Only Through Pain [Collab with kayfiles]

Chapter Six [kayfiles]

Benjamin's speech had thrown Sophia through a loop. She hadn't been expecting to be told she was extraordinary. She didn't think she possessed any real 'Karma'. Her karma was shit, apparently, because she'd been looked in the basement for the last six years. And now, here she was, locked in a looney bin with some old man who thought he could control minds. 

She sighed. She had no choice but to stand up with the rest of the group and file out into the hall, following Benjamin to another door. What did she have to lose now? At least she had clothes, and a bed to sleep in. At least they would probably feed her. And there was no way they could be as sick and twisted as Roy.

The line stopped, and she craned her neck over the crowd to see Benjamin at the front. 

 "This is the testing room," he gestured to the white door behind him. She shivered at the thought of what type of testing would be taking place behind the door. "You'll each enter, one by one, and unlock your Karma. It's a short test. Then you can each proceed to meet David, then you'll return to your rooms," he explained. 

 Sophia was a mixture of relieved and anxious. She was relieved that the test would be short and, hopefully, painless. But she was anxious to find out what this Karma was all about. She couldn't imagine herself having any real power. Otherwise, she would've broken out of that basement years ago. 

 "We'll start at the front of the line," Benjamin said, looking down at a small blonde boy at the head of the group. 

 Sophia sighed as Benjamin led him into the room. She was about tenth in line. She leaned against the wall, waiting for her name to be called. There were no clocks in the hallway and she realized time was a remote idea. She didn't know how long it'd been since she was last in Roy's basement, or since she was running in the forest. She didn't know when Benjamin had picked her up or how long she'd been knocked out in the bed. 

 Days could've pasted, maybe even a week. She couldn't tell. Her room had no windows, another detail she never noticed. It'd been so bright, she didn't bother to look for a window. But just like the room she was kept in, the hallway had no glass windows lining the walls. This made her even more anxious. She might never know when it was day or night. The staff here could control her, make her believe it was noon when it was really midnight, and she'd never even know.

 "Sophia Hale."

 She heard her name as if from a great distance. Her head snapped up and she saw that the small crowd had parted for her to make her way to Benjamin. She swallowed the lump in throat and noticed for the first time that her hands were slightly shaking. She pushed herself off the wall and slowly made her way towards the door, aware that everyone lining the walls was too absorbed in their own troubles to even notice her.

 Benjamin smiled warmly at her, ushering her inside and closing the door behind them. They were in a fairly dark room, with a dim spotlight in the center. 

 "You can go stand there, Sophia," Benjamin said, his hand lightly touching her back. She nodded and took a step forward. "I'll be behind that mirror, watching you," he told her.

 She looked to the left and saw the type of mirror from Law and Order. She knew it was only a mirror on this side. From where Benjamin would be sitting, it would actually be a window. He would be able to watch her, put thoughts into her head, and she would have no way to stop him.

 Sophia stopped in the middle of the spotlight, aware that she was alone in the room now. She waited for what seemed like forever. Her dark eyes darted aroundd the room, but it was hard to see anything past the ring of light she stood in.

 Then, she saw him.

 He crept forward, looking as dirty and scary as she'd remembered. Roy stopped at the edge of the spotlight. He was wearing the same flannel and torn blue jeans he'd been wearing the day she'd escaped. Sophia took a small step backward as he moved forward. His smile was dangerous.