• Chapter 4
    Mutation

    “Ron! Get me the needle and thread.” I felt soft pulling on my neck. I was afraid to open my eyes to the scene around me. “Alright; be prepared to cut the oxygen. She'll be waking up soon.” I was lifted up to a sitting position. I felt unconscious tugging at my eyelids; I wanted to see everything. I blinked away the fuzziness in my eyes to see I was in a surgery room. The doctor, who was a girl, was to my left. Her back was turned to me; I saw her cleaning up some bloody mess. I tried to turn my neck to look to the right but pain shot through me.
    “Oh! You're awake.” She said as she turned around “You weren't supposed to wake for another 5 minutes. How are you feeling, honey?” She placed a and on my forehead like she was checking if I had a fever and that my neck wasn't one probable big stitched up stub.
    I opened my mouth to speak but she lifted a finger to shush me. “I completely forgot! You aren't allowed to speak today. You have to stay in this room to rest.”
    I gave her a glare and then closed my eyes to rest. Being broken really tires someone out.
    The next time I woke was to Kristine. Her face was right in front of mine. So, when I opened my eyes to look at her, it was her that jumped and screamed. To tell the truth, all her energy in the room really hurt my head. I started to speak again but stopped myself and glared at Kristine instead.
    “You know, a little 8 year old's glare isn't all that scary.” She stood up and fixed her hair. “Anyways, I just came in here to check if you were alright. The stuff my docs gave me made me feel better right away. The said something about us rejecting each other's DNA. I'm not sure why you had to get that, though.” She pointed at my neck.
    I gave her a look that said I had no idea what she was talking about.
    “My goodness, you don't even know what they did to you?” She took a mirror off of my side table and let me see my neck. On the left, there was a big long stitched up cut. The skin around it was all red and puffy. To the right there were two small cuts. I gasped and felt the pain of air rushing into my lungs. My eyes watered as I tried to think of what they did to me. I don't trust this place, so my thoughts were frightening.
    “Aww, honey, don't cry. I bet they fixed you right up.” I wish I could believe her. Believe that I'm well, but from the feeling in my gut, I know that this place is dangerous. “Well, Cecile, I'm going to go get you something to eat. You must be starving. She left my room. To keep myself busy, I thought about if I should eat the food or not. Yes, my throat looked like it went through the shredder. It sure felt like it too. It'd hurt like hell to eat right now.
    There's also the issue of the food. Like my last vision and what had gotten me into this death bed, the food's probably poisoned. But, before I could decide whether to eat the food or not, Kristine burst into my room with a wide smile and a tray full of packets full of different colored liquid.
    “Hold on, don't freak, I can explain. The nurse said that you can't eat actual food for a while. She gave me all these packets and told me to let you drink them.” I guess she missed my look of defense because she continued. “It really worried me when you had to have surgery. I wonder why I got better so easily. Maybe I have a strong immune syst....” Her mindless babble faded away as I was sucked into a vision.
    My spirit walked around aimlessly in a bloody battlefield. People everywhere were getting turned into supernatural beings; those who weren't were killed there on the spot. Beings with fangs as long as my fingers flew from house to house; causing havoc as families were torn apart with death and change.
    I suddenly felt a pull in one direction-- the direction of my home. I saw Alana meditating on the middle of our rug. In front of her were two long swords that looked like they can split a hair in half. Monsters barged into the room and the swords glowed brilliantly. Alana picked one up in each hand just as my head started pulsing with intense pain.
    This time, when my spirit was sucked back into my body, I felt like I was burning in a cold fire.
    “... Hey Cecile! What's wrong? You're all white.” She placed a hand on my forehead; it felt scalding hot against me. She quickly took her hand away when I flinched. “Gosh, maybe you're just famished. You know, I saw you picking at your salad; it looked like you barely ate. I'll go get some food from the nurse.” As she turned to leave I grabbed her sleeve.
    “...No...” My voice was just above a whisper but her seemingly alert ears heard me.
    “Cecile! You shouldn't talk! Your throat is bad!” She shook my hand off and started walking to the door. I raised my bloodshot eyes to look at her; there was a look of fear on her face.
    “I'm not hungry, Kristine. Please,” my throat hurt really bad right now, “listen to me. I just had a vision.” Her eyes grew wide.
    “What?! There's no way that you can have a vision! It's not real!” I pressed my lips in a straight line as I stared her down so she would sit on the edge of my bed.
    “I've had visions for as long as I can remember, Kristine, and I remember pretty far. This vision I just had is nothing but serious.” I don't know if my eyes were playing games with me but I swore I saw that Kristine's ears moved in response to what I said to hear me better. “The people here are using us; they're going to make everyone into supernatural beings. Anyone who doesn't agree will be killed.” She looked up at me like I was crazy.
    “That's the most unbelievable thing I've ever heard! They're treating us so well here. How in the world could you say that they're going to use us like that?” I shot her a look but was cut of before I could say something.
    “Hello staff and patients, please welcome Travis Amane from EBR College here to HyperNatural.” I heard some cheering from the halls as footsteps neared our door. There were 2 hasted knocks on our door before Mr. Hael and a fairly hansom guy walked into the room. One look at me and Mr. Hael quickly looked away.
    “Glad to see you two are err... bonding.” He turned to the boy. “This is Travis, he's the new transfer. Please make him feel welcome, I have some business to take care of.” Without another word from anyone, he walked out of the room.
    “So... uh... Hi.” He kept his eyes on anything but us. Clearly, he was shy.
    “You're from EBR in London? You don't even look anywhere close to 18.” My hoarse voice startled and he looked up at me while we talked; I felt my heart flutter as he gazed at me.
    “My parents had me in a special learning program. I'm supposed to be in 10th grade, but they have me in a second year college term.” So, in other words, he was as smart as I am.
    “That's interesting. I've been offered to take a class there before.” He looked at me surprisingly. “I denied because it didn't fit to my learning standards.” As much at this conversation hurt, I shot a grin at him.
    “Whoa Cecile, I didn't know you were that smart!” Kristine cut off what Travis was going to say, what a bummer.
    “Well, there's no better teacher than Alana herself. She taught me everything I know.” Normally, I wouldn't brag about anything at all, but Travis makes me feel like I should impress him. “So, Travis, how much is it a year to stay at EBR? I heard that the dorms there were one person a room and very spacious.”
    “Oh no, I was let in on two scholarships. I'm smarter than most people and they let me in for my physical abilities too. I was placed as a fill in for any event at the last Olympics.” He sent an equally smug grin at me.
    “Whoa! The Olympics! And all the events too? You must be so talented. Are you any good at soccer?” She looked at him with awe.
    “Of course. Football, or should I say soccer, is one of my best and favorite sports. I also have an abnormal talent for tennis.” 'Jeesh, he's so perfect...' I whispered to myself. I saw Kristine's ears twitch and she looked at me.
    “Hm? Did you say something?” My goodness, she has great hearing. Even Travis didn't notice anything.
    “No, I didn't say anything. Go back to drooling over the eyecandy over there, I'll get some rest.” Her face grew red and I felt and almost saw her temper flare. I brushed it off and drifted into a deep sleep.