There's Someone in My Head But it's Not Me

Chapter Ten

 "What? No!" I stayed put where I was. If the mystery boy wanted me to go somewhere he'd have to make me.

"Too bad. Siara needs you for a mission," answered the boy.

Aydin moved beside me. "And here we have Colton Freyd everyone. The rudest boy on the planet."

"I'm not rude. You just never listen." Colton bit his bottom lip.

I threw my arms up and interrupted their argument. "Have her send someone else. I'm not interested."

Colton crossed his arms. "We don't care if you're interested. You're still doing it."

Whether you like it or not.

My mouth opened to reply, but the shock of hearing the Colton's voice inside my head was too much.

"H-How did you do that?" I stammered.

He sighed. "I already explained it to you once. Isn't that enough?"

I narrowed my eyes. "It would be if I actually remembered. But I don't, so you'll have to tell me again."

Colton looked annoyed. "Later. Right now Siara needs you." He moved towards me, his hand outstretched.

Out of nowhere a bright white light hit Colton in the stomach. As much as I wanted him to explode or incinerate from it, he didn't. The light formed tendrils that wrapped around his wrists and ankles, lifting Colton into the air.

Suddenly I realized where the light had come from.

Aydin.

Her teeth were clenched together as she controlled the tendrils of blue light. I could tell she was struggling to hold Colton as he pulled against the light.

"You've hurt too many people, Colton." Alex was standing next to Aydin now. "You and your parents. How many more innocent children have you hurt? How many have been killed in your stupid quest for 'super soldiers'? How many others are here?" The last few sentences out of Alex's mouth were shouted. His eyes began tearing up out of anger.

When Colton didn't respond, Aydin forced the light to pull Colton's limbs further apart. He groaned in pain.

"You're the only ones!" he shouted. The light lessened the strain on him. "You-we're the only experiments. Since my parents were successful with Echo, there was no reason to experiment more."

I crossed my arms and looked up at him. "What makes them think I'm successful?"

"You were the out in the normal world for three years and didn't ever fail a mission, unlike the others." Colton shot a look at the other four kids in the room. Alex's eyes widened.

"You mean every single one of us was out there?" He pointed to the still open door.

"Yes. Even if you did fail." No one said anything until Colton yelled in shock, "Wait why is the door still open?"

We all realized at the same time why he was worried about that.

We could escape.

We could leave Nialliv.

"Don't you even-" Colton was cut off by the light wrapping around his mouth.

"Too late," said Aydin through gritted teeth. The light threw Colton up into the ceiling and then onto the ground. He had blacked out and we were free to go. The light picked up the kid Aydin had called Ben and we ran out of the room.

Surprisingly, no one was outside the door to guard the room. We were able to get to the end of the hallway before we heard any footsteps.

Kai spun around as ice flew out of her hands and covered the floor. When the people who the footsteps belonged to turned the corner, they skidded to a stop to avoid slipping. I didn't stay to see who it was.

We continued running down the hallway. I had to skid to a stop to avoid running into a woman wearing a clean white lab coat. Her hands were folded behind her back and she was flanked by two guards holding guns.

"Hello Echo." The woman turned towards the other kids and addressed them the same way. When she finished she turned back to me.

"It's nice to see you again. You're where you belong." She smiled.

"I thought you said I was successful."

"You are. I didn't mean you belong with the failures. You belong here with Nialliv."

"No I don't. I don't belong anywhere. None of us do. None of us will ever belong anywhere because of what you did!" Tears clouded my eyes. I ran forward towards the woman, my hands rolled into fists.

Stop. Turn around.

As much as I told myself not to, I still dropped my arms to my side and turned around slowly.

Standing behind the other experiments was Colton. He had blood dripping down his face from where a piece of sheetrock had been lodged in his skin. His once light brown hair was now caked with white dust. His eyes were narrowed and his teeth gritted together.

"No one throws me into a wall and gets away with it." His eyes met Aydin's, whose eyes widened in fear. The white light began fading in the air. She looked down at his hands in disbelief as Colton began towards her.

"No no no..." A thud came from behind me as Ben dropped out of the air. Kai rushed over to him.

Colton continued advancing on Aydin, who continued backing down the hall. Colton pulled a knife out of his jacket. His arm went back behind his head as readied it to be thrown. Aydin's eyes were full of fear.

I knew exactly what was about to happen but I had no way of stopping it.

Colton's arm flew forward as he released the knife. It flew straight at Aydin and would have hit her in the chest if a red blur hadn't jumped in front.

Kai ran to Ben's side. Tears began streaming down her face. My mouth fell open. Alex's eyes widened. Aydin gasped and covered her mouth.

Colton folded his arms up and smirked. "One down, four to go. It may have not been the one I wanted, but-"

He stopped talking when his body began flickering. His hair flickered between a peach-brown and extremely light brown. His eyes went back and forth between red and silver. His eyes widened and his mouth fell open.

"I-I don't k-know what's ha-ha-appening," said "Colton", every letter the pitch of his voice changing. It would go between Colton's voice and another, more high pitched, but not annoying. It almost sounded like... Alex.

Alex must've noticed that too because his eyes widened even more than they already were. Aydin glanced back and forth between the two.

After a few minutes of silence and the person in front of us flickering, it stopped. They were no longer Colton, it was a kid with peach-brown hair and bright red eyes. He looked exactly like Alex but with a more serious expression on his face. The boy looked down at his hands, turning them over and over again.

"What is happening to me?" he exclaimed. I noted the boy's confusion and grabbed Aydin's arm.

"Come on." I nodded my head in the direction of the boy. She nodded in reply and we ran off that way as Siara ordered the guards to run after us.

A door was at the end of the hallway was a large, black door. I pushed it open and the hallway lit up with flashing red lights and my ears filled with the sound of alarms. On the other side of the door, I was met with fresh, cold air.

Beyond that, nothing but forest. The four of us ran into the night. I had had to drag Kai away from Ben's dead body. Even in the darkness I could see the tears running down her face.

I didn't know where we were going, what our goal was, or how we were going to deal with Nialliv.

All I knew was that we had to stop them.

And we would.