What WICKED Left Me [On Permanent Hold]

Chapter 2: Experiments

Every day started the same. Wake up at 7:00, School at 7:30, Lunch at 1:45, Experiments at 2:15, Dinner at 7:00 if you had an appetite after experiments, and bed at 9:00. It was a continuous and painful cycle. Everyday I had to watch George grow weaker, and writhe in pain the more he was injected. Being younger, I could never understand why they were doing it to us. Why they were putting us through so much torture, I guess I never really wanted to find out for fear of knowing what had really happened to George.

"Brenda," Dr Crawford caught my attention as she walked to the medical table I was sat on. She was a relatively new scientist to the department at the time but was good enough with a needle to be trusted alone with the subjects. "How is Subject C12 doing today?"

"Fine I suppose," I remember not being all there that day. They had brought in a group of boys they had been training at another facility and everyone was bustling around in preparation. I couldn't help but watch. "Ah. Distracted are we?" Dr. Crawford spoke, snapping me out of my thoughts. She walked towards the curtains, drawing them closed to avoid further disruptions. 

The blood tests were especially painful that day. My arms were still blue and weak from three draws the previous day. "Why do you always need so much?" 

"So much what dear? Blood?" Crawford tried to act comfortingly, it never felt right though. "Yeah," I spoke in brief sentences, trying to listen in to conversations on the other side of the drapes. Seeing I wasn't listening to her any longer, the doctor decided against answering and finished the draw, sending me off to the dining hall. "Go get some food. It'll make you feel better, sweetie."

"Yeah. Uh, thanks." I walked away, holding the gauze to the inside of my elbow, making my way to dinner. I stopped at George's medical table. "Ya coming George?" He slipped off the table, clearly not feeling very well and followed me to get some food. As we walked through the halls, we were stopped six times by guards asking for identification. I guess they really wanted to up the security for these kids. I saw them pass us, being given the tour by Janson. He always did give me a funny feeling. 

At dinner, George refused to eat for the third time this week. The experiments really took a toll a on him. We sat with Rachel like always. Always encouraging her to talk to the boy she was crushing on, this scrawny awkward kid named Aris. She always saw something good in him. 

I sent George off to bed after he had downed a glass of water. It was the most I could get him to consume. Rachel left to talk to some of her other friends, leaving me alone at the table. I shoveled the rest of my mashed potatoes into my mouth, dumping my plate into the kitchen sinks for someone to clean. Time to explore. I remember always being suspicious of WICKED, and all in good time I'd find I had good reasons to be. It didn't help that I was just as nosy, so I'd like to sneak off and check out more of the place if I could.

My favorite place to sneak into was the employee lounge. The doctors and guards alike would join in there, sharing all the best gossip. I snuck into the air vent and listened into their conversations nearly every night. This night was no different as I shimmied my way through the slotted passageway opening into the lounge. 

Dr. Crawford was talking to Guard Tony. Out of everyone there, they always seemed the nicest. "It's a real bummer. She's such a sweetheart and the thought of her getting infected like that. She's been here suffering for two years. Getting all these awful tests done and donating so much of herself to us," I could hear the strain in her voice as tears began welling in her eyes, "She's only eleven years old. How can we just release someone so young into this world with nothing." Tony rubbed her back and she put her head in her hands, not holding back the tears anymore. I can still remember how naive I was, thinking poor, poor girl. Someone my age, going through all of that. What hell that must be. 

And what hell it was. 

A/N: I hope you guys like it!! Sorry that it's been a while since I've updated. I am going to try to start updating this story more often than I have been.