1 Experiment

TERESA

Teresa wanted to scream. She wanted to break her restraints and lunge at the men who had taken her and her brother and claw their eyes out and - no. She couldn't give them the satisfaction. Teresa and her brother Nathan were allowed to play in the park by themselves, which may have seemed irresponsible considering the fact that they were both 11. The park was empty when a sleek black car had pulled up next to the park gate. 4 men dressed in black had gotten out of the car and grabbed her. Her screams alerted her brother, who tried to wrestle Teresa away, but in the end the men grabbed him too. Why? What could they have wanted with two random kids?

Teresa had sat there, quivering fearfully as the men drove away blindfolding the two of them before arriving, hours later, at what seemed to be an underground lab. Down, down, down the steps they went before finally arriving at their destination. A large circular room filled with metal objects of all kinds. In the middle was a huge metal circle on the floor. Inside of it was a mass of swirling black energy. A row of desks piled with vials syringes, books and folders was arranged in a half circle. To the side was a set of metal stairs leading up to an observation room surrounded by a metal catwalk.

Inside, Teresa was strapped to a chair and was left there as they took her brother away. She had screamed for hours wishing someone would find them, but of course no one came. She sat silently watching the swirling mass of energy below. Dr. Ballantine had called it a 'portal.' Dr. Ballantine was a man of 50 and he had a small gray and black beard. He was scary and ruthless too. She had once stared in horror as he pushed his assistant-who he considered inefficient-into the portal. He wanted his staff to do what he said because everyone knew what he did to the previous staff. He had locked them all in a air-tight chamber and pumped ether into it, knocking them out. Then he slowly filled the chamber with wet cement. When it dried he hung the block of cement up with some of the staff's body parts sticking out.

Since then no one dared cross him unless they were absolutely sure they wouldn't die in a slow and horrible way.

Teresa heard a loud roar and she jolted. She was short so she strained trying to see what was going on. The huge crane next to the portal was lowering something into it. It wiggled struggling against the four ropes holding it in place. She looked closer and gasped. It was her brother. She screamed. She fought against her bindings, watching anxiously as Nathan was lowered closer and closer to the portal.

She sobbed knowing it was no use. Her brothers shirt touched the portal. Then his back . Then the rest of his body was lowered until all you could see was the tips of his toes and his face. Nathan screamed in pain jerking upward, trying to get away from the swirling black energy which was latching onto his skin like leeches pulling him in. "Nooooo! No, no, no!" Teresa screamed. She cried as Dr.Ballantine walked into the observation room. He was holding a syringe and a vial filled with white, glowing, liquid. "W-what is that?" Teresa asked quietly, her voice shaking.

Dr. Ballantine grinned. "Just a little experiment..." he muttered. He threw the vial away and inserted the needle into her shoulder. She struggled. Dr. Ballantine smiled. He threw the syringe away and walked away. Teresa felt a growing warmth in her limbs. She suddenly felt tired. So tired. Maybe some sleep wouldn't hurt. As she closed her eyes she thought of her parents. If she stayed awake, she would have noticed that her veins and eyes were glowing with an unnatural white light.

This went on for months.

Teresa got the syringe and Nathan stayed in the portal. Then something went wrong.

Dr. Ballantine had handed 8 vials of the glowing white liquid to a young doctor. He yelled at him to take it away to the storage facilities. The doctor scurried towards his desk, terrified. As he passed by the portal, he tripped over a huge cable and fell.

Two vials smashed on impact, white liquid dripping into the grates. 4 rolled away, but 2 rolled into the portal. Everyone froze, silence filling the lab. You could hear nothing other than the swish of the portal. Then that swish became a roar. Everyone screamed as an alarm blared, red lights flashing.

She could see the portal growing, its energy swirling out of control.

Teresa took this chance to take out the piece of glass she had taken from a broken beaker. Earlier they had released her for "exercise" and she had threw a tantrum breaking one of the many glass beakers and stole a piece of fallen glass. She began to cut her restraints furiously. After a seemingly long 5 minutes and all the doctors running out of the lab through the 2 huge metal doors, she finally got her arm free. She cried out in victory before 

Teresa ripped off the restraints on her legs and ran to the door. Locked. She looked around desperately and picked up a stool. She slammed it into the window in the door. It cracked. She hit it again. The cracks spread. Then with a scream she threw the chair at the window. It burst through flying down the stairs. Teresa didn't have any time to find out why she was so much stronger. She raced down the steps and looked around. She grabbed a discarded backpack and stuffed a sweater, a black cloak and 2 vials of the black energy and white liquid. She had no idea why these objects were here but she took them anyways. She raced to the portal and realized that the energy had severed 3 of the ropes holding Nathan in place. The large metal doors were slowly grinding shut. She ignored it and knelt down and reached out her hand.

"Nathan grab my hand!" She screamed. Nathan moaned. With great effort he reached up and pulled off the eagle amulet on his neck. He reached for her and placed the amulet into her palm. "Go..." He croaked. Then the last rope snapped. "Noooooooooooooo!" Teresa screamed as Nathan fell in. She sobbed, tears running down her face. But as rubble began to fall from the ceiling and fire broke out around the lab she knew she had to move.

She got up and staggered to the huge metal doors but she was too late. They closed and she shouted in fear in frustration. She pounded her fists on the doors. "Help me!" She screamed. She turned and stared in horror as the energy in the portal compacted into a small ball. Then it exploded bringing fire with it. It pulverized the doors and propelled Teresa on top of them. She cried out pain wracking her limbs. But she felt a weird sense of calm as the lab burned and rubble fell around her. And then it all collapsed completely plunging her into total darkness.