This is my Blood

Chapter 2

My vision is black for about two or three minutes I assume. I don't see anything at all except for black. I can't open my eyes to see or my mouth to speak. I keep reminding myself that this isn't death. It's not death, I'm smarter than that. Whoever they are who have put me here obviously put me here for a reason, not to just kill me. If they wanted to kill me they would've done it by now.
The complete blackness turns to a blinding light which quickly fades so that I can see a brightly lit room. Two girls sit in chairs in front of a window. They must be about fourteen years old. All they do is sit in those chair staring at nothing.
Those two girls are Rowan and I. But I'm not in my younger self's body. I'm watching from a different perspective and they can't see me, but I can see them. My younger self tries to say something, but Rowan hushes her harshly.
A woman with blonde hair walks through the door and shuts it behind her. She walks to stand in front of them with a slight smile on her face. How could she be smiling at a time like this? The woman opens her mouth to speak, but my younger self interrupts her on purpose.
"No, I'm not going to let you say any "I'm so sorry," crap to us and think we'll just forgive you," she says.
The woman sighs. "I know you two are probably very angry with the information that you have recently received. But I want you to remember that all this is for a very good reason," the woman responds.
"And that reason is?"
"We are testing you and the others to see how you react to different emotions and challenges. Like strength, not just physical strength though. Intelligence, anger, sadness, fear, and even happiness. And the challenges are the ones you'll find along the way."
"That's only half of answering her question! She asked you why and you're going to tell us!" Rowan yells at the woman. I've never seen Rowan this angry before. She only gets mad about things that she cares about, she cares about me, and doesn't want us to come here. It was my younger self's problem, but now it's mine. It's my problem now and I have to get through it.
"I'm sorry, but unfortunately that information is classified and our time is up," the woman says. "Time to go."
"No! I said you are going to answer her question! Did I not make myself clear?" Rowan shouts and stands up.
"Did I not make myself clear? If so, I said that information is classified. Times up, leave," the woman responds sternly. Rowan lunges to grab the woman, but before she can even connect with her two guards come bursting through the door with guns. My younger self stands up to help Rowan. Right when she does one of the guards comes to her and throws her over his shoulder. The other guard does the same with Rowan.
Both guards start to take them out of the room. They both start screaming and cursing at the woman. This woman is responsible for putting us here, for putting Rowan here. And for that, she will die.
Right when the door clicks shut I start to fade back to reality. It doesn't take long. My eyes slowly starting to open and I can just barely see Rowan standing next to me. I force my eyes to open. How did she get past the wall?
All the pain from earlier is gone, all I feel is a slight ache in my gut. I sit up fast and look over at Rowan. I raise my eyebrows. She just shrugs her shoulders.
"How'd you get through the wall?" I ask.
"Once you fell asleep the wall went down. I ran over here and waited for you to wake up."
"How long was I asleep?"
"I dunno," she says while shrugging her shoulders again.
"Come on. We need to go, now," I say standing up. I start to walk towards the forest and Rowan follows. I'm not sure where we are going, but that woman said that there are others. Others here?
  The second we step both feet into the forest a loud blaring alarm goes off and I can't even hear myself think. I cover my ears, but nothing helps. I turn to face Rowan, her eyes are shut tight and her teeth are gritted together. I want to help her, but it's no use, I can't do anything to stop it.
I turn back around and what I see startles me. A lion, growling, razor sharp teeth, and foam dripping out of its mouth. The sight makes me want to gag instantly. The lion starts to slowly walk towards Rowan, who still has her eyes tightly shut.
What am I supposed to do? I can't let it kill her.
"Rowan!" I scream at the top of my lungs. Her eyes open and immediately dart to the lion creeping closer to her. She tries to take a step towards me, but the lion roars that is just loud enough for me to hear over the loud alarm.
I take my hands down from my ears and reach into the back pocket of my jeans. My hand wraps around a cool handle. I pull it out of my pocket. A knife. But how am I supposed to kill this animal? I've never killed anyone or anything before, at least, not on purpose.
The lion picks up speed at every step. I think fast. The life of my sister or the lion. I get ready to throw the knife. I can't lose my sister. The lion is at a fast walk now and is still going for Rowan.
"Renee!" She screams. The alarm still sounds, but I push it away. I need to concentrate. "Renee, Renee!"
  I take a deep breath and launch the knife to the lion's head. The lion topples over instantly. I walk over to it to grab my knife. It sticks straight where I wanted it to. I gulp and take the knife out of the lion's head. I quickly put it into my back pocket and grab Rowan's arm. The alarm stops.
"Come on, we need to go," I order. She nods and we start to walk deeper into the forest. I don't dare look back at the damage I've done. Humans are capable of these things, but it kills me to see it.