Safe

3- Darkness

I wake in the crushing, everlasting darkness. I should be afraid. But I was born dead. I'm not afraid. 

I feel around, my eyes barely adjusting to the darkness. It's blackest black, like a starless night, like a deep black, endless abyss, like a deep space without suns and planets and stars. I tap on the walls. I'm in a crate, some sort of box. I can barely stretch both of my arms out, let alone go above a crouch. My right arm aches, and I run my hand along the length of it. It runs over a small, cool bump. "What?" I whisper. And then I remember. The bead. I try to pry it out, but a searing pain shoots up and down my arm, only dulling after around a minute. I clench my jaw to keep from crying out. The bead isn't even loose.

A cool, frigid sensation runs over my body, like I'm being sprayed with cool jets of air. The temperature in the box cools, and I struggle to stay awake. My eyelids begin to close, my muscles start to relax. I reach down and pinch my arm, waking myself up slightly. But not for long. The cool stream of air massages me into a deep sleep.

When I wake up, the crate had grown. Wait, no- it's a room. The crate slowly fades from my memory, along with everything else. I'm blank like the white walls of the room. As soft as the sheets in the bed that I'm laying in. I look up, and see a drip going into my arm. Warm, green liquid fills it, turning my veins an odd, brown color. Brown is a nice color. A warm color. Like chocolate. I hear a soft knock on the door. "Hello?" I ask calmly. A nice-looking lady comes in. "Hello, child," she says, "I'm Delilah." "Oh really?" I ask, "I think that's my name. Or maybe it's A'Karen..." I trail off, my eyes shutting. My last image is of Delilah sticking another needle in my arm.

When I wake up again, a boy is in my room. I have two drips going into my arm. "What the-" I begin. "Shh," he says, "just ignore it. You're sedated, temporarily. Delilah had to give you another drip. It's nothing, just something like morphine and sleeping medicine. You should experience some pain from that." He points to the bead in my arm. I'm no longer blank, and easily influenced like there is a haze over my eyes. "Yeah," I say, forgetting about the vile fluids that they were pumping into my veins. Who are you?" I sit up, an odd feeling like adrenaline and strength filling my body. I want to get up and attack someone, but I think better of it. I also notice that my hair now cascades down around my shoulders, and instead of red, it's a light black color. And my skin is a few shades darker. "What are you doing to me?" I ask.

"Whoa, one question at a time," the boy says. I now recognize him as Jake. While from far away, he looked like he was older, up close his young face confirmes him to be around the age of 16. He sits on my bed, looking at me as he clasps his hands together nervously. "We are anonymous. Hidden. Just a small group of people. We want to assassinate the Prime Minister." "Of England? Why?" I sit up even more, leaning against the headboard of the bed. "We think that he's... not good. He's going to try to make the world better. And it'll be fun!" He says 'fun', with excitement, his pupils dilating approximately .004 centimeters. I shake off the thought. And then I notice something. He has a British accent, which means that he was probably from England himself. Why hadn't I noticed that before? I usually notice those things immediately. Then I remember my skin, which has now turned another shade darker.

"What are you doing to me?" I ask firmly. "We're returning you. And then changing you back. Once you're returned, we think that you'll forget about your... special state. We can train you, and then return you to your state. You'll think like us, be like us, and lead us. We'll finish training you when you're 20. And don't try removing the drips, you'll just bleed to death. The ingredients in the green serum affect your platelets, so that they won't function. You'll simply die, so I suggest that you just let us deal with you." He grins, and I can tell that he's holding something back. Like this isn't the real him. 

My heart begins to race, and my skin is still light enough for me to see my veins glow slightly like they do when I'm full of adrenaline. However, now the glow is sickly and pale, like an off-yellow color. I ignore it, closing my eyes and ripping out the IV's without thinking. Blood seeps from the backs of my hands running down my arms and hitting the floor and the bed. My skin stays the same color, and I squeeze the wounds in an attempt to flush out my system. Suddenly, Jake grabs me. I bite down on his hand, causing him to bleed and cry out, releasing me. "Hah!" I yell, sliding off of the bed. My bare feet hit the cool, white floor, and I run into the nearest room. It's a bathroom, and I quickly lock the door. The window is barred. I look at my reflection in the mirror. I'm beginning to look like my parents. I desperately search for some kind of medicine to counteract the serum, and I find nothing.

The idea enters my mind to drink something. I stick my head under the faucet, drinking water until I feel as though I'm going to throw up. I hear a pounding on the door. Jake. I just set up a chair against the knob and soon enough, I have to use the restroom. Within a half of an hour, I've used the restroom over four times. My skin is now lighter. The serum has been flushed out of my system. My plan worked. The knocking has subsided, but I don't understand why I haven't been discovered yet. Jake could have gotten in here easily. Unless they want me in here... I hear a noise, like a low hiss, and the same cool jets attempt to knock me out again. I fight it, splashing water on my face and pinching my arms. I slap myself, holding my breath so that I don't inhale any of the poison. I suck in my gut, looking at the bars between the windows. I quickly punch through the window, a small scream escaping my lips. My hand is bleeding, and there are a couple of shards of glass embedded in my flesh. I finish clearing out the glass and try to squeeze through the bars. Nothing. I wasn't thin enough. For once.

I frantically look around, my eyes beginning to shut. I see a heating duct on the ceiling. Cautiously, I pull the chair away from the door, pry the vent loose, and lift myself into the vent. There I collapse, falling into a deep sleep.