Lies Lies Lies

The Facility

SERAPHINA'S POV

My sister. The one who had left and escaped the monstrosity I call "mother" so long ago?

She seemed to be doing well for herself. Had a job in an up-and-coming company was no small feat. My question is how did she do it? Personally, I used to have such good self discipline. But now I dont even go to class. She must be doing a lot better than I was.

Especially because she didnt have "mother" on her back all the time. If I remember correctly, she was disowned formally too.

Damn I wish that was me.
I wish that was me so bad.

I keep my expression blank. Would she even recognize me? If she did, would she come running? Hug me? Hold me close? Talk, hell even just catching up would be good.

She walked briskly but not obviously rushing to get over here. Neither was I. I stood in place until the driver nudged me slightly in the side to start walking. I walked. Slowly.

When she approached closer, she peeked at her clipboard to check something. Leilah. I swear.

"Ah you must be Seraphina?"
A warm smile.

It's my sister.
But it's not.

"Yes."

A short reply. One more chance.

I guess I have to cut some slack because I didn't have any extensions in. No extensions and green streaks?
Maybe it was hard to recognize me.

"Ah yes. I am so excited to work with you. Your case is really something else."

Bullshit.

"Leilah cut the crap."

She looks taken aback. "You know me?"

So she really didn't recognize me. Oops.

"Lucky guess. You look like a Leilah."

Her facial expression relaxed almost instantly. Scared dear sister? Let's scare her some more. Shall we?

GUILT

"Haha. Really? That's really cool that you guessed it. Why don't you follow me inside and we can get started, yeah?

She started walking. And I...Did not respond.

The lobby was very modernized. Unique furniture shapes, lots of white and gray, sleek surfaces, etc. The only accent color was blue. Like bright royal blue.
It hurt my eyes.
I followed her down a hall where she led me into a small room. Pretty basic. Just like everything else. Reminded me of the urgent care my mother would take us to after our physical training.
She took my vitals, my weight, height, the works. I was slightly surprised she was doing such things and not a nurse, but I went along with it.

We did not spend long in that room, as I suspected.

More hallways.

More doors.

And then we reached the first security scanner. Leilah pulled a badge on a lanyard off and scanned it quickly. The light on the scanner flashed green and she opened the door with ease.

The halls all looked the same and eventually I gave up trying to remember which hall was which.
We ended up in a large and spacious room with a glass cage in the center. That's not scary at all...

It at least looked like a glass cage. There were tubes feeding in and out of the thing. As well as different sensors that were all over the buttons on the outside.

I prayed that was not where I was going.

"Alright. Just one more thing before you get started, yeah?"

Quickly I replied with a short "ok" and she spewed out more information that I knew would not be remembered for long.

"This is our purification chamber. It feeds in completely clean air and analyzes the toxins you breathe out and adjusts in order to help rid your body of them. We will be starting here. I need you to change out of those school clothes though."

I sigh. "Into what?"

"We have sterile jumpsuits you will be using. Your school clothes may have toxins and we want to get rid of any extra variables. If you will follow me."

This place is like a maze. I don't know how anyone actually knows their way around in here. So many hallways and doors. She leads me to a small closet where there are countless white jumpsuits and white hair ties. Luckily, I dont have my extensions on so tying my hair up won't be necessary. The white jumpsuit though?
Definitely not the cutest thing on the planet. I look through the rack until I find one I think will fit ok. Leilah then leads me to a small dressing room.

"Place your clothes down the chute that's in there. They will get cleaned and handed back to you later."

I look skeptically at her. I knew once those clothes went down the chute there would be no return for them. Still, I decided it would be best to just go along with it. I closed the open door and took the hanger off the white jumpsuit. I undressed. Taking a look at the clothes now on the floor, I realized I really had not done a good job of taking care of myself. The clothes were dirty.
Gladly, I put them down the chute.

The jumpsuit fit well. Not perfect, but as perfect as I could make it. The legs were specifically a bit long. But that could be fixed. I rolled them up and zipped up the front.

I stepped out of the dressing room and Leilah nodded approvingly of my outfit and led me into the open space again.

Her hand reached for her lanyard to pull out another badge. Then she turned to look at me.
"Come on will you? We have a lot to get done today."
So she still does not recognize me. She unlocks the glass cage and motions for me to go inside. Out of a small box near the door she pulls out a pair of safety goggles.  "You will need to put these on. Some of the chemicals might sting your eyes. Don't worry though. Perfectly safe for inhalation." She smiles.
I half smile back.
Reluctantly, I step inside the glass chamber. I was scared. This was new to me. Very new. I had never slept inside a glass cage let alone even being in one before.
I sat down on a small bench that was inside and Leila started the air flow mechanism.
Instantly I felt cold air come out of the tubes and shivered as it hit my exposed skin.

"Its about 4 or 5 o'clock now so I will just leave you in here for the night. We will get better results that way." She notices me shivering. "There should be a small blanket under the bench there. Along with a pillow. Sheets are already on, yes?"
I nod.
"Good." Leilah starts to turn and leave but I ask one more thing.
"What am I going to do?"
She smiles at me and says, "Sleep girly. You look like you need it too."
I stare back at her. Rude.

I begrudgingly lay down on my side and stare at the only opaque walls in here. The bathroom. How boring.
This is what my life has come to eh?
Hiding?
Running?
Being tested on?

Sleeping? Assuming I can fall asleep. That would truthfully be the only challenge I have in this facility.
Ignoring Leilah would not be an issue.

Sleeping however?
With as little sleep as I had been getting, the idea was refreshing, but I knew there would be no dreamless sleep for me. There hadn't been for months now.
Dreamless was out of the picture here.
Restful though?
It was all I could wish for.

*Thank you so much for reading this new chapter of Lies Lies Lies. I'm so proud that I have updated 3 times this week! Normally I struggle with at least one update. Hope you enjoyed the extra reading.
Be sure to leave a comment about your thoughts on the chapter. It helps me improve my work! Don't forget to vote for this chapter and add the story to your library.
-Ghostly*