ELECTRIC LOVE; Sam Guthrie

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A year later...

"Thene? Athena?" Sam's voice called into the darkness of the attic, the boy switching the lights on to reveal the brown haired girl snuggled in a beanbag in the corner her eyes closed and headphones slipped over her ears.

"Heavens to Betsy." Sam cursed limping over to the girl quickly shaking her gently. Athena startled awake slipping her headphones off and rubbing her eyes sleepily. "Have you lost your marbles Athena! Reyes has been searching for ya all mornin'." Sam groaned, helping the smaller girl up.

Once at her full height, Athena looked tiny in her large knitted sweater. The only odd thing about her appearance was her thick black gloves running to just below her elbow.

"What's she gonna do kick me out." Athena smiled cheekily moving past Sam pulling her headphone around her neck, adjusting her sweater to sit over her baggy jeans.

"Hold your horses, you know what happened last time Thene. Might wanna stay in her good books." Sam shrugged following after Athena as fast as he could. Sam had broke his arm once again, and after he had broke his leg 5 months ago his walk hadn't been the same, slowing his pace quite a lot.

"I'm not planning on staying much longer." Athena continued walking fastly paced, muttering under her breath, just loud enough for Sam to hear. Athena regularly joked about escaping the compound, the girl going through many attempts never making it past the barrier outside.

"Hush your mouth Athena, Dr Reyes would lock you right back up if she hears you talking like that." Sam shushed trailing behind Athena promptly.

"Sam, she doesn't scare me-

"Miss Whitehall, Mr. Guthrie." Dr Reyes voice caused both teens to tense up swivelling around. "Athena we missed you for our morning session? Care to explain where you were?" Dr Reyes pressured walking closer.

"She slept in ma'am I just went to grab her'." Sam defended shuffling his feet nervously, running his fingers along the brim of his cap.

"Thank you Sam, but it was clear Athena was simply skipping her class." Dr Reyes spoke strictly, "Now Athena if you'd join me for your training?" Dr Reyes beckoned, Athena's jaw tightening. A few more seconds passed, Athena remaining motionless Reyes speaking up again.

"Remember Athena, the quicker you get better, the faster you can move to my supervisors facility." Dr Reyes encouraged turning to begin walking, Athena glancing at Sam slightly, brushing off the boy's concerned face following the woman reluctantly.

Reyes had been having one on one sessions with Athena since her third escape attempt which included blowing up the compounds power station. Athena hated them. They weren't much different to the so called 'training' her parents had put her through.

"Now Athena, I want you to focus on the images in front of you." Reyes instructed, an old projector flashing images in front of Athena. Athena was sat in a wooden chair, both her arms and legs strapped down her gloves secured tightly on. Athena didn't mind the restraints, she knew Reyes had her reasons. Sometimes Athena could get worked up over little things affecting the compounds electricity.

Although she couldn't stand the band that had to hold her head up, convincing Reyes she could go without it.

Athena had done this exercise a few times before. She never liked it, the graphic photos bringing up memories she had sworn to bury months ago. Dr Reyes insisted it was all apart of her training but sometimes it felt like she was back in her parents facility.

"Now tell me what you know about this first image Athena." Dr Reyes switched the lights off, an image appearing in front of her eyes. A little girl was sat in the image, playing with some blocks on the ground. Except the little girl wasn't just playing with the blocks, they were floating in front of her fingertips, her eyes glowing a bright red.