The hopefuls

Chapter one: The beginning of the end

“Rise and shine !... " the usual deep, rusty voice wakes me up, making his presence known as he scraps the chains of some cuffs against the metal bars of the locked door. As always I hear the groans of others waking up to the dawn of light and their feet shuffling along the stone floor.

My eyes slowly opened seeing a single strand of light peering through the gap of the door. There was a small rusty window with metal bars in the door of my room and through that all I could see was another room opposite mine. In that room there used to be a young girl about the age of ten or twelve. Who wore a beautiful bronze chain with a feather around her neck, she told me her name was Jessica but the guards called her 'patient nineteen' She also said that her parents sent her here because she was strange and could do things no other person she knew could do. She said she could make things float, at first I didn't understand what she meant but then she showed me. She ripped open her pillow grabbing a small feather and with her small mind she could control the element of air making the feather float. To be honest I agreed with her parents she was weird. 

The weirdness aside she was a lovely girl with bright blue eyes and blonde hair, we would talk to each other every chance we could get. She was my friend but all nice things come to an end and eventually one morning four men dressed in black, the guards took her away, she thought against them but like always they won.

She never came back. Overtime the guards refilled the room with others over and over again, taking each person after another. For some unknown reason they would never come to me and that made me wonder. I've only been out that door a couple of times, they would sit me on a chair attach wires all over my body, then I would pass out and wake up in my room. Forgetting everything that happened, I don't even know my name but the guards call me 'patient eighteen'. 

I've been here for a while I don't know exactly how long but for a good couple years. I don't really know why we're here but through what I've learnt it's because we're different. Each person I've met through my small window have these 'abilities' which allow them to do things no other person can do, but I don't know why I'm here because I don't have these weird abilities like everyone else and from what I know I'm the patient that's been in here the longest. 

As I get lost in my thoughts I suddenly hear loud noises of scrapping keys coming from the other side of my door, I stand in the middle of the room with a strong and tall posture. The door slammed open showing a young women with blonde hair, she wore an apron and to the side of her was a silver metal trolley filled with plates of food, this was bad. This was the routine the guards do before they take a patient away. This was my last meal. 

The women walked towards me, with a guard following behind her carrying the usual laser gun in which if you was shot by it, it would paralyse your whole body for a good couple minutes. I look at the women who stands there with a pale smile on her face. She hands me a plate of food, placing a glass of orange liquid on my bedside table. I look at the guard who as always wore a metallic face mask, it reflected back at me showing me my bright green eyes peering back at me with my long dark ginger hair falling messily in front of my face. 

The women walks out of the room followed by the guard closing the door behind them. I sprint towards the door, banging at it. 

"Let me out! Open the door! " I yell and the top of my lungs, scared I'm going to be taken next. I slide my back down the wall looking up at the cracked ceiling, I gaze up at it tilting my head to the side. It reminds me to do something, I stand back up wiping the loose tears of my cheeks walking up to the small table and pulling it out of the corner of the room, leaving it in the middle. I grab a wooden chair and pull it next to the table. Standing on the chair jumping on to the table, I look up at the ceiling reaching into my top pocket in my now grey dress and i grabbed a stone. Stretching to reach the green stoned ceiling I scratch a small line beside all the others. 

I stand back on the chair placing my bare feet onto the cold floor, putting the table and chair back into the corner. I walk back to the centre of the room and dust the floor before laying down facing the ceiling. I look up seeing the fresh line on the roof of my room, the previous lines cover the whole stone. I start counting the amount of lines I have carved in the roof. 

"300, 600, 900" I mumble to myself

I look across at my previous counting and I add up the lines to get my total.

"4,099 days" I say out loud huffing at my self.

"So that's.." I think 

"11 years and three months ish" I look down wondering why I'm here, I honestly can't remember any thing about outside this room.

Still laying down I look over at the plate of food, slowly walking up to the alien like object. Picking the plate up and placing it on the metal table. I plonk down on the chair, staring at the foreign food. The black plate is cut into sections like mini walls separating me from the outside. One side consists of pale green slices of lettuce with a washed out red sliced tomato, on the other side there was a meaty substance in between two breads. I use my hands and place the sandwich like object in my mouth and chew, revealing a soft mush.

After I finish eating I grab a book of the small bookshelf containing just 5 books of which I've read all hundreds of times. I pick my favourite, Alice in wonderland. I sit on my bed getting lost in the old novel.

Hours past, shown on the small clock hung above my bed. I sit there fiddling with a strand of string, all I can do is wait. I suddenly hear loud noises of heavy boots stomping on the floor I quickly grab my small rock, running to the loose cobble wall chipping out a larger rock. I hold it behind my back, seeing the metallic heads of the guards reflecting of the bars in the window. The door slams open showing three guards, one facing me pointing the gun whilst the other two guards have their backs to me guarding the door. 

The guard facing me slowly moves towards me grabbing a needle that contained a red liquid from his belt, he moves fast reaching the needle to my neck. Before he could pierce the skin I smash the rock to the side of his head and run out the door. I move as fast as I can with the two other guards chasing me. As I'm running i look around trying to find an exit but all I see is rooms identical to mine, the corridor went on forever. As I look I start to hear shouting of people they where other patients who peering their heads through the bars of the windows. I don't have time to have a proper look at the other patients until I see a door unlike the others. I quickly turn slipping on the floor but immediately compose myself and run towards the door before slamming it shut and locking it. 

I place my head on the door panting from exhaustion, realising I've never ran before. I quickly realise I don't know where I am, turning around I suddenly see small tanks of water with something inside them. I walk over to the blue lit tanks looking around seeing there all stacked on top of each other. I gasp realising there is heads floating within the water. I step back hitting something hard, I spin around fast gasping at the sight of a headless body. I walk closer to the glass of the tall tank, the body was covered in markings kind of like scars but these were in patterns. I notice a tag tied to his arm saying the words 'patient 137'. I walk further into the dark room hearing a flapping noise that sounds like a bird. I follow the sound that led me to a cage. There was a large bird in it, i look at it for a few moment until I step back in shock realising there was no body attached to the wings. 

As i walk past the cage something catches my eye glistening in the corner of the room was a wall of objects and photos. The wall contained a photo of what I believed was a before and after picture of each patient. One picture consists of a beautiful women who was smiling, she looked happy, then in the following image she was barely recognisable her white skin had turned a pale tone of grey her hair once brown was now black. In every second photo of every patient they were all lifeless.. dead. The wall looked like it went on for miles and it took me a few minutes to release that each patient was in order of number. I walk further down the wall looking for my number. Out of thousands I was 'eighteen' one of the first numbers, I find my number looking below at the single image. There was one photo with no second photo, that must be because I'm not dead ... obviously. I stand in front of the image releasing there was only a few patients left without a second image, there was maybe around 8 of us. 

I walk closer to my photo squinting my eyes to get a better look at it. It was a photo of me as a child with other children all crowded together smiling at the camera. I've never seen this photo before, I don't even remember it or who these people were. I look closer at the photo seeing a boy laughing with me he had his arm around my shoulder. With out a second thought I grab the picture shoving it into my small pocket.

As I walk further into the room I start to notice that each body was unusual, one had red skin another was frozen and another was like glass. Even the heads were odd some had huge scars and some had weird coloured eyes. As I'm walking i see a tank floating with blonde hair I face the tank looking at the face that faces me. 

"Jessica" I mumble, a tear forms out of my eye.

Is this what's going to happen to me ? I walk back other to the wall find Jessica's picture 'patient nineteen'. Was I meant to be taken before her ? Under her picture there was her necklace that she wore, a bronze feather. I pick it up and wrap it around my wrist turning it into a bracelet. I suddenly hear feet running towards me, I spin around feeling the presence of someone behind me. I saw a barrel of a gun facing me. 

"no, please don't" I shout at him.

He ignores my pleas and shoots me anyway. The place where the laser hits me burns, the pain is agony and my body falls numb all I can do is lie on the floor as my body begins to paralyse. The same guard comes up to me this time with out a mask. He had a very dark look about him, with strong features and a chiseled jaw line. I realised I've seen him before, his head was bleeding with blood from were I had hit him with the rock along with his eyebrow. 

"Thats going to leave a bruise" I say with a small smirk, just barely getting any words out.

He stands over me bending down and injecting me with the red fluid. 

"Stings like a b***h, doesn't it" he looks at me laughing. 

My eye sight starts to become blurry and all I can see is his evil smile before I pass out.

—- 

A/N 

Hi guys hope you enjoyed the first chapter!!! 

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