The Forbidden Room

Sydney

When would this nightmare be over? I thought to myself.
I was just about to get into my favorite soft, fluffy, pink pajamas when I realized I didn't have them or any pajamas for that matter.
I sat down on my bunk bed on the opposite side of the room from the other girl in my cabin. I hadn't spoken to her yet. She tried to talk to me when I first came in but I was too frustrated to talk.
Soon my face was covered in tears. I wanted to be home in my comfortable bed with my warm fuzzy pajamas on and my dad coming in to tuck me into bed. My parents must be worried sick; I've been gone for two days.
Out of the corner of my blurry eyes I saw the girl come up to me.
"Are you all right?" she asked me.
I turned around trying to give her the message to go away. I looked behind me to see if she had gone back over to her bed but she hadn't moved a muscle. She looked concerned her unfamiliar bright green eyes somehow comforting. I turned back around figuring she wasn't going to go away.
"I'm Aubrey." She said
"I'm Sydney" I said though sniffles
"Why are you crying?"
I don't know why but I felt open to her like I could tell her anything even though I had only just met her. My words came out like a jumbled mess but somehow she understood everything I said. I told her about everything that had happened to me the last couple of days, doubting she would believe me. When I finished Aubrey was silent.
"Well what do you think?" I asked her
"I don't really know what to say. You've had a pretty bad last couple of days. And I can't imagine Ryan being much help."
"Wait so you believe me?"
"Of course I do why shouldn't I?"
"I don't know I just thought that you'd think I was crazy."
"Well I might but I have a gift that allows me to tell if your telling the truth of not. Have you figured out what your gifts are?"
"What do you mean?"
"You must have a gift other wise Mr. Timothy wouldn't have allowed you to come to the Training Institute. Did you take the tests at Timothy's Tough Tests?"
"I think so. After Ryan and I left home I don't know what happened to him but I ended up in a clock. My head pounding and my ankle was hurt. Hold on why doesn't my ankle hurt now?"
"It was probably part of the test. They wanted to see how you would handle the situation with a broken ankle."
I told Aubrey about the rest of my tests she was silent the whole time listening with intrigue.
"It seems that you would have more then one gifts. That is very rare."
"What are my gifts?"
"I'm sorry but I don't have the skill to tell what they are. But we have something in common. I also have more then one gift. I'm assuming that's why they put us together in this cabin."
"What do you mean?"
"They put you in cabins according to strength. We both have more then one power which is very rare so we are the only ones in this cabin. I think they arrange us like this because it is easier to arrange the classes. They don't want to teach someone something that is beyond their skill level and they don't want to teach someone something they already know."
All of a sudden a bell went off.
"What's that mean?" I asked
"That's the five minute bell the inspector will be checking to see if were in bed or not with lights out."
"I don't have any pajamas."
"Wear these." Aubrey said as she threw me a pair of pajamas. "They might be a little big but I think you can manage. Now quick get changed and get in bed." She said jumping into her own bed.
I got dressed as quickly as I could, turned off the lights and jumped into bed just as the inspector opened the squeaking door to the cabin.
I could hear her mark something on her clipboard as she walked back out.
I had a difficult time falling asleep. The bed was hard and the sheets were scratchy. Every time I moved the bed creaked. Finally sleep over came me.

*********************************

I borrowed a pair of clothes from Aubrey and followed her into the cafeteria, where I had delicious pancakes and bacon.
"What happens if you're allergic to the food that they serve?" I asked Aubrey once we had sat down.
"I don't know it's never happened."

I saw Ryan in the lunch line. I tried to hide my face hoping he wouldn't see me and go sit somewhere else. But he saw me and said something to the guy behind him and came to sit by me and Aubrey. A minute later the guy that Ryan was talking to in the lunch line came and sat by us too.
"Hey I'm Jacob" he said
"I'm Sydney."
"And I'm Aubrey"
"Sydney and Jacob know me but you don't, I'm Ryan" he said to Aubrey
"Ryan and I share a cabin." Jacob said
We talked though lunch until the bell sounded then we made our way back to our cabin and took down our schedule. Their was a lamented copy taped to the wall and several paper copies small enough to fit in a pocket if folded in half.
"It says our first class in survival."
"That's wrong."
"What do you mean?"
"It would normally be right but since it's our first day we have to go to the shack and see what our gifts are or if you have been here for a year or more if you have unlocked a new ability. But no one ever does unlock new abilities unless you start with two or more abilities like us. It's almost impossible to unlock more. They announced it while you were in the bathroom during breakfast. Then we get until lunch time off. We should go now."
"Why? We still have ten minutes until we have to be there."
"But everyone has to do this and so it's best to get there early other wise you have to wait like forty-five minutes before you get your turn."
"Right behind you" I said following her out the cabin door.
When we arrived at the shack there was already a bunch of people there. We had to wait twenty minutes before we went in.
Aubrey went in first but right before she did she said "I'll wait by the exit for you."
After a minute or two I was led into the building by a big man in a business suit. We entered a room with nothing in it but two chairs and a small table.
"Sit" the man in the business suit commanded me. "Your guider will be here shortly."
Guider? What was that supposed to mean?
A minute later Mr. Timothy came in.
"Hello Sydney. I don't normally to the guiders job but in special cases like you I like to handle this myself."
"Special cases like me?"
"Don't be offended. It just means that you were given more then one gift. This is very rare as you may already know. We should get to business. Let's talk about your test. The first one when you were in the clock you ran around dodging all kinds of things despite your broken ankle, that my friend is the gift of agility, not an uncommon gift. With this gift you will be able to run faster then a cheetah. I just like to say super speed. You also will be able to be coordinated with your steps. In your second test when you were outside the clock tower you solved the puzzle without a moment's hesitation. This is the gift of smarts. With this gift you will be able to think quickly, make plans, and just be smart. It will be like reading a dozen textbooks without looking at any. You also will eventuality be able to create holograms with your mind. Not too many people have this gift. But this last test when you were in the locked bedroom proved to be more of a challenge." He said putting a finger to his chin and playing with his clean shaven face like he had a beard.
"You said I wish "I was small then I could fit under the crack in this door" and you did. This is the gift of wishes. This is the first we have seen it as a gift. You see we have heard of it but this is the first of existence. With this gift you will be able to wish for anything and it will be there. But you should know that you will only be able to use this power once every hour. Also you can only wish for objects not wish for you to appear somewhere or to gain strength or power. Also you have to say the wish out loud other wise it won't work. A bit complicated but I think you'll get it, now that's all we have time for other kids are waiting exit is that way" He said pointing to the left.
I left in a hurry, eager to tell Aubrey what happened, but when I arrived at the exit Aubrey spoke first.
"Guess what" she said not waiting for an answer. "I unlocked a new gift."
Suddenly she vanished.
"Aubrey where are you?" I asked worried
"Right in front of you," She said appearing again.
"Whoa that's cool. So you can become invisible?"
"Yeah, isn't it great? But I can only do it for ten minutes at the most. Mr. Timothy said that as I get older my gift will become stronger, so I'll be able to do it longer."
"What other gifts did you already have?"
"I have the gift of communication, so I can understand other languages, and I can tell if someone is lying or not. I also have the gift of levitation. I can lift objects if they aren't bigger then me and only for a short amount of time. But here I go blabbering on again what gifts do you have?"
I told her about my gifts and she was especially impress with my wishes gift and that I could make holograms with my mind.
"That is so cool. You should try out your wishes gift. Make me a pair of hot pink designer shoes."
I hesitated for a moment then said "I wish I had a pair of designer shoes." I said imagining a pair of hot pink four inch heels, and there right before my eyes appeared the shoes. I picked them up carefully so they wouldn't disappear even though I knew
they wouldn't.
"Awesome." Aubrey said walking forward motioning me to follow. "What do you want to do until lunch time?"
"We could go swimming?"
"I don't have two swimsuits."
"What time is it exactly?"
"10:57, why?"
"I can make a new wish once every hour. I wished for the designer shoes at about 10:55. Now in three minutes it will be a new hour and I can wish for a swim suit."
"Great, let's go back to our cabin so we can change." Aubrey said as we walked to our cabin.
I knew this gift would be handy but I need to make sure I don't get greedy and abuse the power. I imagined myself rich and famous having a wonderful life all because of my gift of course that would be fun but it wouldn't be real success. I promised myself I wouldn't get to out of hand with this gift.