The Energy Room (The Elementum Trilogy) (3 page)

“
Has Angie shown you floor fourteen yet?” she asked, securing a slow steady pace in her rocker.

“
Er… No. What’s on floor fourteen?” Al asked apprehensively.

“
It’s just the entertainment floor, another attempt to keep the residents from going insane,” I remarked, noticing that Eric’s hands were balled up into fists on his knees. His knuckles were turning white from the lack of circulation. What was
wrong
with him?

“
Oh Angie, people almost never go insane down here anymore, not since they started releasing anti-psychotics into the air,” Emmy said, winking at me. Al was taken aback for a moment, before he finally realized she was joking.

“
Excuse me, please,” Eric said far too politely, before bounding from the couch in long strides. Each angry footstep echoed throughout the house, until they were silenced by the slamming of a bedroom door. Emmy, Al, and I looked at each other uneasily, before I finally took a deep breath and followed Eric’s path up the stairs to his room. Though I could never have romantic feelings for him, Eric would always been my best friend, and the thought that I had put him in an upsetting situation sent me on a guilt trip.

“
Eric… can I come in?” I called, knocking a few times on the door.

“
Yeah,” he finally replied, after a long moment of worrying silence.

I found him sitting on the edge of his bed, head in his hands.

“What’s wrong?” I asked, sitting cross-legged on the floor in front of him, so I could see part of his face.

“
What are they doing, Angie?” Eric asked in a tone that told me he wasn’t talking about the folks downstairs in the sitting room.

“
I haven’t quite figured it out yet,” I sighed, distracting myself with a paper clip I had found on the floor.

In a place where everyone got paid to poke or prod me, restrain or provoke me, observe me or cater to me, Eric was the one person I had always felt I could trust. Sure, I was close to his parents, but their jobs still revolved around researching me. Eric was undeniably in love with me, and would never do anything to hurt me. Therefore, I always told him everything. He was the one person in the entire building who truly knew everything about me; all the things the doctors, scientists, and therapists had been trying to get out of me for years. And now he was worried about me, about some new plan they had devised.

“You know what they are hoping for,” Eric said, looking at me with tear-stained eyes. Hurt.

“
What?” I asked, trying to sound sincere.

“
Don’t do that. You know what. Why they would they bring in someone like
that.
” For some reason, this kindled a fire somewhere inside my guts.

“
Someone like
what,
exactly?” I questioned, squinting a bit as if it would clear up the meaning for me.

The look Eric gave me was beyond heartbreaking. It was almost as if my utter naivety had shattered his life-long infatuation with me, like any hope he’d ever had was irrevocably snatched away from him. Pain, Realization… Betrayal? What seemed like a combination of all three emanated from his watery, mossy-green eyes. I considered the consequences of trying to get into his head, but his next words eliminated any need to risk electrocution.

“
Someone to fall in love with.”

I wasn’t at all sure what to say to Eric. Part of me wanted to slap him in the face, another part of me wanted to hug him. Some small part of me desperately wanted to start singing show tunes, but I was usually able to suppress those feelings. I ended up making what was probably one of the worst decisions I had ever made by that point in my life.

“Well… If that’s their plan, they’re going to be pretty disappointed,” I said, sitting on the bed next to him.

“
Why is that?” Eric mumbled.

It was odd to see someone who was nearly an adult act this way, but for some people, growing up in The Facility made you age slower. Others aged three times as fast.

“Because I already love someone so much, there just isn’t any more room in my heart to love someone else,” I said. I had never lied to Eric before. I guess it wasn’t technically a lie… it just wasn’t Eric who I was talking about.

Eric raised his head, eyebrows lowered a little. He was obviously analyzing what I had said. His tears were replaced by something much more disturbing; Hope. I smiled at him, wiped the few remaining tears from his cheeks, and took his hand. I hid my panic the best I could as he started to lean in for a kiss.

KNOCK! KNOCK! KNOCK!

‘
Oh, thank god.’
I thought to myself.

“
Eric, are you okay?” Emmy called from outside the door.

Eric catapulted off the bed, startled.

“Fine, mom!” he yelled in frustration.

I stood up calmly, putting my hands on his shoulders.

“Let’s go back downstairs, okay?” I smiled, trying my best to sound comforting.

Eric returned the smile, and nodded. I opened the door to a slightly worried-looking Emmy, giving her a reassuring glance. She stared around me to Eric, whose eyes were still puffy, and shook her head exasperatedly before walking away. I held my hand out to the boy I had just sort of lied to, and he took it happily. We walked back downstairs into the sitting room, still holding hands, and sat next to each other on the sofa. Emmy cocked her head as she observed us, obviously confused. Al didn’t seem to notice, and just smiled politely.

“Where were we?” I asked, picking up my coffee with my free hand.

“
Something about airborne anti-psychotics, I believe,” Al stated with a smirk.

Even after our discussion, Eric looked at Al with a bit of disdain. I discreetly nudged him in the side with my elbow, at which point he sat up a bit straighter and shifted his glance.

“Right.” I forced a snicker.

We all sat in awkward silence for what was probably only a brief moment, but felt like hours. Each of us intermittently sipped on our coffees, twiddled our thumbs and wiggled our feet.

“Should you be getting back to the lab, dear?” Emmy asked me, breaking up the excruciating quiet.

“
Oh yeah, probably.” I nodded, releasing Eric’s crushing grip on my hand as I stood up. “Al?”

“
It was very nice to meet you both, I hope to see more of you,” Al said politely, shaking Emmy’s hand, and then Eric’s.

Eric hesitated, but apparently decided not to be a jerk for just a moment.

Emmy’s eyes looked to Al with sympathy for a fraction of a second.

“
Yes, well… If you decide to take the job, you should come over with Angie for dinner tonight,” she said kindly.

“
That sounds great, thank you,” Al said as we made our way to the front door.

“
Angie…” Eric called after me. I stopped. “Er… I’ll see you later.”

I gave Eric a warm smile as his eyes pierced mine, before I walked out the door.

Al and I walked in silence toward the elevator at the other end of the street. Past kids playing, and dogs pooping. Past women gardening, and men riding lawnmowers. Past what truly seemed like normal, ideal lives.

“
So… your file didn’t mention that you have a boyfriend.” Al sneered as I pushed the up button for the elevator.

“
Yeah… well… it probably didn’t mention that I have a birthmark shaped like Ohio on my left butt cheek, either,” I remarked, walking through the open lift doors.

“
No… it did,” Al said blankly as the doors closed behind us.

Our short elevator ride back to the lab was silent and uncomfortable, but the tension eased as soon as the doors opened to Eddie’s grinning face. I jumped slightly, almost running directly into him. It wasn’t typical for people to stand millimeters from the elevator doors when it was arriving.

“What is that look for?” I questioned cautiously.

“
I just had an interesting conversation with Emmy,” he replied, rocking on his heels. I rolled my eyes, shoving past him.

“
I don’t want to talk about it,” I said plainly. Eddie turned to follow me, while Al trailed behind. I was in no mood to discuss my new ‘relationship’, with the father of my new ‘boyfriend’.

“
Awwww, but why not?” Eddie mocked, swiping his ID card at the glass door to allow us back into the room with the giant water tank.

“
What are we doing today?” I asked, completely ignoring Eddie’s question.

“
Angie—” Eddie began, but quickly rethought his sentence when he saw the look of utter irritation on my face, “we’re doing ice.”

I stopped dead in my tracks on my path to the walkway overtop the tank.

“Ice? Is that a good idea… er… today?” I questioned, looking nervously from Eddie to Al.

“
As good a day as any, wouldn’t you say?” Eddie’s eyes twinkled with a type of adolescent rascality.

At that point, I was unsure what Eddie’s intentions were. As he glanced at Al, I thought perhaps he was just going for the largest shock value we had to offer.

“Excuse me, what exactly do you mean ‘doing ice’?” Al queried, eyebrows lowered as his eyes shifted from me to Eddie.

“
Oh, Angie here is going to make ice for us.” Eddie beamed innocently.

“
Can I ask what the purpose of that is?” Al asked, entirely confused.

“
So we can all have slushies later,” I joked dryly. It was an anxiety reflex.

Eddie snorted for a moment in laughter, then straightened himself out as he realized Al didn’t find any humor in my words. The ginger-haired doctor cleared his throat awkwardly, as Al eyed him with curiosity.

“Best to let you see for yourself, I think,” Eddie stated.

Al was still clearly confused, but stood back as Eddie walked around to different computer stations, giving orders to various new workers whose names I would probably never take the time to learn.

A plump, quiet woman placed sensors on my head and chest before I made my way up the walkway to stand directly over the center of the water tank. They had turned the heating element on for the metal, making it quite toasty against my pale feet. I kept my eyes trained on Eddie as he followed his invisible path around the room, observing, directing, and correcting the employees. Finally, he stopped and turned to face me, eyes beaming.

“
Emergency systems on standby,” Eddie called to nobody in particular.

“
Ready,” a faceless employee called back to him from somewhere across the room.

“
Medics on standby,” Eddie called again, aimlessly.

I glanced over at two men who had large first aid kits at their feet, and a dusty defibrillator behind them. It had only ever been used once, in an unfortunate scenario involving an elderly doctor with a heart condition, and an unexpected, stray fireball.

“Ready,” one of the medics replied lazily.

“
Security?” Eddie asked.

I directed my view to a team of men in black suits who were, no doubt, carrying guns. They had a very secret-service-esque look about them, and were deemed necessary at all lab runs, since that one time when I tried to break out. That had been a particularly frustrating day. The cafeteria had been out of pancakes that morning.

“We are ready, sir,” one of the burly men said in a stern and monotonous voice.

“
Electro-Cuffs on standby,” Eddie demanded politely.

I looked down at the cold shackles on my wrists. The small, green lights suddenly turned red, confirming that I wouldn’t be shocked into next year anytime soon. I had always found it somewhat amusing that the lights on the Electro-Cuffs had different meanings for me than for everyone else in The Facility. Green, the color of freedom, progress, Go!... To them, it meant that they were safe; I couldn’t cause any trouble. To me, it meant that I was a restricted animal. Red, on the other hand, meant danger to them. The animal was on the loose, and there was no sure way of knowing what it might do. For me, red meant nothing more than freedom... progress... GO!

“Whenever you are ready, Angie,” Eddie said calmly, eyes full of a fatherly-looking hope.

I did my best to issue him a reassuring smile, before my eyes fell momentarily on Al. I had almost forgotten he was there. I had almost forgotten we were probably about to knock his socks off—metaphorically or literally, there was no real way of knowing. His face showed no sign of emotion, not even slight curiosity. He looked more rigid than the security guards who were more than prepared to shoot me in the head, if need be. I looked down to the water below my feet, placed my hands on the railings next to my sides, and closed my eyes.

The first image that crossed my mind was the middle of a midnight ocean, littered with icebergs, which were totally ready to give you a bad time. I shivered as a chill started from the nape of my neck and ran all the way to the soles of my feet. I opened my eyes just long enough to see a fog of breath leave my mouth. I closed my eyes again to picture an infinite glacier, creeping across the Earth at speeds even a snail would scoff at. I could feel my fingers and toes turning blue, even against the warm metal of the walkway. I opened my eyes once more, only to be met by the arctic stare of Al from across the room. I had expected to feel uncomfortable, but I felt completely at home and assured of what I was doing. Suddenly, a wave of energy expanded outward in all directions from my body, the water below me quaking rapidly. My body was so cold, I felt that if I were to fall, I could shatter into tiny pieces. Icy spider webs began to crawl from my hands down the metal railing, until icicles were dangling beneath my feet, just an inch or so above the water.

A sharp pain pierced through my head. I cried out in agony, prying my frosty hand from the railing to paw at my face. Though there was no wound, I was convinced that I had been shot right between the eyes; a bullet released by an anxious security guard, perhaps.

“Vital report?” I heard Eddie call nervously.

“
Blood pressure is rising fast, sir. Brainwave patterns are off the charts. I don’t know what she’s doing, but it isn’t anything she has ever done before,” a faceless voice responded from somewhere behind me.

“
Angie… Angela, can you hear me?” Eddie questioned from the end of the walkway.

I forced my eyelids open, only to find my vision severely blurred by ice crystals, which had formed on my eyelashes. My hand still covered the invisible bullet-hole in my forehead.

“Calm yourself and focus, Angela,” Eddie said in the most soothing voice he could manage, though his words were shaky with paternal worry.

I was having extreme difficulty focusing on anything other than the horrible pain pulsing between my eyes.

“I can’t,” I choked through a throat full of sharp, frozen vocal chords.

“
Yes you can. You know you can. I know you can,” Eddie reassured me. I felt the walkway shudder slightly as he apparently stepped toward me.

I forced my eyes open again. Through the blurred vision and stabs of pain, I managed to identify the outline of Eddie at the end of the walkway, struggling with his feet. I blinked rapidly, my tears freezing over as fast as they came out. My gaze landed on the icy, blue eyes across the room, connecting to them instantly. There was no shock in them, no amazement, no confusion. The only thing that found its home in those eyes was pride, an unwavering sense of definiteness, and an unbreakable bond that could only be found in someone like—

The pain that had been building behind my eyes erupted into streams of blue light toward the ceiling. The water in the tank below me began to jet skyward into frozen, shimmering towers. Even through my blurred and painful confusion, I was in awe of the glittering magnificence I was creating around myself; a vertical landscape of icy awesomeness. Slowly, the amazing view began to dim, until my vision faded entirely; the sounds of crackling ice falling to a deathly silence. I felt the back of my head hit the metal walkway, just before I passed out completely.