Gifted

Chapter 3

Clara’s POV

As I walked behind them, I felt like a criminal, arrested. Everything was silent, class had started and I guess the officers weren’t supposed to socialize on the job. As we entered the parking lot on of the officers ran ahead to a glossy black van, painted with them emblem of the government. Before they could shove me into the van I caught a glimpse of Bret being hauled towards the van. I whirled around the guards and raced towards Bret. One of the officers attempted to catch me, but I easily evade them and catch Bret in a bear hug. Bret’s two officers quickly pryed me off of him them tossed me into the van.

The officers tied me down with high security seat belts. Was I a prisoner? I watched helplessly as they strapped Bret into the seat beside me. His head was hanging and eyes unseeing; he was lost in thought again.

The engine of the van roared to life and a jolt of fear ran through my veins; fear of the unknown. All my life I had tried to remain positive about being Marked. I would say that I would be Marked: Necessity or Adequate and live a modest life but somewhere in my heart I knew better. I was small, I wasn’t strong, I wasn’t beautiful, I wasn’t incredibly talented, I was useless. I couldn’t help myself, I screamed.

Bret’s POV

“Shut up,” I whispered to Clara. Thanks to the glass in between the two first rows of the bus, the officers were unable to hear Clara’s scream.

“I’m scared Bret,” she whimpered. Tears welled up in her eyes.

“Just be…positive,” I said. Oh who am I kidding? I’m terrible with this sensitive stuff. This is my mother’s department. The best thing I did for her the rest of the ride was hold her hand.

I am a terrible brother. Who knows what will happen to her I mean if were Marked the same we could still deported elsewhere. And now I couldn't even help her in her greatest hour of need. I owe her, but now how will I ever be able to repay her.

Clara’s POV

The bus came to a stop. I could feel my heart rate picking up; I squeezed Bret's hand even tighter. The soldier opened the door and unbuckled my seat belt. As I stepped outside I felt like I was going to have a heart attack.

"BRET," I shouted struggling to get away from the guards. One of the soldiers led him in the opposite direction of us.

"Your room is this way," the soldier said in a monotone "his is that way."

"JUST BE BRAVE," Bret shouted back.

The soldier took me into an office. It was a small office painted entirely white. A counter top held various medical supplies. A lady with curly blonde hair and way too much red lipstick stood there preparing a syringe. She wore the same dark green colours as the officers except she wore a dress instead of uniform. She smiled before the officer opened a door.

The officer held the door open as I stepped into the pitch black room. When I was completely inside, he closed the door behind me; leaving me alone. Seconds later lights flickered on revealing two small stools and a window furnishing the room. The window looked into the office; I watched as the lady with the green dress prepared a syringe at the counter.

"Hello," someone said. I jumped and whirled around; a man with dark skin and curly hair walked in.

"H..h..hi," I stammered as he approached me.

"It's okay I won't hurt you," he said reassuringly.

"I'm just really nervous," I said.

"I know how your feeling but I'm not here to be your therapist; I'm here to tell you how this works," he explained taking a seat on one of the stools.

"Okay, my name's Clara," I said taking a seat in the stool across from him.

"Nice to meet you, I'm Darren," he greeted by holding his hand out for me to shake.

“Now,” he began,” I’m sure your teachers have all told you about the Marking process and the five categories.”

"Excellent, Adequate, Choice, Necessity, and...Below Standard...right," I stammered the information that was burned in my mind.

"Very good, now do you know how they choose this?" he asked.

"They inject you with something...I don't know...its top secret," I answered.

"Right but here's the catch, the chemicals in the injection Marks you based on your talents, skills...gifts," he said.

"Then you’re left with your Marking’s symbol, right?" I asked.

"Yup, that's about it...any questions?" he stood up to leave.

"What happens to the Below Standards?" I asked just as he was about to leave the room. He stood still for a moment before turning around and answering.

"I don't know," he said quietly "I'll get the nurse."Some of the panic that had disturbed me before had left, but I still missed Bret. The nurse with the green dress came into the room carrying a small medical box. She took Darren’s spot at the stool and pulled a syringe out of the box. The syringe contained a swirling liquid that seemed to pick up green colour of her dress.

"This may sting a li'l darlin'," she said with a thick southern accent. The next thing I felt was the jab of the needle into my arm. The pain was unbelievable; as if someone had struck me with a white hot brander then chopped my arm off and served it for dinner.

I crumpled in pain, falling off of the stool. The thought of being below-Standard after all this pain crosses my mind. A scream escapes from me and curl back up into the fetal position. A few seconds later the pain eases but colourful dots criss-cross my eyes. I hear a few gasps and a lot of talking but I can’t make out what they’re saying because everything has gone black.

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------Author's Note

I don't care if you read this or not, but if you are confused about the changes read the word revised at the top of the screen. Anyways here are the changes

1. There is now a prologue

2. I combined the original chapter 2 and 3

3. THe City's are now numbers ex. City 0310315= St. Paul, Minnesota

4. Clara and Bret now live around St. Paul Minnesota

5. There is now more description of events (longer chapters!)

6. Dialogue has been changed

That's all for now guys hope you enjoy the rewrite

I will try to post more new chapters of Gifted but my writer's block isn't getting any better...See ya penguins.

~sunpetal304~