Empêchement

MDP Headquarters

The cool thing about movies is that you got to skip all the fluff in between important events in the film. No one cares about how the character got from point A to point B, but rather what they do when they arrive.

Unfortunately, real life doesn't work that way, and I was forced to experience each excoriatingly long hour on this plane alone with my thoughts. Stupid insomnia. I grumbled to myself. All of the anxiety that had built around the dammed letter had finally caught up with me and wouldn't let me sleep.

Questions drifted in my mind. Where are we going? Who are we gonna meet while we're there? What did Cinder mean by saying that the MDP brought Alice, Indigo and I together? What is the MDP exactly? Is time travel actually possible? And most importantly: Why me?

I'd dreamed of leaving my old life behind for something fulfilling and exciting, but it usually involved a boy and a lot of poor decisions. Nothing like this. This was scary and alien. Especially because I still couldn't force myself to believe it was actually happening.

My parents must be so... I sighed, struggling to come up with the right word. Did I make the right choice? Did I even have a choice?? Tears began to well up in my eyes again. I wiped them away, thankful for the darkness and the privacy of this little room.

Someone knocked on the wall of my little cubicle. "The plane is about to land. It's time to get up." Cinders voice rang out in obvious authority. I heard another knock from the other side of the room. "Ena, Alice, we need to go buckle up."

When she received no answer from either of us, she mumbled something under her breath and let herself into my room. "Ena! Now!" she said, grabbing my blanket and ripping it off.

"Hey!" I protested.

She glared at me, "Now."

I glared back as I got out of the recliner. I walked past her and out into the hall. Early morning light poured through the open door that lead to the main 'room' of the plane. I walked through it and let my eyes adjust to the light as I stumbled around, looking for a seat.

No one bothered to say anything while the plane landed. Indigo seemed too groggy to say anything, and I had too much on my mind anyway. Alice dozed off, while Cinder sat reading a book.

~

Once we were off the plane, we met up with two other groups just outside of a large white building. The groups where all about the same size, two with three people and one with four, but each one had an adult accompanying them, just like ours.

After a brief introduction of everyone saying their names (and me instantly forgetting all of them), we were instructed to form one large group and headed towards to building.

The first room we entered was small, rectangular and a brilliantly pristine white. It looked like someone bleached the floors and walls when they were bored. A large sunroof let in a ton of natural light, and the mirrors on either side of the door just made the small room seem even brighter. The thirteen of us had trouble fitting in the room comfortably.

A woman looking in her early twenties poked her head out of the door opposite to the one we just came in with. The woman had super blonde curly hair and was unnaturally perky for how early it was.

"Good morning everyone!" She squeezed the rest of the way in, closing the door behind her. She wore a purple over the shoulder top with black dress pants and black pumps. She waved at us, still seeming really happy. I looked at her other arm. It was a prosthetic. "You guys must be the new trainees. That's good. My name is Erica, I will be something of a tour guide to you today," That explains why she was so perky. "However,' her smile faded "you are about to enter a top secret, restricted area, so everything you see is confidential, and no one can know but you." She scanned the room for a moment, then smiled again. "Let's begin!" She turned on her heel and disappeared through the door.