Chapter Three

Alia

            The world around me is unfamiliar, no matter how much the people here try to convince me otherwise.   They also plead with me to understand that I knew them before the accident, and so I should fully trust them now.  But I do not.

            It isn’t just because I don’t remember either.  I know things that they can’t understand.  I can understand those who talk in languages I have never heard.  I don’t tell them.  I don’t trust them.   My senses tell me I cannot trust them.  I trust my instincts.

            Things in The Safe are unusual.  We are told what to do and when to do it.   We never go outside.  We are trapped behind these white walls.  We cannot make decisions for ourselves.  They don’t trust us.  Guards follow a step behind us where ever Alex or I go.  We are never alone. 

            They have guns.  I do not feel safe here.  

           

            Now we are following each other down a narrow hallway to our bedroom.  It is night, and we are commanded to sleep.   We need to talk the words are not whispered, but sent to Alex’s mind. 

She heard my voice in her head and flinched.  She turns to face me.  I can only give a reassuring smile because using our voices is indeed too dangerous.  She looks into my eyes as she thinks.  We have to get out of here, Alia. I don’t trust any of these people.

I roll over on my bed to face away from her.  We must convince the people who are watching that we are asleep and not in fact communicating with each other.  They cannot know that we can do this.   We don’t even understand how we are capable of this form of communication, but we must use the weapons we have.   I know.  They act too suspicious, with their guns and tying us up.  Why do they say one thing and act another way?

They do not trust us!  Suspicion is in their eyes.

I wish I could see her face right now, but I can feel the anger in her thoughts.  I take a minute to slow my breathing to the steady pace that comes with sleep.  I can hear Alex breathing.   Why don’t they trust us?

They don’t trust us because we are different . . . and they know it.

My breath catches in my throat.   How much do you think they know?  There is a pause in our conversation as we are both thinking but neither speaking.  How did they find out?  Have they known all along?

I don’t know, Alia! I don’t remember anything! For all we know they could have created us and extracted our memories!   I heard the ruffling of her sheets but no further noise.  She must have been adjusting for the benefit of our spies.

But Alex, if they created us, wouldn’t they know everything we could do?  Watching them take those precautions tells me they don’t know the extent of our abilities.   Then the thought came to me, we don’t even know the extent of our abilities!  We don’t even know what we can do beyond mind communication.   Alex, what else do you think we can do?  Why would they be scared of our abilities?

I don’t know if we’ll ever know, Alia.  At least, not while we’re in here.  

Chapter Two

Alex

I am in pain. The back of my head thunders with a brain crushing headache; my hands and feet are numb. I feel that one of my eyes is swollen shut. It hurts. A groan escapes my lips and -

I bolt upright, where am I? I am in a small room with whitish grey walls, the color hurts my eyes. Why is everything so bright?

I realize that I am in a bed, or something close to a bed. It is more like a mattress with blankets; it's very uncomfortable. On a mattress beside me is someone else, I feel their eyes on me. Slowly and painfully I turn my head . . . it's me. No, not me. Only someone that looks like me, my mind begins to flash, who is this person? Then a name pops into my mind; Alia, she's my sister, my twin sister. I give a sigh of relief as her eyes slowly begin to focus and recognize me. I am about to speak when a strange woman who I do not know walks into our room, she is smiling. Strange. Her smile is fake. She messes with the mass of technical equipment on the wall. Pictures flash through my head and a word emerges, sedatives. Why is this happening? Who is she? There is no more thought, I feel a needle pierce my skin and I fall into another sleep . . .

I wake up again. Alia is still beside me but she is moving. She is thrashing around on her mattress. She is in pain. I think. My body is numb with pain. I can't feel anything. I look around and realize that I am in a different room than before. The walls are painted an ugly warn blue that makes me feel sick.

Where am I?

The hairs on the back of my neck prick up. Someone is staring at me. I look over. It's her. The woman from before but this time she is not smiling, she is staring.

Anger rises up within me. I am in the dark, the one place I hate to be. I do not know where I am or why I am beaten and cut. I need to know.

I feel myself getting up, my sister has already been put back to sleep, I will get answers.

Headache. Black.

Once again I wake up but this time I am sitting in a chair. My hands are strapped to the arm rests and there is a tube in my arm. The room is dark and only a small lamp allows me to see. I look over. Alia is still by my side, she is in a similar situation.

"I hope you won't take your bonds personally, girls." a woman's voice said behind us.

My sister and I turn our heads together.

Behind us is the woman. She is surrounded by two guards, both carrying guns.

"We have to take certain precautions with -" she paused, choosing her words carefully, "certain people."

"Where are we?" I heard my sister say. Her voice is dry and raspy.

The woman smiles "You are in La Caixa Forta."

My mind instantly translates the words.

The Safe.

I look over at my sister. She understands too.

How do we know this language?

"You have both been in a tragic battle." the woman continues, "But do not worry, we won. You are safe."

"Then let us go." I say, my voice sounds more courageous than I feel.

"Girls," she says, walking in front of us, " This is no prison, you are safe."

I try to laugh, "Then why are we tied up?"

The woman bends down and puts her hands on each of our shoulders.

"You are tied up because we want you to be safe, and you are."

I look into her eyes and one word emerges in the darkness my mind.

Lies.