White light. It blinded me and I closed my eyes, groaning as I turned my head to the side. I opened my eyes and my stomach plummeted. I was back in my room. My plan hadn't worked. 

I tried to sit up and I groaned. My body was wracked with pain. I also noticed something else, the collar was back on my neck. I sat up and looked into the face of Dr Reynolds. He looked disappointed in me.

"Are you happy now?" He asked. His arms were folded across his chest, his brows pulled down in a disapproving frown.

"I tried," I croaked out and groaned. "Why does it hurt so much?"

"It'll hurt because you used a tremendous amount of energy getting out of here. You should be dead but you're not."

He moved closer to me and bent to my level. "Do you know what you've done?" He looked down at me sadly.

My eyes smarted with tears. It hurt so much. "Why am I feeling like this?" I cried.

He dipped his hand in his pocket and took out a syringe which he plunged into my neck and pressed down on it. "This should help with the pain. I don't know what's wrong with you, Sally. You just made your situation quite worse."

"What was I supposed to do? I had to get out of here. I had to try,” I cried. Tears trickled down my face and I looked up at the ceiling. Whatever he'd given me was relieving me of the pain but my head was pounding, my thoughts were scattered.

"Well trying has cost you a lot more than you were willing to give now. So much more."

"What are you talking about?"

"I can't help you anymore, Sally. I'm sorry," he muttered sadly.

He moved to leave and I grabbed his hand. I held on to him for dear life. "I saw them. The kids down in the basement, I saw them,” I whispered.

His grey eyes pierced mine fiercely, he adjusted his glasses. I noticed his hand shook as he did. "You shouldn't have seen that."

"The elevator took me down there, I didn't go there on purpose."

He sighed dejectedly. "You shouldn't have tried to leave in the first place."

"I want to go back home," I said quietly.

"I know. But like I told you before, you're better off in here than out there.” He took my hand off his. "You all are," he said quietly.

What did he mean by that? I tried to ask but he left before I could say anything.

***********

I took a spoon of the chicken soup and gulped it down. I was feeling better and they'd let me come to the cafeteria to eat. Or I should say they escorted me to the cafeteria. My guards were changed and doubled. Now there were four hefty soldiers following me around. They didn't need to though. I was too weak to try anything.

My head was still aching even though not as much as when I woke up some hours ago. I felt empty inside, hollowed out and hungry. I took a bite of bread and chewed, swallowed and took another spoon of soup. It tasted better. This time the chef had managed to put in some chunks of chicken and spiced the soup so it wouldn't be so tasteless. I moved the carrot and peas in the soup around in my bowl.

I was hungry but not hungry for this. Even with the chef's effort to make this soup have some nutrients in it, it was a long way from being appetizing or delicious.

Margot sat down in front of me and I looked up at her. She bit her lip as she stared at me with a pitiful look in her hazel eyes. "You look terrible."

I guessed as much. My eyes were heavy, my face was drawn. I could imagine I looked like a zombie right now. There were no mirrors here so we couldn't see how we looked. I briefly wondered how Petra was coping with that. I glanced at her table and she had her face turned down, staring at her bowl of soup.

"You went ahead with your plan last night, didn't you?" Margot asked.

"Yes. Yes, I did."

"That was extremely stupid, Sally. I warned you. I told you not to do it, I knew it wouldn't work. I'm just glad I–"

"You're just glad you weren't stupid enough to go with my plan, right?" I finished for her. She didn't say anything, she clamped her lips shut.

"You know, it worked perfectly well. I got out of my room and no one noticed anything. It would've gone perfectly and we'd be out of here if you weren't too chicken to escape."

I was angry now. I could feel it boiling in me but I wasn't done. I rose out of my seat.

"It worked perfectly till the elevator had a malfunction and I was spiralling down to the basement and guess what I saw there. I saw us, Margot. I saw the missing kids you were talking about in pods down there and that is where we're soon going to be because you were too scared to do anything about it," I yelled at her.
“It wasn’t going to work even if I got out of this stupid collar.” She pulled at the collar harshly. “Do you know how many times I’ve tried to get out of here? A lot. And each time I tried, it didn’t work. My power only works during training sessions.”

The cafeteria was quiet now. I could feel eyes watching me but my anger was boiling over. The pounding in my head increased and I clenched my fist. This was all her fault. I was stuck down here and it was all her fault. I would never see my parents again and she was to blame for it. My eyes teared up and I clenched my fist harder, my nails were digging into my skin.

My chest rose and fell as I panted. I tried to control my anger but I couldn't. The tables in the room started to shake, my soup bowl vibrated on my table, spilling soup on the floor. Margot jumped out of her seat.

"Sally, calm down.” She reached out to me in a placating manner.

"I can't," I said through gritted teeth. "I don't know how to stop it."

My stomach churned as I looked at everyone in the room. They were moving as far away as they could get. I felt it again. The sensation I always felt when I was out of my collar, the tingling in my skin, the warmth in my chest and then I knew I'd broken out of my collar again.

Margot looked terrified as she froze in front of me. "S-Sally, your hands."

I looked down at my arms, black veins were showing through my skin. The tingling got worse, it started to burn. I screamed.

The doors slid open and guards rushed into the room with their guns raised, pointed at me. An alarm was blaring. A wave of black smoke appeared around my hands and I screamed, the feeling was getting worse.

"Help me," I cried to her.

Then she did something stupid, she touched me. I felt a jolt go through my body and I grabbed onto her tightly. She screamed, her face scrunched up in pain. I saw it then. Tiny white lines like energy waves moving out of her hand, into mine. It felt good.

She shook as she screamed but her cries were muffled in my ears. I was in a bubble of my own and when I was done, I felt stronger, my eyes darkened. Margot fell to the floor and looked up at me in fear.

Hello, dear readers. I'm sorry for being AWOL for the past two weeks. It's just with the preparations of the Eid that just went by, I was really busy. But now, I'll make sure to upload both updates that I missed today. Enjoy!