Brainwashed

Chapter 9: I Got A Bad Feeling About This

Chapter 9:

I Got a Bad Feeling about This

"Right, so we'll meet tomorrow after school. At my house. You know where it is?"

"Of course," the twins say together. They give a little wave, smile and walk to class.

Ike and Isis (as I've taken to calling Isaac and Isadora) and Stella and I have planned to meet tomorrow. Then we can discuss what we need to do. I would have preferred to meet today or right now even. Just sneak out of school and go home. But that would not in any way help me, or my grades, right now. Besides, my mom had said she would take off half the day today, so she would be home already.

With my mind made up, I went to my art class and tried to focus, anxious for the next time I'd be able to talk with the twins.

 ~*~

ESTELLA

"Alright. Now I want everyone to go back to their assigned seats and work on their book reports." Mrs. Hickory told the class.

Obediently, Estella stood up from her group and went back to her desk. She pulled out her folder with all her work so far and set to work. But she kept getting distracted. Like Zeke, she was anxious to talk with Ike and Isis.

Then the P.A. system came on and she could hear the secretary asking for a Miss Estella Kale to report to the nurse's office. Stella glanced up at her teacher in confusion thinking of what Isaac and Isadora had said. Why were they calling her down? The look on Mrs. Hickory's face gave her no help. She was looking at Stella with a sad expression, almost like she would never see her again. And the answer Mrs. Hickory gave to Stella's unspoken question made no sense to her.

"Don't worry Stella. It's just a routine check up. Nothing bad."

To Stella, it almost seemed like her teacher was trying to convince herself of her own words. But she nodded her head anyway, took the hall pass, and walked out the door to the office.

When she arrived, she knocked quietly on the door and entered. When the nurse looked up she tentatively says, "Um, I was called down. I'm Estella."

"Ah, yes. Miss Kale. Would you mind waiting in this room here? I'll be in in just a few minutes."

"Yeah, sure." Estella replies. She walks in and sits on the lounge bed while the nurse closes the door. After a minute of sitting in silence Stella starts to wonder what kind of check up they want to do that a normal doctor couldn't do.

And then she heard something. It was a small click and then a hissing noise. Almost like air hissing out of a tire, she thought. Then she saw it. Gas, it was coming out of a small hole at the bottom of the wall opposite her. It was a thick white gas. It smelled horrible and it made her throat itch.

Now she understood why her teacher looked so sad. She understood what was going to happen to her. And she was terrified. She threw herself at the door and started banging her fists at it, screaming for help. Then her sight blurred and she felt dizzy. Her movements began to slow and eventually came to a stop as she fell to the floor and lay still.

~*~

Stella opened her eyes. All she could see was an expanse of metallic grey. She lay there, her mind empty, for how long she didn't know. After a while, she realized she was uncomfortable. She was laying on a hard metallic surface. Straining to remember what happened, Estella tried to reposition herself. That's when she realized she couldn't move.

And at that moment everything rushed back to her, the strange call, the nurse, the gas.

Her body was strapped to whatever she was laying on. After a moment to process the situation, she began to turn her head around to look at the room. It was unfamiliar to her. Everything was made of metal. The walls, the ceiling, the floor, everything. She couldn't tell where the light source in the room was, but strangely the room was completely lit up. She was lying on a metal table, a table that Stella could only compare to what she'd seen in the movies. It was a table, but it was an operating table that could also tilt so it was almost standing up.