Are You Worthy?

Day 3

I hardly slept last night. I'm not sure why, but I kept waking up, and when I was asleep, I dreamt as though I was awake. I dreamt my house was on fire. Memory? Maybe.

For the first time since I arrived here, I ate breakfast. I sat with Freddy, James, Alex, Hannah and Diana. No Megan. There wasn't much to talk about, so we just sat there, in an awkward silence, occasionally sighing.

For half of my alone time, I found a computer lab area, and was looking up the meaning of my dream.

A large fire: Expect serious changes in your affairs

A blazing fire: Great joy will come to you

A house burning: Honor and dignity

Huh. Funny how something so destructive can mean something good for you. I'm not sure which one of these it was, or if it was a memory, or if it meant nothing at all.

The second part of my free time I met back up with the others in the gym.

"Ya know, people are saying that some of us are going to have a major test today, in here," Diana says, trying to break the silence.

"Nope, they can't do that," Freddy begins. "We just had a major test a week ago."

"Doesn't mean we can't have another one. Besides, I've heard them talking about how there's been a flood of new kids, so they have to get rid of some of the old ones to make room for the new ones," Alex pipes up.

I immediately feel bad. That means that I'm part of the reason Megan got taken away. They got rid of her to make room for me.

The lunch bell rings, and as we walk back to the cafeteria, Alex leans over to me.

"Don't feel bad about it," he says. "She never talked anyways."
____

Sure enough, at lunch, they read off a list of people that needed to go to the gym for testing.

They read off the names of people I don't know, and then...

    "... Morgan,..."

All my friends look at me. I get nervous with all their eyes on me. Must be pretty bad, I think.

When the are done reading off the names, lunch is over, so I start to get up.

"Good luck," Hannah says behind me. She doesn't sound like she's actually wishing me luck, more like she's sorry for me.

"Yeah, good luck," Alex repeats.

From what it sounds like, I'll need all the luck I can get.
_____

I arrive at the gym, where I see at least 20 other people already, and there were more walking behind me.

When everyone shows up, three people in lab coats, plus the round guy, are standing in front of us. We are all standing in a bunch.

"Welcome. Today, you will be put through one of many intense tests while you are here. This is a... modified version of dodge ball. None of you remember what that is, of course, so I'll explain. You get into two teams, throw a ball at people, and if you get hit, you're out. But, in this version, the dodge balls are upgraded. They are metal, and have a small amount of electricity flowing through them. And you don't get out, of course."

Are you kidding me? I think as I look at other's reactions. Everyone looks slightly horrified.

He continues. "None of you will die, I promise. We will watch you as you interact with each other, observe your reflexes, and, of course, your attitude, all of which we will score you on. This is a major factor in whether you leave or go home. So, lets begin. When the bell rings, you may begin by running forward and picking one up."

"Wait, won't we get electrocuted?" someone asks.

"Well, that's why you get gloves. Now come get them," he responds as two of the workers bring out a tub of gloves. We all run over and grab two.

"Now begin when the bell sounds."

The leave. Shortly after, we hear the bell. Go time.

I decide to just stay back, and wait for someone to tell me what to do. I start looking at everyone.

A few people on my team have already gotten hit, some of them twice, one kid four times. He's practically crawling on the floor.

I discover that it's so much more fun when you make eye contact with the other team, so I look at one kid with one of the metal balls in his hands. I get closer to the front, and just stand there. He throws it at me, as hard as he can.

I catch it. He looks at me with wide eyes, right before I throw it back at him. It hits him, right in the stomach.

"Nice throw," someone congratulates me as they give me a high-five.

I see one kid go through a door, but I don't think much of it. We continue, throwing and catching and getting hit with the metal balls. It was actually kind of fun.

Out of no where, a loud scream erupts from the room the kid went into. Everyone runs over to the door. Hardly three seconds later, the round man pushes through all of us, followed by the three workers that were with him earlier. One of them hands the man their keys, and he quickly unlocks and opens the door.

A girl is laying on the floor, curled up, holding her knees against her chest. Her eyes are wide open, and she's breathing heavily. She's pale, like she just saw a ghost.

"Damn it, get Marlene!" he yells, and two of the workers pull out these square things and page her.

About two minutes later, she runs in. Ohh, Mrs. Johansen is Marlene, I think as she runs in and asks the round man what happened, referring to him as "Doctor Brown."

They talk for a few minutes, while she lays there, not moving an inch. Marlene pulls out one of those square things, and privately calls for someone I couldn't hear. A little later, more of the workers show up, and they pick up the girl, who is now screaming bloody murder, and carry her out, followed by Marlene, who shouts to them, "Get rid of her!"

They leave, and all is somewhat back to normal. Dr. Brown tells us to continue, and for the next four and a half hours, we throw metallic balls at each other, all of us thinking about what just happened, trying to figure it out.
_____

 I tell everyone what happened at dinner. When I'm done, we all sit there for a minute, then Freddy says, "When we're done here, everyone come to my room. It's not safe to talk about it here."

Like we planned, we head over to Freddy's room when we're all done. We sit on his floor while he takes his clothes from the closet and ties a little lock on the door. He sits down.

James is the first one to start talking. "Look, there's a lot about this place to learn, and even more we don't know, but all the information just gets passed down from the first people in this group, to us, to you, to whoever is next to come once we're all gone."

Diana continues. "To answer your question about what happened today, well, some kids aren't supposed to go certain places here. If they do, they get reminded of something horrible from their past."

"But they aren't just reminded," Alex takes over. "They relive it. The images from that day take over their sight, and they only hear the sounds from the memory. It's like they're there again. I would know-" he begins to say, but stops.

"And depending on how bad it is, they can't function after they relive it. They break down. Then, they have to get rid of them," Freddy adds.

"Who gets rid of them?" I ask.

"Dr. Brown and his assistants. Just like they did to Megan," Freddy answers.

Just then someone knocks on the door. "Lights out, head back to your rooms."

We all get up, take off the makeshift lock, and leave, Freddy closing the door behind us.

When I get back to my room, I don't even bother showering. I just get straight into bed, and try as hard as I can to push the events of today to the back of my mind.
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HH EE LL LL OO yea so hopefully things are starting to pick up... if not then... it will... hopefully... baiiiii