Experiment #13

The Interview

Lina's eyes begin to blink as she awakens. The ceiling above her was bright and she turned her head away. As her other senses began to awaken, so do her memories. She tries to move her arm, but it feels... stuck. She noticed there was something tight wrapped around her chest, stomach and legs. As her vision came to, she found herself lying on a table alone in a blank, white room. She lifted her head and looked down to see that she was strapped down.

Lina began to panic, squriming around, hoping to free herself somehow.

"Hello? Hey! Hey..! Is anyone there?" Lina tried calling out.

"Hello! Hey! Please, let me out of here!"

Lina couldn't move her body, she couldn't slide out of the restraints, she couldn't seem to get out. She breathed heavily as she tried looking around the room again.

There was no way this was actually happening. This couldn't be real. She had to be dreaming. Yeah, maybe she just fell asleep in the car and she's having a nightmare. This... this can't be real.

Suddenly, Lina heard a door opening in front of her and she lifted her head. A man in a white coat stepped into the room and Lina stopped struggling.

"Who are you? What is this? Wh... Where-"

"Shhh... it's alright, everything is alright. You're okay. You've just been asleep for a while." the man said calmly to her.

"I'm going to let you up, but you need to calm down. Can you do that?"

Lina breathed heavily for a moment, before nodding and holding still.

"There you go, that's it. Now, hold still for a moment..."

Lina felt the man undoing the restraints and the tension lifted. She was able to breathe deeper and she slid upwards to sit upright.

"See, that wasn't so bad. Are you ready? You're going to follow me now. Let's go."

The man approached the door and Lina quickly hopped off the table. The man opened the door for her and they stepped into a bright hallway. The flourescent lights above her were silent, and the long, quiet hallway gave her an uneasy feeling. Lina followed the man down the hall fearfully. She was too nervous to speak.

At the end of the hallway was a pair of elevator doors and the man pressed a button on the side of the wall, calling it. They waited for a moment or two before the doors opened and they stepped inside. He held up a keycard on a panel inside and a light blinked green. He pressed one of the buttons as the doors closed and Lina felt the elevator move upwards. It wasn't long until it stopped and the doors opened. Lina followed the man down a... very similar hallway until they stopped at a door and they both stopped before it. The man knocked before opening the door and letting Lina walk inside first. But the man didn't go in with her, instead shutting the door behind her.

Lina turned around to see a woman sitting behind a desk and a lone metal chair sitting in front of her. The rest of the room was empty and blank. Lina was too afriad to move or speak and merely watched the woman behind the desk type away at her computer, until she finally sighed and looked up.

"Hi there! Sorry, I am just swamped with work today. You can go ahead and have a seat there, I'll be just a moment."

"Uhm..... okay..."

Lina quietly stepped forward and sat down in the cold chair. She looked around at the room, but there was nothing else to look at. The woman before her had her black hair tied back in a messy bun and she adjusted the thin rimmed glasses on her face. Lina gripped the edges of the chair, unsure of what she should be doing. The woman sighed loudy this time and leaned back in her chair.

"Okay, now I'm done." she said to herself befor opening a cabinet drawer and pulling out a thin stack of paper and a clipboard. She organized the files before attatching them to her clipboard and pulling out a pen.

"Alright, my name is Cass and I'll be working with you!" she said with a cheerful smile. "You're the new arrival aren't you?"

"Uhh..... what..?"

"Oh, every once in a while you'll be sent here and I'm just going to collect some info on you. I can understand if you're confused, but you've got nothing to worry about. First things first, I'm just going to ask you a few questions and you just answer honestly, okay? So, what's your name?"

"Um... it- it's Lina. Lina... Mayhew."

"Mayhew? M-A-Y-H-E-W?"

"Y-yeah. That's it."

"Great. Lina..... that's a pretty name."

Lina watched as Cass wrote down her answer on the clipboard before looking back up at her again.

"Alright, I heard you were going somewhere, can I ask where too?"

"Uh..... we... my dad and I were... we were going to San Francisco because-"

"Oh, San Francisco! I haven't been up there in a while! Okay... hold on just one second. I'm just taking a look at you..."

Cass leaned forward to get a better look at Lina and she stiffened. She wasn't sure why she was asking these questions or what for. Cass wrote down her hair and eye color, adding a few other notes to the side.

"Okay... who do you currently live with?"

"Um..... my parents? My... my dad was driving, but my mom was going to-"

"Any siblings?"

"What? ...Oh, y-yeah. Just my older brother."

Cass wrote everything down and Lina couldn't help thinking these were... weirdly personal question to be asking. She hadn't given her any explanation as to what was going on.

"Alright, last one, how old are you?"

"I... um, I'm twelve........ But I'll be thirteen in a few days."

Cass suddenly looked up from her clipboard.

"Thirteen? Oh, that's great! We haven't had any thirteens around in a while!"

"What...?"

"Since you'll be with us for a while, I'll just mark you down as thirteen anyway."

"What... but why-"

"Okay, I think that's all I need from you today. I'm sure we'll see each other soon, but you should go ahead and give yourself some time to get settled!"

"W-wait-"

The door suddenly opened behind Lina and the man from before stepped in.

"Cass, are you finished here?"

"Yep, I think I got everything I needed. You can go ahead and take her."

"Perfect," the man looked down at Lina, "You can come with me now. C'mon, let's go."

Lina opened her mouth to speak, but quickly shut it, unsure of what to say. She eventually obliged and stood up from her chair.

"Oh, Lina wait! One last thing!"

"Huh?" Lina turned around.

"I hope you have a happy birthday!"

Lina didn't reply and instead turned around and followed the man through the door and back out into the empty hallway.