Her eyes focused on the dull white of the uneven tiles above her. There was silence all around, like nothing existed outside of the chilling white room, and she shuddered, as if it had seeped from the walls into her skin. There was an absence of anything that could comfort her from the pit in her stomach, and she gritted her teeth together as she pulled her eyes away from the tiles and to the wall ahead of her. The wall was clear, like glass, showing her everything from outside the room, which at the moment, was nothing. Nothing at all. Not a soul dared to walk by her room, and she couldn't blame them. She barely had the courage to leave the bed.
Trembling, she licked her lips and sighed. There was information spinning in her head and she felt sick trying to contain all of it. She tried to focus on her new reality. She was going to be kept on a strict schedule, classes, bathroom breaks and food all fitted tightly into a 14 hour routine, with no breaks throughout the week, and no visitors until she had completed two years of her new education. There was no running from it, and no shortening the timespan. She would meet her "education comrade", whatever that was, in the morning and begin a life without a single word said. Scared by her lack of understanding, she gulped and leaned against the wall, taking a deep breath. She closed her eyes.
There hadn't been time to say goodbye when the test results arrived. She had seen it happen before. Strange men in black and white suits with metallic envelopes coming to the door and the family, always terrified, answering to their own horror. Usually, they would cry in relief within a few moments of the conversation, but her own family had not. The scene had all but thrown her off, and she couldn't comprehend the difference. They had stood still, and tall, frozen in an emotion she couldn't see, or understand. She hadn't been able to hear the voices as they gave their speech, but when they walked past her parents and toward her, she stepped back. Amused, they closed the distance to her, and she vaguely remembered her parents staring coldly at her from the doorway, her little brother bursting from his room demanding to know the result. What the gentleman said confused her brother, and she went limp in shock, staring blankly at her parents.
She shivered again as she recalled the voice, cold and low, as he took her hand and lifted her from the couch. Positive. She had tested positive. There was one thing she knew about the people who tested positive. They never came back home. She felt her panic rise like a brick in her chest, and she followed them soundlessly through the door and down the steps of her house. She whirled around, involuntarily, and saw her parents staring at her with vacant expressions. Her little brother stood in front of them, devastated. She looked around at the little white house, and choked back tears as she felt herself forcibly lifted up by the men. Within minutes she had been tossed into a truck with other silently frightened students and hauled off through town. The ride was long, and uncomfortable because of the silence and the tough leather seats that stuck to their skin like glue. Finally, they arrived at the giant white dome, just outside the city, and they clambered out of the truck in a single file line. It was regarded as the biggest accomplishment to be taken here by the teachers and higher society, and yet this was the place she had dreaded going regardless of the expectations that preceded it, but she wasn't sure why. The entrance to the dome was grand and golden, with strange doors that slid open, though she couldn't tell where they came from. Technology had never interested her before this moment, and she felt her own surprise as she admired the ease of how the doors worked, in their own mysterious way. The men were leading them through, and she had been herded like cattle into a lobby of sorts, where at least twenty other teenagers her age breathed heavily with fear and watched the top of the dome, as it darkened. There was a brief moment of confusion, a young girl beside her breathing too quickly to be healthy and suddenly a face appeared, projected onto the ceiling, of a woman with striking features and rich dark hair. She had the eyes of a feral creature, and a suit that complimented her like fur on a wild cat.
