The Facility

The chime awoke Cassidy the following morning and she laid there in bed for a minute rubbing her eyes before getting up to take care of the normal morning routine starting with the bathroom and ending at the sink.

She had just finished brushing her teeth when Peg came in with her breakfast.

The nurse put the tray on the table and walked over to stand behind Cassidy. “You’ll be happy to know your blood work came back normal,” Peg informed her.

Cass dried her face and turned around, looking at Peg. “Lucky me,” she said.

Peg ignored the comment and lightly took hold of Cass’s chin. She looked into her charge’s eyes. “Still the little devil it seems,” Peg smiled at her and added, “But it’s slowly going away. A few more days and you should be back to normal.”

“Normal?” Cass asked, a hint of smile played over her lips.

Peg rolled her eyes letting go of the girl’s chin and said, “Eyes. Normal eyes. Now go eat.”

Cass ate while Peg sat across from her, neither talking much.

After she finished, Peg took the tray, reminding Cass that someone would be back for her shortly before she left.

It was not like she needed reminding, but she kept her mouth shut. There was no use getting Ped mad at her.

Cassidy knew she had a knack for being able to say the wrong thing at the worst possible time – or at least according to others.

To her it seemed to be the perfect thing to inflict the maximum amount of emotional response – good or bad.

Cassidy was always good at pushing people’s buttons her mom said.

She gathered her book and say down to read while she waited. It was not long before a guard came to get her.

He stood in his black armored uniform, face mostly covered, and motioned her out. She complied, putting the bookmark in her book before setting it down, then walked to the opening in the clear wall.

The man had her follow the same route she had previously except they did not stop at the same door.

She continued walking down the corridor and only paused when she came to an open door. Looking in, she saw Dr. Oshiro who motioned to her to come in.

She looked around as she entered and as before, the door closed behind her.

The room was the usual antiseptic white of a hospital and included the medicinal smell mixed with cleaner and bleach.

An identical chair to the one from the other room awaited her net to the scientist and Cass knew it was for her.

She did not hesitate to walk over and sit in the chair, knowing it was pointless to protest and definitely not in her best interest to put up a fuss.

Doctor Oshiro proceeded to attach the electrodes all over her head like she had before.

Cass noticed that Dr. Tanaka was in the room as well, but made no attempt to assist Dr. Oshiro, who did not seem to mind.

When the doctor had finished, she turned the chair around away from the door, then connected the mass of wires to a machine like before, then moved behind the girl out of her sight.

“Today we’d like to do something a little less stressful,” Dr. Oshiro said, sounding muffled through the speaker.

Cassidy watched as a table slowly rose out of the floor in from of her.

“The object today is fine control. A series of tasks designed to see if you can subtlety manipulate objects,” the scientist told her.

Cass looked at the table and saw it covered in children’s toys. She recognized most of them from her own childhood not long ago.

“Now, starting on the left, please put the shaped blocks into the correct spaces.”

Cass remembered what Rudi had told her – Give them something, but not everything – so she spent the rest of the time moving objects in a jerky fashion, missing spots and sliding things around like the toddler they were expecting.

Inwardly she grinned, almost having fun seeing how bad she could make it look. Apparently, they had no idea that as a little girl she had laid in bed using her ability to create her own mobile over her, or at a little older to color hands free.

Her skill was not quite as good as if she used her hands, but it was close.

Not that they need to know that, she thought.

Throughout the whole day, Dr. Tanaka said nothing and acted like Cass was not even there, except for when she took a bathroom break and when the day ended.

Doctor Oshiro thanked her, and the door slid open, revealing her ever present escort.

He motioned for her to exit the room and she did, walking the route back to her room.

As she walked, Cass reflected on how she had built up her abilities using small objects such as her toothbrush, blocks and tennis balls before switching to heavier objects like apples and her dolls.

As she came around the final corner, she abruptly stopped short, nearly causing the guard behind her to run into her.

Coming out of the room before her was a girl, slightly taller than herself, but even thinner. The girl was about her own age, Cass guessed, with light brown skin and close-cropped black hair. She wore white scrubs like Cass did, but she also had on gloves of something silvery.

Cass started to open her mouth to say something when she was nudged from behind.

“Move,” the guard said.

She continued walking, trying to catch the girl’s eye as they passed, but the girl had her eyes fixed on the floor the whole time.

Cass could not help but feel a bit of rebellion as the other girl’s guard passed and give herself enough room between them before nudging the guard’s moving leg behind his planted foot, causing him to stumble.

Neither girl paid any attention – it happened behind both of them.

Cass heard the guard’s grumbles, but playing innocent, she did not react as she waited for her door to open.

She could see Peg waiting inside, given the clear walls, with a box on the raised table.

The door in the wall opened and Cassidy walked in watching Peg watch her. She knew better than to react.

“What’s going on?” she asked.

“First,” Peg asked, “did you have anything to do with that?” The nurse was pointing behind Cass.

Cass turned her head to look out the clear wall and saw nothing there. Turning back, she asked, “With what?”

The corners of Peg’s mouth twitched up and amusement flashed across her face for just a second. “Never mind. I know you must want to shower to get the conductive gel off you, but before you do, I brought you a present,” Peg said pointed down to the box before her.

Cass walked over to the table and looked at the box. It was longer than anything else Peg had brought prior, but it was also shallower.

“Go ahead, open it,” Peg told her.

Cass unfolded the four flaps and looked into the box. “What the hel… heck is that?” Cass asked putting a hand into the box but not actually touching anything.

“What does it look like?”

“You’re kidding, right?” Cass said flippantly, lifting the clear, light, plastic object. “A violin isn’t made of plastic. It is wood. That’s what gives it its tone.”

“Can you say that for sure? Have you ever tried one?”

Cass was looking down at the clear violin and looked up at Peg through her bangs without raising her head.

“No need to look at me like I’ve grown a second head. You’re the violinist, so you decide for yourself.”

Cassidy plucked a string and knew instantly that it needed to be tuned, but it also sounded slightly off, but very close to her own violin. She took the matching clear bow and rosin out of the box and set about to adjust and tune the violin.

After applying rosin to the bow, Cass took a breath and ran through her finger warm-up practice. She made a slight adjustment before beginning to play one of her idol’s songs. As she played, she tried to lose herself to the music like she always did but small things kept her from it.

Her fingers were stiff and felt slow as she played, and the violins sound was slightly off. She could possibly overlook that since all violins sound slightly different to someone who knows how to tell.

Cass thought that it being made of plastic would make the sound all wrong, but it did not – not really.

After playing through the song, Cass paused before opening her eyes and lowering the bow and violin.

“Cassidy, you are really talented,” Peg said. “That was beautiful.”

“That wasn’t mine. The musician I asked you to get for me, it was one of hers.”

“Have you tried writing your own music?” Peg asked curiously.

“Yes, and I do. Or did. Could I get some paper and something to write with so I can continue doing it?”

While it was not quite a lie, it was not quite the truth either. She did not have Rudi’s abilities, so she would need the stuff to pass a note to Gemma.

Peg thought for a second before she said, “I don’t see why not. I will bring some back with dinner. Now go wash up, then you can do whatever you want until dinner.”

Feeling a slight happiness for the first time since being brought to the facility, Cass scampered off to get clothes and towels.

She turned on the water, stripped and disposed for her old clothes before scrubbing off the gel on her head. Cass washed herself and then rinsed off. With her head tipped up, she felt the water droplets hit her face, each quick but unique.

This gave her an idea; something they had her doing all day.

Going to the inner shower wall, she stood on her tiptoes and peeked over the frosted stripe to look into her room. Peg was gone. She walked back over to the spray but stood so it hit her shins.

Keeping focused at eye level, she began to stop individual water droplets and suspend them where they were. Each was small and light, and soon she had hundreds of drops suspended and floating around the shower stall. The small spheres wobbled in and out of their perfect spherical shapes. She focused her mind and split each water droplet into two, making twice as many to hold onto.

Cass knew she was pushing the limits of her power at this point. It was taking all her concentration to manipulate so many objects.

Cass had the shower full of floating water as the running water continued to fall.

“Cassidy?” a voice said.

Startled, Cass lost her hold on the water drops and they all fell at once. For a second it sounded more like a torrential downpour than a shower inside the enclosed space.

She realized the voice came from within her head. “Rudi?” she projected the thought towards him.

They talked mentally while Cass turned off the shower and began to dry off. She dried her hair first, like usual, then her face to get the dripping water off it.

She pulled back the towel and saw a red smear, and a tickle under her nose. Putting her finger there, she saw it came ack with blood on it.

Had she pushed herself too far again, or was it maybe too soon to get anywhere near her upper limits? She did not know but she would take it easy for a few days.

Holding her wet hair towel to her nose, she used the other to dry herself, looking at it after to make sure she had not caused anything else to bleed other than her nose. Thankfully, there was no blood on it.

Once her nose stopped bleeding she got dressed, all the while talking to Rudi. She told him about her plan for passing a note to Gemma whenever she had the chance, but who knew when that might be.

It was getting closer to dinner, so they said their goodbyes and Cass brushed out her hair, then bound it up in a ponytail.

Going back over to the table where her new violin was, she picked it up and placed it under her chin while picking up the clear bow in her other hand. She moved her fingers over the strings to limber them up some before raising the bow to play.

Finishing her finger exercises, she began to play a show piece by Bach to start. When she finished that, an idea came to her. She touched the table to bring up the computer interface and went into the music folder, selecting two Lindsey Stirling songs and Freebird by Lynyrd Skynyrd. It was a song she knew and one that would be good for her to ad-lib to. Something slow’ish and soulful (well most of it anyway).

Hitting start, she let the music play while trying her best to match her idol through the songs. When Freebird came on, she listened for a few seconds before adding her own take to the song.

This was the extended version, so it lasted long and had a good number of pure instrumentals in it. When the song finally ended Cass could feel the burn in her arm and fingers from playing after missing out on her practices, but to her it was a good pain.

For the second time in under an hour she jumped when someone spoke.

“Wow, I don’t ever think I’ve heard a take like that on Freebird before. I think you would make Lynyrd Skynyrd proud.

Peg stood just inside the doorway holding her dinner tray. She walked over to the table and set the tray down.

“You should be proud; you’re very good.”

“Thank you,” Cass muttered as she went over to the bed and set the violin and bow down before coming back over to the table to eat.

As Cassidy ate, Peg talked to her about the day and the testing. To Cass, Peg seemed well informed and seemed to know the answers to her questions before she asked them. Was she trying to see if Cass would lie or mislead her, she wondered.

Just to see if Peg would react, she told the nurse that she had struggled more than she had near the end of the testing.

Peg said nothing to indicate she knew Cass was exaggerating and looked at her thoughtfully.

When Cassidy was finished, Peg pulled out some paper and a pencil. “For your music,” she told Cass in explanation.

Cass thanked her and Peg left telling her to rest and she would see her in the morning.

Getting up, Cass retrieved the new violin and took it over to the table where she spent some time working on a new song, alternating playing and writing.

Once she finished a few more minutes of the song, she played all of what she had, then took the paper and pencil to her bed, leaving the violin and bow on the table.

She folded a few sheets of paper and say the rest on the table by the head of her bed. Taking her book from the table, she laid down on her back, picking up the folded paper and pencil and used the book to write on.

Being upside-down, Cass figured she was safe from the camera being able to zoom in to see what she was doing. Pretending to continue to compose her music, she instead wrote a short note to try to pass to Gemma.

Writing small, she kept it short. When she was done, her note was about the size of a matchbook. She rolled away from the camera she knew about and slipped the paper with the note on it under her thigh, before rolling onto her back.

Setting the paper and pencil down next to her on the camera side, she proceeded to read some of her book while surreptitiously folding the hidden paper smaller.

When it could fit into the palm of her hand, she continued to read until she was tired. Putting the folded paper into her palm, she collected the paper and pencil and put it, along with the book on the near table.

Still palming the note, she went to the toilet area and relieved herself while cautiously ripping the note from the folded paper, then she ripped the excess paper into pieces, dropping them into the toilet before flushing.

She folded the remaining note in half and tucked it into the elastic band of her underwear for safe keeping. Unless something drastic happened, it would not be found.

After washing her hands, she went to sleep feeling glad she was able to accomplish that much at least and wondering how long it would take to get the opportunity to deliver it to Gemma.

The following day went by quickly; the scientists hooked her up to their machines and had her manipulate objects.

Cass did not see Gemma again for another two days, and only then on her way back from her daily testing.

As Cass turned the corner to her wing, the door to Gemma’s room slid open in front of her and she saw the guard waiting at Gemma’s door. After it slid up, Gemma stepped out.

Cass acted quickly, pushing upward on the camera she could not see in the smoked glass dome on the wall, while dipping her fingers into her waistband for the note.

She flicked the half-inch square note in from of her and pushed it at Gemma, aiming for just above the pocket on her top.

The small square hit Gemma with enough force to feel it, but not enough to hurt her, before Cass pushed it down into the pocket.

Gemma looked up at Cassidy, her eyes wide. Cass smiled and offered her a wink as she passed the other girl without breaking her stride.

She felt safe with her action covered from the guards seeing and the camera pointed up. Worse case she figured, was they blame her for the camera, but she doubted they would do anything to her for it.

The most important thing was the note staying a secret. She had to hope Gemma would not rat her out.

Cass went into her room happy with herself. Her situation had not changed but she felt things were looking up.

Gathering things up for a shower after she was in her room, she quickly got in it. She stood under the water and focused her thoughts chanting Rudi’s name silently.

It was not long before she heard his reply. “What are you so excited about?” he asked.

She told him what she had done. Now that she had passed the note, it was all up to him. Their conversation continued while Cass showered, and she lingered in the warm water letting it ease the tension from the testing.

After a lengthy mental talk, they said their goodbyes and Cass dried off and got dressed. She brushed her hair out and pulled it back into a ponytail again before going to the table to pick up the violin.

After quickly tuning it, she ran through one of Lindsey Stirling’s songs before working on her own song. She worked on it until Peg came in with her dinner.

Peg set the tray down on the table and waited for Cass to finish.

The girl stopped, setting the violin on her bed before picking up her towel and wiping off her face.

Cass walked over and noticed Peg watching her. She sat in front of her tray and looked up at the nurse.

Peg looked over at the violin, then looked back to Cass before speaking. “There seemed to be a malfunction with the camera in the hall today, just as you entered it. You wouldn’t know anything about that, would you?”

Cass gave Peg her best innocent look and replied, “No. There were guards both in front and behind me. Ask them.”

Peg raised an eyebrow at this. “Well, it’s hope it doesn’t continue or there will be negative effects. You wouldn’t want to lose what you’ve gained so far, would you?”

Cass shook her head.

“Good, now eat.”

She ate as Peg moved about the room. Cass knew she had not left anything laying around that could get her in trouble, so she ignored the nurse.

When Cass had finished her dinner, Peg asked, “Is there anything you need?”

The girl shook her head. Peg moved around the table opposite Cass and looked at the girl. Cass looked her in the eye until Peg looked away.

“Okay,” Peg said to her. “Get some rest,” and left with her empty food tray.

***

It was several more days before Cass ended up in the corridor with Gemma. When Gemma saw her, she made a move to scratch her arm just above her long gloves where she plucked out a small square of paper. She held it between her index and middle fingers as she lowered her hands in front of her.

Cass reached out with her mind and pulled the small square from between the other girl’s fingers. It shot between the two girls fast, hitting Cass in the lower belly where she clasped her hands together over it, trying not to wince at the force of the paper hitting her.

She suspected it would leave a small bruise and hoped there would be no reason for anyone to examine her. It was her own fault if so. She opted for speed with the hope that neither the guards nor the cameras would see such a small object moving so fast, but if she slowed it down as it neared her, it would have been more noticeable and thus, more likely to be seen.

The two girls passed with nothing more than a slight nod of their heads to not upset the guards or Hugo Forrester, who both suspected of watching them.

Cass asked to use the restroom as soon as she got to her testing room. She did not think there were cameras in the restrooms, but she was careful anyways and tucked the square into the waistband of her underwear at her hip without reading it.

When she got back to her room, she gathered up her things to take a shower and turned the water on before setting her things down.

Cass slipped into the far end making sure to stay out of the water and got undressed, making sure to keep a good hold onto the note. In her excitement she started to sit but stopped herself when she turned her head and noticed the shadowy view of her room. If Peg or anyone else should come in, while they might not see the note, it would certainly be embarrassing to be caught.

She stood upright and unfolded the small square of paper, noticing that Gemma had used her own note to write back to her.

After reading the note, Cass moved into the water and rubbed the paper until it disintegrated between her fingers.

Cass showered and then sat under the water, stopping it from reaching her body. Dividing her concentration between that and contacting Rudi, she sat motionless until Rudi answered her.

She told Rudi what Gamma had said in her note and he coordinated their plans between the three of them. Not that there was much coordinating or many plans since there was no real set schedules for any of them and none of them knew much of the layout of the facility.

Rudi and Cassidy found out that Gemma could control temperature with a touch, raising or lowering the item’s temperature to extremes: hot or cold.

Not knowing when they might get a chance to escape, Rudi suggested that everyone stay ready for any opportunity they see and feel they could take advantage of without getting hurt.

Cass could not really see them getting free, but she stayed prepared, keeping dressed and her slippers on when she was not sleeping or showering.

Over the next several days, Rudi talked to both girls more, trying to learn as much as he could to help them escape. He was trying to bait the guards into thinking about certain things to learn more.

One of them things he learned and passed on to Cassidy was that unlike the electronic keypads that the two of them had to control their doors, Gemma had an old fashion keylock on hers so she couldn’t burn or freeze it out.

She had told Rudi that there was some sort of countermeasure that stopped her from heating or freezing the locking mechanism. Not to mention that if she tried, she would be gassed.

Cass knew that only too well after trying to attack Hugo. The next time Cassidy went for testing she tried to examine Gemma’s door. She did not try to hide it, instead she made it look like she was trying to look into the window.

“Move it,” the guard behind her said gruffly.

“Chill out, we’re kids. It’s what we do,” she said. As she started to turn back to the corridor, she caught sight of a small hole in the door. It did not look like a typical keyhole that had a slot for a flat key, this one was smaller than a pencil and round.

Cass did not think the key that fit into that keyhole had teeth and guessed it must be some sort of electronic or magnetic key lock.

Throughout her testing that day she thought about ways to get the lock open without the key.

After returning to her room, she showered and then put her bow and violin behind the privacy screen and went to the computer terminal at her table and scrolled through the music available.

Acting like she started the music plater, Cass returned to her bed and sat back against the wall, closing her eyes. The time spent in this confinement was being put to good use by Cass. Their testing had, in a way, allowed Cass to refine her telekinetic skills. She had not really practiced using her abilities, having to hide them from everyone but her mother.

Reaching out with her mind, Cass picked up the violin and bow and began to play, visualizing her finger placement and pressure of each finger on the instrument.

This was the first time she had attempted to do this, and while her playing was not as good, Cass was pleased at her first attempt to do it.

After her first song, she lowered the violin, feeling a throbbing behind her eyes. Playing was not like simply lifting an object or as generic as stopping and holding water droplets in the air.

Holding the violin and bow up, moving the bow correctly and using her ability to mimic her finger movements and pressures taxed her.

If it were not for the fact that she played the violin, she was not sure she could manipulate so many things at once with that much control. As it was, she could visualize herself doing it, which made it easier. But even with that she could feel the headache coming on.

Laying back against the wall, Cass put her arm over her eyes and had nearly fell asleep when Peg came in with her dinner.

Looking at Cassidy Peg said, “Are you feeling okay?”

“Headache,” the girl replied. “Could I get something for it?”

Peg sat her food down on the table and said, “Sure. I will be right back. You start on dinner while I’m gone.”

She walked out while Cass got up and went to the table. Cass sat and picked at the food until Peg returned and handed her a little white pill cup. Before Cass could ask, Peg said, “It’s just ibuprofen. If it does not work, just ask for something more and I will bring you something stronger. You look like it’s more than a simple headache but let us start with this.”

Cass took the pill and finished eating after Peg told her the pull could cause stomach problems if she did not eat and she did not need at add an upset stomach to her headache.

When she finished, Peg took her tray and left, and Cass went over to her bed and laid down, dimming the lights, and quickly falling asleep.