Lost

Chapter 7

I walked with my father down to the basement, where the experiments were conducted. A woman in a lab coat came up to me and grabbed my arm. She strapped me into a cool metal chair. I began to panic. It was too much like the dream. The woman was too much like her. I looked at my father wide-eyed. He didn’t know my dream. I look across from me, through the glass I see Caleb being strapped to chair against his will. I yelled. My father comes behind me and clamps his hand on my mouth, and in the other room, Caleb looks at me wide-eyed. “Cali, it’s okay. This won’t hurt you,” he gets a cloth from the table and places it over my mouth. I try to fight the chloroform, but it’s no use. In a few moments I was out. 

All I hear is heavy breathing. It takes me moment before I realize that the breathing is coming from me. All I see is darkness. I yell and I only hear an echo of voice. My breathing becomes ragged and my heart beat picks up. I feel myself shaking in terror. Calista, calm. I tell myself. I take slow deep breaths and my heart rate goes down. Suddenly, there is a bright light in my eyes. I blink a few times and I realize I’m in the compound, in my room. Calista. I hear. Except, it wasn’t a whisper. It was a voice in my head. Calista, where are you? I think I’m going crazy. I get out of bed and make my way to Caleb’s room. I take the key that he hide on the top of the doorframe and unlock the door.  Is that you, Cali? “Yes, Caleb, it’s me,” I stop midstep and realize that the voice in my head is Caleb’s.

“Cali? Something weird happened,” He says as he stands up. He sways a little bit and I come out of my daze to catch him. I sit him down on the bed. “I might sound crazy, but I can hear voices in my head. Voices that aren’t mine,” He says, slowly.

“Caleb, I think it’s my thoughts you’re hearing,” I tell him. 

He scoffs, “What? No, that’s crazy.”

“No, Were you thinking about me? Or thinking about where I am?”

He looks at me, shocked, “How do you know that?”

“Because I can hear your thoughts.” 

We both sit on his bed for a few moments until I decide to get up and walk to the elevators. Caleb follows behind me. I press fourteen and wait until the doors slide open. “Dad?” I call out.

“Wait, he’s your father?” Caleb whispers. I nod.

“Cali? What are you doing here?” My father stands up from his chair.

“Dad, what did you do to me and Caleb?” I demand. “Why can we hear each other’s thoughts?”

“Ah, well you see, we’re trying a new experiment. One that involves fine-tuning the relationship between two lovers and giving them a deeper connection.”

“We’re not lovers,” Caleb says. I feel a small pang in my chest, but I ignore it. “Are you okay?” Caleb whispers. I look at him wide-eyed, but I nod. 

“Not yet,” My father says, smiling, “I’ve been observing the two of you. You two care about each other, no?” Caleb and I stare at him. “Well, you two act more like lovers than friends, to put it simply.” I purse my lips. “This new serum was developed to give couples an easier way to communicate, it just makes things easier. And this way you know exactly what your significant other is thinking, so there’s no room for deception.”

“Well, undo it! I don’t want to hear his thoughts!” I say, hotly.

“That’s phase two of this experiment. We are currently working on shutting down the serum. Now if you’ll excuse me I have a meeting to attend to,” he opens up another set of double doors and closes them.