A/N: I hope you are having a wonderful day! Enjoy <3 Also, this chapter came from personal experience of my own (not being a prisoner lol, but the other discomfort I can't mention until you read the chapter). And I can say, that this is VERY accurate at least from how it was for me when I had this experience.

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02 - 01 - 2089

My limbs are too weak to move. I can hardly keep my eyes open for more than a few minutes at a time. But so far I have resisted all their efforts to get me to eat. In fact, they even tried to stick a feeding tube down my throat, but I ripped it out and managed to injure one of the orderlies who was doing it.

I've been alone since then. Still in my room, on my bed. I focus on my breathing and keeping it even, instead of the nagging pain in my stomach. It doesn't help much, but at this point I'm willing to take what I can get.

This idea is coming back to haunt me. I'm starting to wonder if maybe they don't really need me after all and are just going to let me die. That certainly would be a surprise, after everything that has happened.

Perhaps that would be better, though. Better than continuing in this life, if it can be called that. My life is an empty pail. My life is the wailing wind. My life is the color grey.

I want my life to be green. To be bright and full of life. I want to live freely, experience things on my own, and choose what I do for myself.

A sigh passes my lips and I almost laugh at the absurdity of my situation, but I don't have the strength. Instead, I allow my eyelids to pull closed once more, and I fade into nothingness.

-

When I come to, I'm almost surprised. Part of me wonders if I am dead, but then I see Doctor Acosta. And a second after that, my eyes clear and I realize I'm in an unfamiliar place.

Wait, no. It's not unfamiliar. This is the same room I woke up in when I hit my head in my bathroom. The same white walls and bare room. Only this time there are more machines beeping around my head and surrounding the bed I'm on.

There are two heavy blankets laid over my lap, providing me with warmth in this sterile room. And I'm thankful for them when I see that I only have a thin cotton gown on instead of my usual clothing. A shiver rolls down my spine when a cold burst of air hits me from the vents on the ceiling.

I try to sit up, only to realize that my hands are strapped to the mattress, as are my feet. I swallow. A burning sensation flares up in my throat and nose. I wiggle my nose, hoping to relieve the pressure. But it worsens.

Panic sinks into my gut. My eyes cross and lock onto the small white tube taped to my cheek. It runs from somewhere behind my bed to my face and disappears into my left nostril.

No. No no no.

I swallow again, now realizing that the discomfort is from the tube that slides all the way down to my stomach. And I realize that I don't feel as weak now. They've been feeding me since I've been out. I can hold my head up now, which proves it.

My eyes snap up to Doctor Acosta who is busy writing something down in her A-book. They glare fury at her until she finally looks up, her expression one of slight annoyance. Fury burns brightly in my mind, a flame stoked by everything that has become my life.

"You've truly disappointed me, Gis," Doctor Acosta says, turning off the A-book and placing it in the pocket of her white coat.

I open my mouth to speak, but find that I can't. I swallow and try again, my hands beginning to shake as my brain tells me something is wrong. Still, nothing comes out. I can't make a single sound. My mouth remains open, but my voice is gone.

"Not to worry," Doctor Acosta says, turning towards one of the machines and pressing a button on it. "We just injected a temporary paralysis into your vocal cords."

My eyes widen, then narrow into slits as I glare at her. My fingers itch to be released from their restraints. I have never wanted to hurt someone as much as I do right now. If only these darn restraints weren't on.

Doctor Acosta reaches up to my cheek and readjusts the tube in a not-so-gentle way. It stings and it rubs against the soft tissue in my nose and sinus. I wince, still finding it frightening that I can't speak. She presses the tape down at the edges to make sure it is adhered, her gloves hands confident but not compassionate.

"You really are so stubborn," Doctor Acosta says, taking a step back and crossing her arms. "You're body was shutting down, and if we hadn't stepped in you would have died. Were you really ready to give up your life for answers?" Doctor Acosta appears genuinely curious to know the answer.

I nod determinedly as best I can.

"Well, I suppose it wouldn't harm anything to give you more context to go on," she muses, her face thoughtful. She sighs and shakes her head, pulling off the rubber gloves on her hands and dumping them into her pocket.

I hold my breath, wondering if she means it. If she really will tell me something I want to know. Something I need to know.

"You know you are very special," Doctor Acosta says slowly, her eyes watching me. I nod. "But it's not just because you were born here in this very lab. You are the answer to saving the world, dear."

My hope sours. Saving the world? My brows furrow in confusion.

Doctor Acosta continues. "You have very special DNA. So special in fact that it has taken over seventy years of research to create and manipulate. And because it is so special, we need to understand more about it. You can withstand amazing things, Gis. Your DNA is preprogrammed to heal itself in ways we cannot even begin to understand." She pauses, gauging my reaction.

I don't know what to think. If I could speak at all, I would still be speechless. My mouth is agape and I pull it closed, my gaze still on the doctor.

"We made you to be basically a," she pauses and taps her chin, "superhuman of sorts."

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Once Doctor Acosta is gone, I try my best to sort through all she said to me. But it is far from easy. And as time passes, my mind stays in the jumbled mess it started in.

So... I am the answer to saving the world... but how? Doctor Acosta failed to mention how I could save the world. And from what? Why does the world need me to save it? I have never been a part of it. Indeed, from what I heard on that television I don't belong to the world.

Ugh. I want to understand everything, but I know there are still many secrets being kept from my knowledge. The way Doctor Acosta spoke tells me she was choosing her words carefully, to keep anything really important from slipping out.

But I'm confused. Why would she tell me anything at all? Why not just keep me strapped down and sedated all the time instead of actually listening to my wants and complaints?

My brain hurts from all of this thinking and contemplating. I want it to be over.

Suddenly I'm struck with an overwhelming feeling of loneliness. I'm so terribly alone in this world. Doctor Acosta doesn't care about me; she is my doctor only in a professional sense. Barr is her assistant, and also only here for a job. I'm just a job to all of them. Something to understand and comprehend. Something to pick apart and use.

Cade.

That name is never far from my mind. But the emotions that accompany it are conflicted. I want to be his friend; I want him to be mine. But how can I trust him? He lied to me, like all the others. They all pretended to care about me, though not to the degree that he did.

Now that the truth is out, I don't know what to think about him. Part of me wants to forgive him and try to make up, but the other part of me is angry. Angry that he wouldn't tell me the truth about what was going on. Worried that he doesn't really care because would a true friend keep such secrets to themselves? Would they be kind and nice, while hiding the truth of their friend's very existence?

I've never had a friend before, but I think not.

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