3- Trapped

The room was made of metal walls, a metal ceiling, a bed, a side room with a toilet and sink, and a horizontally-barred door. Across the hall, there was another barred door, and it almost seemed like a jail. The numbers "0715" were on the wall above the door across the hall. I looked over at the wall, and the numbers "0623" were on the wall inside near the bed. I was guessing that these were our identification numbers, and I doubted our names would be used when the authorities, like the bodyguards, would call us up for things.

I had no idea what we'd be doing, but naturally I assumed I wasn't the only one in a cell like this. Who knows, there could be tens, hundreds of teens like me who don't even know why they're here.

There was a clock above the identification number. I suddenly realized it was almost 10pm, but I didn't feel tired. I usually take sleeping pills, like melatonin, so it's difficult for me to sleep without them. Nonetheless, I climbed into the bed. I noticed it was a nice and calm sage green blanket, my favorite color. I hoped that was on purpose from Tim.

I layed in the bed mindlessly wondering about the place. I counted all of the ceiling tiles in the span of about an hour, I believed there were 589 of them. I could see through the bars on the door from where my head was rested, but I didn't take much notice of it. Until..

In the corner of my eye, there was a slight movement. I knew it was just my imagination, though, so I closed my eyes and thought about home.

I don't know how, but I knew I was asleep when I finally started to dream. I was baking cookies with Gigi, my grandma, and then I was decorating them silly with Tim for family dinners at holidays. I dipped my finger in the bowl of cookie dough for a taste, but Gigi forced me to wash it off. "This isn't the movies, we don't need a preview", she'd always say.

Then, when the cookies were in the oven, Gigi would go take a nap, as usual. That's when me and my uncle Tim would get the decorating stuff out, wash the baking dishes, and set up the stuff for the rest of the cousins to decorate with us. I laughed as we left the water running to make Gigi think we were doing the dishes, and secretly were eating the leftover dough together. It was absolutely spectacular, as usual. It was Gigi's secret recipe, that only me and her knew. I loved baking, and I was the first grandchild to have a shared passion with her, so she had me pass on the recipe in the family bloodline. It was an apple cider cinnamon cookie, made with extra love 'from Gigi and Amby-kins'. I hated the nickname, but it's okay when Gigi says it. I drifted into sleep of blank nothingness, with the sweet taste of the cookies still in my mouth.

Suddenly, an alarm woke me from my sleep. It was my alarm, too, which made me even more confused as why I wasn't in the comfort of my own room. The alarm continued for about 5 more minutes, and then stopped. I noticed the tray of what I assumed to be breakfast that was now on the floor near the door. It contained a bottle of orange juice, toast, scrambled eggs, and…a rock?

I suddenly realized it was a gemstone, not just a rock. As I looked closer at the rock, I realized it was…amber. Wow, how funny of Tim or whoever gave me this. Of course someone would make a pun off my name. Regardless of the not-so-funny joke, I ate the food on the bed, took a shower, and brushed my teeth with the basic necessities in the bathroom. All of the sudden, a voice came over the same intercom that the alarm was on.

"Good morning kins. Please press your role-call button when your number section is called, get into your uniform, and get ready for today. As you all know by now, it is Monday, which means we will not be having any division work today. We also have a new kin joining us today, please excuse the noise from their procedure. We know you all want to know, but we cannot disclose their division yet, so you'll have to figure out which division they are yourselves. KK's, please complete your forms before Friday, as you 5 should already know about. Over."

I was the new 'kin', my thoughts rushed through my head. Procedure? What do you mean 'procedure'? And why would it make noise? Also, divisions? KK's? What did all these terms mean?

Right as I started to think about if the procedure would be painful or not, a voice popped into my head.

"Bro, the newbie's in our section! I wonder what division they are!"

What the hell? Who was that? It was a guy's voice, probably around my age. He sounded a little too excited that I was in this "section." Then, a girl's voice, around the same age, spoke through thoughts.

"What type of gem was on your breakfast plate, newbie? What's your name? How old are you?"

"Oh shut up Har, they're new! They don't know how to answer you. Can you see what room they're in?" The boy had an audible smile when he spoke.

"They're right across the hall from me, J, 0623. If I had to guess, they're probably an OK or AVK. Just getting those vibes from their thoughts."

I tried ignoring the two obsessing over my arrival, but they just wouldn't stop blabbing in my head. I tried to think, in a really loud voice, 'please shut up, I'm trying to figure out what's going on,' but as soon as I did, they simply laughed in thought.

"I forgot we were still casting to her."

"Me too."

"How'd she cast back? She hasn't had her procedure yet."

"Probably just us picking up on her thought a little too much. She didn't cast it."

"Oh, okay, bye newbie!"

Things were getting really weird with this whole 'casting' stuff. I heard everyone around me press their button, so I pressed mine as well. This meant that we were section 6, because that was the number just called over the intercom. I heard footsteps toward my door, and I saw two people in very formal attire stop at my room. They pointed at the plain white tee, black pants, bra, underwear, and socks, and one of the people simply said "change", so I went into the restroom and changed into them.

They unlocked the door with a passcode, and held me by the arms as they escorted me down the long hallway. My eyes shut tight unwillingly, almost as if they had been suddenly taped shut. Many turns were made until I was put into a chair that felt like a dentist's office chair, making me a little uneasy.

My eyes flickered open, and a bright light was shining at me from the ceiling. Men and women in surgical masks and outfits approached me slowly, and I really started to freak out. I tried to scream for help, but nobody stopped. Restraints suddenly locked onto my wrists and ankles, and I rested my head back down in defeat. I felt like I was losing all my strength at once, and an overwhelming calm rushed through my body. It was at that moment I noticed the orange-ish colored liquid in the needle being pumped into my shoulder. What had they done to me? My eyes felt heavier by the second and my mind began to fuzz…