Beyond Our Control

Chapter 3

This time Kenna woke up naturally. No sounds woke her up. No one woke her up. Just herself. And this time was way better than last time. No blurred vision or hearing. No more numbness. No more unable to move. Her eyes opened first, and never before has she been so glad to be able to see.

The first thing she saw was a wall right in front of her face. She looked closer and realized that it wasn't a wall. Shades. White shades that covered a glass wall on the other side. Like the windows in the bedroom she shared with six other girls. But she's on the outside of the window. Why is there a window with shades pulled down in front of her?

One spot on her cheek itched, and she reached to scratch it. That's when she realized her body can move now but her arms can't. She looked down to find her wrists cuffed to the arms of a chair with what looked similar to her watch. Just like those cuffs the two Officials had used to take her away. Then she realized this isn't the same place she woke up to last time. Last time she was laying down, and now she is sitting. But it still had the same sharp scent that she'll probably never forget by now.

She looked around. It's a tight room. The walls are painted grey, the lights above her head are bright white. The chair she's cuffed to are like the chairs she sat during meal times back at her Place of Residence. The room is quite empty.

She tried to twist her head back to see behind her instead of just seeing the sides of the room, and she got a glimpse of a metal door with a small grey window in the center.

"Hello?" Her voice sounded weird and dry, it felt like forever since she had been able to talk.

No response.

She turned back around and stared blankly at the window in front of her. The shades were pulled down on the other side so her face was able to be reflected from the glass. To her surprise, her hair isn't messy. Combed neatly straight, her hairline fixed in the middle, her dark brown hair fell a little over her shoulders. It really should be messy though, after all she's been through. Her face left no traces of tear marks or snots. The last thing she remembers how she should look is her hair was all over her face, snots and tears near her mouth. Her eyes should be swollen from all that crying. But now here she sits, neatly dressed and fixed. Her shirt and pants are even a new pair. Maybe she isn't going to be casted out after all. Although the feeling of her cuffed still made her uncomfortable. But still, she held hopes of being sent back to her Place of Residence and reunited with everyone.

"Um, hello? Anyone there?" She felt stupid, of course no one was here. But she had a feeling maybe on the other side of the glass, there would be people examining her.

She tried to stand up, even with her arms cuffed tightly to the chair, but maybe she can at least walk toward the door or something. Sadly, the chair was like glued dead to the floor, her hopes drowned once again.

"I know you're listening!" She looked around the room. "Just un-cuff me from this chair and we can talk. I'll tell you everything!" She probably hasn't had any water in a long time because her throat was so dry that it hurted.

She pulled her arms up and sideways, trying to get the cuffs to open up, but it stayed tightly locked. Then she remembered one of the names, Dr. Novak.

"Dr. Novak! You said that you wanted to talk to me after I woke up. Or question me, but just show yourself. What am I supposed to do here? What is the purpose of this?"

She studied the room but found nothing. So she fixed her stare at the window in front of her instead, which felt silly. All she saw is her reflection, a girl staring madly at herself. But she glared concentratedly at the glassed window, knowing that someone, probably Dr. Novak, is on the other side.