Floating

Chapter 5

Schaffel sat on the couch, as the other two stared at him blankly. 

What should I say?  Thought Schaffel. Why are they looking at me like that?

Jan and Willa didn't know what to say either. He had just killed a Nazi soldier, and had no idea he was the one who did it. They were in utter shock and disbelief, so all they could do was stare.

"Schaffel, do you remember what happened?" Jan asked.

Schaffel looked down at the floor. "A loud knocking, then I woke up on Jan's shoulders."

Willa sighed in irritation. Clearly he is unaware, but why?  Was there a part of his mind blocking his awareness? Was it his subconscious? She didn't know, but thinking about it gave her a headache. 

Willa stood up from her seat. "I'm gonna go to my room." She said, and left.

Willa sat on the edge of her bed massaging her aching head. She got these quite often, as a result of the extensive use of her powers. 

But they were never this bad.

Schaffel's gentle footsteps quietly approached her room, and he stood in the doorway. "Are you okay?" He asked innocently. "You just seem l-like you need s-somebody to talk to." He said shyly, playing with his fingers.

"I'm perfectly fine. I don't need anyone to talk to. I barely know you anyway." Willa said rudely. She was well aware that she was in pain, and not fine. But she wasn't going to say or admit that to herself or anyone.

Schaffel smiled gently. "If you need anyone to talk to I'm only across the hall." He replied, then walked back to his room.

Willa watched as he climbed into his bed, and snuggled under the covers.

In the midst of night, Willa's eyes remained open. Her head once again ached, and she couldn't stop it. She glanced over at the small wood table beside her bed, where she put the file she found earlier. 

She gazed at the brown paper curiously, a debate continuing through her mind. Willa didn't know what could lie inside, and was unsure if she wanted to know. But why was it in Jan's room? Why did he have a file about her? She had a million questions of what could be inside the file, but her impatience got the best of her.

So she sat up, and opened the file.

Photos of her as a child sat inside, along with detailed descriptions of what she looked like, her nationality and gender. 

Willa flipped the page. 

It showed an experiment, where she was put in a room, and they gassed her, seeing if she wouldn't die. It showed photos of her body prior to that, and after.

Her jaw tightened. Why don't I remember this?

She continued flipping through the several other terrible experiments conducted, which she had no memory of. She swallowed hard and bit her lip reading the awful things they did to her. The Nazis tortured Willa.

She stopped at one of the last pages, saying December 6th 1942. Where it showed a rough sketch of her brain, and an arrow pointing to a specific area. She continued reading, until the end where it said: SOME MEMORIES OF EXPERIMENT B732 WILL BE REMOVED. IF NOT, THE BRAIN WILL BE OVERWHELMED DUE TO THE RARE BRAIN DISEASE IN HIPPOCAMPAL GYRUS. PROVIDED EQUIPMENT BY ALLIES TO COMPLETE EXPERIMENT. 

Willa's thoughts suddenly drifted to when she was a child. She remembered being in Jan's office and him telling her about the fascinating parts of the brain. One of them she remembers was when he was telling her about a rare brain disease.