The Adventures

4

OLIVE

       Olive ran through the halls. She lost the blue haired guy. She had questions that needed to be answered by him. She clutched two papers in her hand as she charged through the empty halls only to be knocked down by something.

    "Ah shit sorry 'bout that!"

A hand was held out to Olive. She grabbed it and immediately recognized the man who knocked her down. She couldn't control herself and threw him to the ground. She sat on his back, twisting the arm he offered behind him. Olive slammed down the papers she was holding: The note they passed in class and the paper of instructions her older brother was given by the mystery man years ago.

[O]    "You're him, aren't you?" Charlie didn't answer. "Aren't you!?" She demanded, twisting Charlie's arm more.

  [R]  "Hey! Now, I get it if you're some angry ex after blood, but maybe you can try a different approach that doesn't involve snapping his arm in half." 

  [C]  "It's fine... it's not like it hurts..." Charlie exhaled and blew the papers forward a bit. In an instant, he was gone and instead stood in front of Olive who knelt on the ground. "I only wanted to help. I didn't want him to die."

       Olive looked at the stranger and found it hard not to believe him. Yes, she found the hundreds of thousands of dollars inside the box and read the letter so many times over. However, that didn't mean she could trust him. Her brother still died and the only person who could've known where he'd be would be the man in front of her. She admitted she couldn't remember that day too much anymore but she knew it was him at the center of her brother's disappearance.

  [C]  "It's alright if ya blame me. I shoulda just taken you two in my car. I regret that. But I can't change the past, y'know.... I really am sorry." His eyes didn't waver at all and Olive could tell he spoke the truth. She stood up and started back down the hall in the direction she came. She wasn't going to get her answers from him.

  [C]  "Lingerin' on the past only means you're gonna miss the future. Just keep livin'... At least for your father-"

  [O]  "Brother."

   [C] "Huh?"

   [O] "Oliver was my brother..."

  [C]  "Oh..." Charlie looked over her head at his friend... who was looking at her ass... "I'm Charlie. And uh, y'know, whenever you want to, feel free to hang with us."

    "What?" Olive was surprised by his offer. She didn't like to get attached to people if she was going to lose them. In the military, she couldn't make friends because she knew that they'd only die sooner or later.

  [R]  "Well, we could just hang if you want to lose the third wheel." The taller man next to Charlie spoke. He was soaked and was only in a pair of dark jeans. "We can have a good time if you're up for it." He winked, attempting to lean down but was stopped dead by a nasty crackle sound emanating from his back.

   [C] "Rei, calm yourself before you get killed."

        Rei whined about Charlie ruining his fun and the two's conversation escalated quickly into a heated argument over too many little things. Oddly enough, Olive liked it. She liked how out of place the two seemed to be. Almost like they were their own world and didn't care that they looked like idiots. Maybe...

RIIIIIIIINNNNNNNNGGGGGGGGG!!!!!!!!!!!

       The bell sounding that lunch was over broke through the boys' fight, which started to get physical. The three of them needed to get downstairs. Olive, Rei, and Charlie looked at each other. They took out their schedules and began to compare: Olive had to go to Ways, which Rei recommended was cooler than it seemed. Charlie had to go to the exam, which meant he'd leave school an hour before they did while Rei went to gym. The three decided to meet at a convenience store down the street and went off.

       Olive sat in class and thought about the two guys she made friends with. She wondered if Charlie would be okay during the exam. Olive remembered having it before lunch. She sat in a room strapped to a chair and had to listen to that horrible sound from the machine. She was used to screams but that was worse than anything she'd ever had to hear.

CHARLIE

       Charlie sat in a classroom with a few other kids as he waited for his name to be called. Some kids looked nervous. Maybe they heard 'bout that sound. He tried to imagine some God awful screech that made his ears bleed and thought about some way he could numb himself. To help him think, he pulled out a small baggie of pot he'd been saving and some papers. He rolled up a joint and lit it in his mouth. Some kids gave him weird looks but no one said anything. Official looking people came and went with other kids until his name was finally called. He stuck the lit end on his tongue, put it in the baggie and put it in his pocket.

       Some lab-coat wearing people came in, strapped him down, the whole nine-yards. He'd dealt with the same thing at that other place up North, only up there it was almost every day. After he was hooked up the people just left him in the room.

*********************

       When Charlie woke up, he hadn't been taken off the machine before him. Instead he just felt like he'd been hit over the head with it. Well that batch is goin' out... People on the other end of the window ahead of him stopped in their tracks and stared. They whispered things to one another then headed in to free him. Once he was free he just walked out of the room like nothing happened. He was handed a form and an icepack, then gathered his things and left.

Results:
... Charlie-  subject 12-A
No activity. Under surveillance.

... Olive- subject 4-D
Normal activity. No required observation.

... Rei- subject 1-F
Abnormal activity. Observation required. Proceed with caution.