Chapter Text
A girl sat on a chair in the middle of a bland white room, which was lit by white fluorescent lights that would give any regular person a headache, especially since the light was reflected in the wall and floor tiles. The only other things in the room were a black table that the girl was sitting behind, and a security camera in the corner, tilted down to show the girl. Two men stood on the other side of the table, looking at the girl.
The girl herself looked normal enough, with short brown hair that curled in all directions, framing her pale face and bringing out the freckles dotted along her nose and cheeks. But there was something behind those deep turquoise eyes that no other teenager her age should have.
She slid down in her black hoodie, as though she wanted to disappear, but she held the men's gaze as she lifted one of her gangly legs, hugging it to her chest, and revealing her Levi jeans that frayed at the bottom, and her red Chuck Taylors.
"Listen, Ada, we just want to know what happened to you." The man on the left said.
"And remember, this is the FBI you're talking to, so you can't lie." The right man added.
Ada looked up at the security camera, and then back to the men.
"Do you know that Netflix show, Stranger Things?" She finally started. "It was inspired by a real project headed by the CIA. It was called MKUltra? Except instead of making mind-control drugs, in Stranger Things, the CIA was training kids with powers. Real weird stuff. I guess that if their parents were test subjects in MKUltra, and the kids were born during or after the parents were tested, they were born with telekinetic powers."
The man on the right rolled his eyes and sighed loudly. "Yes, I know all of this. What we need to know is how it involves you."
"Geez, I'm getting there!" Ada exclaimed. "Now, if you'll let me finish..."
One and a half years ago
Ada trekked through the woods behind her house with her two best friends, Rob and Harper. When they hit a line of tall bushes, Ada turned and put a finger to her mouth, in the universal 'shhhh' sign. Then she turned back to the bushes, pulling out a small pair of hedge clippers. Once there was a big enough hole in the thorny bushes, Ada pulled Rob and Harper through the hole with her. They emerged in front of a chain-link fence that was at least seven feet tall, and had barbed wire at the top, keeping people out. But it wasn't the fence the kids were looking at, it was the building behind us. It looked like an old office building, but the kids knew it was an old lab that was originally for testing the water, and stood empty now. Except...
Three windows at the top of the building at the top were lit with white lights, and the satellites on the roof had blinking red lights on top. indicating that they were on. Harper stared up at the building, and her face went pale. Ada looked at her under the pale moonlight, and her victorious smirk fell when she saw her friend. On Ada's other side, however, Rob stood with his arms crossed, and one brow raised.
"See, I told you guys! It's active." Ada hissed, gesturing at the lights.
"I call bull." Rob huffed. "This place has been abandoned since, like, the 80s."
"What, do you think I did it?" Ada exclaimed.
"Guys... I think we should turn around. It's late..." Harper tried to interrupt her friends, but she was too quiet.
"You know what?" Ada snapped after Rob's latest rebuttal. "I'll prove it."
Harper tried to grab at Ada's sleeve as she turned back to the fence and lifted the cutters, but Ada shrugged her off. Ada started to break the fence, until she could wriggle through, and then she started walking towards the lab. As Rob pulled Harper in, she noticed a sign on the fence and pulled back, squinting to read it.
"SHNL Private Property... I don't know what SHNL means, but I do know what private property means, and I'm not going."
Rob looked at Harper, and then back at Ada. "Listen, I don't want to go either. But we have to get Ada." He said softly.
Harper pursed her lips, but let Rob take her hand and pull her through the hole in the fence. They chased after Ada who was standing in the middle of the lawn, looking up. When Rob and Harper reached her, she whispered to them, still not looking away from the windows.
"There's someone up there. A lot of someones."
The three kids stood, looking up at the windows for a few more minutes, watching silhouettes of people walking in front of the glass. Then their heads snapped towards the sound of the heavy metal front doors slamming open and people running out.
The lawn was illuminated with white light, as men in military gear flooded out, holding flashlights.
"THIS IS THE GOVERNMENT." The one Ada assumed was the leader yelled. "COME OUT WITH YOUR HANDS UP!"
Ada turned to Harper and Rob. "Run! I'll hold them!" She exclaimed. Harper started to protest, but Ada put a hand over her mouth. "No, I got you into this, I'll get you out! Go!"
Rob looked at harper in the eyes as he took her hand, and they seemed to have a whole conversation in one look, before running off and slipping through the fence, Harper whispering "We'll come back for you." to Ada as they ran.
And then Ada was alone. She turned to the men coming around the corner, and raised her hands above her head. Her eyes were wide and scared, but her face was set with determination. When they were a few feet from Ada, they stopped, shining the flashlights in her face.
"She looks like Terry." One man said.
"Mhm." Another agreed.
The leader of the men straightened up to his full height, and stared down at Ada. "Take her in." He ordered.
Ada felt a sharp pinch in the side of her neck, and then she blacked out.
Ada's eyes fluttered open, and she stared at the fluorescent lights shining down on her. She couldn't remember what had happened, but it looked like she was in a hospital room. As she sat up, her hands flew up to her hair, and she could feel that it had been shaved into a buzzcut. She ran her hands over it, noting how the short bristles moved under her hands. She had never had her hair above her shoulders before.
When Ada's neck started to feel sore, it all came flooding back. The lights, her friends, the hedge cutters, the man who said she looked like someone named Terry. And then she remembered the needle. That explained why her mouth was so dry. She looked around the room more, and noticed a little white table, barely wider than a bar stool, but definitely shorter. On it was a small glass of water. Ada reached out to grab it, and realized that she was now in a hospital gown. Who had changed her, and where her clothes went, she didn't want to know. Hanging from a hook on the wall was a grey sweatsuit. After she drank the glass of water, she walked over and pulled the sweatsuit down, leaving the hanger on the hook.
Right before Ada slipped out of the dressing gown, she noticed a security camera in the corner. A little red light told her it was on, so she walked over to the hospital bed she'd woken up on and pulled the pillowcase off the little pillow on the bed. Then she dragged the bedside table over to the corner that the camera was in, and used it as a stool to rig the pillowcase around the camera.
Once the sweatsuit was on, and the dressing gown was hung on the hanger, Ada slipped out her door, which was surprisingly unlocked. The hallway looked like your average hospital, and the floor was chilly on Ada's feet. She was acutely aware of the cameras dotting the hallway, spying at her as she walked slowly. At the end of the hallway, there was a a double door, with a little circle on a sign above it. Ada pushed the doors open when she reached them, and she emerged in a long, wide room. Tables were lined up like pews in a church. On each table, there was a different game. Chess. Checkers. Marbles. Cup Stacking. Backgammon. Mancala. A Rubix Cube. A Jigsaw Puzzle. When Ada reached the end, she heard a male voice behind her.
"Hello. I see you've found the game room."