Institute (Chapter 4, Story 1)

Kella was in no particular hurry to get home, where her younger siblings were sure to be crying, fighting, and begging to be held, and her mother was sure to be angry for some reason or other, so Kella decided to take the long route home. Since the town was so small, it never took more than fifteen minutes to walk anywhere, but if she walked behind the psychologist's office into Shady Stream Park, behind Scottsdale Research Institute, and through the used car lot, she could add five minutes to her trip. Kella was intrigued by the Research Institute. There was nothing particularly interesting about it on the outside; it was just a large cement building with a large parking lot filled with cars. It was the inside of the Institute that interested her. She had been inside only once, on a field trip with her third grade class. There hadn't been very much to see at first. The walls were bright white and scientists in white lab coats roamed about the building. None of the scientists spoke, and, since the children had been told to be silent, there were no sounds, except for the clack of shoes against the linoleum floor and a faint humming that seemed to come from the rear of the building. Kella had gotten bored within minutes of entering the building, so she's snuck off with another classmate, Tommy Hodges. "Are you sure this is a good idea?" asked Tommy, who was, at the time, Kella's best friend and constant companion. "Of course it is, Tommy," Kella had replied, and, taking Tommy's hand, she led him down a hallway toward the humming sound. The humming grew louder and louder, until Tommy wrenched his hand from Kella's and covered his ears. The walls began to take on a strange gray color, there were fewer scientists milling about, and the lights were getting dimmer. The hallway went on for a little while longer, until Kella and Tommy reached a set of large metal double doors. A sign on the right door said "DO NOT ENTER" in large red letters. Looking around, Kella realized that she and Tommy were all alone. "Come on Tommy, let's go in." "But Kella," Tommy whined, "the sign says not to." "There's nobody here, Tommy," Kella said. "Nobody will know. Are you scared?" Tommy hesitated. He was, in fact, very frightened, but he couldn't tell Kella that. "No, of course I'm not scared. Are you?" "Me? No, I don't get scared." Kella winced, realizing that she had just told a lie. Her father hated lies. "Well, sometimes I get scared, but I'm not now. Come on Tommy. We'll just take a quick peek inside, then we'll go find the others. Okay?" Tommy looked nervously around at the dingy, barely-lit hallway. What had once been a barely-audible hum was now a loud thwack thwack thwack that made the ground beneath his feet quiver. There was a bright light seeping beneath the doors; maybe his teacher was on the other side. "Fine," he said.