THE GUARDS led us to a bank of elevators in the center of the floor. There was a giant sign above them that listed the different sections of the prison and the floor for them, which read:
Mental Health Unity: Floor 50-45
Low security: Floor 44-40
Reinforced Titanium: Floor 39-30
Non-biologics: Floor 30-25
Heat: Floor 24-15
Cool: Floor 14-0
Aqueous: Floor 0—5
Non-Ferrous/ Non-magnetic: Floor -6—11
Non-conductive: Floor -12—18
Anti Gravity: Floor -19—26
White Noise/Mind-Control: Floor -27—37
Maximum Security: Floor -38—48
M.O.E: Floor -50
They called someone on their walkie-talkies and a few minutes later two elevator doors opened. Each elevator was just big enough for one person apiece. They didn’t look like regular elevators. The floor was a thick plastic circle and there were no walls, just a red force field. It wasn’t attached to any cords or rope, but somehow levitated. Johnny and I were put in separate elevators. The second I stepped on the sphere it started to descend. It moved quickly through a long tube. I could see through the floor all the way down to the bottom. The only lights were cast off by each floor.
I was hoping we would stop quickly after starting, and be deposited in the low security floor. No such luck. I kept descending and descending until, finally, the elevator slowed down. To my chagrin I could see I the bottom of the tunnel right under the elevator. We had landed at either M.O.E, whatever that was, or Maximum Security. Either way I imagined it wasn’t good.
The doors opened on complete blackness. Four hands reached in and grabbed me out.
“Johnny are you there?”
“Yeah,” he said.
“Quiet prisoners,” the silence shouted at us. “No Talking in Max.”
So we were in Max, not M.O.E. “I guess it could be worse,” I thought. M.O.E. Terrifying.
They marched us down a hall that was dimly lit by yellowish light shining out of porthole windows. My whole body felt tired. Like the floor, in addition to inhibiting my powers, was draining energy from me. Not like I could see any weather outside the Luther anyway.
After walking for ten minutes, I was tossed in a cell and the door slammed behind me. It was small. Ten-foot-by-ten-foot, with a hole in the corner, a roll-out mattress against the back wall, and a small window that looked out into the black hall. There was a small slot at the bottom of the door. I closed my eyes. Made a wish that a friendly cartoon mouse would come in that slot and befriend me. I was already feeling like I had prison madness.
I tried talking and then shouting but no one heard me. No one came. I was trapped. I banged on the walls. Tried slamming into the door. Screamed at the top of my lungs. But my screams just bounced back on the walls. I felt so useless. If I was outside, without the stupid bracelets, I could have lifted the whole prison off its base with the force of the wind I would make, especially feeling this feeling of rage and powerlessness. I only hoped Johnny was doing better than me.
I slumped against the wall and cried for what seemed like hours. After a while I finally fell asleep, only to be awakened by a strange light coming off the walls. They seemed to glow, light yellow at first, then a brighter white. I guess they were mimicking sunrise.
I had nothing to do but think. I tried to figure out what landed me in the Luther but came up blank. If it was because of Dr. Mann it would have happened months ago. It seemed silly that the party was a big enough crime to get us here. Did anyone know about us? Where we all over the news, like Mom, labeled terrorists? Or had we just disappeared? Dad must be going crazy. I wondered if anybody would do anything. Maybe Alice could get Freedom Boy to do something. Yes, that was it. He would ask the right people what happened and find out the truth. I’d be out in no time.
The fake sun rose and set twice and I gave up all hope. I paced endlessly, cried for long spells, clutching my necklace, and shouted. I was going crazy. I started hearing voices. Some screaming. Some talking calmly. I couldn’t separate them. It was just voices all over the room. My mind was unraveling. I knew that this was what happened to people, alone in a solitary prison. They went mad. Their brains couldn’t handle the loneliness.
How long could I last? I divided the day by the light from the walls and the food pushed through the slot, indistinguishable brown mush. I skipped the first two meals and was so hungry by the third I ate it all down in one gulp. The voice said, “Good. Eat. You need to eat.”
The third day something finally broke the monotony. I heard a speaker in the hall broadcast “Code Red! Code Red! All staff to floor M.O.E. I repeat, Mission Objective Exterminate is Code Red. No terrestrial weapons. Full protection. This is a code red.”Footsteps ran down the hall. I guess that mysterious M.O.E floor was below us. But I’d never heard of a villain named M.O.E. It just reminded me of The Three Stooges. I spent the rest of the day thinking about what or who he or she was. It had to be someone or something dangerous, if it was kept in the bottom of the Luther. Some monster lurking beneath me. A giant robot. A dragon. That bartender on The Simpsons. I didn’t have much to do on but at least it kept me occupied. Moe moe moe.
I woke up on my fourth day to a disgusting sight. My food came through the slot and, before I could get to it, a rat came in after it. It eyed the food and I grabbed for it. This was not the cute friendly cartoon rodent I fantasized about. I knew between the creature and myself I could win, but I was so freaked out I shrieked and it dropped something and ran away. I figured it was some gross rat thing and ignored it, but a few seconds later the rat came back and gently nosed the thing toward me. I had no idea how Alice did it, talking to all of the animals. Some of them were so skittery and gross.
It was a small metal capsule, the size of a pinkie finger. I reached for it and the rat backed up against the wall. I turned it around in my hand. It seemed to have some kind of cap. I pulled off the cap and a scroll of paper and tiny pencil fell out. I picked up the scroll and read it.
Hello, my name is Roland the Rat. I was sent here from Alice, who is very worried about you. She has sent around thousands of Rats to look for Johnny and Sarah. If you are Sarah, she is really sorry you fought and feels terrible. And she hopes you are doing okay. You can get through this, whatever it is. If this is Johnny (Sarah, cover your eyes), I love you so much and miss you more than anything. I will not rest until you and Sarah are free. Okay, Sarah, you can look again. Here’s the rundown. No one knows where you are. There are some rumors, but nothing solid. The last thing we knew you disappeared from the police station. No media coverage no nothing. We finally got one reporter interested and Amnesty International is offering to help us. Please write to tell us what’s up on the backside and we’ll get you back in no time.
-Alice
I grabbed the pencil and scribbled down as much as possible. Roland took it and ran off. I wished him luck. I guess we had two chances to get a message out, one from me and one from Johnny. It made me want to bury the hatchet between all of us. Life was too short to resent two people for falling in love, I thought. I felt my heart grow three more sizes inside my chest. It was the right thought to have.
A few hours later, while I was clutching my necklace, I noticed it was starting to glow blue. It had never done that before. More voices came to me. A chorus of women saying, What did you do? You made so many mistakes. You’re a terrorist. Vile. Evil. You’re going to be here for the rest of eternity and you deserve it. I screamed, “STOP!” It provided temporary relief.
That night, I lay down, trying to sleep with my head against the wall. A single voice came into my head. It wasn’t mine. But it wasn’t the mad screaming from earlier. “Sarah,” it said.
“I know I’m going crazy,” I said back, hearing my voice out loud.
“You’re not,” it replied.
“Am too. And now I’m fighting with the voice in my head, so… extra crazy.”“You’re talking to a friend, Sarah.”
“Sure. Who are you?”
“I can’t say. But I’m a friend. And a member of the Djed.”
I perked up. “How do I know you’re real?”
“There’s no way. Anything I tell you, you can’t confirm so you must already know it inside yourself. And it you know it, it could be your own head. But, I have one way of showing you that I am not the voice in your head. I’m the one making your necklace glow. Count down from five. At one it will glow bright purple.”
I chose to humor my own insanity and counted down. Five… four… three… two… one. I placed the necklace in my palm. In the dark, I could make out a color and a glow. Purple. It turned purple! “You’re real,” I blurted. “How are you real? How are you talking to me?”
“My powers are stronger then their machines. But listen to me. I don’t have much time. Your mother is free but much of the Djed is in prison. It started with Innsmouth and has gotten worse since President Bergeron. We were rounded up after his election and taken here.”
“How can I get out of here? What can we do?” I asked.
“The only way out is through fire.” I rolled my eyes. Just like the Djed to give me a proclamation and koan instead of an actual solution. Any sort of secret supergroup always ended up sounding as vague as a horoscope. “I think you might have a chance of getting out, but you may have to wait. When you are free: Help us. Save the country.”
“How? I can’t even throw a good party without the cops breaking it up.”
“The key is Innsmouth. Show the world Innsmouth and they will see the truth.”“Why? What really happened there?”
“Your mom and others tried to stop it, and when they couldn’t they tried to reveal it. It’s not what it appears. Everyone on the PeriGenomics board not being hunted is guilty. They were secretly doing—AAAAAAAAA!” he shrieked. The voice pierced my head.
He was trying to tell me everything and he failed. I couldn’t stop thinking about his pain. Someone was doing something to him. I held my ears but the screaming didn’t stop. I hit my head into the wall until I slumped into unconsciousness.
A WET nose woke me up. I shook, a searing pain, behind my eyes. It was Roland the rat. He had returned. He smiled at me. I sat upright. There was some dried blood on my head.
Roland gave me another note. It was shorter. People are finally paying attention. You were on the news. The police and government are denying knowing where you are. Stay strong!
Finally, some good news. They couldn’t keep us here forever. Alice was fighting to free us. They would have to admit where we were and then we would be let out and it all would be behind us. I felt happy for the first time since the police grabbed me from the party.
And then, for the first time since I was thrown in my cell, the doors opened.