• When I woke up again, I was alone on the floor. I tried to stand up, but I only had enough strength to sit against the wall. For a minute, I couldn’t find James. I started to panic. What if they had taken him away while I was sleeping? What if they hurt him? What if he had escaped without me? What if… what if… my mind was swirling with horrible thoughts, and I was getting dizzy.
    “Are you okay?” asked James. I looked to where the voice was coming from, and sure enough, he was right next to me, leaning against the wall. He was smiling down on me, holding a wrench in one hand. “You look sort of stressed out.”
    “What do you think? Where trapped in a room, you aren’t going to be you in the future, and evil scientists are out to get me so they can turn my insides out and probably kill me! No way am I stressed.” I said, not holding back on the sarcasm.
    He didn’t stop smiling. “I’m not stressed either. I’ve been turned into a freak, I’m gonna be a bird, the scientists are still trying to torture me, and my best friend, maybe even the girl I love is in absolute danger of dying or ending up like me.” His face melted into a hard, unforgiving stare at the wrench, as if all this was its fault.
    My face turned pink. “I’m sorry.” I said looking at the floor. “Wait…” my face turned from a light pink to a tomato red. “What was that you said about the girl you love? Who is it?”
    James’ muscles stiffened. His eyes looked surprised and bewildered. He hesitantly looked sideways at me, bit his lip, and turned in his heel and walked away, mumbling “no one…” he squatted down at the corner of the room, and turned the wrench around a bolt. I tried to crane my neck so I could see.
    “What are you doing?” I asked, curious.
    “There’s an air vent here, see?” he moved over so I could see what he was working on. “If I can pop the top off and get you through here, you’re free.”
    My eyes lit up. “That’s great! We can escape together.”
    James’ eyes turned from exited to sad. “Not we… you.” He said, looking away. He started unscrewing the bolts again.
    My heart skipped a beat. “No…” I whispered. “I’m not leaving you again. Not again… not ever!”
    “You have to! I have no chance, my wigs would be in the way, and I’m too big, and I’d never make it! But you, you have a chance, and you have to go.” James exclaimed.
    “No.” I sounded like a stubborn two-year-old. “Not without you.”
    “Yes, you will. I can’t stand to see you here another minute.” He said, popping off the grate of the air vent. “Now go.”
    “I can’t. I can barely stand up. You’re going to have to wait.” I said stubbornly, crossing my arms across my chest. I wasn’t going without him anyway.
    We kept on bickering, quite loudly, until…
    “Hey!” that wasn’t me or James. James had moved to stand in front of me while we where fighting. “Will you two stop fighting? We could already hear you without the air vent off.” The voice said again.
    James leaped in front of me to protect me blocking my view, wings spread out and menacing. They looked a little bigger than yesterday…
    “Where did you come from!?!” asked James, astonished.
    “The next room, duh. Your new here, aren’t you?” I heard rustling coming from where the voice was coming from. I could see sneakers walking towards us through James’ legs.
    “No, I’ve been here three weeks.” Said James, tensing up every step the new-comer came closer.
    “That’s not long at all.” The voice said. “I’ve been here three years, and just last year, they turned me into this… freakazoid. So…what’s behind your back, bird? Hiding your things?”
    “Nothing. Just me in here.” Said James evenly.
    “Then why don’t you just move aside?” the voice challenged. He was so close that I could reach out and touch his sneakers if I wanted to. There was something twitching behind him… was that… a tail? My eyes, must have played a trick on me…
    James lunged at him, and he just sidestepped, and moved toward me. In a flash, his face was inches from mine. He had pure black, mischievous eyes, and snow white hair. And popping up at the sides where… grey cat ears! And that was a tail I saw!
    He was just like James, only a cat instead of a bird.
    “Hello, pretty” he said. “My name is Keenan.”