Gifted

Chapter Six Emily

We all go to a hallway, where a teacher separates us into four groups, air, water, fire and earth. I'm part of the earth, with Elisabeth, our supervisor. Next, she leads us into a huge hallway, where room numbers are 20, 21, 22, 23, etc......
Elisabeth says in an extremely boring voice:
"Okay kids.....you are now welcome to visit your room, and get used to it, because it's gonna be yours for a pretty long time....you have around eighty minutes of free time. Okay....so, now, I'm gonna tell you what room you're in......" She says a whole list of names, at least a dozen until it gets to me:
"Emily, 23" she mumbles.
I run to my room and pull the door open. On the right side, there is a huge bed, above, a window. Aligned with the bed, stands a tall dresser. There are four drawers. I open them one by one..... In the first one, there are pajamas and slippers, in the second one, there are undergarments, and I quickly close that one. In the third one, makeup and toiletries. I absolutely hate makeup; it makes my nose itch and gives me a headache. Anyways, in the very last one, there is a uniform, clearly a workout uniform because it has shorts and a tank top.I accidentally glance over to my soon-to-be bed, and spot something I haven't seen before. My diary. My one and only diary, how did it get there?
All of a sudden, I feel something that I haven't felt before since our arrival: loss. I miss my parents now, a lot. I realize that I won't ever see them again, for the other kids who get taken never come back. Well, there has been a few cases, but it's extremely rare. Why? Why am I part of the 0,3 percent of kids who get taken? Why not the kid on the next block? I am aware about all these things all of a sudden.
I run out of my room, and find the bathroom. It's perfect there, not a single speck of dust, or even water around the sinks. I lock myself in a stall and start crying. I don't know why. All these overwhelming things are just coming all at once, while I don't even have the chance to clear my head! I suddenly hear the bathroom door slam, and loud sobs that are clearly not my own. I wonder who it is, maybe Cecelia. No, surely not, she is in the other tower, far away from me. I wipe my tears and unlock the door. How long have I been in here? I'm guessing about ten minutes, maybe even more..... I walk out of the stall and say shyly,
"Um, anybody there? Who's crying?"
I hear a loud thud, as if someone fell, then a small voice,
"Wh-what? Wh-w-Who are you?"
"I'm Emily, nice to meet you, what's your name?"
"Um, I'm Victoria, Victoria Davisson. Why are you here?" She mutters.
"No reason really, just here in the bathroom, how about you?"
"Well, I did hear you cry.....why?"
"I wasn't crying, why would I?" I fake, not trying to get humiliated.
"I heard you cry all right, and there is no mistake about that! So why were you?" She insists, but with an extremely kind tone, like she's concerned.
"I don't know.....I-I miss my parents"
She unlocks the stall and then she stares at me for a second, and admits that she too, misses her family.
"Me too!", she says with even more tears in her eyes than before,"I don't know why I have to be chosen, my parents d-"
But she stops that idea, then continues,
"I can't say any more. I have to go, I'm in room 21 if you want to visit, how about around break time? Sorry for that..."
She starts leaving, but I grab her by her arm, keeping her inside. I honestly did not mean to do that, but something in me told me to. So I say:
"I'm also sorry, I think we understand each other now. I'll come visit in ten minutes. See you!"
I let go of her, and she walks out. But I feel that it's not the right thing to do. I go back to my room, felling kind of happier than before, when I'd just seen my journal. I plop down on my bed, and it doesn't even make a single squealing sound, unlike my old bed at home. I take a quick look at the clock and figure out that I'll have to go in about five minutes. What's up with that girl, Victoria? Does she have something like a huge secret? I wonder...... My bedside table has my diary on it, along with a pen, a lamp and a little booklet, that names rules. Ugh, not those again. I close my eyes and think about Cecelia for a minutes, how she smiles, how she laughs. Sometimes, in the hallway at our old school, I hear soft laughter, of pure joy. I wonder if she was happy at her old home, because I've heard many rumors about her being the "daughter" of this mean women, who treats her like a slave. But, never believe what you hear, and I honestly don't think it's true. I doze off, not even realizing I'm late to see Victoria. I jump up and open my door. Her room is two rooms next to mine. When I finally reach her room, I knock lightly, and I hear,
"Come in!"
So I turn the handle and push the door, but I won't budge. I do it several times. Until I hear Victoria scurrying towards the door. Then, it finally opens.
"Oh, um, I'm so sorry, I thought it was open!"
"It's okay, sorry for forcing it, I thought it was kind of stuck...."
We both giggle, when I realize that she'll probably be one of my favorite friends here from now on.
We both talk and make fun of the school, and different people. I really hope that these walls are soundproof, because I really don't want other people hearing us right now. Suddenly, I see she tenses. She takes a deep breath in, slowly, and then says:
"I have something to tell you."
She says it in such an affirmative way that I want to laugh, but I know I really shouldn't.
"I have a secret that I must tell you, and you have to promise not to repeat it to anyone else!"
So I say,
"Cross My Heart, Hope to Fly, Stick a Cupcake in my Eye!"
I giggle but she doesn't, oops. Well then that means that she's really serious, and there's no joke about that. She starts:
"I'm not supposed to be here, keep it a secret!"
"Wait, what? W-Why?! Everyone here is where he belongs, and the establishment never makes a mistake! What are you even talking about?"
"Sherman is my brother, and my parents made me go here, I'm not even capable of controlling an element, or transforming into an animal. I didn't even have the dream we were all supposed to have last night. It's all a huge mistake no one can ever fix."
I'm really surprised. All this time, we were just laughing, making fun of people and things, simply having fun. And now she tells me in an extremely solemn way that she isn't even supposed to be in here? That just wasted all the fun we were having, why would she do that? I stare at her, just like last time, for a few seconds. I stand up and walk away, trying not to be mean. She says,
"Oh, I'm so sorry, let's just forget about all that. I-I should not of had told you that, and I really regret it now. How about we eat together at lunch? I really need a friend, I'm the only one from my school who got taken, I need some support. Well, of course, Sherman was taken, but he went to a different school, a Harvard-prep school, because he excelled in every single subject, and school was to easy. Anyways, see you at lunch!"
"Okay, cool! See you at lunch."
I walk out of Victoria's room and head over to mine. I open my door, and see my journal again, on my bedside table. Now, I actually have time to write, finally some free time for myself. So I take the pen that was given to me and start writing:

Dear journal,
Now I know it; I've been taken. I'm part of the 0.3% of twelve year kids who get kidnaped. Why? I've been taken away from all my family and friends. Except this one girl, who's name is Cecelia. But, I haven't seen her since we got separated this morning. I wonder if she has forgotten all about me. Well, anyway, if she has, I have a new friend, her name is Victoria. She really intrigues me, for she says that does not belong here, she's not supposed to be here. She even says that her parents forced her to come. But, I'm really confused because no one even knows about this place, so why would parents want to "give away" their children to a someone and somewhere they did not even know about?Did they force Sherman to go too? I'm wondering that she might be lying and trying to manipulate me. I know these girls at my old school, who'd always try to "steal" friends from others. They were clearly my enemies, I considered them bullies. But, everybody else loves them because they were always on time with fashion and stuff. Well, finally, I got rid of them, but if I've been taken here to be with other girls like this, oh my gosh! But, Victoria is really nice, especially funny, and I don't think that she's the same as the other girls.......
I write pages and pages like that, nonstop. At one point, I don't even realize that it's been around one hour and a half! I hear:
"Hello all students, please report in front of your bedrooms. Your supervisor will be waiting for you, they'll take you to the mess hall, were we will have lunch today. There, we will show you around and tell you how it works. Thanks you for your disposition."
I think I recognize Mrs Kimmel's voice, but I'm not completely sure of it. I hear doors slamming down the hallway, so I get up and go outside of my room. I see Victoria from far, and we wave, because we'd planned on eating together for lunch. Elisabeth is indeed waiting at the end of the hallway. She leads us to the mess hall; a huge room with aligned tables everywhere. Huge chandeliers hang down from the ceiling, and tall windows start from the floor and go all the way up to the ceiling. At the end of the room, there a sort of banquet, just way less fancy. Next to that, there is a small salad bar. I see Cecelia, she's also coming to the mess hall, just from another hallway. I wave, she sees me and waves back, but then goes right back to a group of unknown girls. I wonder who they are, maybe her new friends, the ones who will probably replace me. I don't know...