Origin (Book 2)

Chapter 19

I tried to sit up, and my whole body rotated in mid-air.

"Whoa!" I dropped down to my bed.

How did I get in here? Last thing I remembered...

Professor Strong, I thought angrily.

He forced me into an electric chair. Electrocuted me.

He hurt me.

An intense whining sound reached my ears. It wasn't annoying, per-say, but I wanted to know what it was.

I went in the bathroom to take a shower. Every step I took was a loud boom to me.

And then the shower hose. The water moving through the air was like a thunder clap as each droplet hit my skin.

Wait, wait. I woke up above my bed. Was I hovering? Or levitating, somehow?

I pulled a dry towel off the rack. Every move I made- or rather, every move, period- ravaged my eardrums. I was sensitive to everything.

Getting the sense that it was morning time (the sun almost always shone here), I slowly crept upstairs to breakfast.

"Ow!" I hissed. Someone was in there. The lightbulb overhead, the oven, whoever was clanking around dishes, I could hear it all.

I leaned against the railing, not even attempting to finish the journey up the stairs.

"Are you okay?" Alissa came up behind me. "You look like you're going through a major hangover."

"Something like that, yeah," I said.

"Here." She handed me a pair of ear muffs. "They're sound proof. I use them when it's too loud for me to concentrate on what I'm reading."

"I can't take these. You'll probably use them today," I said.

"No, I won't be reading today. I'm testing with Professor Strong today," she said.

"Okay," I said. "Feel free to punch him in the face for me if you want."

"That's a strange request."

"Trust me, he deserves it," I said.

"Alright, then. See you at breakfast."

"See you." I waved her off and put on the muffs.

I expected the noise to die down, but even the slightest movement from the muffs made everything intensify. I took them off and put them in my pocket for later.

I stumbled into the large kitchen, where everyone was already seated and eating. Everyone except for the professor.

"Missed your alarm?" Sage said. It came out weird through the pancake stuffed into her mouth.

"Let's go with that," I said.

The dining table was large enough to fit about a dozen people. Most of the whole area was taken by the lounge, so the need for a large dining room was evident, but not necessary.

I took a seat between the most neutral people here: Blink and Jason.

"Who's cooking?" I asked. The pressure I felt in my head was subsiding into a minor headache.

Taking a look behind me, I had to remind myself that the man using the stove wasn't real, just one of the professor's technological copies. He remained silent.

He placed a plate in front of me, and I dug in. After I had eaten half of the food, I soaked the pancakes in syrup and finished off the rest.

"Still hungry?" the copy asked.