Wednesday, December 06, 2006

Chapter 10 ~ Awakening

A deafening sound was coming closer... a siren of sorts. Noel jumped awake. The room was empty. She looked down at her body - her arms and legs could move, but were very stiff. She lifted her hand to her mouth to remove the gag, but it was already gone.

The door was open. Strange, she thought, wouldn't they have kept her locked up?

Noel noticed she was wearing a starched white hospital gown and nothing else. She spoke some words softly to herself, grateful that she had regained the use of her tongue.

Slipping out of the bed slowly, she tiptoed to the doorway and peered out. There was nobody there. The siren continued to wail.

Suddenly, a young woman - probably about 17 years old - appeared round the corner of the corridor. She was running barefoot, and Noel noticed she was wearing the same type of starched white hospital gown.

The woman grabbed her arm as she reached her and whispered urgently, "Come on Noel! We don't have much time... the alarm wasn't supposed to go off so soon dammit!"

Noel stared at her in blank confusion and whispered back, "Who are you? What's going on?"

The woman stopped dead and looked at her with even more confusion and what Noel suspected was a touch of dread.

"Oh my God! Don't you remember?"