Chapter 1

"Wake up. Aidren, wake up."

My eyes opened at the sound of my dad's voice, I knew it was his, but I couldn't place when he had said those words. There were bright overhead lights with giant bulbs and the light they shed reflected off the nearly all-white room. My brain was fuzzy, and the intensity of the room's lights hurt my eyes, causing me to squint.

There was a haze around my vision like I was looking through dirty glass that made a kaleidoscope of colors reflect off the objects. I tried to lift my hand and shield my eyes, but the movement was stopped. I glanced down to the bed and was shocked to see steel manacles attached that were keeping me from moving. What was going on?

I looked around the room and noticed there were five other beds like mine. There were also other kids in them, and they were unconscious. The bed frames were made of steel with all the mattresses covered in plain white sheets. Like the sheets, the walls of the room were white and bare. I could hear the staccato of heart rate monitors beeping at different intervals.

My heart pounded as confusion swept over me in a wave, and I struggled uselessly against my restraints. "Help," I yelled, not knowing what else to do. "Mom?" She would come for me and tell me everything that was going on. "Mom!" I repeatedly yelled for her, but she never came, and the other kids never woke up.

"Mom!" I screamed and yelled, all while sobbing uncontrollably. The room lost its haze as darkness crept around the edges of my vision. My eyelids began to grow heavy until I could no longer keep them open and I once again drifted into oblivion.