55 Who…?

Aerie had always been lucky. Her luck had saved her life countless times without her even noticing it. This was the main reason she was able to pass Everwhite's entrance exam. However, many would simply call it fate.

'What is this?' Aerie thought, her consciousness slowly returning. She opened her eyes to find a single metal chair that reminded her of a torture device. It had straps that looked like it was meant to bind someone down.

But what faced the chair was a hunting rifle aimed directly at the chair. What's more, was that this hunting rifle connected the different wires that all led to a single stopwatch.

All of this was located in a bright white room, with only one mirror on the wall with a door right behind it.

"Ahhh! Let go of me!" Screams suddenly echoed through the room as the door burst open.

It was a young girl dressed in a pure white single-piece dress and a black blindfold that covered her eyes.

There were also two men in white hazmat suits, along with an air filter over their faces, dragging the young girl and roughly throwing her on the lone chair.

Although the girl was trying her hardest to fight back and resist, she simply wasn't a match for a grown adult as she was quickly strapped down to the chair. The only thing she was able to move was her mouth.

"Please stop! I'm scared...!" The girl screamed. Streams of tears drizzled down past her black blindfold as she frailed her body violently to no avail. But then all her struggling came to an abrupt stop. Her weak body didn't have the energy to struggle endlessly.

It was then Aerie noticed something disturbing. Glancing behind the metal chair, she squinted her eyes as she saw the blood stains. In such a white room, it was impossible to remove blood stains.

"Hey... what are you planning to..." Aerie tried grabbing ahold of the man's shoulder, but her hand simply went past him as if he was a ghost.

Aerie widened her eyes in surprise as she kept tiring, unable to believe what had just happened. She tried touching his again but was met with the same result.

"Let's go." The man spoke to his buddy as she finished strapping the young girl to the chair.

"Hey! Where are you guys going!" Aerie yelled and attempted to free the young girl from the chair restraints, but it seemed it wasn't only people she couldn't touch. She wasn't able to interact with anything.

Aerie looked down at her feet and noticed that she wasn't even touching the floor. She was floating.

She was disturbed by this revelation, but the sound of the door slamming shut brought her back to reality.

Aerie's eyes soon drifted toward the only mirror within the room. Upon looking closely, she quickly realized that it was a one-way mirror.

She began floating towards the mirror, and without hesitation, she fazed right through the one-way mirror.

Inside this new room seemed to be something similar to a control room. Five people in white lab coats sat in different sections of the room, controlling different buttons and screens.

"Starting recording." A man spoke into the thin microphone. The name card that hung down his neck told Aerie that his name was Jerold.

"Start the procedures."

"Link up is a go." Someone spoke, and at that moment, a screen lit up in an old fashion black and white, projecting the same girl in the white room. But Aerie didn't know why the screen was in black and white despite the very modern technology in the room.

"Reacatnat is a go."

"Timer is a go."

"Vitales are perfect."

"Brain waves are steady."

"All systems are a go," Jerold spoke. "Start the countdown."

Right after saying those words, an obnoxious ticing came from the stopwatch.

The girl inside the room seemed also seemed the hear this sound and began to lash out. "NO! PLEASE!" She cried, begging for mercy as she tried her hardest to pull herself away from the restraints. She was doing it desperately enough to cause her bound wrist to bleed.

Beep! Beep! Beep!

"Heart rate is increasing." Someone spoke.

Bang!

Aerie jolted from the sudden gunshot, but realizing that the only gun present was inside the white room, Aerie's heart dropped.

"Eup…!" Aerie's hand flew to her mouth, her fingers trembling as she witnessed the crimson liquid trickling down from the innocent child's wounded head. Her eyes welled up with tears, like tiny dewdrops glistening at the brink of falling down, as she gazed at the ghastly sight before her.

'She's just a little kid.' Aerie thought as she gritted her teeth. 

"Another failed. Send the next one in after cleaning." Jerold spoke through the mic.

After, the same men in white hazmat suits placed the dead body in a black bag. Then left the white room.

Abruptly, a cacophony of angry voices reverberated through the door, jolting Aerie's senses. The clamor of the men dragging in yet another girl filled the air, their heavy footsteps sounding like thunderous booms. "Is that…me?"