Unanswered Questions

I woke up sore with drool plastering the side of my face. My eyes were all groggy with a slimy film covering them; I felt like a train wreck. The first thing I saw after blinking numerous times was Emma sitting about five feet away from me. She wore the same smirk she had when she killed Tyler. I was instantly awake; my face lit with anger. I looked around to see where I was. It appeared I was sitting in some kind of bedroom.

The bedroom was spacious with coffee colored walls and pastel furnishings. I was laying on the hard wood floor. That would explain my soreness. There was only one window covering the far wall.

I tried to move, but my muscles ached terribly. Emma got up and strode over to where I was lying. “So, Hayley, I see you are a heavy sleeper. I hope you’ve gotten enough rest.” She was standing over me now.

“Why did you kill him?! Why?” I was more angry than before now. She was going to give me answers. If only I could move; I would punch her in the face.

“I did what I had to do.” She shrugged. I don’t think this took affect on her at all. How could she not care? She went to school with him. Even if they weren’t friends he didn’t deserve to die!

“Why are you acting like this?! I thought you were nice. I thought you were my friend. What happened to you, Emma?” I was on the verge of tears now. I tried to blink them back but made it worse. They started to stream down my face once again.

Emma let out an exasperated sigh and rolled her eyes. “I thought you were nice. I thought you were my friend.” She started mimicking me. It made the tears come down harder. “Ok, let’s get this straight, Hayley. I never actually went to that stupid school before you came. Well, a couple weeks I did, but I was employed by your father to be your “friend.” I was just supposed to earn your trust and bring you here. You were so easy to persuade. You never suspected I would do anything wrong. I was just the bubbly friend that everyone loved.”

“What is this place?” I stopped her monologue with a sharp tone.

“This is Camerson Facility for Research and Growth. CFRG for short. Your father, Charles Camerson, founded it a couple years back. From what I gather, it was for your benefit. I would explain more, but I believe that is your fathers place. So get cleaned up and come downstairs when you are ready. Please don’t get lost and remember, we are not friends anymore. I always found you kind of plain anyways.” With that, she walked quickly to the door and out to the hall leaving me to do whatever. And all I wanted to do right then was cry.

I didn’t cry for long, afraid someone would walk in on me. I didn’t want to appear weak or fragile. I decided I would not cry in front of anyone while I was here. Wherever I was. I didn’t understand what was going on at all. Nothing made sense. Was Emma planning on killing me out in the timber yesterday. Or was it yesterday? How many days has it been? Has it even been a whole day? And what about my dad? He was dead. Well, he is supposed to be. I went to his funeral! I was so confused. I had so many questions, and the only way they would be answered was if I went downstairs.

I stood up and looked around the room. There was a small bathroom beside the closet. I went in there and looked at myself in the mirror. I looked terrible! My face was all scratched up, from falling nonetheless, and I had twigs in my hair. I vigorously pulled drawers out looking for a hairbrush. After many failed guesses I found one! I started the tedious work of combing out leaves and other sorts of things.

After I was done with that I rinsed my face off. It stung when I put water on it, but I got over the pain quickly. Once I looked halfway decent I paced back and forth for a little bit. I was, after all, going to see my dad. The dad I haven’t seen for years. The dad that is supposed to be dead. Unless she was lying to me. Pulling me into another trap. But why? She already had me at her mercy. Emma could have killed me while I was unconscious. So why wait until now? Like I said, nothing made sense.

I took a deep breath and walked out into a deserted hallway. Why put off the inevitable? I was probably going to die anyway. The hallway was rather big. It had many doors, all of the same appearance, and turns. I was instantly lost. I couldn’t even get back to the room I came out of. After awhile I found a set of stairs. They wound down in a spiral motion. I quietly descended them trying not to draw attention from anyone who happened to be near. I don’t know what I should prepare myself for. Death? Maybe more surprises? Agh! What am I going to do?

I got to the bottom of the stairs and found myself in a huge room. The room was full of couches and lounge chairs. There were six plasma screen TVs mounted on the walls. All of which were turned onto a different channel. There were some kids sprawled out on the floor playing cards. They saw me then just shrugged and went back to their game. This place seemed like some kind of college or something. I wondered if those kids lived here. It was strange that no one approached me to help. I probably looked confused and lost. No. I know I looked confused and lost.

I made my way to some type of meeting room. It was empty so I turned around to exit only there was someone blocking my path. The first thing I noticed about him was that he was extremely tall. I found myself looking straight up trying to get a good look at his face. With extreme shock I realized who he was. He was the man from my dream. The dream I had the first night I moved into my Slaughterville house. I never forgot that dream, although, it wasn’t as scary as the one with the porcelain doll. There was something about those dreams that made them different than others. I flinched. This was no time to dwell on my dreams. I was in some mystery place, my friend died, my ex-friend was here, and evidently, so was my dad. I looked back up to the man’s face. It was slightly wrinkled with age but rough looking like he had been through a lot. He didn’t look old, nor did he look young. His hair was light brown with some evidence of gray. Could this man be my dad? After thinking he was dead for so long what would I say to him? He answered to my thoughts.

“Ah, Hayley, it’s nice to finally see you awake. We’ve been watching you these past couple days. I’d like to introduce myself as your father. It has been awhile since I’ve seen you. Sorry for dying on you at such a young age. I’m afraid there were matters I had to tend to and some people that were in the way. I did what I had to do. Please forgive me. But let’s skip the whole drama issue of me faking my death and get right to the point. I brought you here, well, Emma brought you here for one reason. This place, this facility was made specifically for you. Well, kind of. You see, I really must explain this all from the beginning for you to understand. Why don’t we do this somewhere more comfortable and with less an audience. Let’s go to the kitchen, shall we?”

I stood there utterly surprised that he was, in fact, my father. I had my suspicions but never really expected it. Now, my father was back in my life and was just going to somehow explain everything to me. During what, breakfast? How do I know I can even trust him? He could be some deranged lunatic for all I know. He might put my fingers in a blender and laugh in my face! Oh! Ow! Why would I even think that? That would hurt so much!

Well, being the retard that I am, I decided to follow him to the kitchen. The room we arrived in was, in fact, a kitchen, but a rather large one at that. It had about five stoves with a refrigerator to match each one. The counter space was unbelievable. It even included this huge island in the middle of the room. This was most definitely shared by the whole house. I wonder how many people even live here? There were about seven kids eating cereal when we walked through the door. They instantly grabbed their bowls and left as soon as they saw us. I probably am with some sadistic killer. Great.

We sat at the island on these neat looking swivel chairs. I couldn’t help but to spin around a couple times. I felt like a little kid. I stopped as soon as I realized he was watching me. (and laughing!) My cheeks flushed pink and I cleared my throat.

“So..” I said dumbly.

“Well, ok. When your mother and I had you we were in disagreement. You see, I had a friend who said he could alter genes. Which would make someone some kind of super human in a way. He didn’t know how well it would all work out in the end, and didn’t even know which genes it would alter. I’ll tell you now, he wasn’t the brightest, but he was indeed very smart. Ok, back to the point, you were a sick child at birth. Your blood pressure and heart rates just weren’t good, and we didn’t know what else to do. Your mother wanted to wait it out for a bit, and if you didn’t get better we would spend our life savings on some miracle-working doctor. I, on the other hand, discussed my friend’s business proposition. I think his name was Marcello. Odd name, but he was an odd character. Anyway, she did not agree at all with me. She said it was too dangerous, and that it would never work.” He paused and got up walking towards the fridge. I wanted to here more of what happened.

“So who won the disagreement?” I asked him while he drank out of a water bottle. He took his sweet time like I only asked him some simple question. The suspense was killing me. I fidgeted in my seat a little bit.

“I did.” He said finally after sitting down.

“What? How?” I can’t believe he had me worked on like a lab rat.

“ It’s simple. I took you to Marcello’s house after your mom fell asleep and had it done. She was too caught up in the enjoyment of your well-being to even give it a thought that I had the alteration done. She simply thought it was some kind of miracle. Is your mom still like that? Gullible?”

“What?! Gullible? I can’t believe you! What if I had died? What if it didn’t work out the way it should’ve? What would’ve happened then? I don’t think Mom was gullible; I think you are deranged! I can’t even look at your face!” I turned away from him trying to fight back tears.

“Hayley, you don’t understand. I did this because I loved you! I still love you! You know how long I’ve been looking for you? Your mom thought I would never catch on to her, but look now. You are here with me. I can’t believe she never told you the truth; that I was alive. She found out about the whole gene thing, and that’s why she took you away. Don’t you see? I’m not the bad guy here; she is! Don’t you believe me? Hayley?” He started to shake my shoulders not letting go.

“I..I don’t know. I don’t know!” I started crying harder. My whole life. A lie? Who do I believe? Could this really all be my mom’s fault? Ugh! The only thing I’ve done since I’ve been here is ask myself more questions! My dad loosened his grip on my shoulders and started rubbing my back.

“It’s ok. I don’t expect you to understand quite yet. Just give yourself time to think it over. There is one other thing, though.”

“What?” I said through choked tears.

“As you already know, we went ahead with that gene altering. So there is a possibility that you are like all the people here. Hayley, you wouldn’t believe how many special people there are in the world. I have reason to believe that we only have a handful of them.”

“What? What do you mean. How many people live here? What do I have in common with them?” Agh. More questions.

“There are about 127 teenagers and adults residing here. Some of them are really smart. Some can read minds. There is even one that can breathe underwater! Hayley, they all had the same thing done to them as you. You may indeed have some super human quality that you have never known about! Do you realize how wonderful this is? Can you even grasp the concept? You will like some of the kids here. I’m sure of it. Hayley, you are special. Welcome home. That is, if you want to stay.” He was getting worked up, and my tears had stopped flowing. My stomach, in turn, had started knotting up. I didn’t know what to say, once again. What could I say?

I took a breathe and opened my mouth to speak, “Uh. Yes. I think I would.” ------

Right after I said that my stomach knotted up more furiously. If I hadn’t been sitting down my knees would have given out. Was I actually agreeing to live here? I had, after all, been basically kidnapped. I wonder if my mom even knew I was missing yet. The other kids were eating breakfast so it must be morning sometime. Would she even care I was gone? Ok, jeez! Enough with the questions! My list keeps piling up, and so far I don’t really have any answers. I am officially done asking myself questions today. No more!

“That’s great!” Dad said with a smile. Crap. I just called him dad. I think I did earlier too. Ok, I will not make that a habit! No effing way! From now on I will call him Charles. Wait, no. That sounds too, proper. Hmm. Well I don’t know what I could call him, so that’s another thing I will get back to. He continued, “We already have a room for you picked out. It isn’t the one you were in earlier, but it will do. I’m not too good at making introductions, but there is someone I want you to meet before you venture off. Just come with me.”

Well, I really didn’t have a choice. He was already leaving the kitchen, so I scurried off after him. We walked back by the big lounge room I spotted before and saw that more kids had gathered. Some were staring at the TVs like zombies. Eesh! Then I glanced at the little group playing cards. Before I had been confused and overloading myself with questions and hadn’t really paid much attention. But now, I noticed how odd this little card game really was. There was one girl lying on her stomach holding her head up with her hands. She was also the one who was dealing the cards. I can’t believe I didn’t see it before! She wasn’t even touching the cards! They were just dealing themselves. If I’d seen it before then I would have fainted, but now, after knowing where I was, it was only a little surprising. Sure, it blew my freaking mind away, but I was already prepared. Well, actually I didn’t know what to expect, but I guess it was this.

We rounded a couple corners and made our way into this massively huge room. When I say massively, I mean massive. I didn’t even see a bed, but there was a hot tub and pool table. The walls were lined with windows, which peaked my curiosity as to where we actually were. I saw island palm trees and a beach. The waves were brushing against the shore ever so slightly, and I could smell the sea salt.

“Are we at the ocean?” I asked the first question that popped into my mind. And no, this doesn’t count for my ‘no questions’ rule. Ok, I’m done with that rule. I don’t care if I ask myself any more questions!

“No, but you will understand in a minute.” My fath- uh…Charles said with a grin. I shrugged off my confusion; it seems I have more waiting for me. Then all of a sudden a sun-tanned blonde came bouncing through window, which was open. She was wearing a blue two piece and had her hair up in a messy ponytail.

“Uh. Charlie. I didn’t know she was going to be here so soon.” The blonde said through a smile. Charlie! Ugh. It still doesn’t fit him. I thought there was another name people used instead of Charles or Charlie. Ah. This is going to be one of those things that haunts me the rest of the day.

“Hayley,” Charles turned to me, “I’d like to introduce you to Radea. She has an amazing ability to persuade your mind into seeing things not there. Think of it as a movie, but she controls it all.” He stopped talking and looked at me expectantly.

“I..uh..that’s cool. So, none of this is real?” I craned my neck around them and looked out the windows to see the paradise again.

“No, silly. Do you really think we were this close to the coast? Of course this isn’t real. Now step outside the door really fast. Both of you.” Radea pushed us out of the room and stepped back in. She then closed her eyes and opened them after a couple seconds. The room transformed before my eyes. The walls seemed to move in together causing the windows and various furniture pieces to just disappear. The whole process only took about twenty seconds and ended with us standing outside a tiny broom closet. She looked around pleased with herself and hopped back out to where we were.

“Wow. That was awesome!” I was actually very impressed.

“Yep. She really is something. She has been here for about, let’s say, two years. Radea is basically my right-hand man.”

“Hey now. Right-hand woman.” Radea cut in with a glare. I could tell she wasn’t mad, though. My dad (I’ve decided to call him that now) laughed and started walking off.

I called to him before he rounded the corner, “Hey, where are you going?”

“To go see how everyone else is doing. Why don’t you get to know Radea a little better.” He disappeared before I could say anything else. I shifted my weight to my other foot and kind of looked around uncomfortably.

“Alright, well I haven’t really introduced myself. I’m Radea.” She gave me a sweet smile and her hand. I hesitated but finally shook it. She didn’t look too threatening. I still wasn’t so sure about her yet, though. I will give it time.

“Well I bet you’re hungry. Do you want to go get something to eat?” She waited patiently for me to answer.

“Uh. Sure.” I’m not usually big on responses.

“Ok! Let’s go to the kitchen!” She started skipping off towards the way I just came from. I followed her, but I was not skipping. I kind of had to half jog, though.

We got into the kitchen and instead of sitting down I went to the fridge. I remembered that there were water bottles in it. I was surprised to see all of the food when I opened it. There was everything from pudding to grapefruit! My stomach vigorously growled from hunger. I put my hand over it hoping to calm it down. Jeez! I was really hungry! I grabbed a couple apples and a water. I might as well eat healthy. Radea had some kind of bacon sandwich that was stacked to its maximum capacity. Then I saw her go and grab a mountain dew. For a second I wondered how she even kept her figure. Then I figured she’s just one of those stupid lucky people who don’t gain weight.

“So, Hayley, I hear that you’re special.” Radea looked up from her oversized sandwich.

“Well, uh, not really.” Now that I thought about it, I wondered why my dad would even want me here. Can’t he see that I don’t have any freak of nature powers?

“So there hasn’t been anything strange happening to you lately? Nothing at all?” I looked up to her and scrunched my nose. (A habit I have when I’m thinking)

“Well besides the weird warning things, nope.” That was a lie. Those dreams were sure realistic. I didn’t feel like telling her about them, though.

“What weird warnings?” She honestly looked confused.

“Well I figured they were from you guys. The first one was on my bed. Then there was also some kind of listening thing. There was also the one on the trees. Oh! And before that there was a man in my mirror.” I said all that then studied her face for a readable reaction.

“Uh. Hayley, the only thing I did was the tree thing. I didn’t even really do anything then either. All I did was make you see those words. They were actually never there. Someone else must be doing something. I need to talk to your father about this. Is that all that’s been happening? Are you sure that nothing weird has been going on with you?” Radea looked back at me with wide eyes. Ok, this b***h was pushy. I’m not stupid; I can see through her fakeness. She was definitely put up for this. That’s why she was acting so nice. The dreams aren’t even that bad. There is no way I’m going to tell her about them, though.

“No. Nothing at all.” I avoided eye contact, a stupid move on my part, and I’m sure she noticed.

“Ok..” She stretched out the word and looked at me like she was disappointed. “But if there is anything then you can tell me. I just want you to know that.” Uh. Yeah, right. Like I’m going to tell that psycho fake about my personal life. I would rather bang my face against a wall. Haha. The thought made me laugh. I think Radea took my laughing a different way, though. “If you are going to act like that then I will get you kicked out of here. And if you think you’re going to keep secrets then you have it coming, bad. I promise that I will make your life a living hell in this place. Do not underestimate me, Hayley. And don’t even think about going off and telling your dad. Who do you think he will believe?” And with that she got up and strode out of the kitchen leaving her sandwich half eaten. I sat there slack jawed. Wow. Psycho. I knew she was fake, but I didn’t expect that.

This day was tiring me out, and it’s only morning! The thought made me even more tired. I laid my head down on the counter and closed my eyes. I didn’t even here the approaching footsteps.

“Hey, don’t look so sad. This place is actually not that bad. They took me in a month ago. I’m Ivory by the way. I can show you around and all. You’re going to love it.” The voice came from behind me. I lifted my head up and turned around to see a slightly tall girl with medium length black hair. Her eyes were almost a neon blue. I found myself lost in them. She looked so friendly, but I am now fully prepared to expect the worst of people.

“I’m Hayley. I like your name.” Wow, I am such a loser. That was all I could come up with, but what else was I supposed to say? I’m Hayley. I thought my dad was dead up until now. My crush died in front of my eyes. My whole life has been a lie. That would really change her friendly mood. Maybe she would leave me alone if I said something like that. Isn’t that what I want? To be left alone? No. If I’m going to stay here then I at least need some acquaintances.

“Uh. Thanks! So do you want me to show you around or what?” She had such an encouraging smile that I couldn’t reject her like that.

“You know what? I would really like that.” I returned her smile and stood up.

“This is great! I will have to show you my gang! I don’t really have a gang, but you get what I mean.” She was laughing, and I couldn’t help but laugh too. She had a great personality. I really hope that this isn’t just for show. Please let her be nice!

We bounded down hallways and up stairs. I was almost getting tired by the time we came to a purple door. Yes, the door was purple. It looked kind of spray painted, and there were signatures all over it. Some of the names were scribbled out, though. Hmm. Other than that, it looked kind of neat. Ivory let me gawk at her door for a second then pushed it open.

“This is my room. I love it! You’re welcome to visit me anytime, and you can even put your signature on my door!” She skipped over to her bed and plopped down. I stood there like an idiot then went and sat with her.

Her bed was covered in purple sheets with blue polka dots and a huge blue comforter. There weren’t any pillows on it. I was trying to figure out why when, as if reading my mind, she told me.

“I don’t like to use pillows. Never have. I don’t know why.” She shrugged her shoulders. I looked around her room a little more. It wasn’t too surprising. She had shelves all over, which were full of stuffed animals with big eyes. They all looked cute. Her walls were speckled with various colors and matched her carpet. I absolutely loved her room. It was much better than the one they gave me. Well, she probably had time to decorate hers. Nonetheless, I was jealous.

“I really like your room. I wish mine looked like this!” I glanced over to her. She was texting on her phone. She noticed me looking and quickly set it down.

“Sorry! I was seeing where the guys were. They’re downstairs in the lounge room. Let’s go!” She grabbed my wrist and hurriedly rushed me out of her room.

We made it downstairs in record time. The group that was playing cards before had slowly deteriorated. Now there were only three people left watching TV.

“What are you guys doing? I told you to go up to my room!” Ivory was yelling in a playful mood. I couldn’t help but laugh again.