening whispers.
“I feel like I’ve seen you before,” her head tilted a bit.
“I don’t know. I don’t,” remember…
“Yeah, I don’t know, I’m probably just paranoid,” she chuckled again and started to play with her almost-white-hair-kind-of-died-light-blue.
“We all are,” I told her. It was true, I could feel the tension in the room.
“So,” she held the ‘o’ for so long that I started to get nervous, “what’s your name?” We both laughed.
“Oh yeah,” I paused for a second, remembering what Hailey had said about my name, but closed my eyes and shook the thought out of my head, “my name’s Alison Rose, or Aly,” I smiled, trying to look more friendly, “they said that my family would tell me my middle name when I get back.”
“I’m Ariel,” The name didn’t match her, with her almost-white-hair, light brown freckles, and matching green eyes, but I grinned anyways. An Ariel would have, like, red hair, and brown eyes, I think? “My middle name means princess of the horses,” I laughed, subconsciously, and instantly felt bad, but she just laughed back, “stupid, right,” she remarked, and we laughed louder.
“Lunch time is about to be over,” how did she know? Wait, it was lunch? “Three, two, one,” a bell rang right as she said her last word.
As I walked out of the room with Ariel, Mrs. Ross approached me.
“You don’t go with them,” Mrs. Ross said kindly.
“Wait, w-why not?” Was I going to get the shot again?
“They take special classes, but the government asked something else for you.”
“Why?” I asked, as people walked past us, their heads down.
“Just, they wanted to see how you would do, honey. It really doesn’t matter, please come with us now.”
“Okay.”
She led me to an escalator and clicked button two-- noted-- and the elevator started to descend down. I wonder where this thing is taking me.
