INTEGATES (Original Story)

CHAPTER 8 - REGRET

It went on. The next two weeks were a fair combination of emotional and intellectual training, which was much easier for me to handle since it didn't push me to my limit. The heads still have yet to go easy on me. However, I followed what Rodrick said about doing it the way they asked me to. It actually saved us some time and effort. There were only two or three days that sent me to my capacity end.

I underwent an intellectual test where they showed me several random photos which were almost abstract-looking. They told me what every image was, yet my task was to think that it was something else. Alianna had mentioned about it before. An exercise where I would be forced to look at things differently. It was exhausting, yet anything that has to do with mental process wasn't too complicated for me to master. I obtained the result they wanted by the end of the day. Lyra said that it was only to test if I could grab hold of both what I think and what they think. My perception being needed to be open yet stable, which surprisingly, it did without much difficulty.

There was another day where I nearly blacked out again even though they defined it as nearly a basic one. I was inside the private training room along with the director and other heads again, but providing me no introduction or anything.

A small glass cage stood in the center while they were positioned around it, at least a few meters away. Bartlet instructed me to step inside. Me, knowing better than to question their orders, complied right before Rodrick closed the door, locking me in the cell. It was like made specifically for my size because I only had limited space to move. I was stuck, basically. And I felt a little bit claustrophobic.

"This test is called Real or Flawed. We will tell you random information about you. It may be something from your past or just simply what you think and feel. And you are to point out which are facts. If they are true, you say real. If not, say they are flawed." The director introduced before he gave a glanced to the four other people inside the room. "That cage can detect if you're right and telling the truth. Each of us has also a control on that. If you get things wrong, there will be a consequence." He calmly explained, trying not to make everything a huge deal.

"What is the consequence?"

They all stayed silent for a while, just keeping their stares on me.

"Focus on the test and try not to make a mistake, so you wouldn't need to find out." Bartlet added.

It was Lyra who started delivering the words. They stated simple ones at first, everything about me that I was already aware of. It was when Rodrick mentioned Riley always being my enemy and top opponent, that I saw water coming from the platform holes of the cage, filling up until it reached my achilles heel.

It occurred to me at once. It was the consequence.

I was quick to say that it was real because they told me that Riley and I never got along. So I was surprised that there was something else that I didn't know about us. Bartlet and Lyra sharply looked at Rodrick, like signaling that he shouldn't have brought it up. Yet he almost couldn't care less.

The test was to attain the ability to read people. It became harder for me to concentrate and think straight after knowing what will happen when I say the wrong answer. I could barely process anything anymore. The next thing I knew, the water level already reached my chin. One or two more mistakes, I would drown.

And I did.

In that moment, I thought they were going to let me die. They watched me smashing my fist on the glass and struggling to hold my breath. And they waited. Until I was in my last second. Then I remembered nothing else before I woke up the next day in my bed.

It happened four days ago. And Bartlet informed me that I've completed my emotional training yesterday after I was completely able to keep myself together when they locked me up again inside a dark room for two hours.