Planet of the Stars

Chapter 12: Blackout

I tumbled through darkness. I could feel my heart beating erratically. I couldn't see anything, but then a door opens letting in light that caused me to squint and shy away from it. A towering figure stood in the doorframe, so I could only make out their body shape. I slid away, but my back hit a wall.

"Come on zero." The man says, it was a guys voice.

I saw him come in, and grab my arm, before dragging me out. His grip was tight, and I fought against him, but what good was a six-year old against a massive man. I was dragged along the floor. I was on a Big Brother ship. I was on pulled down a corridor into a room with harsh lighting, and a metal table in the middle of the room surrounded by machines.

I struggled against the man even more, but it made no difference. I was picked up like I weighed nothing, put on the table and strapped down. It was here I realized I was only in a white tank top and some underwear. I struggled against the the restraints but that didn't do anything. In fact it made it worse.

The man hooked me up to some machines. My heart was pounding out of my chest, but I knew this wasn't happening right now. The only reason I knew that was because I was aware of my actual self clutching Efren's arm. I could feel it. It was a weird sensation, but I was thankful for it.

These people called me zero, because I was patient zero. They used to know nothing about crystals until they experimented on me. All the information they had on crystal-users they got because of me. At this point they didn't know you shouldn't even try to separate a crystal-user from their crystal. If you do the crystal causes an explosion, which isn't fun.

The man experimenting on me grabbed my crystal. I felt energy building up, and I knew it wasn't good. A shock of blue-green light erupted from the crystal, and the man was blown back. I was knocked unconscious by the force of the blast, and the lights and machinery exploded. When I came to I was back in my 'room' it was more like a cell.

I noticed time had passed, because I was older now. I was 7, and I realized I knew what day this was. This was the day before they left me on a planet, and I almost died. I hadn't been eating. I was dying and my crystals force had been draining.

The man opened the door like he always did, and grabbed my arm to bring me to the operating room. In the room the light was too bright it hurt my eyes and gave me a headache. I was strapped to the table and the machines around me were too loud. Every noise they made seemed to be right at my ear and shrieking at me. The man took out a knife, and I didn't register it, because he had never been able to harm me, but then I felt pain erupt on my right arm and I screamed.

The man seemed to be incredibly surprised that he actually injured me, but then he cackled, and got into my face.

"I managed to cut you! No so safe now!" The man cackles.

He puts whatever he got in a sterile environment, and then he started going to town. He started cutting me again, and again, and again. I figure it was because he thought this would be his only chance to get data. He didn't care that he was hurting me. In fact he probably was testing out what ways hurt me the most.

He was smiling and laughing this whole time, while I was screaming and crying. I was only 7. Eventually though he stopped. I looked down to see cuts all up and down my right arm. Some horizontal, some vertical, some diagonal.

They were short, long, or medium in length. Blood was pouring from them. The man then threw me back into the cell. In the cell I hear someones voice it said 'eat.' So that's what I did I felt my strength returning along with my crystal.

At this point in time I had no idea what my crystal could do. So, imagine my surprise when I held my hand over my cuts to try and stop the bleeding, and blue-green light was coming from within my skin, and healing the cuts. I watched amazed as my skin started sewing back together, and my light was being absorbed into the cuts. The next day Big Brother shoved me into an escape pod and I hurtled towards a foreign planet. To this day I don't know why they let me go, but for some reason they did.

I was about to crash onto a foreign planet, but I woke up. Apparently that memory was for a different time. I woke up still clutching Efren's arm and completely in a manic state of mind. And tears streaming from my eyes.

"Skye you're here, you're here in the present."Efren says.

I look at Efren completely scared before I realize what's going on, and I know what's real, and what's not. The scars on my arm felt like they were on fire though. I forced myself to remember they hadn't hurt in a long time. Efren pulled me into his chest listening to his heartbeat. I covered my eyes with my free hand and started crying even harder. Efren pulled me closer to him.

"Where did you go?" Efren asks.

I sniffled. Sense I had been with Helaina and Efren they would ask me where I went in my blackout I just had. It was to reaffirm to me I was in the present, and to help my brain get on track again instead of spiraling in the past, and bringing it back to the present.

"I was six and they were experimenting on me." I say in barely a whisper.

I didn't want them to know that I had gone back to where I got my scars.