Today was my fifth day in the hospital.
It was also the second closed day of the trial.
The founders came to visit me again.
George was loud, as always.
"How's our favorite monarch doing!?"
I smiled a little.
"I'm doing as great as ever. How's Factory 24?"
He sighed.
"Straight into it, huh..."
They informed me that nothing notable had happened.
I wasn't surprised after Sarah told me they would attack on the last day. Still, hearing that nothing had happened yet didn't make me feel better. It just made the waiting feel longer.
After the update, I asked Liam about Andrew. I'd been a little suspicious of him for not knowing much about Andrew's group, considering they were brothers, but his reason made sense.
"My parents are divorced," he said. "They have a split-house agreement where the kids switch between houses each week. Andrew and I used to switch together, but after he formed The Claim, he started switching opposite from me. When I'm at my dad's house, he's at my mom's, and vice versa."
So now they barely saw each other.
That explained a lot.
After hearing that, I decided it was best to tell them what Sarah had told me. I left her name out of it, though.
"You guys know The Claim has six groups, right?"
They all nodded.
"One of the groups that wants Factory 24 for the space is planning to attack."
That got their attention fast.
I mean, how could a hospitalized kid suddenly have information like that?
Leo questioned it first.
"Which group? And how do you know?"
"Thomas's group. He's planning to do it on the last day of the trial."
"And how do you know?"
"I can't say. I won't give out my information source. But I'm sure they can be trusted."
Leo sighed.
He clearly didn't like not knowing where the information came from, but he trusted me enough to let it go.
"I also heard Andrew is weak right now," I added. "That information is less trustworthy, though, so take it with a grain of salt."
No one said anything right away, so I kept going.
"Liam, I want you to find a way to get information on Andrew."
He frowned.
"I just told you our living situation, though..."
"If it's you, I know you can figure something out. Just try to find a way to get closer. No need to force it or anything. If you can't, it's no problem."
He nodded reluctantly.
Then I looked at Leo and George.
"I want you two to look into Thomas's group. Find out whatever you can."
Leo nodded right away. George did too, though he looked more interested in the idea of "looking into them" than he probably should've been.
After that, the conversation sort of died.
No one really felt like making small talk after hearing about the August first plan, so the founders all left together.
And just like that, I was alone again.
After they left, I picked up a book on the human psyche.
If I'm going to keep having these strokes, I figured it'd be best to know what's actually going on in my brain. Or, at the very least, understand the words the doctors keep throwing at me.
I only got about fifteen minutes into it before Mel came back.
"S-sorry, I forgot my hairband here..."
"Oh, okay."
She picked up the hairband and headed for the door.
Almost.
Right as she was about to leave, she stopped and turned around.
"I lied..."
"Hm?"
"I wanted to talk to you alone."
That caught me off guard.
I didn't question why.
"What's up?"
She looked down at the floor.
"I'm... worried."
"Worried about what? Me? I'll be fine. I actually just heard yesterday that I'm doing great during the tests."
Her lips curled up a little at that.
That was the first time today.
"That's not what I'm talking about..." she said quietly. "I'm worried about Factory 24. What are we going to do if they really try to keep it?"
Then I understood.
It wasn't Thomas's group she was really worried about.
It was Andrew.
She still thought Andrew would be part of the attack on the first, and honestly, I couldn't blame her for that.
So I tried to reassure her.
"Don't worry. Thomas shouldn't get violent. All he wants is the space. Maybe we can strike some kind of deal with him."
That seemed to lighten her a little.
But not enough.
I could still tell she was unsettled, like what she really wanted wasn't reassurance.
What she really wanted was for me to be there.
That thought made something else pop into my head.
Does she like me?
No.
That's impossible.
Me?
I tried to throw the thought away, but it stuck around anyway.
"I haven't told anyone yet," I said, "but I found out I'm getting out of here on the first."
Her face, which had been tilted down, shot up so fast it was almost funny.
"Really!?"
"Yep. Not sure what time, though. Probably sometime in the afternoon."
Now she looked way lighter, like half her worries had vanished instantly.
I didn't have the heart to ruin it right away, but I did anyway.
"My family might not let me go back to the factory that day, though."
That pulled her expression down a little again.
Right then, Dr. Blanc walked into the room.
Mel froze for half a second, then bolted out of there.
———————————————————————
"■■■■■, you ready for today's tests?"
"Yessir."
Every day, the doctors made me do a series of tests to make sure my memory and cognitive functions were normal.
Memory recall.
Pattern recognition.
Number sequences.
They also checked my nervous system, balance, reaction time, and a bunch of other stuff I didn't really care about as long as they let me leave on the first.
Today was a little different, though.
They had me do all the usual tests, but the memory recall one changed. This time, they had me watch a short twenty-minute film and afterward write out everything that happened scene by scene.
At first I didn't really get the point.
That made more sense after the results came back.
Dr. Blanc gave me the update later that day.
"Well, ■■■■■, whatever happened in the hippocampal part of your brain seems to have made it easier for you to remember things."
I didn't understand.
"During today's test, we had you watch a twenty-minute video. You then wrote down everything that happened exactly, to the best of your ability. After that, we tested you on things in the background that most people either forget or don't even notice."
I still didn't get where he was going with this.
So he kept talking.
"You remembered everything from the video perfectly. Frame by frame, what you wrote matched exactly. On the background test, you got every answer right. I'm not afraid to tell you this—your memory is perfect. Better, even, than what most people mean when they say photographic memory."
"Huh? Photographic memory? Me?"
"Yes."
"Wouldn't I be able to figure that out myself?"
He laughed.
"Well, yes. But it seems you weren't aware of it. What you have is extraordinary. You can remember pretty much anything and everything."
That sounded insane.
Until I realized I've literally been writing the story of my new life.
This story.
All the nights I sat down and wrote exactly what happened that day, or even the days and weeks before it, exactly how it happened.
I've been doing that since I was around five.
I always thought that was normal.
Maybe it isn't.
———————————————————————
After the tests were done, I went back to my room and found Sarah waiting for me.
"How long have you been here?"
I wasn't very amused by her presence. If Sarah was here, it probably meant there had been another development.
"About twenty minutes. I have an update for you."
"Of course you do," I sighed.
"Thomas's group plans to make their move at midnight that night."
"What? Midnight?"
"Yes. He knows most middle schoolers have a curfew, so he's planning to do it then."
"But the factory is closed anyway...?"
"He thinks if he did it during the day, you guys would come back whether you were supposed to or not."
That was fair.
We probably would.
And she was right—most of us do have a curfew, myself included. The factory usually shuts down around eight p.m. so everyone can get home. High schoolers, though, probably have later curfews, or none at all.
They don't have the limits we do.
"Shit..."
"That's all. I'll be going now."
"Really? You waited twenty minutes for this?"
"Yes. I found it important."
"You're weird, you know that?"
She didn't answer.
As she was about to walk out the door, I remembered Memory B.
Elaine was there.
Elaine and Sarah used to be close.
"Wait, Sarah. I have one last question for you."
She paused.
"What do you know about Elaine?"
She snapped her head back at me.
Her eyes were angry.
Not shocked.
She did not like hearing Elaine's name.
"Just what hap—"
She ran out the door.
I stared after her for a second.
"What's with these girls running off on me?"