Chapter 3
1365 Words
Ricky
JJ had been inside Orion Division for several years.
By then, he had learned how things worked.
He knew which corridors led to the laboratories.
He knew which doors were always locked.
He knew which scientists were friendly and which ones preferred not to speak to him at all.
Most importantly, he had learned not to ask questions.
Questions usually led to more tests.
And more tests usually meant more hours inside a laboratory.
JJ had become quieter as the years passed.
Not because he had nothing to say.
He had plenty to say.
He simply had no way of saying it.
The scientists had tried teaching him sign language, but few of them were patient enough to learn it properly. Sometimes JJ tried writing things down, but when he was upset, writing wasn't fast enough.
He often found himself wishing he could simply speak.
Even one sentence would have been enough.
"Leave me alone."
"I don't want to do this."
"Where is my mother?"
"I want to go home."
Simple things.
Things other children could say without thinking.
JJ couldn't.
So he kept most of his thoughts inside.
---
One afternoon, JJ sat alone in one of the common rooms.
He was about twelve years old.
A small book lay open in front of him, but he wasn't reading it.
He was staring at a pencil.
The pencil slowly lifted from the table.
JJ concentrated.
It moved toward him.
Then suddenly dropped.
JJ sighed.
He picked it up and tried again.
This time, the pencil floated higher.
A smile appeared on his face.
He slowly moved it across the room.
Left.
Right.
Up.
Down.
Then he heard footsteps.
The pencil immediately dropped.
JJ looked toward the door.
A boy was standing there.
JJ had seen him before.
He was around the same age, perhaps slightly younger.
Unlike most of the people inside Orion Division, the boy wasn't wearing a scientist's coat or a security uniform.
He was wearing the same plain clothes given to the other children.
The boy looked at JJ.
Then at the pencil.
Then back at JJ.
JJ stared at him.
The boy smiled.
"You don't have to stop."
JJ frowned.
The boy walked into the room.
"I already know."
JJ pointed at himself.
The boy nodded.
"Yes. You."
JJ looked around, confused.
The boy sighed.
"You're wondering how I knew."
JJ nodded.
The boy smiled.
"I can read minds."
JJ froze.
The boy pointed toward the chair.
"You're thinking, 'That's impossible.'"
JJ's eyes widened.
The boy laughed.
"And now you're thinking, 'He's actually doing it.'"
JJ stared at him.
The boy sat down.
"See?"
JJ slowly picked up the pencil again.
He made it float.
The boy watched.
"That's pretty cool."
JJ smiled.
The boy looked at him for a moment.
Then his smile disappeared.
"You're wondering why I'm here."
JJ nodded.
The boy looked toward the hallway.
"Same reason as you."
JJ's expression changed.
"Nobody here gets to choose."
JJ lowered the pencil.
For the first time in a long time, JJ felt like someone understood him.
---
The boy's name was Ricky.
He had been brought to Orion Division several years earlier because of his ability to read minds.
Unlike JJ, Ricky's power had existed for as long as he could remember.
He couldn't remember a time when he couldn't hear people's thoughts.
It was both useful and exhausting.
Crowded places were especially difficult.
Hundreds of thoughts could enter his mind at once.
That's why Ricky preferred quiet places.
And that's how he had noticed JJ.
JJ rarely spoke.
In fact, Ricky had never heard him speak at all.
At first, he assumed JJ was simply quiet.
Then he realized something.
JJ wasn't choosing to remain silent.
He couldn't speak.
"You can't talk, can you?" Ricky asked.
JJ shook his head.
Ricky looked at him sympathetically.
"Does it hurt?"
JJ shook his head again.
"Can you make any sound?"
JJ tried.
Nothing came out.
Ricky understood.
"Okay."
JJ looked at him.
Ricky smiled.
"I'll be your voice."
JJ's eyes widened.
Ricky pointed at himself.
"If you want something, I'll say it."
JJ pointed at Ricky.
Ricky nodded.
"Exactly."
JJ smiled.
It was a small thing.
But it meant everything.
---
From that day onward, they became friends.
At first, they spent their free time together.
Ricky would talk.
JJ would listen.
Sometimes JJ communicated by pointing.
Sometimes he wrote.
Sometimes he simply looked at something and Ricky understood what he wanted.
Eventually, Ricky became so familiar with JJ that he could recognize his thoughts almost instantly.
"You're hungry."
JJ nodded.
"You want the chocolate."
JJ smiled.
Ricky laughed.
"You're terrible at hiding your thoughts."
JJ rolled his eyes.
Ricky laughed even harder.
Their friendship became something unusual inside Orion Division.
They weren't assigned to each other.
They weren't part of the same experiment.
Nobody had ordered them to become friends.
They simply did.
And that made their friendship different from everything else in their lives.
---
As the years passed, JJ's abilities continued developing.
His telekinesis became stronger.
He could move several objects at once.
He learned to stop objects in midair.
He could pull objects toward himself from across a room.
He also became stronger physically.
Much stronger.
By the time he was sixteen, JJ could lift objects that would have been impossible for an ordinary teenager.
His strangest ability remained his teleportation.
He couldn't teleport himself.
But he could teleport non-living objects.
At first, the distance was only a few meters.
Eventually, he could teleport objects across entire rooms.
The scientists were fascinated.
They constantly wanted to know more.
JJ hated the tests.
Ricky hated watching them.
Sometimes Ricky would stand outside the laboratory and listen to the scientists' thoughts.
Then he would tell JJ what they were planning before the next test began.
"They're going to test your range."
JJ would nod.
"There's a heavy metal object behind the wall."
JJ would nod again.
"Don't worry. I've got you."
JJ trusted him.
---
Ricky's own ability grew stronger too.
At first, he could only read the thoughts of people nearby.
Later, he learned to focus on individual minds.
He could walk into a crowded room and choose whose thoughts he wanted to hear.
He could also tell when someone was lying.
But there was something he couldn't do.
He couldn't turn his ability off completely.
That made Orion Division difficult for him.
He was constantly surrounded by thoughts.
Scientists thinking about experiments.
Guards thinking about their jobs.
Children thinking about escaping.
Sometimes Ricky could hear things people never intended anyone to know.
It was exhausting.
JJ was usually the only person whose thoughts made him feel calm.
JJ's mind was different.
It wasn't silent.
It was simply familiar.
Ricky knew when JJ was happy.
He knew when JJ was angry.
He knew when JJ was afraid.
And JJ knew Ricky could understand him.
They had developed their own way of communicating.
Sometimes they didn't even need words.
A glance was enough.
---
When they were seventeen, everything changed.
JJ and Ricky had been planning something for months.
An escape.
They knew it was dangerous.
They also knew they couldn't remain inside Orion Division forever.
They had watched people disappear after failed escape attempts.
They knew what would happen if they were caught.
But neither of them wanted to spend the rest of their lives inside those walls.
One night, they sat together in their room.
Ricky looked at JJ.
"Tomorrow."
JJ nodded.
"Are you sure?"
JJ nodded again.
Ricky smiled.
"Okay."
He looked toward the door.
"Then tomorrow, we leave."
JJ picked up a piece of paper.
He wrote something.
Ricky read it.
What if we fail?
Ricky looked at him.
"Then we'll try again."
JJ wrote another sentence.
What if there isn't another chance?
Ricky smiled.
"Then we make sure this one works."
JJ stared at him.
Ricky extended his hand.
"Together?"
JJ looked at his friend's hand.
Then he took it.
Together.
For the first time, they weren't simply dreaming about freedom.
They were going to fight for it.
And neither of them knew that the escape would change their lives forever.
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