Prisoner

The world is dark. It's always been dark. This world, this life, the only life I have ever known, and it is darkness. It eats at me, at my soul. It is everywhere. It cannot be stopped. I am afraid, afraid of the dark and what it is doing to me.

^^^^^^^^^^^^^^

"Hey you! Come on out of there!" Comes the same taunt I recieve almost daily from those prison guards.

I curl up smaller into a little ball and try to escape the taunts and jeers. But I can't escape them, just like I can't escape the darkness.

They shine a light at me, so bright it hurts my eyes even when they are scrunched closed. I know better than to open my eyes and see the light, even just for a minute. After they take the light away, it just makes it harder than it already is to see in the darkness. Eventually, they grow tired of my torment and leave me alone.

I am in here because I have a gift, a gift they want to make sure no one knows about. I'm not even sure what it is, but I have spent the last twelve years trying to figure it out. I got thrown in prison when I was four. My parents found out about my gift and they turned me over to the government. That is all I know. Every month, atleast I think it's every month, someone comes to interrogate me. Usually I end of getting information from them, not the other way around.

Here, in my dark, small, cell, I train. I try to beat the darkness through physical pain, pushing myself to the limit and farther. It never works. The darkness is everywhere, you cannot beat it. But I have to try. I have to escape. And I have a plan.

^^^^^^^^^^^^^^

"Hello, Alexandria. It's time for our...meeting."

I curl up smaller. It's just another doctor trying to find out when I'm going to break.

"now, now. Don't be like that. I'm sure this meeting will cheer you up." He says.

I'm sure it will, but not for the reasons you think. This is when I will escape. They take me to a meeting room with less security. I just have to be strong enought to get past it.

"If you do not get up I will have to call a guard." he says without the happy notes in his voice.

Slowly I get up and inch my way over to the cell door. He opens it and walks me down the hallway to the exit door. Through this door, is light. The door swings open and I am blinded. The doctor doesn't stop, just grabs my arm and drags me through. Still blind, he leads me to a table and sits me down in a chair.

"Now, you will be having a special visitor today and first we need to get you ready. You will take a shower and put on some fresh clothes. And brush you teeth." He sounds a little disgusted, like he's looking me over and seeing all my faults.

'No' I try to say, but nothing comes out. It's been so long since I have spoken. Eleven months to be exact.

'No' I try again. Still nothing. I shake my head.

"Don't be silly. You must take a shower." The nameless doctor says. They never tell me their names.

Instead of trying to speak again, I just shake my head.

"Yes, you will. Or I will make you take that shower and then it won't be plesent for either of us."He sounds mad.

I just squint at him. It's not like I don't want to take a shower, I just know I will get dirty again when they throw me back in my cell. My cell isn't really that bad. I have a little toilet and sink. They even give me toothpaste. It's the darkness. The darkness I hate.

A guard grabs my arms and pulls me to my feet. My eyes start to grow accustomed to the light but I still have to squint. The room is white. The same as it always is with one little table in the middle and a chair on either side of it. The guard drags me to another door. The only other door in the room. I have always wondered where it lead. He pulls me down a long, sterile, white hallway and opens a door then shoves me inside. I here the lock click from the outside.

I'm in a little bathroom, no windows, one shower. A few bottles of soap and conditioner. I turn the faucet on and strip off my old grimy clothes. The shower is nice and hot, warming me to my core. Darkness is also cold, very cold. I shake my head and try to think of something else, something other than darkness.

I try to speak. It doesn't work. I stopped talking after one of the nameless doctors told me I would rot in prison for the rest of my if anyone ever found out what my gift was. He never told me what it was but I think he knew.

I never saw that doctor again. Thats why I stopped speaking, I promised myself that I would never speak again for fear of telling my secret. A secret so deep, I don't even know it myself. Now here I am, breaking my promise and trying to speak. I try to say 'hello' but all that comes out is a moan.

This is useless. I turn the shower off and a grab a towel that was sitting on a little stool. Underneath it are clothes. I pull on some camo skinny jeans and a army green v-neck. Over top of that I put on a black leather jacket with random zipper pockets on it. On the floor I find black mid-calf combat boots. I just finish lacing them up when I glance up and see a mirror on the wall. I have never seen one before, Never seen myself before.

I aproach the mirror carefully and peek inside. My mouth makes a gasping motion but nothing comes out. This is not at all what I was expecting. I look carefully at my reflection, dark brown hair and pale blue eyes. I have a symetrical face, with a small nose and wide set eyes. Not that I have ever seen any girls, other than the occasional guard, I know I'm pretty maybe even beautiful.

I see something hanging on the wall. A little card under it says 'hair dryer'. I reach for it and am surprised when i pull it off the wall and hot air comes rushing out. I point it at my head and slowly my hair starts to dry. I rub the towel over my head to get the rest of the moisture and I am just about to try the door when it swings open.

The same guard grabs my arm and leads me back to the room. The white room. White, light. Black, darkness. I shiver then sit down. The nameless doctor is nowhere to be seen. For awhile I just sit there glaring at the guard. It always freaks them out when I do this.

The door I just came in through opens again and in walks a man, probably my age maybe a year or two older. Black hair, green eyes. Very attractive. No, he is a nameless doctor, I won't don't mean anything to him. I sit up straighter and glare at him.

He smiles at me.

"Hi," He says."My name is Mason Willis."

He reaches his hand across the table. I cross my arms. He told me his name.He pulls his arm back.

"Whats your name?" He asks.

That stupid smile is still plastered across his face.

"Her name is Alexandria." The guard from the corner pipes up.

"I knew that." Mason says through gritted teeth."I wanted to see if she would tell me."

"She don't talk," The guard says. "Hasn't since one of them doctors told her she was gonna rot in here forever."

How does he know that?

I sit still and stare at Mason.

"You have a gift." He begins.

I roll my eyes, I have heard this story a hundred times.

"I have it too." He says.

But he doesn't say it. Not out loud, he says it to my mind. I look up at him.

"Your gift could be used for good..."He is still reciting the speech.

"I can help you."

No, no, no! I am not crazy. I am not!

"Please, just think thoughts and try to send them to me."

"I am not crazy." I think to him.

"No." He smiles. "You are not."