1996 | Y.Jw

| 4 |

When the common room was changed into a classroom all furniture in the room was pushed to the sides and was instead replaced by six tables and six chairs, along with a whiteboard - which only had black markers.

"Now why is the outside world dangerous, and why is it essential that you must stay in here for your wellbeing?" our teacher, mrs. Benson questioned as she paced back and forth in front of the whiteboard, "why is it best we only let you six stay by one another and not meet the others? Why do we help you develop your skills? Do we choose your skills or is it already pre-chosen by your genetics?" she stopped her pacing and finally looked out at us, "these of course are all questions you have been studying towards along with us. We will in the coming days evaluate on those questions. Do you have any other questions before we continue?"

"What will happen once we finish this studying, what will happen to us?" Sunoo questioned carefully.

"After this studying, and you pass the knowledge tests we'll continue with the skill developing and tests," mrs. Benson assured and Sunoo frowned slightly, making Emiko raiser her hand instead.

"Does that mean we'll get more time together?" Emiko questioned slow and mrs. Benson shook her head.

"The time you usually spend in these learning sessions will be replaced by mandatory curfew and inidividual tests," mrs. Benson clarified and I slowly raised my hand, "no, number 18 you will not be let out into normal society for your own safety," she sighed, having heard the question too many times over the past few years.

"We will have to be here until we die?" I questioned and she glanced to a nearby window.

"No more questions," she decided and I frowned as I looked over at Lin, who paused her doodling in her notebook, "lessons for today is over. Number 9 and 18 will be escorted to some tests, miss Hopkins should come up with your goggles any minute, 18."

I quietly nodded as I leaned back in my seat, looking to Jungwon with raised eyebrows. He hesitantly glanced at me and simply shrugged in return. I frowned in confusion, how can that prediction still be blurry if the test is within the next hour. He never has close predictions that are blurry. From what I know he rarely has any blurry visions.

I watched in silence as the four others were escorted to their rooms whilst the empty desks and chairs were removed from the room and mrs. Benson soon disappeared.

"How the hell is that prediction still blurry?" I hissed at Jungwon, who immediately shrugged in return, "Jungwon please, please try again. Please."

"Even if I did, I couldn't change anything," he shook his head making me sigh.

"Jungwon, if you really are my friend you'll check one last time and tell me," I warned him.

"Jiyeon I am your friend, but I'd rather leave you unknowing of the truth because if you know what you're going into it can go even more wrong," he shook his head making me huff out.

"That is not being a friend Jungwon," I shook my head at him as I rubbed my face with both my hands, "no matter what you tell me it can't be worse than the trials we had when we turned seven."

"Trials?" he questioned in confusion as he frowned at me.

"Yeah... the seven year trials," I nodded and he quickly turned his body to me as the door opened and mrs. Hopkins walked in, holding a box in her hands.

"I have your requested things," she spoke up, pulling a pair of goggles out of the box, "and I got your goggles. Mr. Peterson will be up in a moment," she excused to Jungwon as she handed me my goggles.

"You'll be fine," he quickly assured making me glance to him, just giving me a small nod as he tapped the side of his head, as if signalling that he had just checked himself.

I sucked in a deep breath before slipping the goggles onto my face and standing up to walk with miss Hopkins. 

Her grip on my arm was tighter today than it had been before. On top of the unfamiliar grip she also led me down a different way than she usually did. The more steps I took the more uneasy I felt. It was first when I heard a door close behind me that I was stopped in my tracks and the goggles were taken off my face, making me face an elderly man immediately.

"Hey there," he smiled before pointing to a chair, "please sit down for me, yeah?" 

I quietly nodded before hesitantly walking towards a chair, standing beside a table with a big machine on it. 

"I'm gonna put this headpiece on you, okay?" he questioned as he picked up a wirery setup, that looked like a very wornout rug, a few patches with even space between them was placed around on the circular rug, "and then we'll start the test. We'll ask you to do various things during the test including your skill. Is that alright?"

"Yeah..." I trailed off quietly as he carefully draped the circular thing over my head. Placing two of the weird patches right on my forehead and adjusting it around my head, pushing it down under my hair to get it to stick to my scalp.

He pressed a few buttons on the machine beside me. Once other parts began lighting up it was loud and rumbling as if it was a big old steam locomotive. I gave the man an unsure look as I noticed more people in white lab coats around the room, all with clipboards in their hands.

"Let's start easy, alright?" the man questioned and I slowly nodded as one of the other people in labcoats placed a small can on the floor, "crumble that up for me, will you?"

Easily I looked down at the can and watched as it crumbled up, like it was just a small ball of paper.

"Magnificent," the man commented as everyone else began scribbling down on their clipboards, "do you feel anything yet?"

"Slightly uneasy," I excused as I glanced around the room, "I haven't ever seen so many people at once."

"I understand," he assured softly, "do me a pleasure and push a few out of the room for me."

"I can't... I can't control people," I murmured and he only frowned as if he didn't understand.

Without a word I pulled a few of the notepads out from the grip of their owner. They immediately followed after their notepads, which I had thrown out on the hallway. I remembered to slam the door as if it was nothing once they were out of the room. Not once did I even move a single hair. It was now only five other people in the room beside me, the usual amount of people I preferred there to be in a room.

"Wonderful," the man praised and I quietly picked at my right thumbnail to calm myself down, "pick a clipboard, whichever you like, pick it."

Calmly the clipboard in a young woman's hand slipped out of her hands and flew into the middle of the room. The marveling eyes on me kept on making me more and more uneasy, as I tried to calm myself down. It was as if they were waiting for me to mess up, to drop it, to freak out.

My breath hitched as I lost control. 

All at once the clipboard flew towards the machine that stood beside me. Smashing into the machine the clipboard fell to the floor and a sharp pain went through my head as yelling echoed in the room.

I tried to stay in my chair by gripping onto the armrests tightly and for a second I was sure I had managed to do so - if I hadn't felt the cold concrete floor against my cheek as soon as everything went black.