The Future isn't Bright

Seventeen

My head was on fire. Obviously not literally, but it hurt really bad. Struggling to open my eyes, I made out a fairly large room with a high ceiling. I saw my suitcase right next to the bed I was laying on. With a foggy haze over my eyes, I managed to make out a person walk through the door and take their hat off, revealing a head of what appeared to be blonde curls. I rubbed my eyes, hoping to get a better look.

"You're awake," said the person. I recognized their voice immediately. Mac. I blinked a few times to get a better look at his face, my heart pounding. What I saw surprised me.  

Mac had blonde hair down her back, and she took out her ponytail after she hung her creepy trench coat onto a coat hanger by the door.  

"You're... A girl?" I said with a raspy voice. Mac smiled.

"I could ask you the same by looking at your file," she waved a manila folder around with papers sticking out.  

"Wha-"

"Hobbies include climbing trees and non-ladylike activities... Opposes Government standards... It's all in here..." she read from a page.

"Where am I?" I couldn't help but ask.

"Wonderland," she chuckled in reply as she closed the file and threw it on the bedside table beside me. Mac walked over to me and sat down on my bed.  

"You're at the Compound."

"The what? Are we in the countryside?" I earned another laugh from Mac.

"No, silly. We're in Canada."

"Where's that?" I asked honestly. She shot me a "duh" look. It was never shown on any map I've looked at. All the maps back at home consisted of just Femme and Mascel, and the lands beyond that were considered the countryside, where the Lows lived. Mac reached into a leather bag hanging from a chair and pulled out a rolled up carton. She unrolled it and flattened it out on my bed. It was a map. And there was so much more than just Femme and Mascel.

"This is Femme," she pointed to a blob toward the top middle of the map on the left side.  

"And that is Mascel," she moved her finger slightly up from her previous position.

"Then where are we, if not in either?"

"Canada. Which is here." she moved her finger even more upwards.  

"How peculiar... How come I've never heard of it?"

"Probably because the Government keeps you all so sheltered and isolated. As long as they have their perfect little population where they can keep track of them, they brainwash people into forgetting about the outside world so that they don't think of leaving," Mac frowned. There was still one thing on my mind.

"Wait... Was that you in the limo?"

"I like to be creepy," she flashed me a goofy, lopsided smile before she stood up and smoothed down her shirt, which was a pearly blue color.  

"Come on, I have to escort you to a meeting." she said, glancing at her watch. I would usually say no, considering Mac was a total stranger, but if Mr. Ripley confided in her then I did too. I remembered what Ava told me on the phone before I left:Trust him, Donna  I nodded my head and stood up. I was still wearing the same clothes as I did when I got into the limo.  

I followed Mac out through the room's door and into a dimly lit hallway with metal walls. It was kind of creepy. She whistled a tune as she turned a corner and opened the first door on her right. At once, I noticed Chloe, Ethan, and much to my dismay, Oslo.

“Go ahead, Donna, join your friends,” Mac said with a warm smile.

There were numerous couches scattered through the room, all of them multicolored. There was a full line of windows overlooking a beautiful lake. It was such an abrupt change of scenery compared to the gloomy hallway.