❝Everything is going to change.❞
When she comes to, curled up on her side inside some strange elevator of sorts, the only thing Adeline can remember is her name. Anything else about herself - who she is, her childhood, her family - are gone. Her min...
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15 → "CHUCK"
ADELINE dreamed again that night.
She was seven years old, a month from her eight birthday. She didn't understand how she knew how old she was, but she just knew. She sat by the steps inside a creaky old building, watching as an elderly women and a younger women talked in the office.
"We need to test these children for immunes." The women said. "It's a quick process."
"May I ask why?" The elderly women asked. The younger women shook her head, her hair falling over her face. "Why ever not?"
"It's none of your business." The women snapped.
"But it is!" The elderly woman snapped. "I run this orphanage and these kids are my responsibility."
"It is none of your business, Ma'am." She said. "I know you know about the Flare. I know you know that some of these kids have the virus, but some may be immune to the virus. And if any of these kids are immune to that virus, then they are important to me. To us. Look, allow me to explain."
The door slammed shut not a moment later, the younger women flashing Adeline a small smile.
The scene changed.
Adeline awaited in a line, the woman and another man making their way to each and every orphaned child. They raised a small machine, scanning it at their brain. A programmed voice uttered the words "not-immune." At each child. Once the women got to her, Adeline started to panic.
"Don't be afraid, dear." She gently told her. "It does not hurt. Just stay still."
Adeline nodded, watching as the women raised the weird machine. It scanned her for a split second before it beeped. For a moment, Adeline was afraid she'd get the same result.
'Immune.' The programmed voice said, gaining everyone's attention. The woman's eyes widened in shock.
Adeline woke up with a start, someone shaking her shoulders. Her eyes fluttered open, tiredness threatening to pull her back to sleep.
"Adeline." A face appeared above her, inches from hers. This time she did not shriek in fright. Before her, Newt stood. He was wide awake, but he had bags under his eyes, suggesting sleep never came to him last night.
