The girl moved as if she were having a seizure, her body twisting in ways that shouldn’t have been possible. When she opened her eyes, they were filled with black.
A loud, siren-like cry erupted from the girl’s mouth. Blood dripped from her orifices.
“She’s not responding well to the treatment,” Dr. Ross noted, fear drenched in his voice.
The girl struggled against the bonds that held her to the medical operating table. Her mouth was forced shut by her own body, shutting off her scream. Then, almost like a dream, everything in the entire room lifted off the ground an inch, suspended in the air for a few seconds before colliding with the metallic steel ground.
“She’s developed too many psychic powers. We must terminate—”
“NO!” It was a shout ripped from the lungs of Dr. Ross, who stared at the girl in fear. “I’m not killing the girl who just might change the world.”
“Mark down this new ability.” The words came from Dr. Ross’s partner, Dr. Johnson. She walked down the stairs into the room so she could see the girl more clearly. “List them off for me.”
The assistant who had spoken before looked down at his clipboard. “Psychometry. Transvection. Astral projection. Dowsing. Precognition. Pyrokinesis. Hydrokinesis. Telepathy. Terrakinesis. And now, telekinesis.”
Dr. Johnson looked towards Dr. Ross. “Terrakinesis? Has that been tested thoroughly? She couldn’t be able to manipulate earth.”
“She killed a man who tracked dirt into her room by shoving it down his throat and suffocating him.” Dr. Ross looked over at the girl, who now slept soundly.
“She’s a killer. She takes after you.” Dr. Johnson crossed her arms.
“She got your looks.”
Dr. Johnson rolled her eyes, leaning forward to get a closer look at the child. Her child.
Without another word, Dr. Johnson left the room.
“Has she been named?” The assistant asked once the door was closed.
“She’s a lab rat. She doesn’t get a name.”
Dr. Ross left the room.
The girl felt alone as invisible hands unstrapped her from the operating table, placing her into a gurney and strapping her down again. She kept her eyes closed, even though she was wide awake. Her body had built an immunity to the sleeping liquid they injected into her veins after each session of treatment.
They laid her down in her padded room, shutting the metal door behind them as they left. She opened her eyes. She was alone.
She was angry.
Furious at the invisible hands who probed her, the invisible people who talked about her, she called fire to her, throwing a giant flaming ball at the metal door and letting out a shrill, high-pitched scream.
It wasn’t working.
The girl had learned at seven to keep some of her powers secret. She had two more that the doctors didn’t know of. Some, they learned of by accident. She didn’t mean to kill the man who tracked the mud into her room. But it smelled so bad.
She called her newest power metal moving. They had given her a metal ball to play with, big enough that she couldn’t swallow it in a suicide attempt. When they left, she tried to crush it, knowing she would fail, but wishing for success. She did it.
Her oldest power she called sound shaking. She could project her voice, and imitate others to deceive them.
She was twelve now. She had twelve powers.
She knew that in a few months, she would turn thirteen, thus her thirteenth power would come.
The girl closed her eyes. She folded her legs into a meditating pose, pressing her palms together in prayer. With very little concentration, she floated up, mumbling words in Latin.
Hours passed.
The door slid open and the girl fell to the floor, landing on both feet. She brushed off her white sleeves.
In front of her stood Dr. Johnson, though the girl did not know.
The green glow in her eyes that came with the use of her powers disappeared once she blinked. Her ice blue eyes shone behind thick black lashes. “I’m not on duty,” the girl murmurs, closing her eyes. She hoped to deceive the woman. She hoped to kill her.
The woman nodded. “Of course. You’ve grown stronger than we’ve imagined.”
“I refuse to be in contact with someone who refuses to acknowledge me as a human being.”
Dr. Johnson gave a sad smile. “You’re so smart. That’s why Dr. Ross and I have used your DNA to make a gender bend clone of yourself. Your time here is no longer necessary.”
The girl closed her eyes and began to dig into the woman’s mind. She searched for answers to what the woman was saying. The words came at her like bullets. Termination. Death. Adam.
“Adam. His name is Adam, isn’t it? My gender bend?”
The girl still didn’t open her eyes.
Dr. Johnson nodded. “Yes.”
“Named after the first man created in Genesis of the Bible. Created by God.”
“Yes.”
The girl’s eyes shot open. Her eyes glowed green. She spoke in Adam’s voice, merely a deeper version of her own. “Adam was not created by God. Adam was created by Man. Adam was created by monsters.”
The girl’s black hair whipped around her body. She raised her hands slowly, creating a ball of pure energy above her head.
“Pandora!” Dr. Johnson cried. “Pandora, stop!”
The wind slowed and the energy died out. The girl blinked. “W-what did you just say?”
“I said, stop.”
“I have...a name?”
Slowly, Dr. Johnson nodded.
The girl searched through the doctor’s mind. “Pandora,” she said. “Named after the first woman in Greek mythology. Pandy, for short. The other scientists wanted to name me Pandemonium, because I was such a disaster. Pandora worked, though. Pandy even better.”
The girl wrapped her arms around her body as if she was cold. “I have a name,” she said again, though this time it was a statement.
“Pandora,” Dr. Johnson stopped. “Pandy. My name is Paige Johnson. Thirteen years ago, another scientist and I came together. You were the result.”
YOU ARE READING
Pandemonium
خيال علميPandora is an experiment. After being replaced by her male counterpart, Adam, she is scheduled to be terminated on November 7: her birthday. Luckily, she escapes. She meets Porter, an socially awkward boy who likes to shy away from people. She falls...
