Difference

Chapter 14

After I process what he just said, I panic. I can't go into the room. I'll end up just like Tommy, a mental wreck.

"NO! Not yet, please not yet!" I beg, but Mr. Orion shakes his head.

"I've given you multiple chances, Erinn. You've refused to do this the easy way. I've decided that your difference probably won't be the rarest I'll find. So I'm going to sacrifice yours to help you and all of the other kids. We don't want them ending up like you if they find out what we're doing," He explains apologetically, but apology not accepted! I can't do this. If I resist, I'll end up like Tommy. If I don't resist, I'll end up like Tess. My heart is beating so hard right now, I feel like it's going to burst out of my chest. But I try to collect myself and talk some sense into my kidnapper.

"Please, I'll do anything. I'll even not resist The Room and you can have my difference. Just not today," I beg.

"That's a very tempting offer, but I'm sorry Erinn. You won't be able to stop yourself from resisting," He apologizes, "Now could you please calm down before we have to shoot you with a dart, too?"

"Calm down?!" I'm hysterical now, but I can't stop myself, "What's the dang room even gonna do to me?"

"You won't feel a thing. Just relax, read a book, whatever you want to do. We should be done with you in three days or less, the usual time," He explains. When they're done with me, are they just going to ship my to a hospital? I'm guessing the hospital first, and then a mental institute.

"Ready?" He asks, pulling me from my future nightmares and back into the present one.

"No," I say flatly, but I go with him anyways. The only thing I have to lose now is my sanity, which I wouldn't mind losing if it meant I could forget about all of this and all the people who have betrayed me and broken my heart. Carrie, Jakob, Tess. The three people I found the easiest to get close to. Although the betrayal part may not have been Tess's fault, it was her fault that she wouldn't listen to me.

"Well, I'm sorry to say that whether you're ready or not doesn't matter. You're going in," He says to me. I only glare. I don't really care anymore. I'm scared out of my mind, of course, but now it just seems like a room that will destroy my one specialty, and most likely my sanity as well. I don't have any friends or family to lose. I don't even have a real home. My real parents don't know their actual daughter. I would so much rather be able to forget about all of this and lie in a bed with clean, white sheets all day and have people bring me my food.

We enter a hall with only one elaborate wooden door at the end. Mr. Orion walks calmly towards it like he's done this a thousand times, which he probably has. I, on the other hand, feel my heart trying to beat its way out of my chest. I'm having trouble breathing. I don't know what I'm going to feel inside The Room. I'm not even completely sure what it's going to do to me.

We approach the door and Mr. Orion takes a small brass key out of his pocket. He hands it to me.

"Would you like to do the honor?" He asks. Honor!? Heck no. I stare at him coldly until he pulls his hand back towards him and sticks the key in the lock himself. We step through the door way, and despite my growing fear, I'm amazed.

It seems like someone moved my room. Not my room from my old home in Ohio, but the one here. I know it can't be my room, though, because my door doesn't look like that and there would've been other rooms in the hallway. Mr. Orion sees the shock on my face.

"We try to make the kid feel at home, so they're calm. We figured out that kids are the calmest in an atmosphere that expresses the feeling of home and comfort. All we do is move all of your stuff to The Room and do a little moving of the walls," He catches my perplexed look, "One of the staff members took the difference of telekinesis."

"Oh," is all I can say.

"Let me explain the basics. You'll be in here for three days at most. All you need to do is relax. We've put your phone on your nightstand. There are books, puzzles, anything you want. The TV over there has tons of stations, and everything is free on Netflix. Your food will come out of that wide tube over there," He points to the corner of the room, "The Room won't hurt you. You won't feel a thing. Just relax, and after three days, you can forget about all of this. You can go back to Ohio, if you'd like."

It sounds easy enough. It sounds simple and nice. Really, really nice. I finally accept the fact that this is the only thing that will stop them from hunting me down and keeping me here. So although I'm too terrified to speak, I nod. Mr. Orion smiles, gives me a little wave, and walks out of the room, closing the door behind him. I hear it lock.

Then I just sit there, waiting for something to happen, even though I know I won't be able to feel the change. So I just sit there, waiting for my future.