Spectrum

4.4: Orange

As they waked down the concrete white hallways, bright lights illuminating the space with an LED harshness, a silence overcame them and Autumn started thinking about how she didn't really know Todd at all, just the little bits and pieces he had told her during their time together on the streets:

"Listen, kid,"

"My name is Autumn!" The young girl insisted adamantly, not liking it when he called her 'kid'. It reminded her of her father, who called her 'kid' almost every day. However, he was gone now, and it didn't serve her in any way shape or form to be reminded of that fact constantly.  

A sigh escaped the male's mouth. 

"Fine. Listen, Autumn. The streets are dangerous - I was left here when I was a kid, because my parents got fired up in a street fight, okay? So if you wanna survive, I'd suggest you keep with me, at least until you're old enough to be on your own." His tone was final, strict, and the female found herself nodding her head quickly. 

"Y-yea, okay." 

"You're gonna have to lose that stutter, kid. It's not gonna be pretty if it sticks around." He said, looking lazily at the girl. 

"Why?" She asked, scared curiosity seething through her voice. 

"Because, it shows your weakness." 

-

These memories flashed through her head, and she didn't notice that she was in front of a door with a sign she didn't bother to read. She was tired, wanting a bed, and hungry from a long day where she had gone through prison, some sort of hell, and many dirty streets. The door was light and cold beneath her fingers as she pushed it open and walked in - Todd had taken his leave as she entered the door. Inside were various tables and a large stretcher like object with straps up and down the side, looking quite ominous and causing her to play with the strings on her sweatshirt in nervous fear. A tall woman spoke from behind her, causing her to start slightly. 

"Hello, Autumn." The voice was calm, quit, and didn't resonate far in the small room, still reaching her ears. "Would you like to take a seat?" The girl in question turned around and saw a tall woman with long hair, a warm smile, and crinkles around her eyes behind her, with a clipboard in one hand and a pen in the other, matching the laboratory coat that adorned her shoulders quite well. In all, it made her look like the cliche of the doctors that Autumn had seen running around the city when fights would break out and people would die. They would take the injured into the hospital, and they would never emerge the same, more scars covering their body when they came out than when they went in. 

"Where? Theres not exactly a seat to be had…" She said sarcastically, raising an eyebrow as if to challenge the tall woman, who merely smiled and shook her head, a slight chuckle escaping her throat. 

"Why, on this table of course." As the teenage girl stood there, she thought about what Todd had said about how they were going to isolate the spectrum, whatever that meant, and the fact that she didn't know scared her. "We're going to isolate the spectrum from within you, which means I would very much like you to lie on your stomach, please." She trusted her friend, but not this woman, and despite that she did as she said. Her shirt was lifted, a vacuum type device secured to her back, then everything went dark.