The Mysterious Door

Chapter 4

The following day we are woken in a similar way than the days before with the annunciation of the day's newest starting group, including Rufus, Valery, Amanda and Farrell. Breakfast of bacon and eggs has been served and I put on the similar looking fresh attire lain out for me. The readying time is brief, so before I know it Cindy, Anthony, Jasmine and I are walking towards the training room, ready to spend yet another day forced-learning how to use our abilities.

"I wonder what today's lesson will be," Jasmine says, practically skipping. She seems to be enjoying this way more than the rest of us. Which might have been strange, seeing that she is the worst member in the group, had we not known her to be this... perky? She twirls once, nearly knocking into one of the newly released candidates and muttering a quick apology under her breath, "I hope it's something awesome, like teleporting through solid walls, or teleporting into the sky, which would basically be flying."

"I think both of those are pretty impossible," I say, "I think we can only go where we can see, into a position which would be possible for us to attain without teleporting. So solid walls would be impossible and teleporting into the sky has no platform for us to arrive on."

"Oh you're such a prude," She says, still dancing merrily towards the door, "Why can't you just let me have my fun?"

"We're not supposed to be thinking about fun," Cindy says, to my surprise, "We need to be thinking about an escape plan. Or have you become so caught up in this world that you no longer want to get out?"

"Look," Jasmine says, her stride returning to an average walk, "I have loved drama and acting since I could walk and talk. I would always get these amazing characters to portray... great and powerful heroines, big almighty goddesses, even beautiful and justly princesses. But that's as far as it went. As soon as I stepped off the stage, the character would stay behind and I would be left... powerless, unimportant, a no one. This could be my one chance to take the role of powerful leading lady offstage... I could become amazing."

"I understand," Anthony says, "But you just have to ask yourself at what cost. Sure, the prospect of being this amazing person might sound alluring, but what would you have to give up to get it?"

"At this point," she says, her usual upbeat voice sounding awfully bare, "I would do anything to be more than 'that girl we saw on stage' and 'that hotty from down the street'. I'm just tired of everyone assuming I can't do anything because of my looks."

"There are better ways to do it," Cindy says, "There are a lot of ways to empower yourself. More than a few of them that don't require putting your life and family on the line."

Before she can reply though, we enter the training room, Brandon already waiting for us.

"Glad you could make it," he says, gesturing to the other groups already busy with that day's training, "I should probably feel honored that you finally decided to brighten up my day with your overwhelmingly joyful presence."

"Sorry," we all say in unison, the gesture clearly more empty than we intended it.

"What could have possibly been so important that you took five minutes walking down one corridor? "

"Group bonding time," I say, trying to lighten the mood, "I hear it's an important part of every team building process."

"Well," he says, his brows furrowed and his hands in fists at his sides, "Were you going to learn a new skill today, I would have been furious at the time you had lost, but..." He stretches the word out, his usual smile returning to his face, "Seeing that today is set out for personal training and you won't have anything new to learn, I'll let this one slide... but this was the first and the last time."