The Game | Completed

gifts

April 21 (3 Days Later)

"Shut up, asshole! You're gonna wake her up." A feminine voice scolded in a harsh whisper. I blinked my eyes open and tried to take in my surroundings, but the light was so bright, I couldn't make anything out.

Then, a masculine voice argued, "Looks like you woke her up, genius." As my eyes finally adjusted to the light. I could see the sources of the voices, a girl and a boy, both around my age.

I was laying in a hospital bed, in a thin hospital gown. I heard the beeping of a heart monitor behind me, and a stiff blue blanket covered my lower half.

The girl spoke first "Hi, I'm Adrienne! Do you know what happened to you?" Her voice was soft, calming even.

I tried to speak but my voice was hoarse and hard to understand, "Vaguely, umm... Where am I?"

The boy answered "I'm Jackson, and you are at the Home for Exceptional Children. What's your name?"

My voice was as equally hoarse this time, "I-I'm Liv, and why am I here? I'm anything but 'Exceptional'."

The girl, a blonde with steel blue eyes laughed and answered. "Clearly you are! If you're even here, it means you're special! And have abilities!"

I gave her a question look and sat up, wincing at the pain in my neck. I felt Jackson pull my arm to him. I shifted uncomfortably as he changed the IV needle in my arm.

"Abilities?" Adrienne laughed quietly at my question.

"Like this." She tossed a metal tray of food in the air. My eyes widened, waiting for it to hit the ground with a clang. I braced myself for the noise, but it never came. The tray only floated gently onto the tile floor.

Jackson pinched the bridge of his nose and sighed. "What Adrienne means is that you have specific abilities. All of us have them, but most of us have multiple. Kids with only one are usually sent away." He explained. He stepped away, "You're good to go."

As I opened my mouth to ask more about my 'Gifts' but Adrienne gently pulled me out of bed and lead me down a long hallway.

We continued to walk down the hallway as she spoke, "You can stay in my room until your assigned one, okay?"

I nodded and winced at the pain in my neck. We eventually reached a white door with an intricate, golden handle.

She opened the white door that lead to an equally white room. It was of average size with two twin beds with a white bedside table sat between them.

The only color in the room came from the rows of books on a white bookshelf. There were two dressers along one wall and a vanity nestled between the two. Another door stood in the far corner of the room which I assumed led to an equally white bathroom.

Adrienne giggled at the way I looked around the room in awe. I turned to her, "Why are people with only one gift are sent away?" I asked randomly.

She replied excitedly. "Oh! Most people have two abilities. Three is uncommon, and four is practically unheard of, but they do happen! Kids with only one usually leave because their abilities were things that weren't considered useful."

"Oh, how many gifts do you have?"

She started beaming at the question and quickly replied "Two! Levitation, that's the one you saw earlier, and 'Organization'." She put air quotes around the word, "Organization is pretty self explanatory, though." Her beaming smile faltered when she finished explaining.

"For example." She walked gracefully over and to the bookshelf. She ran her hand across the first row of books.

My eyes widened as I saw the books, that only seconds ago, were randomly scattered on the shelves. When she pulled her hand away, they were arranged in size order. She ran her hand over them again and they were rearranged into color order, making a rainbow. She smiled and laughed at my expression.

It was a lot to take in and very odd considering the circumstances. I'd always been considered anything but exceptional, but if I could do something like that? It'd be amazing.

I shook the thought away and went to take a shower, telling myself not to get my hopes up. I told myself that I'd most likely be sent away in an attempt to calm my nerves.

Once I'd finished, I got out and noticed a set of clothes sitting on the counter. I carefully slid on the tight black dress and gold gladiator sandals that Adrienne must've set out for me.

The dress hugged my curves but made me self-conscious when I noticed my protruding belly. It was Off-The-Shoulder and long sleeved. It would be beautiful, on anyone.

Except me, apparently.

As soon as I walked out of the bathroom, Adrienne pushed me to the vanity and started doing my hair. I looked at myself in the mirror, and nearly cringed.

As you can probably tell, I'd never really liked how I looked.

I had mousy brown hair, hazel eyes, a small nose, and thin lips. My body was as bad as the rest of me. I had curves, but I guess that was caused by my layer of fat.

Adrienne finished curling my hair and as I went to stand up, she forced me back down and pulled out the biggest makeup bag I'd ever seen.

After toying with multiple brushes, powders, and liquids, she finally settled on brown eyeshadow and a berry colored lipstick. I thanked her profusely but she only smiled in return.

She grabbed my hand and started pulling me down a seemingly endless number of hallways, all the while explaining what was going to happen.

"All you have to do is stand there and wait for The Council to tell you what your abilities are, then you'll be placed in classes to learn to control them and use them to your advantage." She told me proudly.

I'm sorry, what?

"Who the hell is The Council?" I asked.

"Oh! They're the group of people that run this place!" Her statement just left me more confused.

She continued talking, "They'll tell you what abilities you have, that's it. Nothing scary!" I nodded, not wanting to press the matter further.

We walked in silence until we reached a set of double doors. She hugged me and said "You've got this. I'll be here when you're done. Kill 'em, bitch!"

I nodded at her and took a deep breath. She beamed at me as the doors opened.

***

A/N: Thanks for reading! Sorry this chap was pretty short and not much happened but without all the info, the next chapter won't make sense.

Much Love, Kendall