Runner

Runner: Part 3

I wince at the throbbing pain in my head and shut my eyes tighter. I clench my fists and hug myself tightly against the coldness of this room. Slowly, I open my eyes and squint into the darkness in attempt to figure out where I am. The only thing I see is a small light bulb dangling from the ceiling that barely illuminates this place. I try to stand up, but a wave of dizziness hits me before I slump down against the wall. My back stings and feels like it has been scratched raw. I don't dare touch it. I pull my knees close to me in a sitting position and realize that my clothes are torn up in different places, but overall, ruined. I must've put up a tough fight. For a second I feel proud, but then realize what I have gotten myself into. I use all the strength I have left to pull myself together and stand up. I fight against the overwhelming dizziness in my head that's threatening to pull me down again and steady myself by resting my hand on the cold, solid wall. I let my hand trace all the bumps and curves in the wall as I walk around the room to get a better sense of it. And just when my hand reaches the icy metal of the doorknob, the door whips open mercilessly slamming hard against my face before I make contact with the ground. I thought I had been knocked out cold, but when I hear the soft murmur of voices I snap back to reality. When I try to get up, a heavy military boot digs into my back causing my to scream from the uncontainable pain. Immediately the heavy boot steps off from me and rough hands effortlessly flip me over. I am overwhelmed by so much pain that no sounds come out from me. He flips me like a dead fish with all the life squeezed out of it. Without thinking, I grab onto the nearest pants leg for support and in return he drives his foot into my side. All the air escapes from my body and I let go.

Bright lights dance across my vision through closed eyelids. I open my eyes only to find that a nurse is flashing a mini flashlight across my eyes. She stops when she notices that I am alert, then she leaves the room and slams the door shut behind her. To my surprise, when I look down, my arms, waist, and legs have been tied down to a thick wooden chair. I try to see if I can wriggle free but I can't. My heart skips a beat. If they tied me up like this, they obviously think I'm a threat to them. What if they have already justified that I am a threat? My palms start to get sweaty and my heart races a little faster. No! I can't start assuming things like that. I try my best not to panic by breathing in and out slowly. I carefully examine the knots made with the strong rope. Whoever tied them together is probably skilled as a Catcher. I probably didn't notice that I was tied to a chair until now because of how many painkillers the nurses probably pumped into me. I feel numb. I look up to the ceiling and realize that I am directly under the dangling light bulb.
I faintly hear the twist of a lock and my head snaps forward towards the door. The knob slowly starts to turn and it's as if I my heart has stopped pumping. I brace myself for whoever is going to walk through that door. It swings open, and in walks the Captain assisted by two officials at both sides.

"Runner 002563," she says grimly, while dismissing the officials with a wave of her hand.

My mouth stays shut. The room is so quiet for a moment that I worry she can hear the thud of my heart beating against my chest.

"Well, it's nice to know that this time you are deciding to stay quiet instead of trying the scream your head off," she says.

I dig my nails as deep as I can into the hard wood of the chair to stop myself from raging out on her. She takes note of my silence as she walks around the room with her hands behind her back and stops behind my chair. All of a sudden the room becomes too warm nevertheless I sit rigid in a cold sweat.

"You do know that I was being serious the other day when I was informing you about the consequences that take place when you interact with boys, right?" She says in a low tone as she rest her hands on the back of my chair.

The ghost of her voice from the other day reminds me in my head saying, "you would have to start from the beginning all over again which you probably don't remember. Or worse."