Anastazie was crying.
It had been four weeks since her last evaluation, which meant that today she would have to endure another test of her own mental powers. Nothing here—not the pills they made you take, nor the needles they stuck you with, not even the gross cafeteria food—none of that was worse than evaluation.
“Please just forget about me today, just this once,” she whispered hopelessly. For the last two years, this had been her home, and they had never forgotten to evaluate her. It wasn’t the tests that bothered her—they were easy. Just sit in a chair, in the center of a small room, while a row of people asked you what they were thinking. She could do that as easily as anything. It was the way the people made her feel; like nothing more than a piece of meat. “Well, what else would I be to them? A daughter?” She laughed to herself, for she could not even remember her own parents.
Another tear ran down her round face. Although she was only eleven years old, she could have easily pulled off fourteen. Ana was indifferent to this fact, but one could theorize that all she had been through shone through her in her looks. It was not a hard look, merely a wise, almost tired aura that constantly emanated from her. And beneath it all coursed an incredible power.
“Anastazie, it’s time to go,” came a voice to her right. Ana felt a rising panic, and not because of the evaluation. She mustn’t see I’ve been crying, she thought. Quickly she rubbed at her eyes with the blanket from her bed, and then turned around to face the woman.
“How are you today, Ana?” asked the nurse, a woman called Heather. She had a long, pig-like face, and cheeks smeared with too much rogue. Her eyelids were covered thickly in purple eye shadow, and to top it all off was a crown of spiky golden hair with a few pink streaks in it. She reminded Ana vaguely of a bear.
Without any effort on Anastazie’s part, Heather’s thoughts drifted into her mind. She’s been crying, thought Heather coldly. What an immature little baby!
“Do I have to go?” Ana asked, and the woman ignored her.
“Why are you still in bed?” asked Heather in a sickly sweet voice. She waddled over to the short, squat brown armchair near the bed and pointed to it. A white doily was thrown over the back and it was filled with teddy bears and thick novels. It was almost comical, to see a copy of Pride And Prejudice sitting beside a cute stuffed animal. “You ought to be sitting in this perfectly good chair. You know the doctors don’t like you to stay in bed all day, and anyway, it’s better for your back. Do you want to get bedsores or something?”
“I may do as I wish on evaluation days, I was told,” replied Ana in her usual soft-spoken voice. Heather’s eyes widened as she continued. “Now, are you going to continue with your passive-aggressiveness, or shall we arrive on time to the evaluation room?” Not that I want to go, she thought, but it’s better than spending time with this cow.
The nurse clenched her jaw in reply. Ana could sense she wanted to hit her, but refrained from doing so because she was really afraid of her. “Of course, we shall,” she spat, waddling back around toward the door. “Come along, Ana, I know you wouldn’t miss it for the world.”
The girl climbed tiredly from bed, weak from so much mental strain and so little physical exercise. The weekly jog around the gymnasium hardly counted. Without another word they left the room and continued down the hall.
**
Ana hadn’t been outside the building since she arrived, but she knew that it was fairly large. She had done some mental calculations and figured out there were 30 rooms per floor. She had learned there were 30 floors total. She knew that her room was on the eleventh floor, and that most patient rooms were below the 15th floor. She could not look out the window, as there were none. Where a window should be was a painting of a field of horses.
Heather walked amazingly fast with her short little legs and stiff white skirt, and the aqua-green doors flew by either side of Ana’s head. She was almost violently pushed into the cold, metallic elevator as the nurse barked, “Twentieth Floor!” and they began to move. Heather was thinking some very ugly thoughts, but Ana merely stared forward without moving. She shivered a bit, though, as she wore only a nightgown, and was barefoot.
As soon as the doors opened, Heather tugged her out by the wrist and they swung to the right. They approached the large, gray door, and the nurse pushed a button near an intercom.
“ID number and patient name, please,” came a mechanical voice.
“Employee number 110, Heather Stevens, patient name Anastazie Tichy,” Heather said.
“Voice pattern confirmed for ID number 110, assigned to patient number 16, access granted.” Ana knew there were 35 patients total.
The thick door swung open with a frightening whooshing sound, and Ana was pushed inside first. Heather poked her head inside the door and looked around, seeing that everyone was present. “Here you go,” she said, scowling at her ward. “She’s in a real good mood today.” The door slammed and Heather was gone.
A man in a lab coat was standing beside a short, black leather chair. His smile appeared to be frozen in place; he looked that way every time she saw him. The leather chair had begun to crack from years of wear and tear, and bits of white fluff were poking out from the cracks.
“Having a bad day, Miss Tichy?” asked the man, who walked toward her. Ana didn’t move or indicate any emotion, but a chill ran down her spine.
He continued to smile as he approached her, leaning in toward her face. She stared at the lines on his face and wondered if they would crack as well one day.
“Now…strange little girl,” he whispered, “Let’s see what you can do.”
**
“Green,” Ana said flatly.
She was strapped by her wrists and ankles to the chair, facing the wall. There were the usual people asking her the usual questions, but she was not allowed to see their faces during this part. They don’t want me to gather any information from their expressions, she thought accurately. Stupid people…as if they don’t know that’s irrelevant.
“Correct,” said the man who never stopped smiling. She couldn’t see him either, but he was standing right behind her. “Next,” he said.
“Purple,” she sighed. “And the next is blue, then orange.” Ana could hear the thoughts of the people behind the glass; they were exasperated that she would jump ahead, yet also impressed.
“Now, now, Miss Tichy, you must remember to go one at a time,” said the man. Ana tried to read his thoughts, but he was a very strange man, as she could detect no thoughts in his head.
She clenched her jaw and stared forward at the blank gray wall. There was no sunlight in the room, only bright fluorescent lights that hummed incessantly. Her head was beginning to ache.
“Well, enough of that…time for the really interesting part,” he said briskly, and spun her around in the chair. Just then the door opened, and a nurse wheeled in a cart. It had upon it a small plastic car, a teddy bear with movable joints, and a stuffed rabbit toy. The nurse handcuffed the cart to a metal bar on the wall; they did not want her to do anything violent with it. Although the walls in this building were protected from her strange powers, all Ana’s other abilities were fully functional in this room and other observation rooms.
Ana observed the usual row of people. Two men and two women, all wearing lab coats sat in swivel chairs behind a long counter. They all had various cards with colors, shapes, and words in front of them, which were used in the earlier tests. Now, however, they were focused on Ana, who glared back at them with her large brown-violet eyes.
“So,” said the smiling man, as he sauntered behind the table. He placed his long, elegant fingers on the tablecloth and ran them along the edge as if it were his lover. “What we’d like you to do to start is simply levitate this stuffed animal—the bunny rabbit, that is.”
Ana resisted the urge to roll her eyes, thinking how meaningless it was to show her pieces of a normal childhood while she was strapped to a chair. Using only a bit of concentration, Ana looked at the rabbit and raised it three feet.
“Very good, is that the highest you can lift it?” asked the man, raising an eyebrow. With a small grunt Ana lifted the toy another three feet.
“Excellent, excellent. All right. That’s a good start, you can put it down now.”
The toy fell to the table and rolled off the edge.
“Should I pick it back up?” she asked quietly. The man ignored her. She could see that he was anxious to move on; she could hear the thoughts of the other people, and all they could think of were further ways to use her. It was like standing before a pack of wolves that just couldn’t wait to devour you. An overwhelming sadness welled up within Anastazie, but she fought back her tears. No one is ever going to see me cry, she thought fiercely. This will be over soon…and one day…no more. I have to believe that.
“Next, my dear, I’d like you to make the car roll across the table, and stop as close to the edge as possible. We want to see just how accurate you can be, Miss Tichy.” She hated the way he said her name—like it was a dirty word.
She sighed. This time it took a bit more energy, but she focused on the car and it began to roll across the white cloth. The tiny wheels squeaked as it slowly crept toward the edge—then stopped abruptly. The front wheels had passed the table’s edge, but the car had not fallen.
The people behind the glass all nodded in unison and began to write. Ana looked back and forth at them nervously, but she could sense they were not disappointed.
“Okay, then,” said the smiling man, who was practically rubbing his hands together with glee. “Next, you are to lift the teddy bear to a standing position and hold it there. Go on…do that now.”
Ana obeyed, and the teddy bear lifted slowly off its back and wobbled into a vertical position. It trembled very slightly as she concentrated on holding it there. “Now…” he nearly whispered, eyes fixated on the bear. “Make the teddy bear walk.”
Ana gulped…she had never been asked to do this before. All right…movable joints, not so hard, she told herself. Move one leg, then the other. She lifted its small, chubby left leg and it lurched forward, so she then pushed back its upper body for balance. Then the next leg moved, always balancing the middle, and sometimes the arms. Argh…my head, she thought. Another reason Ana hated evaluation so much was because of the brutal migraines. Such gifts as hers could not be used without consequence. The bear did its macabre little walk for about five steps, before Ana closed her eyes and lowered her chin to her chest. The bear immediately fell over, and Ana’s brown hair fell forward from behind her ears.
“I’m sorry…my head hurts terribly,” she whispered, near tears from the pain.
“Hm,” said the smiling man, staring at her emotionlessly. “That’s enough for today. I’ll page Nurse Stevens and she may administer your usual medication.” The man was acting disappointed, but she could sense voracious greed coming from the others.
Please someone…help me…
**
Come on…we can escape!
This way, I think…yes, toward the stairs.
What’s going on?
Anastazie sat bolt upright in bed—she was hearing the thoughts of the other children and faculty, and they were all coming from the hallway outside her room.
Yes, tie up that old coot! Kick her in the face, too!
Don’t bother, just kill them all.
The children…this can’t happen…without them, we lose everything…
Ana leapt to her feet. She tripped over her slippers and nearly fell into the nightstand. It was dark…too dark. The electric clock on the wall was no longer glowing, the nightlight over the sink was off, and there was no light coming from under the door. “What in the world…?” she whispered, hope swelling within her. “The power is out…maybe…maybe we can escape!”
Ana stumbled toward the door; it always locked automatically, but now, she pulled it open with ease. She could see, in glimpses from wildly swinging flashlights, that most of the nurses and doctors had been thrown against the wall by the other children. Most of them were dead or unconscious. She did not feel grief, nor joy. They had it coming. Now…how to get out of here?
Ana ran down the blood-splattered hallway. It seemed every time she would hear the voice, or the thought, of a fellow patient, the child would vanish moments later. There must be a flight of stairs, she concluded, as the elevator would certainly not be working. Even in all the chaos, she felt remarkably calm; this was the day she had been anticipating for two years now. Whatever the reason, it would be revealed later. Freedom, she thought. It’s all that matters. Don’t get in my way.
In the darkness she stumbled over the bodies of her former captors, now reduced to bits and pieces on the floor. Her hands and feet were covered in blood. She could hear thoughts coming from a door to her left and fading out; that must be the staircase.
She ran through the door and immediately she could hear the thoughts better. “Wait…I’m coming!” she screamed, fumbling desperately for the railing. Although she was being very careful, Ana slipped and went tumbling down the concrete stairs and smashed into a wall.
“God…my back…” she moaned. “Is anyone here?!” The thoughts were growing more and more faint, and Ana felt as though she couldn’t move. No, I have to…if the power comes back on…I’m trapped again…maybe forever. She struggled to her feet, though the pain in her back was excruciating, and made her way down the rest of the staircase. There was a door there.
“Floor ten,” she whispered. “All right. Keep going, Ana.”
Just then someone came bursting through the door and nearly knocked them both over. “Ana…oh, I’m so glad it’s you!” exclaimed the boy. It was Matthew Gudzinskas, eight years old, and one of the more advanced children. She’d heard that he once shattered the glass in the evaluation room and killed one of the nurses. He was shaking, and his brown eyes shone huge above the flashlight he carried.
“Matthew…what’s going on?” she asked hurriedly. “Come on…you can tell me as we go.”
The two held hands as they went down the staircase, now able to run since Matthew had a flashlight. “We really don’t know,” he huffed. “I woke up because there was this huge noise outside. I heard all the faculty running around in a panic, whispering to one another, because the power had gone out.”
They were now on the eighth floor, and severed limbs were falling from the ceiling. “So I figured I could escape. Most of the others woke up, too, but the doctors and nurses tried to stop us. We’re no match in size for them, but…it seems that once the power was off, so were all the barriers to our abilities.”
“Oh my gosh,” Ana whispered as they passed the seventh floor.
“Yes,” Matthew said, now panting. “We had no choice but to injure or kill them. Ana…didn’t you hear the noise outside? It woke everybody else up.”
“I had evaluation today,” she said, which explained everything.
“Ah,” said Matthew, giving her hand a squeeze.
As they reached the second floor, Ana could hear the thoughts of injured children in the hallway. “Matthew…I’m going in to see if I can help. You keep going, okay? I’ll meet you outside.”
Matthew looked torn, but he nodded, then handed her the flashlight. “You’ll need it,” he said, then turned and continued on his way.
Anastazie burst through the door into the second floor hallway, which was similarly littered in bodies. There were a few dead children she could see, as well, who must have been overtaken before they could defend themselves. Ana gulped and headed toward the voices she could hear calling for help—it was Stacy and Kara.
I’m coming! Hold on, please! She thought at them, and heard them thinking back their gratitude.
“Anastazie Tichy, stop!” yelled an all-too-familiar voice from behind her. She whirled around and barely had time to register that Heather was lunging at her with a knife. It sliced into the left side of her abdomen, and a searing pain shot through her body.
“NO!” Ana screamed, “You’re not taking this away from us!” She stared at the knife and forced it out of Heather’s hand, and it went skidding down the hall. “Get out of my WAY!” Heather just stood there like an idiot. She felt the blood gushing out of the wound at her side, and knew she might not make it. Ana let out a scream of anger and bore her gaze into Heather, pushing her arms forward with the palms out. “You fool. You’re going down with me!”
A huge burst of energy swirled forward from Anastazie, tearing the paneling off the walls and ripping the ceiling apart. Within seconds, Heather’s scream faded into oblivion, along with her body, which smashed against the wall before disintegrating into nothing. Anastazie’s scream continued. A section of the wall collapsed. Her entire body was shaking, and a migraine worse than any other smashed into her skull like a sledgehammer.
I don’t want to die…she thought desperately, tears now flowing freely. The blood from her wound flowed just as freely, and there was blackness, then silence.
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I concur with Link.
Posted by Demo @ 06/28/2003 05:58 AM CST
Smart. Well written. Ingenious. I think it's the best entry so far.
Posted by Jubilation Link @ 06/24/2003 03:54 AM CST
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