We walked back through the long hallway. After a few turns, we abruptly stopped at a set of doors on opposite sides of the hallway. They were large, identical doors made of metal and had a sizeable circular piece that looked like a ship's tiller. Sergeant Michel spun the circle on the door to the right in a clockwise direction until a great clanging sound came from within the door. He pushed the door open to reveal a small room with enough bunk beds for all of us.

"Now, this is a room specially designed for your abilities. Also, this is the boy’s room. The girls will be housed in another room. Their door is on the other side of the hall. However, I have some other matters to take care of right now, so I want you all to wait here." Without another word, he turned around and walked briskly out the door.

I moved to one of the bunk beds at the end of the room and sat down. I needed to deal with all the information that I had been told. Did I hurt or kill my parents? I thought of how I heard my dad's voice as I woke up in the morning. I wished I could remember what happened, and I hoped that I would at a later date.

"What do you guys think of all that?" Sarah asked, breaking me from my daydream.

"What do you mean?" Brian replied.

"Do you believe everything that he said?"

"Why wouldn't we?"

"Well, I know that I would never hurt my parents, and they would never send me away," Sarah said as she crossed her arms.

"But what if you couldn't control it?" asked Randy.

She didn't say anything to that. She just sat there on a different bunk for a while. Then she sat up again. "No, I wouldn't do it. I didn't do it."

"How do you know that?" asked Brian.

"I don't know for sure; I just feel it." She held her hand over her heart.

"That doesn't make me feel better," said Randy. Sarah glared at him.

"So, what's everyone's name again?" Emily asked, changing the subject. I didn’t believe she couldn't remember everyone’s name, but maybe she just wanted to continue talking.

We all exchanged names, and I think I got a good feel for everyone's personality based on the long conversation with Sergeant Michel. But, with all that we were told, I didn't feel like talking, so I sat down on the bed and absently listened to the other kids chatting. Soon, my eyes started to get heavy with sleep, but before I drifted off, I did wonder why I was so tired after sleeping for so long.

I had nightmares of my dad yelling my name and for me to wake up. The words kept replaying, but every time I was strapped down in the bed of the White Room. Sometimes I was alone, and occasionally different people or shadowy forms were there. Although, it was never the people I wanted to see, never my mother or father. I woke to darkness. I guess Sgt. Michel had come by already and taken the girls to their room. I was starving and wondered if I had missed dinner. I heard faint sounds of breathing and the rustling of sheets. A chill ran up my arms; I realized I had no sheets, and my head was on a bare pillow.

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I sat up and tried to focus a little bit in the dark to find if there were any extra sheets or blankets. As I focused on everything and nothing, the world burst into colors. It was like when I had woken up in the white room, but ten times the intensity. At first, I thought a light had been turned on, but no one else was reacting. I could see everyone else and everything in the room, but just a second prior, everything was dark as I struggled to see. I looked down at my hands and noticed they were glowing white with thin translucent strands running up my arms and the parts of my body that I could see.

At the foot of my bed, I saw a folded green blanket on top of a white sheet. The details were hazy, and I struggled to differentiate between the blanket and the sheet. The blanket and the sheet had a golden glow that seemed to mix in with the details. There was a slight difference in the brightness of the golden glow between the two objects. I reached out and grabbed the blanket. My hand's glow changed to the same golden glow as I did.

I wondered if it was because of the virus. I didn't want to believe that it was true. Everything sounded so unbelievable. I was hoping there was some type of mistake, and I didn’t really have the virus. This didn't seem like what the sergeant had explained either. He said I should be able to feel it, not see it.

I grabbed the fabric with both hands. My other hand also changed to a golden hue. I tugged the blanket in opposite directions, and it easily split the material in half. I wasn’t trying to do that, and I had no idea if I was supposed to be able to do it.

I thought Sergeant Michel said that we could only manipulate wood and plants. I thought that maybe it was because the blanket was cotton. I put the two pieces together, and they fused without a trace of a tear.

I dropped the blanket and looked around more. The metal bars of the bed had silvery lines going through them that reminded me of circuits. I grabbed hold of the metal bed and twisted my hand. The metal easily bent. I knew I wasn't supposed to be able to do that, at least according to Sergeant Michel. I bent the metal back into place. Now I had some serious questions to think about. I didn’t know if I was different or if the military and government didn’t know about this ability as much as they pretended.

However, I was still tired and unable to deal with that information. All I could think about was what would happen to me if anyone found out. If I were in here because I was dangerous and they thought I could only do things with wood, what would they do if they knew I could change other materials?

I decided not to tell anyone. Amid all the questions, fear, and use of my ability, exhaustion washed over me. I grabbed the blanket and laid back down, shutting my eyes as hard as I could. Luckily, the colors didn't bleed through my eyelids.

I woke up to darkness once again. It must have only been a few hours since I was last awake. My vision was normal. I sighed in relief. I was worried that it wouldn’t go back and that everything would be too bright and out of focus. Fortunately, that didn't happen. I didn't trust my ability, so I made sure not to focus too hard on seeing anything. I thought about asking the others if they had experienced the same thing. However, I had woken up too early, and everyone else was still asleep.

Additionally, I didn’t know what would happen if I was different then everyone else. Wild thoughts of being separated and alone raced through me. I once again decided to keep the information to myself for as long as I could. I laid back down and attempted to get some more rest.