4 4. First Few Days

Chapter 4

"I'm so sorry about that back there." MaryAnn sympathized, "They're a little weird when it comes to new people." She joked walking the girl down a path in the woods.    

"The trees are so beautiful this time of year. Do you know each leaf is different from the rest? They also have their own unique mark; like some are very pretty, but then there are some that have holes or scratches." She paused to bend down and grab a leaf. "Some leaves may come from a nice blossom tree, but there are some that come from even a dead tree." The girl gave a weird look at MaryAnn and faltered, "Uh...In no disrespect, why did you bring me to the woods to talk about the trees?"

"You thought I was talking about trees?" MaryAnn question with a soft smile, "Darling, I was talking about you."

The girl pondered the answer given some more.

"You came from WWIDI, right?"

"Yeah."

"What they do to kids is awful and can change them for life…" MaryAnn explained. "But even though they came from a dead tree and went through a rough path, they still came out a beautiful leaf. Sure they may be brown, shriveled up, or maybe they have pieces of them left behind from trails it went through." MaryAnn paused. "Sweet girl… you have let issues you've gone through rip you to pieces, and there's pieces of your hope, love, and bravery missing from you."

She pondered about what she said and tried to understand.  "Thank you for trying to make me feel better, but I'm fine. And I'm not just some innocent person that was tortured and used." The girl shuddered sitting on a bench near the path.

"I'm pretty sure everyone in this world has done something bad, but I believe everyone deserves a fresh start." MaryAnn counseled putting her hand on the girls shoulder, "Even you."

'Even me? How? I've done everything so wrong.' Tears started rolling down her cheeks as she reflected more and more on what MaryAnn said.

"It's up to you what you want to do. I'll be in my office finishing up some work. When you're ready, just stop by. Or not, if RGST isn't right for you." She said putting the leaf she had into Ryela's hand. She got up to leave, but stopped. "Oh I forgot to ask. What's your name dear?"

The lost girl shrugged her shoulders and looked back down.

"Oh everyone as a name."

"Not me." She paused. "All I remember is the first letter… 'r'"

MaryAnn gave deep thought for a little bit. Then her face lit up. "What about R.. Rachel?"

The girl shook her head in grief.

"Riley?"

She shook her head again.

Oh I know. What about Ryela? I've always wanted to name my child that."

The girls face lit up. "I like it… Ryela.."

"Well I'll be going, Ryela." MaryAnn smiled walking back in.

After about an hour, Ryela slowly made her way back inside. She walked around kinda confused about what room she was in and ended up bumping into Marly and knocking the papers she had onto the floor.

"Oh, I'm so sorry!" she stressed backing up.

"No your good boo, I've been like a zombie the past few days, no sleep has me bumping into everything." Marly yawning, "Um, I don't think I know your name."

Ryela paused and her demeanor was low, but then she got happy. "Ryela."

"That's cool. Can I call you Rye? I always do nicknames," Marly asked smiling at Ryela.

"Sure." Ryela responded doubtfully.

The Marly started chatting and joked around a lot, and Ryela really got to know her. Marly tried and tried to open Ryela up as two days went by, and there friendship blossomed more and more. Marly showed Ryela around and introduced her to some of her friends. She even invited Ryela to bunk with her and Natalie. She was soon transferred into Group A2-which is Gabe's group- and they spent almost an entire day doing fun activities to make her feel comfortable. At the end of the day they became really good friends, but Ryela was stilled shut out.

By this time it was dinner and Marly, Ryela, Gabe, Natalie, and Izon was sitting in the cafeteria conversing and eating, but Ryela was zoned out. 'I can't believe I've still stayed here. It's like they forgot everything about our first meeting. These people are still weird through.'

"Rye? You good, boo? You seem to do that 'thing' a lot." Marly asked.

"What?" questioned Ryela.

"That 'thing'."

"Yeah, I noticed you do that a lot too." Natalie chipped in.

"What?" blabbed Ryela.

"Where you doze off into space, kinda looks like you get swarmed in thoughts," Izon explained.

"Yeah… It's my way of escape." Ryela muttered taking a bite out of her chicken.      No one talked for at least 10 minutes as they ate their dinner.

"I totally forgot to ask, but what type of ability do you have, Rye?" Izon asked curiously with a mouth full of Chinese food.

"My what?"

"You know your ability?"

"Ehem, she's trying to eat, so leave her alone," Marly interrupted.

"It's fine…. I'm not that hungry anyway." Ryela reasoned. Ryela took a deep breath and continued. "I really don't know. I only remember little memories from WWIDI, maybe lifting an object with my mind or something; Not a lot." She reflected, "But I do remember this one day, it's still kind of foggy, but something crazy happened."

"Wow, really? Like what?" Izon asked excitedly.

"You don't have to talk about it if you don't want to." Marly insisted.

"Its fine."

She took a sip of her drink and started thinking. "I remember loud sirens going off; guards everywhere. My heart beating crazy… I think I was running outside. Then the next minute I know I woke up in a bed and they told me I was cured of some disease." she explained in a relaxed manner. "I still don't know what happened before I woke up."

"Thats, uh, interesting." Izon murmured.

Ryela ate another bite of her noodles then flared her eyebrows. Something strong hit her on the inside.

"Are you okay, Ryela?" concerned Gabe.

"Yeah. Just saw a flash back, that's all."

"Like what?" Marly asked.

"It was of a tube thing…" she stated as a scene played in her head. "It was a big one too, and there were these pointy things at the top." she shuddered as she explained her vision.

"Is she ok?" natalie whispered to Marly. "She's blanking out."

Ryela skin started turning pale, and her eyes glazed over. She completely zoned out and continued to tell what she saw. "I was in the tube. Then it lit up, and I felt as if," she paused and closed her eyes, "I was drifting away. I felt so much hatred and revenge." Ryela squeezed her eyes shut even more. Then she saw a blurry picture of a man walking up to her, but the name tag he was wearing was crystal clear:

Doctor Gabriel Collins

She popped open her eyes in fear, and all eyes were on here.

"What's wrong?" She asked confused.

"Y- your, um…" Natalie stuttered.

"Tell me." Ryela pleaded.

"Look at your hands!" Marly shouted pointing at them. As Ryela looked down she saw herself gleaming red, and heat was radiating off her. The group had to back up from how much heat there was.

"I can't turn it off!"

"Just try and calmed down, and take a deep breath," Marly yelled.

"Okay…. ok-"

WOOSH!

"Need a hand," Gilly smirked. Just then Ryela was on the floor completely soaked in water with Gilly holding a power hose in her direction. Her friends ran to her to make sure she was ok.

"Gilly what was that for!" Gabe protested.

"If I would've not stepped in, all of you would be burnt to a crisp right now, so I think the words you're looking for is 'thank you'."

"As if," Ryela smirked trying to get up from the wet ground, but right as Gabe went to help her, he slipped and knocked her down with him. All their friends started laughing as they helped them up. "Let's get you cleaned up, ok?" Marly laughed.

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