'"Come on Talia! You're so slow!" The blond boy ran down the corridor, mischief sparkling in his green eyes, he was tall and built to fight, with wide shoulders and the ability to easily cultivate muscle. The red-haired girl who ran after him was significantly shorter, but of a curvy build and she was laughing at his statement, not taking offence, despite him calling her slow. The two were running down the endless corridors of the base in which they lived, white washed walls, cheap lino and strip lighting accompanied their laughter all the way to where they stopped, at a corner of the corridor, and beyond them, decorating the endless maze of corridors. "I told you, you can't beat me!" He declared as she reached him. She stuck her tongue out at him, wrinkling her freckled nose as she did so, making her friend laugh.
"I'll beat you next time Con." She replied determinedly. He snorted at her statement, shaking his head at her.
"Oh sure, sure you will." He pulled a face at her, puffing out his cheeks and crossing his eyes in a grotesque manner. She giggled lightly and hit his arm.
"I will." She told him grandly. He nodded.
"Alright, alright, why don't you prove that?" He challenged, instantly piquing her interest, she narrowed her icy blue eyes at him as she decided whether or not he was bluffing. "I'll race you to Zac's room."
"Oh you're on!" She nodded deciding to take him up on his challenge, but before either of them could move, the boy's mother walked down the corridor towards them. She was a short, squat woman, with greying blonde hair scraped back into a tight bun. she always wore a skirt with a slightly ill-fitting blazer, but despite her looks she was a formidable woman.
"Ah, Connor!" she smiled at her son, showing her slightly uneven row of bleached white teeth, the boy frowned back, his mother rarely came to find him unless something was going on. "Your father and I would love to have a chat with you?"
"Does it have to be now mum? Can't I go later?" Connor complained, he glanced at the girl, who shrugged. He wanted to spend more time with his friend, not be cooped up in the lab talking to his parents.
"I'm afraid not, I'm sure you'll see Natalia later." The woman forced another smile. The boy sighed.
"Alright, I'll see you later Tals." He told the girl, who nodded.
"See you later Con!" She waved at him, before dashing down the corridor they had just raced down, going to find their other friend Isaac, leaving Connor to go to the labs with his mother.
She never saw him again.'
^^^
Natalia awoke in a sweat, her long red hair a mess around her head. Rubbing her face, she sat up and wondered where on earth that dream had come from. Who was this boy in her dream? And why did he seem so familiar and why did she feel so, so guilty about not being able to remember him? Natalia wished she could remember him, so she would at least be able to say his name. she wondered what had happened to him, was he even real? Probably not, it was just a dream after all.
Slowly climbing out of bed and wandering to her desk to pick up her glass of water, she surveyed her room. She had a double bed, which was comfortable enough, although the specific, 100% Polyester sheets picked out for her by her parents weren't the most comfortable at times. She had a desk, which was by the door, and she had access to the facilities computer, which helped her keep track of everything that was going on, especially when her parents and the other scientists ran experiments on her, and her friends.
Their parents were scientists, and to help with their research, the point of which was unknown to anyone but them, they experimented on their children, who resented them for that. It was why much of Natalia's life was so monitored. The only other thing in her room were the books for her studies and her wardrobe of the same outfits, the ugly blue jumpsuits that they all had to wear, and the brown boots they were issued. There were no pictures, nothing that would even resemble her character. The only bit of information of the outside world were the pictures in her geography textbook and the view of the sky from the small skylight above her bed.
Natalia wanted nothing more than to go and explore the outside world, instead of being in the sheltered lab facility. But the possibility of that happening were slim, and she wasn't about to get her hopes up for nothing. Placing down her glass with more force than she meant to and making a small deal of noise, she climbed back into bed and lay looking at the stars. She always felt calm when looking at the stars. It helped her forget about all the things that worried her, forget about whether or not their parents would experiment on her and her friends that day. Forget about the dreams she kept having, and she wouldn't ever tell her parents about it, or they would be experimenting on her for days, trying to find the cause, and investigating whether or not her dreams were relevant to their research. How they could be, she didn't know, but she wasn't a scientist after all.
"Computer, where is Isaac?" Natalia asked the computer, the best thing about the technology in the facility was that the computers were voice activated, and could tell you where other people were at that exact moment.
"Good morning Natalia, are you wondering where Isaac Blake is?" The computer's irritating automated voice rang through her room. The downside of the computer is you have to say a person's full name to be able to find them.
"Yes." Natalia said, following her words with an annoyed sigh.
"Isaac is in his room; would you like me to send him a message?" the computer asked, it was helpful, she would give him that.
"Uh, sure go on then." She nodded, if Isaac was awake too at least she wouldn't be bored in her sleeplessness. She definitely did not want to go to sleep after that dream.
"What message would you like to send to him?"
"Ask him: 'Are you awake?'" She told the computer, who immediately sent the message to Isaac.
Whilst waiting to see if she got a reply from her friend, Natalia checked the time on the clock by her bed. Twelve minutes past three in the morning. The likelihood of getting sleep was getting slimmer and slimmer.
In answer to her message, she heard a knock at the door a few minutes later.
"Come on in Zac." She called to her friend, who laughed and opened the door, coming to sit on the end of her bed. His black hair was ruffled and his thin, wiry frame towered above her, Isaac was ridiculously tall compared to her, reaching 6"3.
"You can't sleep either?" He asked her, wrapping the blanket from the edge of her bed around his bony shoulders.
"No, I had a weird dream." She told him, stretching out her legs and pulling her duvet around her tighter. It was fairly cold in the facility, their parents worrying that central heating would mess up their experiments.
"About what?" Isaac asked, shifting his position on the end of her bed.
"That's the thing, I don't know. It seemed so real, I was running down one of the corridors with… well I'm not sure who he was and then I woke up." Natalia explained slowly, rubbing her temple with a sigh. "It was so weird."
"That is weird, but then so are you." Isaac teased her, she reached out and pushed his arm lightly.
"Oh thanks." She pulled a face at him, shaking her head. "Thanks a lot Zac."
Isaac laughed. "Where do you think that dream came from?"
"I wish I knew, but I'm not asking the scientists, that's for sure." She replied. The scientists, their collective name for their parents and the others who worked with them, an instant threat to their happiness, if one of the scientists came for them, it was never good. Maybe that was why the boy in her dream was weighing on her mind so much.
"Maybe it just means nothing." Isaac suggested. He yawned, stretching his long arms above his head. "I'm tired Tals, I'm going back to bed." He patted her shoulder and stood up. "I would say sweet dreams, but maybe you should try not to."
"Thanks Zac, goodnight." She mustered him a small smile, barely moving her peach pink lips. He waved at her as he left, the blanket hanging half off the bed. Letting out a sigh, she flopped back against her pillows and hoped that she would be able to fall asleep again, preferably in a dreamless sleep.