Run

Chapter one: "It Wouldn't be Fun"

Chapter one: "It Wouldn't be Fun"

I can't exactly tell you how it all started. For starters, I'm a bit unsure myself. 

A memory.

A single, hazy memory that drifted every now and then to the front of my thoughts. It seemed to billow almost dangerously to my mind in the most unthinkable moments. I remember the first time it came to me. I was about seven, eight maybe. I was lazily sitting down on a white, cold seat where I faced a white wall with a metallic bordering. To outsiders it might've looked quite regal, but to me, it was nothing new. I was far too used to this lifeless color to stop and admire it. 

"Valerie?" A woman, who not so surprisingly sported a white lab coat, called out.

Several heads shifted towards me. Eyes of various colors peered at me with curiosity. All of them were similar to my age, the oldest only being eleven and the youngest being four. 

"Yes?" I spoke up, not wavering the slightest. I didn't have fear, nor did anyone in the room. They made sure to remove that from us a long time ago. At least, I thought they had.

"You're up." The lady spoke up again, clutching a pen and clipoard tightly. No one in the room missed the fact that she seemed almost guarded around us. Her clipoard was angled slightly towards my direction. It was if she was trying to use it as a shield against me. Ignoring that thought, I stood up from my chair and followed her through the ghostly white door. It made a swift swoosh as it automatically closed from behind us. 

"Follow me." She said curtly. 

I obediently obliged with the command, allowing her to walk infront of me as I walked from behind. The hall was dimly lighted and it was eerily empty. It struck me a tad bit odd that no one would occupy this hallway. I vaguely remember it being quite busy the last time I visited it.

"In here." She veered to the left, her ponytail swishing left to right as she strode inside a room. "Now, I want you to sit down on the chair and we'll get started. You're seven, right?"

I nodded, taking my seat into the chair she pointed at. The room was the usual pristine white followed by the contrasting metallic borders and accents. The woman set aside her clipboard and took the adjacent seat. 

"This isn't the first time you've done this then." She glanced at the stack of papers on her clipoard. "Ready?" 

*****Now*****

"Valerie?" 

I gazed up from my mass of papers lying on the ground. I had spent the last two or so hours trying to draw my bed from several angles. 

"Yes?" I asked, before going back to my sketch. Maggie was already accustomed to my obsession with drawing realism. 

"They're near." She stood at the entrance of my room, clutching herself with both arms. She was a thin woman, probably no heavier than a hundred and twenty pounds. Of course, since she was so frail, she was bound to be short. She almost screamed "helpless" when she strolled through the streets with me. With her long and thin blonde hair, she resembled a frail princess just waiting for her prince charming to do all the work and save the day. That resemblence, however, was nothing close to the truth. 

"How near?" I sighed, pushing back a pesky strand of my unruly hair. 

"Near enough to leave."

I glared at her, stopping my sketch mid-stroke. "Maggie, I'm a scanner. Hiding information from me is just plain stupid. I could glance at anything related to the matter and I'll figure it out eventually. Just tell me so I don't have to go through all that useless trouble."