The UPSIDEDOWN Love / Henry Creel / 001 / Peter Ballard

001: the runaway

I was breathless. In woods in the middle of the night after so much running. I ran away from my home. Should I even call it home? But I finally did it. I got away from them. I got away from my abusive parents that were treating me like shit my whole life. Yelling, insulting, beating. That was what I experienced in my past life. I hope I won't get back to them. I never want to see them again.

I looked around. I saw trees. I was in the middle of some woods but it was night so I didn't see anything else. I didn't see any light. No sign of life. I was all alone. It was November. I was cold with only a hoodie and sweatpants on me. I didn't know what to do. I started walking only to see some flashlight. It wasn't one, it was like three.

Usually I would've screamed for help but now I was afraid it would be my parents or someone they send to find me. I quietly hid behind a tree and watched as the flashlights kept getting closer to me. I hope they didn't see me. I started backing up from the tree without making any noise so I could run away but my back hit something. Or maybe someone. I turned around and saw a tall man with grey hair about 60 years old. There wasn't time to say something.

He grabbed me as I screamed for help. The other three flashlights were getting closer and closer until I finally saw three people. Two men and one woman. No one could hear my screaming for help. I felt a little pain in the back of my neck. I turned to look and see that the grey haired man has gave me an injection. I started to get dizzy. Everything around me was blurry and the voices started to fade. Before I got unconscious I only heard "We got you".

I woke up. I looked around myself and saw a white ceiling with white walls, white door and white floor. It looked like in a mental hospital. I tried to move but I was tied to a bed with some leather belts. As I was moving I felt pain in my left wrist. I looked at it. There was a tattoo saying 007. What? What does that mean? Who and when did they do this? But most importantly where am I?! My eyes widened when I saw the door opening.

"Seven, you're finally up." I saw the grey haired man saying to me. Why is he calling me Seven? I have my own name.
"Who are you? And where am I?!" I started to panick. My head started hurting from the bright light upon my head and tears started forming in my eyes.
"I'm doctor Martin Brenner but you can call me Papa. You are in the Hawkins Laboratory. You have no reason to worry or stress. You are meant to be here." He says calmly, caressing my cheek. I quickly pull away.
"Don't touch me." I say while looking in his eyes. "And I'm not going to call you Papa." I add.
"Oh Seven, you'll have to. Your siblings here calls me Papa too." He says and smiles. It was a smile that hid a lot of anger behind it. I felt that he wasn't as kind as he pretended to be. But what siblings did he mean? I don't have any siblings. I'm so confused. I really don't know what's happening here but I'll find out.

"This is a laboratory where we test your abilities and your powers. There are children that have powers as telekinesis and mind searching. You have one aswell. You might not know it but I do. Every child here has a number. That number is their name. Everyone here will call you Seven." He says and leaves the room when a tall man with blonde hair comes inside. He looks around my age and has a white suit and white pants on him. He is kind of charming. He comes to me and unties me as he holds out his hand.

"Come" he says smiling at me. I take his hand and we go out the room. We are walking through the long white halls when i finally spoke up.
"Who are you?" I ask him and he looks at me.
"I'm Peter Ballard. One of the orderly's here." He says smiling at me. I wonder how he could smile in a place like this.
"I'm Edi-, I'm Seven." I say and he nods. I almost said my real name. Edina. I think I'm just not supposed to say it when we call each other by numbers.

We finally stop walking at the end of the hall. He takes of a pair of keys from his pocket and starts to unlock a door. He opens the door and tells me to go inside. I do so and I sit on a bed. I look around. There was a bed that I was sitting on, a sink and a table. It was a little white square room.
"This is your room." Peter says as he gets inside the room as well.
"How long do I have to stay here?" I ask Peter and he sits next to me handing me a hospital robe.
"You can't leave, Seven. This is your new home." He says and i look at him with worried eyes. I stand up.
"No, no, no this can't be true!" I shout and I start to tear up. He stands up infront of me and unexpectedly hugged me.

"I'm so sorry." He said while hugging and he left the room. I guess I'm a labor rat now.