Yesterday and Tomorrow

Chapter Two

Melanie woke up with her face smushed up against the windowsill, her morning breath fogging up the window. Blinking and squinting in the morning sunlight, Melanie stretched her stiff muscles. The book that she had put down the night before still sat on the windowsill. On her way out of the room, Melanie slipped it back on the bookshelf.

The house was strangely quiet, and Melanie had an uneasy feeling as she entered the kitchen. It was the weekend, and her parents didn't work. Usually by now, they were telling her to get moving, so they could visit some of their rich friends. Putting the thoughts out of her mind, Melanie typed her breakfast order into the AutoCook. While she waited for it to be made, Melanie wandered into the living room. Deep in thought, she flopped down on her regular chair and stared out the window. Melanie didn't notice the men in the suits and the dark glasses until they had surrounded her.

"What do you want?" she demanded, her voice coming out higher than she expected. Remaining silent, two of the men grabbed either arm and forced her to stand. Melanie tried to shake them off, but they were a lot stronger than her.

"Don't struggle sweetheart," Mrs. Young's came from behind her.

"I don't want to do this! You shouldn't be allowed to take me by force!" Melanie yelled frustratedly.

"You refused to go on your own, so we had to," her father chimed in.

The men roughly turned Melanie around and made her face her parents. Scared tears had begun to run down her face, but she managed to glare at her parents anyway.

"We know you'll continue to fight, so we have a proposition for you," her mother said coolly, "If you do not stop resisting, we will have your friend do it instead. Casper, isn't it? He would love to do it, wouldn't he?"

All the blood drained from Melanie's face as she turned pale, "You listen to my phone calls?" her voice had dropped to a faint whisper.

"Evey call, every message between you and all your little friends has been recorded," Mrs. Young smiled triumphantly.

"You!...you're!...to do that! No right! You had no right to do that!" Melanie struggled to form her words.

"We have power in this city. Not enough to get to the very top, but enough to convince the president to let his son be part of an experiment to benefit the society as a whole. So, you're wrong. We have every right to do anything we want," her mother shrugged innocently.

"That's not a good enough excuse," Melanie's voice shook with anger.

Mrs. Young sighed impatiently, "Shall I call up President Ukari, or will you go willingly?"

"I'll go," Melanie raised her chin defiantly and looked directly into her mother's eyes, "But if I survive this, I will find a way to destroy your reputation and all you hope to achieve."

"Let me assure you....." her mother walked over until they were face to face, daughter and mother glaring at one another, "......you will not survive this. No one ever comes back from government experiments."

Turning around, Mrs. Young snapped her fingers as she walked away, "She's all yours."

Melanie was pushed in the general direction of the door, and as promised, she went willingly. As the door closed behind her and her stone-faced escorts, she murmured to herself, "I will come back. I have to."

~

The men had taken her down the elevator and out the front door of the building while she was still in her pajamas. Everyone who saw them averted their eyes and kept walking, like a child being abducted was perfectly normal. Which, in a way, it sort of was. The whole city thrived on secrets and lies.

There was a silver hover waiting for them above the curb in front of the building. Another person, a woman, in a black suit stepped out of the driver's seat and proceeded to open the door to the backseat. Melanie noticed that this was the first woman she had seen. The rest of these silent people were men. She barely had time to register this fact before a black bag was shoved over her head and her wrists put into restraining cuffs.

Melanie was shoved unceremoniously into the hover. As she attempted to sit up without the use of her hands, the hover started forward suddenly with a sharp jerk. Falling over again, Melanie sighed and decided to stay laying down.

The humming of the hover motor and the fact that there was a sack over her eyes caused Melanie to drift into a half-conscious sleep. Soon, loud, shouting voices alerted her that they had arrived at her final destination. Melanie managed to push herself into a sitting position, and silently awaited her fate.

The hover came to a slow, gradual stop and the voices outside grew fainter. A quiet click to her left told Melanie that the hover door had been opened. Bracing herself for a rough exit from the hover, Melanie was thoroughly surprised when small, gentle hands grabbed hers and gently guided her out of the hover. The same hands carefully peeled the bag off Melanie's head.

Bright light hit Melanie's eyes when the bag came off, and it took her a few seconds before her vision adjusted. As she blinked rapidly, Melanie could see a woman in front of her. She was the one Melanie had seen before, and appeared to have driven the hover. The woman was now carefully folding the black bag, and Melanie was thankful for the decent treatment, compared to the men who had handled her so roughly before.

Without looking at Melanie, the woman beckoned with her left hand, "This way please."

As they walked, Melanie took in her surroundings. They were in some sort of hangar for the hovers, and hardly anyone was in sight. The large hangar doors to her right let in the dim afternoon sunlight and showed a tightly guarded security gate outside. Melanie's footsteps echoed loudly on the concrete floor as the quiet woman led her to a small door at the far end of the hangar.

There was a body scanner next to the door, and the woman stood perfectly still as the red light ran up and down her body. When the light flashed green, the woman proceeded to open the door.

"Where are we going?" Melanie asked her, as she was ushered through the door.

"The Scientific Research Center's human laboratories," the woman said matter-of-factly.

The door led to a dark staircase that went into the ground. Melanie took a deep breath and began to descend into the gloom, with the woman close behind her. Melanie stayed close to the wall, and carefully felt her way down every step until she reached the bottom. She hesitated, not sure where to go, and the woman walked around from behind her.

"I will lead the rest of the way, but you must walk beside me," she said sternly.

Melanie nodded and fell into step beside her. As they walked, the dark concrete walls faded into white, like the walls of an institution. Every few feet was a door and a small body scanner beside it, like the one the woman had used to get them into the facility. Melanie shuddered as she thought of what might be happening behind those doors. After what seemed like forever, the woman finally stopped beside one of the many doors.

"Let it scan you, and then go in," she said, gesturing to the scanner. Melanie's breathing was shaky as she cautiously stood in front of the scanner. There was a small blip of red light over her eyes, and then the door clicked open.

Melanie glanced at the woman once more before walking through.

"I....um. Thank you," Melanie mumbled.

The woman's expression was that of pity. "Good luck," she replied, and turned away.

Melanie faced the blank door alone.

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Sorry guys! I know it's been awhile since I posted the first chapter. This one has been done for a long time but I haven't had time to edit and post. Happy Spring Break!