The Secret Within

Chapter 5: Dark Room

I woke up, or did I? The room was so dark that I couldn't even tell if I had opened my eyes. I ran my hand around my surroundings. hmmm ... hey where are my clothes... oh they ripped, now I remember. Hmmm. Strange rough fabric met my fingers hmmm must be the mattress. Then I felt a large blanket that seemed to be sewed out of potato sacks. Wrapping the scratchy fabric around my body I began to crawl off the bed. The mattress was laid on the floor without a frame making it easy to crawl to the floor, cold tile... no it wasn't tile, some strange rock like tiles made up the floor. I could see a small slit of light where the door was, slowly I crawled over. I couldn't see anything under the door, but I could hear someone talking: "Alright, I guess it must be your turn. Here's the file on what we have on her so far, your job is to try and fill out the rest and make her feel at home." I flinched, this man must be talking about me... another voice answered nervously "uh... ok, I think I got it" the voice sounded unsure. "Hey it's ok, just do the same thing your provider did to you, except better" The other voice laughed, a young crisp laugh. Then I heard footsteps leading away. Are they gone? My question was answered when I began to hear the strange door start to open, I rushed back to the bed and wrapped the blanket securely around me. No, I won't let this happen,. The door opened awakening the dark room, a boy around my age walked in. He was very tall will thick brown hair that brushed to the side just above his eyebrows. "Hello" he said as closed the door and pulled up a chair that I didn't know had been there. I frowned confused at him, he didn't seem like the agitators I was used to.

"Who are you?" I made sure that my voice sounded unkind, I wanted him to know that I would not cooperate. "People around here call me Beanpole" I stifled a laugh, although I had to admit that it suited him. "No, I mean your real name" Beanpole smiled "I will explain in a little bit" he looked down at the clipboard the other man had given to him "now it says here that you can turn into a tiger" he eyed me with curious and excited eyes. "Is that the only thing you can turn into?". I was confused "Why do you need to know this, aren't you gonna just sell me or whatever it is you agitators do!?!" The smile vanished from his face "no...oh no... we are not the agitators, though I guess the master is not much better" he lowered his head. I began to speak more calmly "then what is this place?" He looked around the room "well I don't think it actually has a name but we call it Death's Base" he smiled proud of the name. "And who is 'we'?" Beanpole made a look like he just remembered something. "Well we can talk about this later, now try to transform." I was confused by this sudden command but decided to do as I was told. I closed my eyes, cat...cat. Nothing happened "I can't" Beanpole took a note on the clipboard "ok, that means the shot is working. He grabbed something from out of a box that was beside his chair. "Ok, here is your uniform, he told me not to give to you unless I was sure that the serum was working. He said he didn't want you to rip it." His sideways smile returned to his face as he set the cloths beside me "I will be back in a little to bring you some food." Beanpole walked out closing the door behind him. I picked up the clothing, it was unlike anything I had ever seen. There was a blue v-neck shirt that was out of strange material, and a pair of grey shorts made from the same strange material. I slipped them on careful for my scratched arm and my shoulder that was now a series of blacks and blues. It felt weird on my skin but I had to admit that it was very comfortable and easy to move around in. "I will have to ask Beanpole for a bandage and maybe some ice" I rubbed my shoulder while sitting down on the bed unsure what to do next.