Memory Wipe

Chapter 13

Chapter 13: Alice

The ropes tying me to the chair dug into my wrists, drawing tiny droplets of blood. Every time I shifted my feet, the chains on my ankles jangled, echoing through the concrete room. I had no idea how I got there, or why I was there. The only thing I felt was a overwhelming fear.
Melinda had abandoned me. I had been taken away from my friends, knocked unconscious and dragged who-knows-where. Every once in a while someone would come in the dark and feed me this watery gruel. They only fed me enough to live. My stomach constantly grumbled, breaking the silence.
Outside the door, I suddenly heard yelling and running, along with grunts and the thump of falling bodies. After a few minutes of this noise, the door creaked open, letting in a flood of light. I groaned, shutting my eyes and flinching away. It had been days since I'd seen any sort of light.
"Alice!" I heard someone say, just before someone tackled me, making my head snap up.
"Who's there?" I asked, squinting against the light. "Who are you?"
"Really, Alice?" The person said with a laugh that melted my insides a bit. "It's me! It's Daniel!" I gasped, pulling at my bonds.
"Daniel!" I shrieked. "I thought you were hurt!" He laughed again, coaxing a small smile out of me.
"I was," he explained. "Mel healed me. She can do that. Let's get you free. We have about ten minutes until their backup shows up." I nodded eagerly, shifting to let him cut at the ropes. Then he moved to the lock by my ankles. He picked the lock, freeing my legs. I stood up slowly, rubbing the feeling back into my hands. I looked up at him, tears running down my face.
"Thank you," I said shakily, putting my face into his shoulder. "I was so scared. I've been here for days, and they're barely feeding me, and..." I broke off, my voice cracking.
"Hush," he said, hugging me close to him. "It's okay. I've got you. And I'm going to get you out of here. Close your eyes and hold on tight." I nodded, doing as he said. I felt him tense, then a sensation swept over me, like my body was being pulled in a thousand different directions. I groaned, but it sounded like an echo, as if the sound was miles away.
My feet thudded on hard ground, and I heard a sickening snap as I fell to the ground, crying in pain. Daniel's arm shot around my shoulders, helping me to my feet. I shrieked again, hopping on my left foot.
"What's wrong?" Daniel said, panicked. "Are you hurt?" I nodded, sinking to sit on the grass.
Wait.
"Grass?" I asked, completely confused. I looked around, seeing tall trees and underbrush. "Where the heck are we? How? What?" Daniel laughed, sitting down beside me.
"I have teleportation powers," he explained, laying down and putting his arms behind his head. "I get anywhere, within reason, as long as I have the energy to. We couldn't get very far now, because your body can't handle molecular transportation like mine can. We're about twenty miles from the weird guy's hidden base. But, back to you. Are you hurt?" I nodded again, in complete shock.
"Yeah," I said, shifting my weight. I winced as a sharp pain shot up my leg. "I think I broke my ankle. It hurts like crap." He shrugged, sitting back up.
"Well," he sighed. "There's not much I can do about that. But, I do have some food. Are you hungry?" I nodded vigorously, making him laugh.
He pulled a few granola bars out of his backpack, handing them to me. I tore the packaging open, scarfing them down. It wasn't enough to make me full, but they satisfied my hunger for the moment.
I sighed, laying down on the ground. I closed my eyes, realizing how tired I was. I felt Daniel lay back down beside me.
"Tired?" He asked. I nodded, letting out another sigh. "Did you ever fall asleep in there?" I shook my head.
"No way," I said a bit sadly. "I kept thinking that there was a good chance that I wouldn't wake back up. So, I've been awake for days." He nodded, understanding my reasoning.
"I get that," he sighed. "Go to sleep. You deserve it." I yawned, curling up against his chest. I relaxed, allowing my mind to drift into the dark.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~

I had always hated dream visions.
I would be having the best dream ever, then BAM. It's interrupted by this freaky vision that scars me for weeks. But this time, my dreams began with the vision.
Mel was being attacked by a group of men, like the guy that kidnapped me. They pulled a sack over her head, then dragged her into the back of a black van. Then the vision shifted, showing Mel tied up and gagged in a chair, hooked up to this huge machine. She looked ragged, dirty. Her face was cut up, and her eyes were sunken in their sockets. I realized that she had been, or would be, tortured, for who knows how long. She looked defeated, as if she had given up on struggling. Like she wanted nothing but to die.
A man flipped a switch, pushing a few buttons on the machine. It whirred to life, glowing a bit. Suddenly, Mel began to writhe, screaming in pain. I then decided that this was in the past. Because then, the man turned the machine off, and she fell limp, shaking. Than she looked up, staring blankly around the room. The man pulled the gag from her mouth, allowing her to speak. She looked at him, terrified.
"Where am I?" She whispered, shaking even more. I saw that she was going into one of her panic attacks. The man then hit her in the head with a wrench, knocking her unconscious.
I jolted awake, realizing that Daniel was shaking me.
"Alice," he said, holding by the shoulders. "Are you okay?" I nodded, wiping sweat from my forehead.
"Yeah," I muttered shakily. "Dream vision. It was kind of freaky." He sat closer to me, seeming a bit more relaxed.
"What did you see?" He asked, earning a hasty shake of my head.
"I can't talk about it right now," I explained. "I'm still a bit shaken up." He put his arms around me, letting me lean into his shoulder.
"Okay," he said. "Just know that you can talk to me when you need to." He stood up, extending a hand to me. "Come on. We need to get going if we want to make it back to headquarters by the end of week. I wonder if anyone's noticed that I'm gone." I took his hand, letting him pull me to my feet. I leaned on my left leg, taking my weight off of my broken ankle. I held onto his arm, closing my eyes as he tensed and pulled us out of the forest.