Lost

Chapter 2

It's been two weeks since she's been gone, and not once have I left my bed in that time frame. I didn't even go to her funeral. I know she'd be disappointed in me, but I'm still not sure how I feel about her passing. Am I relieved? Am I angry? Or am I depressed? Perhaps, it is a mixture of the three emotions. I have gotten around ten hours of sleep in two weeks. I barely sleep, and when I do fall asleep, it's never peaceful. I have a nightmare. It's strange, but the worst part is that I know what it is.

My mother became a part of an experiment for the government. They wanted to try to alter one's personality. It was a strange experiment but my mother agreed to it because they paid our family handsomely. She was gone for a week and when she came back she wasn't quite the same. She was very aloof for the first few days she was back home. She seemed disoriented, but after the side effects of the experiment wore off she was a completely different person. The experiment worked, much to my disdain. The experiment took my mother away from me and replaced her with a stranger. A dangerous stranger. She looks at me and treats me like garbage, she beat me once. I lived like this for three weeks. Until one day, as she was about to hit me, she stopped, stood up straight, and walked to the closet in her bedroom. She rummaged through her belongings and pulled out a gun and, without a second of hesitation, shot herself. The experiment not only altered her personality, it turned her into their own robot. A living, breathing robot.

Nonetheless, two weeks after her death, I am still in shock. Why would the government do this? Was it even the government who came up with this?

Three weeks have passed since her death, and I've done nothing but sit in my room, confused. I was staring out my window, which overlooks my backyard, when, suddenly, my door bursts open and a group of large men in suit come pick me and carry outside to their car. I didn't even struggle. I just laid in their arms, limp, lifeless. I suppose, this is how it feels when one becomes numb to the world. It's a strange feeling, but it's also relaxing. Having no regard to the outside world and not caring about anything. It's as if you step outside yourself for a moment and just observe the world. But I am jolted back into reality when I realize one of the men is speaking to me. "Calista? Are you listening?" I nod, "Good, since your mother participated in a government sanctioned experiment, which failed- I'm sorry about your loss- and it is top secret, we will have to place you in an area of confinement to protect this experiment. You will be with other teenagers who know about the experiment. Once you are inside the contained area, you are not allowed to discuss or ask questions about the experiment with the others." I stay silent and stare the man. "Do you understand me Calista?"

I slowly part my lips as I try to speak "So...you're taking me away from home to keep this experiment a secret? Why?"

"Excuse me?"

My voice comes out stronger now, "Why is it a secret?"

"I'm afraid I cannot disclose that information to you." The man says, curtly. I purse my lips and look away. I'm leaving home. The last thing I had to connect me to my mother. This should make me sad, but instead I am relieved. I feel like I am finally free of the grief that has haunted me since my mother's death.

I get out of the car and a I see a tall building made entirely out of glass. The men lead inside the building and we have to go through a security checkpoint. They make me go through a metal detector and then they pat me down. Then the men lead me to a room that had a table and two chairs on either side of the table. "Have a seat." One of the men say. I take a seat and stare at the wall across from me. A moment later a man in a plain white t-shirt walks into the room and sits on the chair opposite of me. "Hello," the man greets me with a smile. He looked young, maybe nineteen or twenty years old. He opens up a file in front of him. "So your name in Calista Hemings?" I nod. "Your DOB is November 12, 1999, correct?" I nod again. "So, that makes you fifteen next month?"

"Yes," I say quietly. He gives me a small smile.

"So, she speaks," he says lightheartedly as I stare blankly at him. He drops his smile and clears his throat. "Your mother is Annetta Hemings and your father-"

"I don't have a father," I say, firmly. The man clenches his jaw and nods.

"You're born in Bakersfield, California and currently live in San Diego?" I nod.

"Okay, all the information checks out. Follow me," he picks up the file and leads me out of the room and into a white hallway. The man is only a few inches taller than me and he has well defined muscles that are shown well through his plain white t-shirt. I wonder why he isn't in suits like the other men. He takes me through multiple doors and gates, each one having to put a code in. After four doors and gates, we come to what looks like a lobby.

"Where are we?" I ask.

"This, Calista, is your new home." It looks very clean, and white. "Your room is on the eighth floor. Room 805. Here is your key," he hands me a silver key. "Your room is completely furnished with the essentials: a bed, a desk, a closet, and a fully functional bathroom."

"No roommate?"

"No, we have enough space," he says curtly. "Make yourself comfortable here. It will be your home for a while." He gives me a small smile and walks away.