6

I went to the room after my breakfast had been dropped off, which consisted of a bowl of oatmeal and an orange.

The oatmeal was as hard as a rock. But the orange tasted fine.

Amanda was sitting at the table in the corner reading from a red-covered book. Justin was sitting with Will and a few other guys playing a card game.

"Hey, Andre. Did you get much sleep?" Amanda looked up from her book. "You look exhausted."

I shrug. "Fine, I guess. Did you see what happened with Quinn this morning?"

"Nope. I heard everything, though. She always acts like that every time Dr. Justin comes to get her."

"What exactly does he do?"

Amanda flipped a page. "He looks us over. Check our heart, ears, height, and weight. Stuff like that."

"So, there's no memory extraction involved?"

"Of course not!" Amanda started laughing but stopped. "I mean, not that we'd remember if they did. We can ask Justin."

I shook my head, but before I could answer Justin plopped down beside me. "Ask me what?"

Will stalked over and snorted. "Probably another stupid question." he sat. "Let's hear it."

"And who invited you here?" I snapped.

Justin waved Will's comment away. "Don't mind him. What did you need to ask me."

The door to the room opened, and the kids stopped what they were doing to stare.

"Here you are, Quinn. Go play with your friends." Dr. Justin said, pushing her into the room. "Can I have subject 1000, please?"

I froze.

"Dufus. He's talking about you." Will hissed. "Go!"

I slowly get out of my chair and make my way across the room. Dr. Justin smiled down at me.

"Hello, Andre. How are you feeling?"

I follow him out into the hall. "Fine."

"Since you're one of our newer patients, this could take a little longer than normal."

I stop. "Longer than normal? What what's normal?"

"Twenty.. twenty-five minutes or so. But you'll be there for about 30 minutes to an hour." Dr. Justin motioned for me to follow him to the elevator.

I step inside and swallow back a scream. In the corner was a guard holding a cloth in his hand. A wicked smile on his face.

Dr. Justin opened his mouth to say something, but the guard jumped at me and wrapped the cloth around my nose.

I tried fighting him, but his grip was too strong.

My movements started getting sluggish.

My last thought? That's ether alright.

Hanna was cleaning her equipment when Dr. Justin barged into the room carrying a boy in his arms.

She swallowed back her surprise when she saw who it was. Hanna scowled at the man. "Did you have to knock him out?"

"It wasn't me, Hanna. Go snap at the guard if it makes you feel any better."

She wrapped her stethoscope around her neck. "No, it'll just take longer because I have to wait for him to wake up." she gestured toward the door. "Now, don't you have a room you need to be setting up?"

Dr. Justin heaved the boy onto the table then turned and marched out of the room.

Hanna reached into the cabinet and pulled out a vial of clear liquid. She popped open the lid and walked over to Andre. When he was sleeping he looked so much like his mother.

She waved the vial under his nose and his eyes flew open. He sat up and looked around with a wild expression on his face.

He scowled at her. "You. What do you want?"

"I'm doing your checkup. Your anger should be redirected to Dr. Justin and his guard, given that he was the one who knocked you out." she gestured to a monitor on the wall. "I saw the recording."

Andre folds his arms. "Why else am I here? I'm not on the fifth floor anymore, am I?"

"No. You're not. In a few minutes, Dr. Justin will come to retrieve you to take....tests."

"Care to elaborate?"

Hanna picked up her clipboard. "To see if you have an ability, Andre. And if you'd like to know, I'm working with an organization whose purpose to is to help free you kids and find your families."

"I had a strange dream."

Hanna cocked her head. "Did the pictures trigger a memory?"

"A couple actually." Andre glanced at the door. "I was sitting in a lunchroom with a bunch of other kids. Kids that I met in the room on the fifth floor. But they looked different."

Hanna hummed. "Those kids are who you saw. But when they were brought here, they also had their memories warped, and they fiddled with their appearances, hair color, and eye color. Everything."

"But, why? Why do that if their purpose is to cure us? Aren't they going to send us back to our families?"

Hanna looked down at this boy who had a hopeful look on his face. To tell the truth, Hanna didn't know much of anything at all.

"I really don't know, Andre."