The Awakening

Chapter Eight

My head spins, making me dizzy, as I sit up if the darkness. As I read a full sit, I smack my head off something hard, which makes me groan as I take the impact. I feel my way around the area, and eventually I find what seems to be a ledge, but it's too late. In one swift movement, my hand slips off the side, and I plunge onto the hard floor. The sound makes my fall sound worse than it is. I hit my shoulder, and knee off the ground, but I let out a small ow before sitting up. I hear another bang, before some footsteps, and a light flicking on. I blink a couple times before I adjust to the light, and look around the oh-so familiar room. I hear laughter, and smile when I see who it's coming from.
"Ella, please tell me you did not just fall out of your bed!" Kate says, holding her stomach as she sees me sitting on the floor, rubbing my sore elbow.
"Would you even believe me if I did? I reply, smiling. She places her thumb, and pointer finger to her forehead, spreading them out, shaking her head, and laughing.
"Only you," she says, taking my hand, and pulling me up.
"Well, I guess I just make a good alarm clock," I say, motioning to the clock that reads exactly 7:00 am. She smiles before answering.
"Didn't you hear? We get the day off from training," she says, making her way over to the kitchen, and throwing her hair into a bun. This makes me smile as I walk over to join her.
"I hate all of you," I hear Jane mumble before getting off her bunk, and walking over to the bathroom. Kate chuckles, and starts to make a pot of coffee. When I see our daily food box I almost scream.
"Guys! Who wants pancakes?" I ask, holding up the flour, and vanilla. Instead of our usual supplies of simple foods, this time we have everything from flour, and vanilla, to chocolate, and cocoa powder. I have been dying for some homemade treats, and I know exactly what to make. We actually have a box of pancake mix, and syrup in the box so I use those instead of wasting the precious flour. I mix the water into the mix, and add in a few chocolate chips, knowing that the bag we got is huge, and we can spare a few. I get Kate to cut up some potatoes, and we microwave them for a bit to soften them before frying them in oil, so they are like hashbrown to finish them off. The last thing we do it cut up some strawberries, which we can eat by themselves, or dress the pancakes with them. We don't bother making eggs, I will need them for baking, and we have made a lot of pancakes.
"So much for burning calories," Sophie complains, but doesn't hesitate to take a second plate of food.
"I don't think one day will do much," I respond, poking my arm, which has gone from a wimp noodle to a deadly tool. It's till weird to think about it that way, but I guess we have to survive somehow.
"Well, Sophie didn't need much improvement," Jane scoffs, and I smile. It's true, Sophie already built up a lot of muscle before we were thrown in here. That's why Frost was probably so taken back when she slapped him. It would have hurt. Sophie used to be involved in all kinds of sports, but swimming was her favorite. The way she would propel her body through the water, it was like she was practically part of the water itself. It's no wonder why she has the power to control the element of water, it was already in her nature.
"I was thinking about making some cookies, anyone want to help?" I ask, and five hands shoot in the air. When we finish eating, I give everybody a task to do. I split us into groups of two, and give every group a different sheet of paper. Each paper has a recipe written in my own handwriting. One was for double chocolate cookies, one was for blueberry muffins, and one was for banana bread. We all thought it would be best to double all the recipes, and then put some of our batches in the freezer, so they last longer. Baking tkes time, and we don't know when our next day off will be so nobody objects. I end up getting partnered up with Kate, which is nice because she keeps our workspace clean as we make the cookies. I am a very messy baker, so it's funny to watch her frantekly rush over to get a cloth every time I spill something. It's not like I mean to, and I'm not that bad, but every once and a while I spill a bit of flour trying to put it in the bowl. By the time the mix is done, I am laughing so hard I have to stop making balls of dough before I drop something again. I watch as Adriane, and Sophie struggle to fill the muffin tins. They keep complaining that my instructions were not clear enough, even though I only put the ingredients on the paper I gave them. I tell them to use a measuring cup to make it easier, but they wave me off, confident in their abilities, and get it done. We have to take turns using the oven, but by lunchtime everything is cooling.
"Man, I miss Kraft dinner. That stuff was golden when you were too lazy to cook," Emma says, and we all smile, but nod agreeingly. We end up eating cheese, crackers, and the baked goods that are still warm from the oven. We have fruits, and veggies too, so Emma comes up with the brilliant idea to try to find something to watch on the security cameras, and put our "lunch" on the coffee table, next to the couch. We flip through the security cameras, and catch a couple funny scenes. At one point we see somebody close their eyes as they run across the street, or somebody trips over an invisible line. We have some fun, but what the cameras really do is make me miss the outside world. I regret taking advantage of the fresh air now that I am so deprived of it.
"Oh my gosh!" Sophie says, taking the remote from Jane's hand, and shutting off the TV.
"Hey!" Jane reacts, trying to take it back, but Sophie swats her hand away.
"It was our training test!" She squeals excitedly.
"Sophie what are you going on about?" I ask, confused.
"The training test, that was the weird thing in my dreams last night! Even though," she pauses. "It wasn't a dream at all, it was real. We must have passed out after the simulation ended." Everyone seems to understand what she is taking about because their faces go from confusion to realization. I on the other hand have no idea what's going on.
"What training test? Simulation? Sophie I think you are going insane," I say, smiling at her, but everyone just stares at me with a concerned look.
"Ella, you really don't remember?" Emma asks me, tilting her head to the side, and frowning her brow.
"Remember what? Nothing happened, we've only had training everyday," but I know I am just lying to myself. Something is wrong, and now that I really think about it, I don't remember yesterday at all.
"Ella..." she whispers, looking worried.
"Guys stop messing with me," I force myself to laugh, but when their expressions do not change I know this is serious, and I start to panic because I know what this means.
"Ella, did you let yourself fall?" Kate asks me, pressing her hand on my shoulder to steady me. I feel dizzy, but I force myself to stay in this conversation.
"I would never, you guys know that," I say, holding myself still.
"But Ella, what if falling was your biggest fear? What if you didn't have a choice?" Jane suggests.
"What does my biggest fear have to do with anything?" I ask, looking at Jane, but it is Sophie who answers me.
"The training test was based on our biggest fears. We had to be on a mission while facing our biggest fears at the same time. Yours must have been falling too far into the darkness."
"For example, I had to fight an entire army, with my powers, but the catch was, the ground was full of spiders, gnawing, and crawling all over me," Emma shudders, and I nod, knowing that she hates spiders, and that would have been very hard for her.
"Yeah, and in mine, I had to choose between finishing a mission, with you guys, or running off to my family. You all told me to go, but that's when I realized, you guys are my family, and I could never leave without you guys," Sophie adds, and we smiling, knowing that she means what she says. Everyone takes turns telling me about their experiences in the simulation, but as they go on I just grow more and more concerned. The girls can remember their time so vividly, so why can I not remember mine at all? I couldn't have fallen that far, I wouldn't let myself, or would I? Am I weaker than I think I am? Did I have a choice? If I can't remember then what am I supposed to tell myself?
"Ella?" Emma snaps me awake.
"I-" Then, suddenly, and unexpectedly our dorm door bursts open and six people are whealing in a table with a body. They are yelling something at us, but I can't hear them, all I can see is the blood oozing from his wound, and onto our floor. Then another five people come in with another table, and body. He too looks to have been beaten bloody. I look at the two boys, both groggy from high doses of some kind of drug, hooked into their arms. I look back, and forth between them, not sure of what to do before one of them opens his eyes, and whispers my name.
"Ella," Frost whispers almost silently, but I hear it, and so does Andrew, who opens his eyes and finds me.