Unwanted Gifts

Chapter 11

The heavy metal door slid open. "Sandy! Wake up!"
My eyes pulled apart. I rubbed them, eye crustys falling into my eyes.
"Get up!" Dr Grace said, standing in my room.
"Why?" I moaned as I rolled out of my bed.
"Training starts today."
"No, no, no. I'm not ready to go to war!" I whined.
"It's not for the war. It just training your powers." She explained. I walked to the kitchen, searching for my meal cards.
"No time for breakfast." Dr Grace called from my room. She came and grabbed me by the arm and basically dragged me out of the room.
"I didn't even get to brush my teeth." I complained.
"Eh, it doesn't matter." She said, leading me down the hall. We walked for quite a while, taking turns often. Hopefully I don't have to get myself back to my room, because I'm totally lost. No way I'd be able to figure out this maze. We found a one way hallway. This must be it. Dr Grace scanned a key card on the third door to the right. We walked into an empty white room, fluorescent lights filled the room.
"Hello. You must be Sandra. I've heard a lot about you. My name is James and I will be teaching you the art of control. While training, you will be expected to live in conjunction with the other flukies and stay calm in social meetings with them."
"Flukies?"
"Oh, it's just a term we use for the other people like you."
"Wait, there are others like me? Like, how much like me?"
"Their bodies rejected the serum and their powers were out of control and extremely strong. Just like you." he explained.
"So, I'll be like eating with them or how much time are we talking?" I questioned
"Well, you will be removed from your room and you'll be bunking with some of the other flukies." James said
"Oh ok. So I'd be with them all the time? Is that safe?" I asked, imagining a room full of emotional girls with extreme powers, seeing the mass destruction that could occur.
"All flukies will be going through training. Hopefully they will be able to control themselves."
"Ok," I laughed, "When do I start?" I asked him.
"Now. Your personal belongings have been gathered and moved to your bunk. We are going to have a short lesson and then I'll take you to your bunk." James replied, walking to the other side of the room. " Let's start by figuring out how to keep cool." he said, sitting down on the tile floor. "Join me down here. Dr Grace, you're free to leave." Grace turned and left the room. I sat down on the cold floor. "Take a deep breath. Imagine things that makes you happy." A stream of images filled my mind. My little sister and my mom were the first I thought of, but they were quickly replaced with Patrick. His eyes filled my mind and I imagined laying with my panther friend, rubbing my hand through his fur. My imaginary man kissed me, deep and passionately. "Sandra! Stop that!" he said, pulling me from imagination land.
"Sorry."
" It's ok, I was just testing to see what would happen." he reassured. "Now think of things that make you scared and upset." I traveled back to imagination land. The first thing that came to mind was the day I read Pat's letter. I imagined him collapsing into the fire. My fire. My unstoppable, unending fire. James called for me to stop.
"Well, I've established something. You burn differently for your different emotions. When you are happy, your flames are very steady stay close to you. When you are upset, it spreads out around you. Far enough it almost burnt me." he chuckled.
"What does that have to do with anything?" I asked him.
"When we designed your suit, we assumed your flames stayed on your body no matter what happened. Now that we know it's from the outside as well, it will make a huge difference in suit design."
"Oh, ok. Will I be getting a new suit soon?" I asked.
"I'll bring it to your bunk tomorrow." he said, "Sorry we didn't get to tactics for keeping cool, but we've got other places to be so I'll have to cut it short."
"Where do I have to go?"
" You're about to meet the other flukies." he said, standing up off the floor. I stood up, following him through the door..