The Experiment by Cassidy Shay (top non fiction books of all time TXT) 📕

I hope that he didn’t suspect anything. “I’ll go get her. I have to tell her something.”
I rush out the door before he can question me. I get to Dr. Pender’s office just as the scientists are all leaving. To my surprise, Belle has a big smile on her face. “What happened?”
“They just asked her some questions. They did a short physical examination, checked her blood pressure, and all that. The first few weeks, maybe even the first few months, she’ll be fine.” I breathe a sigh of relief. She still has time.

“Thank you so much.” I look at my daughter, then at my friend. “Could you guys do me a favor?” Dr. Pender nods, and I crouch down at eye-level with Belle. “Don’t tell Daddy about coming here, okay? If he asks you where you were, tell him that you were with Aunt Julie, okay?” She nods, but I know that she’s confused.
“Are you sure that that’s the right thing to do?” asks Dr. Pender, and I nod.
“I just feel like if he knows, he’ll try to step in and get himself hurt. I trust you, that you won’t let anything bad happen to her. But he’s really protective, and I know that he’ll find out eventually, but for now, I’d like to keep it a secret. And when I see Julie, I’ll ask her to do the same.” We talk for a few minutes, and then I tell her that I have to go.
“Oh, before you go, we’ve chosen our new Warden. He starts tomorrow morning.” Judging by the smile on her face, it was a good decision. “I think you’ll be pleased with this one.”
I lead Belle back to our room, where Mathew stands by the table, smiling. “He came to our workstation today. The Warden. He said that next week, we’re starting on a new project. But before we start, we get tomorrow and the next day off.” He hugs us both, and then steps back. If his smile gets any bigger, it’ll split his head into two pieces.
“What’s the new project?” Mathew works with a small team of Azuli who do repairs, but also any construction that needs to be done.
“We’re putting in windows. Great, big windows, all over the Academy. It’s going to take a while, and before we actually start we have to go to this class thing for a week, to make sure we know what we’re doing.” He looks at Belle. “You’ll get to see sunlight soon, honey,” he says. Then, he looks at me. “Maybe, someday, we’ll get to go outside.”
I shake my head, turn to the kitchen. “We’ll never get to go outside, Mathew. Not when there’s a revolution and we have all the secrets to winning.” I start to make dinner, but Mathew stops me.
“Let’s go out tonight. As a celebration.” Going out really just means going to the cafeteria. But as long as I don’t have to cook, I’m okay with it.
The news about the windows must have spread quickly, because everyone in the cafeteria is smiling, laughing, yelling across the large room. It’s been a long time since I’ve seen anyone this happy.
The next morning, I realize that there’s a big problem. Mathew has the next two days off. How am I supposed to sneak past him?

Belle has to be gone for three hours. What if, in the middle of that, Mathew decides to go check on her, see if Julie needs anything? What if he feels sick and goes to see Dr. Pender?

I lay there, not sure what to expect. Mathew rolls over to me, puts his arm around my waist. “Can you take the day off today and tomorrow? I was thinking we could all just have two long, family days where we’re all together.”
“I can’t. I took yesterday off without telling them. I’ll have to answer for that today. And they probably won’t let me get the day off tomorrow. And Belle goes to Julie’s every day from 1:30 to a little after four. I’m usually awake in time to pick her up.” I get up, start to get dressed. I can feel his eyes on my back, but he doesn’t say anything. “I gotta go.” I give him a kiss on the cheek and leave out apartment.
I walk into the DarkRoom and I’m not surprised to see my father-in-law in there. But I don’t recognize the other man. I sit in my chair. “What do you want?”
I hear the clink of medals hitting each other as he moves over to me. “You played hooky yesterday.”
“No duh. I think I know where I was, where I wasn’t yesterday. That’s not what I asked you. I asked what you want.” He is silent for a second, and I see the other man’s eyebrows raise at my attitude.
“You get four and half hours in here today, instead of the two. And I want five drawings today.” He turns to the other man. “She’s all yours now.”
The man stands up and introduces himself as the new Warden. He wears a dark suit, has broad shoulders and a receding hairline. His eyes are green, his eyebrows are thick. His nose is pointy, with a bump in the middle. He has a mole in the middle of his left cheek. He stands tall, not short like the other wardens have been.
“I have tried all of yesterday, and all morning today to get them to stop this ridiculous thing. But it’s pretty much the one thing in this Academy that I don’t control.” He runs his hand through what little hair he has.
“I have, however, gained some ground.” He smiles at me. “You get one day each week that you don’t have to come in. You get your birthday off, your daughter’s birthday off, and your husband’s birthday off.” His smile fades. “I tried to get them to stop with the torture. But he kept telling me that he’s in charge and he doesn’t care what I say.” He shakes his head slowly. “But I did get him to agree not to do the torture once a week. So each week you get two days off from the torture, but on one of those days, we still need a Memory.”
He looks at the ground, and a blush rises to his cheeks. “If you are… uh… pregnant, you do not have to come in. You will be tests for pregnancy every Monday.” He stands and looks around, looking very uncomfortable because he had to talk about pregnancy for a minute. Why is that such a big deal?

“I guess I have to go now. I wish I could have done more for you.”
I shake my head. “No, no. What you’ve done is great. It’s much more than I ever expected.” I get up from my chair and give him a hug, which only makes him seem even more uncomfortable. “Thank you.” As he leaves, I think about what this means for me. Because of the torture, I decided that I didn’t want to get pregnant again.
Mathew and I had discussed it, and we agreed that the torture would destroy any life inside my belly. But now, with these new circumstances, pregnancy will save me.
But pregnancy won’t save me today. Today, I have more than twice the amount of time that I’m usually in here. I start drawing, slowly, taking my time. I don’t draw Memories, though.
The first thing that I draw is the sky, on a beautiful day. Clouds, birds, and treetops are the only things you can see. Next, I draw two hands. Once belongs to a child, and it grasps that of a mother. My third drawing takes a little more time, as it is more detailed. It is a small dog, wrapped in the arms of a child as they sleep. Next, I draw a wedding.
On the fifth drawing, I think for a couple minutes about what to draw. And then, I know. I draw a belly. You can see that the belly is extended, that the woman is pregnant. I draw two hands over it, showing possession and protection. One hand belongs to a man, and one belongs to a woman.
Then, I wait. I know that it will start soon, the torture. But I wait, and wait, and wait. I’m tense, wondering when they’ll start. The waiting is almost as bad as everything else that they do,

I think.
And that’s when it hits me, what they’re doing. They know that the waiting, the wondering, is just as bad as the rest of it. They give me time to let my imagination run wild. I get to sit here and think and wonder about all the things that they are going to do to me. I relax, so that they have no power over me with this.
And that’s when they begin. I know that it’s started because I’m stuck in mid-blink, my eyes half open and half closed. My scalp starts to hurt, like someone is pulling out all of my hairs, only two or three at a time. It starts slowly, but after about a minute, it’s as if several people are working at it all at once. Tiny clumps of my hair are pulled from my head.
After all of my hair has been removed, my skin starts to sting. It starts at my elbows, and spreads all throughout my body. And then, the last part starts.
My body begins to freeze. It freezes from the outside in, until I can feel the frostbite start to develop. It’s not like the first day’s freezing. This is much worse, all the way to the core of my body, until I think I’m going to die. But that would be too merciful. The real pain begins when I start to thaw. It takes the rest of the time, probably about an hour and a half. As the heat slowly returns to my body, as the cold ebbs from my skin, I feel some of the worst pain of my life. I long to soak in ice, so stay frozen, stay numb, to keep the pain away.
Finally, I can move. I close my eyes, wait for the moisture to return to my eyes. When I’ve gathered enough strength to move, I go to the door. I make it back to my room. I don’t think about the torture, only the solution. Finally, I know how to get out of that room, how to make sure that I don’t have to be hurt anymore.
As I break through the doorway, I run to Mathew. “I figured it out.” I give him a kiss on the lips, taking him by surprise. Before he can recover enough to kiss me back, I pull away. “I know how to avoid the torture.” I kiss him again, and this time he laughs through it.
“That’s great!” He kisses me this time, and I lean into him, feel his arms around my waist. And then I remember Belle. I look at the clock. It’s 1:25. That means that, today, it took me about an hour to recover enough to make it back here.
“I have to take Belle, before I tell you. I’ll be right back.” I lead Belle to Dr. Pender’s office. “I can get out of that room,” I say. “I know how to be free.” Dr. Pender looks confused, but she tells me that I’ll have to explain it later. I give Belle a hug, then make my way back to Mathew.