Restart ✔️

12 | Reincarnation

"I thought you were dead."

"I thought I was too." My mom glares at Ms. Smith.

"What does that mean?" I ask.

She closes her eyes and sighs. "Let's get you better before we do the questions thing."

I start to sit up. "No. I'm fine."

"No, you aren't." Nick leans forward, pushes me back then guides my mom out the door. "You're right," he says to my mom, "Questions later." My mom rolls her eyes and steps out. Now it's just Ms. Smith, Nick, and me in the room.

"How do you really feel?" Nick asks.

"I told you, I feel fine. Maybe a little cold and terrified, but I'm ok."

Ms. Smith looks at me with a confused face. "What do you mean by terrified?"

"Oh...well, the things I saw weren't exactly soothing."

"What did you see?" Ms. Smith asks.

"Are you sure you want to know?"

"Of course."

I swallow the lump in my throat. "I was in this lab. There was a person in a white coat injecting these serums into a baby. The serum was freezing, it was almost like they were testing the baby for its strength. Probably for the serum that gave us our dreams," I look at Nick, "The baby was squirming the entire time the needle was anywhere near it. But only seconds after it was injected, it stopped."

"What does that mean?" Nick asks.

Ms. Smith lowers her head and covers her mouth with a hand. "It means the baby failed the test. It died."

I only nod.

"This is good," Nick says.

I look at him in complete disgust. "What part about a baby being murdered is good?"

"I didn't mean it like that. What I meant was that we can use this to convince others to join our side, to build up numbers."

"That might work." Ms. Smith's eyes widen. "Good idea, Nick. I'll go share it with the others."

She opens the door and leaves to join the crowd in the Hanging Area. It has couches and TVs, so most of the recruits spend their time there. At least that's what it looks like from this side of the wall in the medical area. I haven't really left it since we got here.

My mom comes in as soon as Ms. Smith leaves. They give each other the stink eye as they pass.

"Hey, is it alright if we talk now?" my mom asks me.

I nod.

Nick gets up and says, "I'll give you two some privacy." He kisses me on the forehead then becomes apart of the crowd in the Hanging Area.

"How're you feeling?"

"Fine, really. A little cold, but I can stand it."

"Well, here." She pulls a blanket off the chair next to my bed and wraps it around me.

"Thanks."

She pulls the chair forward and sits down beside me.

"I know you have a lot of questions."

"Yeah," I say.

"Ok, so ask me them."

I shift in the bed uncomfortably. "Ok," I say uneasily. "Why'd you fake your death?"

She laughs softly to herself. "I should've known this question would be first." She looks down at her hands, folded in her lap, and thinks. "I wanted to start over. Of course, you know that already with your dreams and everything."