Prologue
Dark, that’s all I can remember. Darkness… that sad, lonely, scary feeling. I hate darkness. I love the light. I wish I was in it more often. What does the sunlight feel like? I hear it feels warm. Like a blanket warm or hot air warm? Or both? Does what I’m saying make any sense whatsoever? No, well, sorry. I don’t know how to really talk to people. I’ve seen many people, but I really only talk to the other numbers. Then again, I rarely ever see them. Who am I, you might ask. I’m twelve. Great name, huh? I’m joking, it’s a terrible name. Who names a kid after a number? Stupid, right? Well, it’s not stupid to Papa. Or as everyone else knows him as Dr. Brenner. You could say he runs the place. Well, actually he does run the place. What place, you might ask. Home. Well, I call it home because I’ve never known anything else but this place. I hear some people call it… work? I don’t really know what “work” is but by the looks of it and by the people’s faces when they talk about it, it doesn’t sound like a fun place. I hear others say “The lab”? What is a “lab”? So many questions, but not enough answers. Maybe one day I’ll find out everything I’m wanting to know. I want to know why I’m here, why I am named twelve, and why I’m not allowed to see the light. Papa says that he’ll show me the sunlight one day. I hope it is very warm, like a blanket and hot air. Yet, Papa says a lot of things. Half the time I wonder if he is just saying those things just so I can stop asking him questions about what life is like outside my home. Oh yeah, did I forget to mention I’m never allowed outside? I go from my room to another, to another, to another, then back to my room. That repeats every single day. My room, another room, another room, another room, and back to my room. Every day the same pattern over and over again. Papa says it’s for these things called tests. Whatever those are. He also says I’m key to finding out something. I wonder if those tests are going to someone. If so, who? Where? Why? How? What are the tests even about? Are they about the special gifts that Papa gave me? Oh! Sorry, I forgot to mention I have special gifts! They are psychokinesis, telepathy, teleportation, and telekinesis. Well, that’s what Papa says I have. I wonder if that is what all these tests are about. Will we ever get what Papa calls results? Will the testing ever be over? Also, what happened to the numbers before me? Like, Eleven?
