“Welcome, Welcome, Welcome”

I can’t feel my hands or my feet! Everything is black except for a spinning blue circle. I can feel a tingling sensation shooting up my spine and it is rushing through me without end. I can’t see...

“Welcome, Welcome, Welcome”

...or hear except for an inviting voice that is pounding in my head. I know I’m screaming. I can feel it! But I can’t hear it… Why can’t I hear it!

Light..I see light. I can see it! Can you see it too? Wait, there’s something there. No, not something, but someone. A lady. Do you see her? She is kind of blurry but I can make out her brown, curly, hair as it shapes her face. She is wearing tan pants and a bright red blouse. She is standing above me looking calm and yet while I can not hear anything I sense a bit of anger in her voice. How can she be angry at me! I can’t even move!

“Welcome, Welcome, Welcome”

God, why won’t this voice stop yelling at me! I can feel myself start to move my limbs in a forceful manner and by the look of the lady’s face this is not a surprise to her. She grabs my arms and forces them by my side. But wait...do you hear that? It's a buzzing noise. It’s getting louder. The lady is saying something!

“Calm down!”

“Don’t tell me to calm down!”

Did you hear that? That was me! I can hear myself! And my fingers...I can feel them!

“Are you done?” the lady said as she let go of my arms.

Number 46’s long blonde hair that fell effortlessly to her side, swung her legs over the edge of the green cot she had been laying on.

“Where am I?” she said still in a haze.

“You don’t need to worry about that right now” and the red-bloused lady got up and left. Number 46 was all alone and as she looked around she saw there were no windows, and the only way out was the door in which the lady had left from. It had a lock. There was no other furniture. No chairs or tables. Only the cot she had risen from. The floor was made of dirt and a single light was hanging from the ceiling, dimly lit and covered in dust.

Number 46 sat back down on the cot, and the door opened. In walked a women who looked the complete opposite of the red-bloused woman. She had gray hair pulled back tightly in a low bun, pointy black high heel shoes, a bright white suit with a dull blue shirt underneath.

“It’s time to go.”  She said.

“Wait, where are we going?” Number 46 said as she followed her out of the room. They walked into a hallway with bright white lights reminiscent of a hospital. “Where are we going?” she said again in a more irritated tone than before. No answer. They walked down a maze of dirt floor halls with nothing but grey walls and the occasional door. “Why did I keep seeing a spinning circle and hearing the words ‘Welcome, Welcome, Welcome?”’ This caught the woman’s attention and as she was walking she stopped nearly causing the girl to crash into her. She turned with a look on her face of pure irritation.

“We injected with you with a serum that has the same coding as a computer. You are now under our control.” She turned and opened the door next to her and practically threw the girl inside.

This new room was almost identical to the last expect for the absence of the cot.

What does she mean ‘I am a computer now?’ Where even am I?

The girl ran to the door and started banging on it with all her strength. She started screaming “Let me out!” and “Tell me who you are!” To no avail she sat down feeling extremely tired and after what felt like hours she heard a loud beeping noise and a voice came over a loud speaker, although she saw no source of the program generated voice “Hello and welcome to The GP3.”

“Hello? Who are you?”

“It is time to meet your advisor.”

“My who?”

A man with dark brown hair and bright blue eyes walked in. He was dressed similar to the woman in the dress suit but instead of a skirt he wore long black pants and a suit jacket with a blue tie that matched his eyes. They again left the room and entered the same hallway illuminated by bright hospital lights.

“Please tell me where I am!” Number 46 said in a pleading voice. She went to grab for his arm but the man immediately said “stop”-she did but with a shocked look she said: “Why can’t I move.”

“I’m sure by now Melinda has told you about the injection.”

“You mean the serious looking lady?”

“Yes” he said slightly bothered. “The serum we injected you with will completely wipe your memory.”

“My memory is fine.” She said cautiously yet sternly as to act like she was not afraid of the events conspiring.

Rolling his eyes as he turned back around to begin walking again muttering, “You will lose your memory soon, and that is when we will be able to start.”

“Start what?” she said in a pleading voice similar to that of a young child.

As they moved briskly down the hall he said: “Once you were injected you lost the ability to contradict any command that we tell you.”

“Who is we?”

“You ask too many questions. There is no point in telling you the answer. You won’t remember soon anyways”

“Tell me now!” the girl screamed.

“Oh Howard, don’t be so cruel.” The woman with the so called name “Melinda” walked around the corner nearly causing the girl to bump into her again.

“There’s no harm in calming her anxes for the moment.” “Come with me Charlotte” she said as she took the girl by the shoulder and led her down the hallway and entered a room.

This room, much larger than the previous had a window. It also had a desk, a few actually, and in the corner was a television that had “The GP3” plastered in neon lights across the screen. These objects were all good and well―but the room had a window. The girl walked over but to her disappointment all she could see was a blue monster glittering under the sunlight.

“Charlotte please take a seat” the grey haired women said in a much gentler voice than she had used before.

“No thank you” Number 46 said as she leaned her back against the windowsill.

The lady pulled out a chair from behind the desk closest to the door and as she took a seat she said: “If you insist.”

“What...You’re not gonna force me to sit in the chair like the man did.”

“Charlotte, I am not going to force you to do anything. You should enjoy your last minutes of freedom.”

“Why does everyone keep saying things like that! I haven’t forgotten. I know who I am and where I came from, but how do you know who I am, and who are you!?”

“My name is Melinda. I am the President of The Great Presidential Preparation Program. Our job here is to select a candidate for President of the United States of America every four years. We bring them to our secret location, give them a serum, and groom them to be elected at the next election. This is an honor that you should be most grateful for.”

“An honor! I don’t understand. Why me! Why now!” Tears began running down her face.

“Oh, you were not chosen now. You were chosen as an infant. Purely by luck.”

“No. My parents would never let this happen to me” She slowly walked towards the woman never breaking her gaze.

“Do not worry about your parents. They are in a place where they do not need to worry about you.”

“They’re my parents. They will always worry about me and they will escape whatever prison you have put them in.”

“Oh Charlotte that simply will not be possible”

“Oh yeah, you wait and see.”

“No, Charlotte” She lowered her head but looked straight into the girl’s eyes. “It is not possible.”

Her legs went weak and she fell to her knees, because she knew what she was saying. “How could you!” She screamed at her. The tears wouldn’t stop and she grasped the edge of the windowsill to pull herself up.

Suddenly the tears surrendered and her eyes looked like a pit of darkness.

“Charlotte. I truly am sorry.”

Number 46 turned around and said “Who’s Charlotte, and why are you sorry?”

Melinda turned to Howard and with a slight smirk growing across her face she whispered “It’s beginning.”