Manipulate

We all quietly sneak out of our dorms and head toward the Adult’s Quarters. Everyone is whispering and smirking at each other. As we sneak around the corner toward the stairs, we see an adult.

One boy in the group jumps out of the shadows to spray him with whip cream. “Hey!” The man exclaims in anger and surprise. We all run as a dorm the rest of the way up toward the apartments. Giggles and laughter spread through the halls like a disease. Adults come storming out of their apartments in fury. We toilet paper the doorknobs and windows. We set buckets of water up on the door frames along with whip cream. I stand outside a door with my whip cream in hand ready to hit somebody with it. I hear a click of a door. A woman steps out in an oversized tee shirt and sweatpants with her hair in a beanie. I whip cream her in the face. The woman grunts and yells after me to get back here and apologize.

By ten o’clock the hallways are a disaster zone filled with toilet paper, shaving cream and the smell of sour milk.

“Are we going to clean up tonight?” I ask.

“Nah. The adults love cleaning up after us. Besides we do this every Saturday,” Theo explains to me on our way back to the dorms.

Theo walks next to me with Nick on the other side of me. I guess Nick still hasn’t gotten the idea that I don’t like him. Everyone is laughing and talking as we descend down the stairs back to the dorms. My face is pink from laughter, my clothes smell like sour milk and my hair is covered with whipped cream. It’s definitely shower night for all of us. The smell of sweat, sour milk and shaving cream fill the air, making me feel trapped in the stench.

All of us pile into the dorms and head straight toward the showers. As I stand under the shower, the water and soap help wash away the terrible stench of sour milk. I grab the soap from the wall and start washing up. The shampoo and conditioner here go around the showers. Shower one passes it to shower two and it goes on and on until the last shower gets it. I’m shower five tonight which is very nice since I have longer hair out of the group. The shampoo and conditioner slide underneath the hole in the wall. Crash! They go as they hit the wall with a thud. I grab the shampoo and put a blob in my hand and start scrubbing it into my scalp. I rinse out the shampoo, it makes bubbles as it swirls around the drain. I do the same with the conditioner.

I get out of the shower and dry off. I pull on a pair of black leggings, a black tank top, and University of St. Louis sweatshirt. I pull my hair into a ponytail and leave the locker room. Everyone in the dorms is talking and laughing about tonight. I go over toward Abi’s bunk.

“Hi, Abhaya! Tonight, was so much fun! Did you enjoy it?” Abi asks all in one breath.

“Yeah. Tonight, was a lot of fun,” I say.

“Great! We do this every Saturday too. Also, are you excited for the paintball game this week?” Abi asks me.

“Yes! I am so excited for the paintball game this weekend!” I exclaim. Abi shoots me a questioning look. “No sarcasm. I promise,” I add quickly. Abi smiles and nods.

I sit up on the bunk with Abi until a question pops in my head. “Abi, do you know why you’re here?” I ask.

“Yes, but I also don’t at the same time,” Abi says.

I nod my head. I think about what Rae had said about earlier. We’re here because the government wants to do experiments on us, and because we have powers that could help them.

I jump off of the bunk. Abi looks surprised, I shrug my shoulders. I head back to my bunk and pull myself up onto it. I climb under my blankets to get warm. Everyone is in their beds for once without anyone yelling “lights out in one minute!”

Alia and Max comes in and flips on a switch. Instant groans ripple through the room. “Yeah, Yeah I know it’s bright. Get up and be in the training room in five minutes! Starting now.” Alia orders.

I pull myself out of my cocoon and grab my combat boots off of my bed frame. I pull them on and lace them up. I jump off of my bunk and shake Nick awake.

“Five more minutes,” he mumbles.

I sigh and in my annoyed manor and punch him in the shoulder. He just rolls over and sleeps through it.

“Wake up! Nick come on. We need to be in the training room in less than four minutes,” I say while attempting to wake him up. I give up and walk out of the room with the others.

In the training room we all stand in rows staring at Max, Alia and Rae. Nick still isn’t here. But I don’t give a damn.

“Everyone, we’re having late night training. No complaining is allowed. And if you’re tired, well then, you’ll sleep great tonight,” Max announces.

Alia starts talking. “If you’re all so tired, then you can quit pulling pranks and trashing the adult’s quarters.”

Max orders us to grab paintball guns and paintballs. We all scramble toward the table to grab the equipment. When everyone has a loaded paintball gun, we all stand in five lines with twelve people in them.

“We’re reviewing how to shoot and aim. Then, you’ll be tested in groups of five,” Max says.

I look around to see the targets ready to practice with. And on the other side there are five targets to test at.

I stand at a target with the paintball gun and shoot. Again, it makes a loud splat on the target. I repeat this until Max calls me over along with Theo, Abi, Nick, and Trey.

“Go ahead and start shooting,” Max orders us. None of us hesitate and start shooting. I manage to get five out of the five paintballs on the target. Max nods in approval and sends me back along with Theo. Abi and Nick still are struggling with aim.

I head back where the rest of the group is. We all work on shooting and aiming. Nick and Abi come back with their faces red in anger.

“What happened?” I ask.

“Max is just unfair sometimes. Especially when we decide to pull our pranks and stunts,” Abi grumbles.

“Everyone get back to work!” Max shouts. Everyone obeys and goes back to practicing.

“Max, you should cut them some slack. They’re just teenagers and you can’t push them this far,” Alia whispers to Max. My hearing is stronger now. But I don’t know why.

When I was younger my hearing was always better than anyone in the house and I often had to say that I didn’t hear someone say something that I wasn’t supposed to hear. The memories come flooding back to me as I work on my aim. I miss the target.

“Arrgh!” I grumble.

“Abhaya, you can’t get mad at just one miss. It happens,” Theo reassures.

“Thanks for letting me know that,” I mumble. Theo doesn’t respond.

At midnight Max and Alia dismiss us to go back to the dorms. On the way back I feel tired and my body feels heavy. When I get to my bunk, I pull myself up with my remaining strength and crawl under the warmth of the blankets.

#

“Abhaya! Abhaya, get down here now!” My new stepmother yells at me.

I’m only five and she wants me to redo the whole entire mansion! This woman is insane. I drag myself down the stairs to see Donatella wearing a scowl on her face at the base of the stairs. This is not going to end well. I know for a fact.

“Abhaya, you painted the wrong color in the foyer!” Donatella scolds.

I shrink back in fear on the stairs. I can’t let her a scare five-year-old. My ears ring with her yelling. I step up one step and then another and another until she notices what I’m doing.

“Abhaya! Get back here now!” Donatella shrieks as I make my escape.

As I attempt to run up the stairs, Donatella yanks me by the arm. Causing me to go tumbling down the stairs. I hit the hardwood like a brick. I hear a clean crack! In my arm. I howl in pain as tears fill my eyes. Donatella comes down the stairs in fury. Her face is red with anger and her eyes are intense with the anger and hate that fill them.

“Get up! Maybe that’ll be a lesson for one for walking away when an adult is speaking to you. And two, for not listening to what I said that first time,” Donatella snaps at me.

I trudge up the stairs to see that Aj is sitting at the top waiting for me. I wipe my nose on my good arm. Aj stands up and pulls me into a hug.

“Shh. Shhh,” he whispers, trying to soothe me. He has one hand on top of my head, stroking it. I sob into his chest as I let out the tears.

“Let me see what she did to you,” he says. I nod and show him my arm.

“Does that hurt at all when I touch it?” Aj asks. I nod and whimper.

Aj rushes into his room quickly. He comes out with a green military jacket and helps me into it. Then he picks me up. He cradles me against his chest. On the way out the door Aj grabs an ice pack to put on my arm. I show my gratitude with a small and weak thank you.

Aj takes me to the urgent care downtown. I hate coming here. This will be my fifth visit this year. And I’ve only been living with Donatella for the last seven months. Aj checks me in as I cradle my broken arm.

“Abhaya,” A nurse announces from the other end of the room. I get up as Aj follows behind me. The nurse takes the paper from Aj and takes my height, weight and tells me to rate my pain on a scale of one through ten.

“Four, I say. The nurse takes it as an answer and leads us to a room.

A knock goes on the door. Dr. Ginger comes in. She is a short woman, with red hair and green eyes. I think that Ginger is her actual last name but I’m not so sure.

“So, Ms. Abhaya, I see that you’re back here again. What happened this time,” Dr. Ginger asks me as she looks at my arm. I explain the whole story without crying or complaining. She sits there on her doctor’s chair and listens. She nods when I finish. She turns toward Aj. “Aj, did you see any of this happen?” She asks him.

“No, I just saw her fall down the stairs and climb them,” he says.

Dr. Ginger takes me to a room. “It won’t hurt, honey.”

I nod, hesitantly, and follow her. She takes a small six-inch scanner over my arm. Dr. Ginger takes me back to the exam room where Aj is talking to dad on his disc.

“Well, it’s a broken arm all right,” Dr. Ginger announces as she closes the door behind her.

I sit on an exam table swinging my legs as Dr. Ginger talks to Aj. Aj nods as Dr. Ginger leaves.

In ten minutes, a nurse comes in with the materials to make a cast. The nurse works gently on my arm. She takes care of it as if my arm is made of glass.

“There you go sweetie. Come back in eight weeks,” she chirps in a sweet voice.

Aj and I follow her to the front desk. The nurse hands Aj a bottle of pills for pain reliever. Aj and I leave together to head home.

#

The dream ends and I bolt straight up in bed. My body is covered in sweat. I look out the window. It’s still dark out. I groan and lay back down. All my old memories come flooding back to me. I curl up under the cotton comforter and press my cheek against my pillow and fall asleep for the next four hours.

I wake up to someone shaking me awake. I sit up groggily. “What?” I mumble. I see Abi standing on Nick’s bunk.

“Come on, Abhaya. We need to be up soon,” Abi says, pulling at my arm.

“I’ll be down in a few minutes. Just let me get my shoes on,” I say. I grab my boots off of my bed frame and pull them on.

I jump off of my bunk. My impact is perfect, I land perfectly without my ankles stinging. I run out of the dorms down to the cafeteria. The cafeteria is packed when I get down there. I get in line and grab my breakfast. I grab two blueberry waffles, an apple and coffee. I go and sit down along the wall to eat. It’s Sunday today. Which thank god that we get a day off because my arms are like spaghetti today from last night.

“Hey, what are you doing sitting on the wall?” Someone asks me.

I look up to see Theo. “I just wanted to sit here today,” I say.

“Okay. You don’t mind if I join you then?” Theo asks. I shake my head no. But he sits down beside me anyways.

It’s a long five silent minutes as I eat my apple and Theo scoops oatmeal from his bowl into his mouth.

“Are we doing anything today?” I ask.

“No. We have most Sundays off from training. But since we had late night training last night, we won’t have any today,” Theo explains.

“So tomorrow we’ll have training in the morning, I assume,” I say as I pick up my coffee.

“Yep. six days of training,” Theo says with a nod. I smile into my cup before I take a sip out of it.

I walk over to the nearby trash can and dump my empty cup into it. The bell rings, signaling that breakfast is over. Abi runs up to me in the hallway and greets me with a hug. I hug her back as we walk down the hall together. I have to bend my knees slightly because Abi is a head shorter than me. As we walk down the hallway, we’re all laughing and talking loudly.

All of us pile into the dorms talking and screaming. We all line the wall.

“Let’s play truth or dare!” Someone exclaims. A series of cheers and yells respond. All of us sit on the floor and stand against the wall.

“Abi, truth or dare?” Trey asks.

“Dare,” Abi states.

“I dare you to climb up onto the bunks and jump from bunk to bunk until the last one,” Trey says.

“Done,” Abi says.

Abi climbs up onto someone’s bunk and starts leaping through the air. All of us watch her as she makes her way to the other side of the room. At the end all of us start clapping and cheering. Abi jumps off of the last bunk onto the ground. She has a great big smile on her face.

“Theo, truth or dare?” Trey asks Theo once we’re all back to sitting on the floor. ’

“Hmm. I choose dare,” Theo decides.

“I dare you to lick icing off of your nose,” Trey announces.

“I’ll do it!” Theo yells.

Trey goes down to the cafeteria to grab icing. When he returns, he has the whole can.

“They ladies in there just gave me the whole thing and didn’t question me,” Trey explains as he spoons out the creamy chocolate spread.

Trey plops the icing onto Theo’s nose. Everyone stares intensely as Theo attempts to lick the icing off of his nose. Within three minutes of attempting to lick the icing off, Theo finally gets it off. A series of cheers go through the air. Theo stands up and pumps his fists in the air in triumph.

“Okay, Abhaya. Truth or dare?” Trey asks me.

“Um... Dare,” I say.

“I dare you to fill your mouth with shaving cream and sing row, row your boat for one minute,” Trey declares.

I laugh. “I’ll do it.”

I grab a can of shaving cream from the showers and fill my mouth with it. I head back outside into the dorm. I stand in the middle of the circle attempting to sing row, row your boat. Everyone starts laughing as my voice is muffled by the shaving cream. I double over in laughter as my attempt to sing row row your boat is terrible. I go to the shower room to rinse out the awful tasting shaving cream.

I return to the dorm. Everyone is laughing and talking very loud as usual. I glance at the clock on the wall. It’s only eight thirty in the morning and we’re already completely crazy.

“Let’s continue truth or dare!” A boy on the left yells out. A series of cheers echo.

This time Nick asks the truths or dares. Right as Nick was about to start the game Alia and Max come in.

“Come on guys, we’re going on a field trip,” Max announces.

Alia stands next to Max eyeing each and every one of us.

“Come on then!” Alia shouts.