Colours In Blackness - A New Life

by Tammy Dunning

CHAPTER SEVENTEEN

   

   

  Classes are finally over for the day. I can go back to my room. Maybe Laden will show up, and I can press him for more information. Or maybe we’ll just make out. Butterflies start flapping around in my tummy. No, I have to get the information, that's most important. Stay focused. I try to make a promise to myself, that I won't make out with him unless I get some info first, but deep down, I know I’m not going to stick to that.

   

  Note to self: Stay the hell off of Laden and get information.

   

  I check my email account. None of my friends from the outside world are talking to me anymore, except for Ronny, but even he hasn't gotten back to me yet. How will they be when I finally do get to leave here? Will they accept me back with open arms, like none of this ever happened? Will I even want to go back to them? Hell no! If they're treating me like this, then they can all ‘piss off’. I have new friends, and they accept me fully and completely. I can't help but feel a little sad, though.

  Tara texts me to ask if my hot guy is here yet. I'm pretty sure she's referring to Laden. I text her back saying ‘no’. Almost a second after I send it, I hear a tap on my door.

  “Come on in.” I yell to the door.

  Laden comes strutting into my room with a sexy grin on his face. OhmyGod! He takes my breath away; butterflies. I can't believe this incredibly hot guy wants me! I put my index finger up at him, and tell him to hold on a second, then I text, 'guess who just walked in. Ttyl'.

  Laden is standing in front of me with his hands in his pockets, wearing that amazing smile, looking absolutely delicious. I run my eyes up and down his body. I quiver. Damn he’s impeccable!

  I stand up, and stroll over to him, and run my finger over his lips, down his neck, down his chest, over his bellybutton and further. I can tell he's very happy to see me, and getting happier every second. I throw my arms up around his neck, and pull his head down to me. I start kissing him frantically.

  He responds, kissing me back just as eagerly. Laden pulls me into his hot, hard body. His abs, and more, are pressing into me. We somehow make it over to the bed. I spin him around so that I will be on top of him when we fall onto the bed. I end up sitting on him. We kiss with such passion, that before I know it, my shirt is off, and I'm wearing just my bra. His hands are on my thighs, and he's pressing me into him.

  Laden sits us up, and pulls off his shirt. I actually gasp. His chest is so smooth, sexy. The curves and ripples of his muscles make my body tingle in ways that make my toes curl. His skin feels so hot when our bare belly's touch. With me still straddling him, he starts kissing my neck. His arms wrap around my back, holding me against his delicious chest. My body, as though under its own command, is rocking back into him. Oh, yes! The passion; the excitement. I wrap my arms around his head as he breathes hard on my neck while he kisses.

  In one quick, smooth motion, Laden flips me over. Now he's on top of me. My legs wrap around him tightly. OhmyGod this is hot! Laden is trying to undo my jeans, when my 'Spidey Senses' tell me that someone is watching us. Oh please, go away! Please, please, please!

  I open my eyes, and scan the room to try to find the source of my leeriness. Nobody, I can see nobody, but I still feel it. Then it dawns on me, we have an audience. Tara, Sherri, or both, are watching. Well that ruins the mood for me.

  “We have to stop. I push on Laden's shoulders trying to lift him off of me, but he's so strong. He holds on.

  Still kissing my neck, Laden manages to say, “No, no we don't. We don't have to stop.”

  “Yes, we do. We need to talk about last night.” I give up on trying to lift him.

  Laden gives an evil, sexy laugh and says, “Why don't you start describing what happened last night, in great detail, from the time I started kissing you, and I'll fill in the parts that might be foggy to you.”

  “Although that would be fun, that's not what I mean, and you know it. We need to talk about what happened after the... fun... stuff.” I just can't seem to find the right words to describe last night’s activity.

  Laden stops everything and lays still on me. With his face muffled in my pillow, he says, “Ok, but it's under protest. We can talk about the folder, but only if there's a possibility that we will continue from here later.”

  “I can promise that it's a possibility.” I put it that way, so that I'm not saying it's a definite. I want to. With Laden… I want to, but I'm a little scared. I've never done what we’ve done, let alone go any farther.

  Laden rolls off me, and rearranges himself before he stands up. “Alright, what do you want to talk to me about... exactly?” He looks so serious, so much older.

  With his chest still bare, it's really hard to keep myself from reaching out and touching his tight abs. I find myself staring at him, biting my bottom lip and dreaming of touching him again. I have to snap out of it!

  “The folder... and why Mabel and those other people are in the ‘Restricted’ area.” I pause for a few seconds while I rearrange myself, and put my shirt back on. “Please just tell me what you know. Something is really wrong here, it has to do with us kids, and I won't rest until I know what it is. So either you tell me, or I start asking around.”

  He sits down on my computer chair, and takes in a deep breath, and lets it out slowly before he says anything. “What I’ve heard is that years ago, Doc Turner was under orders to do certain experiments on babies. He was to follow their lives, and report the outcomes of the experiments. He didn't want to do it, but he had to for some reason, no one knows why. And before you ask, no, I don't know who ordered him, and I don't know exactly what was done to the babies.” Laden takes a deep breath, and exhales slowly. “As the babies grew up, since he stayed on as their doctor, it was easy for him to convince the parents to let them all live here, to get help controlling their newly discovered afflictions. This way he could study them easier, I guess. I don’t know how much of it is true, or if it’s mostly just a rumor.”

  Laden starts pacing from my computer desk to my bathroom and back. “I was told that some of the kids developed really severe brain problems and ended up in a vegetative state. I also heard that some died. Again, I don’t know if it’s true. A few have become dangerous with their gifts, and have to be contained; this I've witnessed firsthand. Mabel's pain did put her in a coma for about two months. When she came out of the coma, her abilities were so powerful that she had to be sedated; that way she wouldn't hurt anyone. So that's why she has to stay locked away, and continually drugged. If she has visitors, they would ask too many questions.” Laden sits down on the chair, and stares at me, as though he is waiting for me to say something.

  “I just need a minute to sort all of this information.” My brain is swirling with questions. Laden knows more than I thought he did. “So Doc is the reason that we're all here. I knew it! Bastard! What about Mabel's parents? Do they think she's dead?”

  Laden looks so sad. “No, they do visit from time to time. When they come, Mabel has to be heavily sedated, so that they don't find out anything. She has to be completely incapacitated, or she might use her mind to talk to them. We think she’s developed that ability, but we’re not sure. She can't be allowed to use it... not until we figure out a way to keep her sane, and in control of herself. Her parents still think she's in a coma.”

  “How out of control is she? I mean, if she were taken off the drugs, all the drugs, how would she be?”

  Laden shook his head back and forth, “I don't know. No one knows. Something happened to her when she went into the coma. She's never been taken completely off the medication. Every time they try, she causes chaos. She starts controlling her surroundings. One time she smashed a nurse’s face, when she flung a stool at her, because she was going to give her a shot. She threw the stool with her mind. She's so powerful… but dangerous, Laura. She's like a two year old behind the wheel of an eighteen wheeler. She can't control herself.”

  I feel really bad for
Mabel and her family, but I have to be more worried about my own safety, and everyone else’s right now. “Ok, so if Doc Turner knew that I knew all of this, what would he do to me?”

  Laden takes my hand in his, and covers it with his other hand. So softly, and gently, and with so much lovingness, he says, “I don't know, and I don't want to find out either. Just leave it alone, please. I... I can't lose you.” His eyes are getting glossy.

  I put my other hand over his. “I promise, I will be careful, but I can't leave this alone. I'm sorry. We need to know the truth, the whole truth. There must be more to it, things that even you don't know.” I let go of his hands, and stand up. I start pacing the same trail he paced a few minutes ago. “Like, WHO ordered Doc Turner to do this to us, and WHY? Why do they have so much power over him? Are we just some kind of experiment for some crazy government conspiracy? Are more babies being experimented on? Why are we here sharpening our abilities? Who’s going to benefit from it?”

  “I can't answer any of that. I just don't know.” Laden stands up, wraps his arms around me and kisses my forehead. “If you promise not to ask anyone any questions, or snoop around putting yourself at risk, I'll see what else I can find out.”

  I hold on to Laden tightly, and rest my head against his chest. I feel so safe with him. He loosens his hug and looks down at me. I look up. He asks, “So, how did you get Mabel's chart, and don't lie this time. By the way, you suck at lying.”

  “Yeah, I've never been able to lie very well. Someone took it, mentally. I can't tell you who, or how. Well, the how is still a huge question in my mind, anyways. There's more to some of us kids than anyone else knows, and they'd be really ticked at me if they knew that I was telling you any of this. For some reason our stomachs get a sick feeling when we try to tell anyone, anything. It's weird, but I don't have that feeling when I'm talking to you.” That's so true, and I didn't even notice until now. I'm not queasy.

  Laden kisses my forehead again, and pulls away from our hug. “I won't ask you to explain anything then, ok? I'll just do what I can to find out who is behind all of this. Just remember that you promised me you'd be good.”

  “I will do what I can to stay out of trouble.” I know he knows that I'm sort of lying; I am terrible at it after all, but I gave this my best acting. I also have my fingers crossed behind my back. Yeah, I know, it's juvenile.

  Laden winks at me. He turns and while walking out the door, says, “I'm off shift tonight, so I'll be back.”

  As soon as the door closes, I text everyone, and tell them to meet up in Todd's room. I put my phone in my pocket, and check my hair and eyes really quickly in the mirror, then head off to tell my friends what I've found out.

  I fill everyone in on what Laden told me. Reilly is the first to speak. “We have to get Mabel out of there, and off that sedating medication.” He looks up at each one of our faces. We probably look doubtful after he spoke his next words. “I know if I'm with her… she won't hurt me. I know she won't. I love her and she loves me. She'll see me through her turmoil, I can help her. We just have to figure out a way to break her out of there, and where to keep her until she's totally off those horrible drugs.”

  We all want to do just that, but how? I could ask Laden to help us get her out of there, but he's even afraid of what she'll do if her medication is stopped. Therefore, asking Laden to help on this issue… out of the question.

  Sherri breaks her silence, “I can't see any possible way that we can do that. I mean, we could use Jessy's speed to get her out, if we’re able find a way to get him in there, along with Reilly, ‘cause Reilly is strong and could carry her out. But where would we take her while she withdraws from the drugs? We will get her back, Reilly, it'll just have to wait until something changes, and gives us the opportunity. You will have her, and hold her again, one day.”

  Reilly's eyes build up with tears. He gets up and goes to the bathroom, and shuts the door. We can all hear him sobbing. Who can blame him? I wish he'd come out of the bathroom so I can hold him. It might help a little. I feel like a part of me is breaking, when I hear his crying.

  We decide to wait and see what Laden finds out. So we all go down for dinner, as though nothing is wrong.