After the Rain

Chapter Four

     Sauli walked into the brightly-colored little girl's room that had belonged to Ellie Brookestone for the past three years. Since she'd been.   administrated into the hospital and under Sauli's watch, the room had become her home.
     A doll house sat in the center of the room and the far left wall had her bed pushed against it. A small radio sat on the nearby desk and Sauli found Ellie sitting in front of a small TV with his assistant, Jarrett Hewes. Sauli could see he'd brought in his gaming console once again for the both to play, the floor in front of the TV stand a battlefield of potato chip bags, candy wrappers, and soda cans.
    "I win again!" cheered the nine-year-old, her green eyes shining proudly. Jarrett lounged back, propped up on one elbow in his beanbag chair. He had all his piercings out except for his left earring. He swept a strand of his long, artificially-dyed purple hair out of his eyes and smiled at the little girl.
     "You just got lucky."
     "No, you just stink at this game," Ellie countered, sticking her tongue out at him, and he laughed. Sauli came over and picked up an empty can of Mountain Dew.
     "Do not tell me you gave her this," he said.
     "Okay, I won't." Jarrett smirked as he popped a Dorito into his mouth and crunched it loudly.
     "She gets sick, it's on you. Besides," Sauli reached over and turned off the TV. "We have tests to run. She can't concentrate when she's hopped up on sweets. She's got that sugar-coated glaze in her eyes."
     "Here's an idea—don't do the tests." Jarrett suggested, cracking open another can.
     "You know we have to." Sauli retorted. "You just want to sit here and play games instead of doing your rounds."
     "I don't wanna," whined Ellie.
     Jarrett stood, stretching his arms over his head and groaning before shaking his hair out of his eyes. He then picked Ellie up. "We have to, kiddo, I'm sorry. We'll play later."
     She sighed. "Fine."
     "Good girl." Jarrett followed Sauli out of Ellie's room, past a small conference hall, and into a familiar observation room. He sat Ellie down at a table and picked up a silver band with sensors lining the inside of it, gently sliding it onto Ellie's head, brushing her dark brown bangs from her eyes.
     "There you go, princess." He smiled at her. "I'm right outside if you need me, and Sauli's in the room next door. Just yell, okay?"
Ellie nodded and Jarrett left the room, closing the door behind him.
     Looking around, Ellie saw several differently-positioned cameras standing on tripods at the opposite end of the table, all angled on her. On the wall to her right, there was a one-way mirror taking up most of its surface. She knew they could see her, but she couldn't see them.
     Yet.
     On the table lay before her four cards showing various shapes: a diamond, a circle, triangle, and a square. Sauli's voice crackled on over the intercom, filling the quiet room.
     "Okay, Ellie. This is just like last time. Natalie is in the other room with some cards," he explained. "She'll pick one, and I want you to see if you can guess what it is, okay?" She nodded in response. "Okay, let's begin, then."
     Ellie took a deep breath and looked past the cameras, to the bland blue wall she was facing. The dim room blurred as her head began to ache. It was as if the wall faded, dissolved, as she stared at it, and she could see Natalie sitting at the table in the other room, identical to the one she was in. She thought Natalie was pretty, her dark hair pulled back in a ponytail, her pretty hazel eyes complimented by the little makeup she wore. Most people looked weird in scrubs, but somehow they suited her nicely. In her hand was the card with the diamond on it.
     The pulsating ache in her head immediately began to withdraw, and Ellie saw the room and all the cameras again. She placed her hand on the card with the diamond printed on it. It felt cold to the touch, glossy in the light.
     "Good, Ellie. Next card, please." Sauli's voice filled the room. The world around Ellie blurred and the pain returned. Natalie held the card with the triangle. Like the many times before that she'd done this, Ellie continued to choose the same cards as Natalie, Sauli's beautifully accented voice praising her each time.
     "Okay, Natalie has some blocks on the table. Could you knock the over for me?" asked Sauli.
    Natalie sat in the room across from Ellie's, clipboard in lap, waiting patiently for something to happen. The wooden child's blocks that sat in front of her, stacked neatly into a pyramid, started to tremble slightly. One by one, the blocks fell and tumbled onto table's surface or even thumped softly into the carpeted floor.
     Natalie smiled. "Incredible."
     "Indeed," Sauli said. "Ellie's going to see what else she can move."
     "Go for it." She replied, sitting back. Her eyes scanned the room for any signs of movement. A few moments later, the water bottle next to her fell on its side and rolled off the table.
     Seemingly harmless to them, but Ellie knew better. She knew when she was pushing too hard. Something changed, some part of her that could make these abilities possible. When she tried to open her eyes and stop, she couldn't. It was like she was trapped in her own body, caged in some corner of her mind, someone else at the controls. Fear overtook her and her heart began to race, monitors somewhere nearby immediately picking up her heart rate and extra brain activity, starting to wail and beep loudly like relentless sirens.
     Sauli leaned forward in his chair, pressing the button for the intercom. "Ellie?" He said, concerned. "Honey, are you okay?"
     There was no response, not even the slightest nod.
     When the chair Natalie sat in flew out from underneath her back into the wall and she was knocked to the floor, they all knew something was wrong. The table then flipped, sending a couple books and filing folders full of papers into the air and scatter all over the floor. The one-way mirror cracked, looking like a spider had spun a large web over top the glass.
     "Ellie. Enough." Sauli's said quickly, but to no avail. Next thing he knew, Natalie was lifted up off the floor, rising towards the ceiling.
     "Jarrett! Dad!" Natalie cried.
     Sauli ran next door and as soon as his fingers brushed the cold metal of the doorknob, there was a soft click. He twisted the handle. Locked.
     "Ellie!" He called, ramming his shoulder into the door. After a few blows, the lock gave in and the door flew inward. He went to Ellie's side, finding her sitting with her head back, eyes empty, staring blankly, her mouth slightly open, a trickle of blood running from her nose. Sauli pulled off the sensor band, and Natalie was dropped to the floor, startled but unharmed.
     Sauli pulled Ellie into his arms. "It's okay, Ellie. It's over."
     Tears came from the nine-year-old's eyes and she pressed her face into his shoulder. "It will never be over," she whimpered, and then sobbed, Sauli looking up at Jarrett standing in the doorway, his posture tense, and his usually cheerful green eyes dark with despair and worry.