The Experiment

                          The Experiment
                           by Ink

                 My head hurt. My legs- they wouldn't move. I didn't know where I was.
                 My head...
                 I fumbled around the room. There was no light whatsoever.
                 My head...
                 The room was small from what I could tell. I felt around the walls until my hand grazed over a switch. I flipped it. The only furniture pieces in the room were a small bed, a small table, and a small chair. Not to mention the tiny window above the table.
                 Then there was the door. Something in my stomach twitched when I looked at that door.
                 There was a lock on it. And when I turned the knob, I noticed something odd- it locked from the OUTside.
                 Someone was trying to keep me in here. Someone...
                 I turned around to face the window. I looked down at the table. There were beakers of bad-smelling liquids; and then there was one that was filled with some sort of green liquid that appeared to give off its own light.
                 That thing in my stomach twitched again.
                 I picked up the glowing beaker. It smelled like apples and felt so warm. I inhaled its scent again.
                 "Go on. Drink it."
                 I spun around to see a young man about my age in a faded white lab coat and sandy blonde hair. He was wearing tiny blue glasses and he held a clipboard. I backed up. He giggled.
                 "Are you afraid?" He said in a warm voice. Still clutching the beaker, I froze. He still approached me, smiling.
                  "You don't need to be," he said. He gently pulled the beaker from my hand and set it down. We stared at each other for a second.
                   "What's going on?" My voice shook. He laughed nervously and said, "You don't remember a thing, do you, Annie?"
                   "How do you know my name?" I said with a little more confidence.
                  "Listen to me, everything's going to be alright." He picked up the green beaker again. He placed it in my hands, forming my fingers around it. "Drink this." I stared at him, confused.
                  "Can I at least know what's going on before I drink some unknown substance?" I asked with a hint of sarcasm. Laughing quietly, he said, "A sense of humor. That's good. Go on, ask me anything," he smiled.
                  I exhaled. "O.K.," I began, "Where am I and why am I here?"
                  The scientist sat down in the chair. His personality went from light and fun to melancholy and serious. "Annie, you're being used in a series of tests. I think the last one we performed on you wiped out your memory." He looked at me curiously. "But you wouldn't remember me, anyway. This is the first time I've talked to you."
                 "What kind of tests?" I hesitated to ask.
                 "Well," he began, "Telepathy. If our minds can connect to each other's. If our minds can connect to computers. Analyzing the powers of human brain waves."
                 "Listen, Doctor-"
                 "Miles."
                 "Doctor Miles-"
                 "No, just Miles."
                 "...Alright, Miles, why me? Why was I chosen for this test? Is it punishment for something bad I did?"
                  "Of course not, Annie. It was all chosen at random. And tonight, you will have the test that decides where we go from here. I will be sleeping in the room next store to yours. We will fall asleep around the same time. Then we will see if our minds connect." I was in shock and horror. "That liquid," he gestured to the liquid, "Will not only make you fall asleep right away, but it will also allow you to be concious in your dreams. You can wake up whenever you want to, and you will know that you are only dreaming."
                  I backed away from him. "This can't be happening," I muttered.
                  He checked his watch. "The test begins now." He motioned for me to drink the green liquid, and I complied.

                     *         *          *
         
           It was a blank room. All white. No walls. It was scary at first. Then, I heard something- something faint and off in the distance-
           It was a piano.
           I followed the noise until it got louder.
           And there was Miles, playing the piano. His lab coat was still on, his hair just touched his blue eyes(which perfectly matched his blue glasses) and he was a wonderful piano player.
            I walked up to him. "So, it worked?" I whispered.
            Without looking up, he smiled and said, "Yes."
            I smiled back. "So, now what?"
            "Well," he replied, "You could listen to me...Y'know, before we wake up..." His face slightly turned red.
            "Alright," I whispered happily.
            And he played and played, until-
            "WAKE UP!" A voice shouted.
             I was on my bed again, hair messed up and flying all over the place like a brown hurricane. I quickly sat up.
             There was another scientist in front of me. Miles was timidly standing behind him. Scared, my breathing sped up.
              "Do we really need to do this?" Miles asked nervously to the other scientist.
              "Yes," he said gruffly, "It was our plan from the very beginning. Now that we know that this human can communicate with her mind, we must examine it and see if all of our minds can do the same thing."
               Miles swallowed hard. He was shaking.
               The other scientist started pulling me into another room. "MILES!" I shouted.
               And then I was out.

             *        *        *

             I woke up in a room that had a table with shackles on top of it. I cringed. On the other side of the room was a chair. I was locked in the room again, with no hope of escaping.
             The other scientist walked in the room. He was carrying some blue liquid in a bottle. He forced me to drink it. "Remember!" He shouted. First, I resisted. Then I became weak. So weak. So very...
            Then I remembered everything. I remembered all the tests they did on my mind, I remembered the pain of thousands of volts going through my mind, I remembered all the surgeries, I remembered being in and out of the operating room, I remembered when a test failed and I lost my memory...
            "Why did you do that?" I asked him angerly. "I wanted to forget all of that!"
             "If you don't remember what happened previously, then we might not find what we're looking for when we perform the dissection."
             I froze in horror. "Dissection of what?" I asked slowly.
            "Your mind," he said. He wrote something on his clipboard and walked out of the room, locking the door. I fell do the ground, crying. I forced myself to fall asleep. Sleep...sleep...

               *          *          *

            I was with Miles and the piano again. "Miles, they're going to kill me!" I cried. He never looked up from the piano when he spoke.
            "Annie," he said calmly, "I'll find a way out of there."
            "No, Miles," I said, "Won't they punish you if you help me?"
            He got off the piano bench and walked in front of me. He took my hands. I stared at him, slightly confused. "Annie," he whispered, "As long as I am here, I won't let anyone hurt you. Anymore." He kissed me. I turned red. We smiled at each other. THen I hugged him tightly. He laughed his nervous laugh again.

                       *        *        *
        I woke up, still in the same room. I heard the door unlock. This is it, I thought.
               But it was Miles. I breathed a sigh of relief, and I went to hug him.
              I cried as we held each other. "Annie, I'm getting you out of here."
             He took my hand and led me down a hallway. "Run," he said. But my legs wouldn't move. "I can't leave you Miles," I quavered. "When they find out you let me go, they'll-"
             "That's not important now," he gripped my shoulders. "What's important is that you are safe." He kissed me. "Now go."
              I ran.

                   *           *           *
             
           But that was five years ago. Five years.
            I've seen Miles in my dream; the same one with the piano. And we talk. I even managed to get a phone number from him; and so we still call each other and talk about where we are.
            "I quit working at the lab," he told me. "I'm actually thinking of moving to Chicago to be closer to you."
             My face lit up. "R-really?" I couldn't believe it!    
             He laughed his adorable laugh again, and said, "We'll see. Has anyone come looking for you?"
             "No, I'm actually surprised about that."
             "Well, it's probably because I told them that you were dangerous."
             "What?"
             "In order to get those scientists off your back, the day you ran away, I told them that you could control things with you mind. And, well, they bought it." We both laughed together.
              "I miss you, Miles," I whispered.
              "I miss you too, Annie."
              "I'm kind of tired. Are you?"
              "A little."
              I hung up the phone and fell asleep, smiling.