Children of the Plague [NOW AVAILABLE ON KINDLE]

We walked back through the long hallway and after a few turns, we abruptly stopped at a set of doors on opposite sides of the hallway. The doors were identical and they were large, made of metal and had a sizeable circular piece on it, which looked like a ship’s tiller. Sergeant Michel spun the circle on the door to the right in a clockwise direction until a great clanging sound came from within the door. He pushed the door open to reveal a small room with enough bunk beds for all of us.

“Now, this is a room specially designed for your abilities. Also, this is the boy’s room, the girls will be housed in another room which is the door on the other side of the hall. Right now, I have some other matters to take care of, so I want you all to wait here.” At that, he turned around and walked briskly out of the door.

I moved over to one of the bunk beds at the end of the room and sat down. I needed to deal with all the information that I had been told. Did I hurt or kill my parents? I thought of how I heard my dad’s voice as I woke up in the morning. I wished I could remember what happened and I hoped that I would at a later date.

“What do you guys think of all that?” Sarah asked, breaking me from my daydream.

“What do you mean?” Brian replied.

“Do you believe everything that he said?”

“Why wouldn’t we?”

“Well, I know that I would never hurt my parents, and they would never send me away,” Sarah said as she crossed her arms.

“But what if you couldn’t control it?” Asked Randy.

She didn’t say anything to that. She just sat there on a different bunk for a while. Then she sat up again. “No, I wouldn’t do it. I didn’t do it.”

“How do you know that?” asked Brian.

“I don’t know for sure, I just feel it.” She held her hand over her heart.

“That doesn’t make me feel better,” said Randy and Sarah glared at him.

“So, what’s everyone’s name again?” Emily asked changing the subject. I didn’t believe that she didn’t remember everyone’s name, but maybe she just wanted to continue talking.

We all exchanged names, and I think I got a good feel for everyone’s personality based on the long conversation with Sergeant Michel. But, with all that we were told, I don’t really feel like talking, so I laid down on the bed and absently listened to the other kids chatting. Soon, my eyes started to get heavy with sleep, but before I drifted off, I did wonder about why I was so tired after sleeping for so long.

I had nightmares of my dad yelling my name and for me to wake up. The words replayed over and over, but every time I was strapped down in the bed of the white room. Sometimes I was alone, sometimes different people or shadowy forms were there, but it was never the people I wanted to see, never my mother or father. I woke to darkness. I guess Sgt. Michel had come by already and took the girls to their room. I was starving and wondered if I missed dinner. I heard faint sounds of breathing and the rustling of sheets. A chill ran up my arms, I realized I didn’t have any sheets and my head was on a bare pillow.

I sat up and tried to focus a little bit in the dark to try to find if there were any extra sheets or blankets. As I focused on everything and nothing, the world burst into colors. It was like when I had woken up in the white room, but ten times the intensity. At first, I thought some type of light had been turned on, but no one else was reacting. I could see everyone else and everything in the room, but just a second prior, everything was dark and I was struggling to see. I looked down at my hands and noticed that they were glowing white with thin translucent strands running up my arms and the parts of my body that I could see.

At the foot of my bed, I could see a green blanket that has been placed there folded on top of a white sheet. The details were hazy and I had a tough time differentiating what between the blanket and the sheet. Both the blanket and the sheet had a golden glow that seemed to mix in with the details. There was a slight difference in the brightness of the golden glow between the two objects. I reached out and grabbed the blanket. As I did, my hand’s glow changed to the same golden glow.

I wondered if it was because of the virus. I didn’t want to believe that it was true. Everything sounded so unbelievable, I was hoping that there was some type of mistake and I didn’t really have the virus. This didn’t seem like what the sergeant had explained either. He said that I should be able to feel it, not see it. I grabbed the fabric with both hands, my other hand also changing to a golden hue. I tugged the blanket in opposite directions and it easily split the material in half. I wasn’t trying to do that and I had no idea if I was supposed to be able to do it? I thought Sergeant Michel said that we could only manipulate wood and plants. I thought that maybe it was because the blanket was cotton. I put the two pieces together and they fused without a trace of the tear.

I dropped the blanket and looked around more. The metal bars of the bed had silvery lines going through them that reminded me of circuits. I grabbed hold of the metal bed and twisted my hand. The metal easily bent. I knew I wasn’t supposed to be able to do that, at least according to Sergeant Michel. I bent the metal back into place. Now I had some serious questions to think about. I didn’t know if I was different, or if the military and government didn’t know about this ability as much as they pretended.

However, I was still tired and I wasn’t equipped to deal with this type of information. All I could think about was what would happen to me if anyone found out. If I were in here because I was dangerous and they thought I could only do things with wood, what would they do if they knew I could change other materials? I decided not to tell anyone. Amid all the questions, fear, and use of my ability, exhaustion washed over me. I grabbed the blanket and laid back down, shutting my eyes as hard as I could. Luckily, the colors didn’t bleed through my eyelids.

I woke up to darkness once again. It must have only been a few hours since I was last awake. My vision was normal. I sighed in relief. I was worried that it wouldn’t go back and that everything would be too bright and out of focus. Fortunately, that didn’t happen. I didn’t trust my ability, so I made sure not to focus too hard on seeing anything. I thought about asking the others if they experienced the same thing but I had woken up too early and everyone else was still asleep.

Additionally, I didn’t know what would happen if I was different then everyone else. Wild thoughts of being separated and alone raced through me. I once again decided to keep the information to myself for as long as I could. I laid back down and attempted to get some more rest.