Project PK Run

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Erinn looked him in the eyes. She searched them, looking for truth and honesty. She found it and sighed. "Do you have any type of metal I could put on my wrists? That keeps my powers under control." When in the lab, they made all of the experiments wear a metal bracelet. It worked in keeping their powers at a manageable level, but it hurt to keep them on for too long. She rubbed her wrist, feeling the scars from the last bracelet. She closed her eyes, looking resigned.
 
"Sure, I'll go find something." Lee replied, not actually knowing if he had anything but sure he could find something if he looked hard enough. He had to. If that could keep Erinn's powers under control, he would have much less to worry about.

He left Erinn to run up the stairs to his room and look for something. The drawer on the small table next to his bed was filled with all kinds of junk and he thought he could probably find something in there. He sifted through and found the metal chain of a necklace, and although he wasn't sure if it was the right kind of metal, he took it with him when he went back down the stairs.

"Is this alright? It's the chain of a necklace. I don't know what kind of metal it is... it's a little short..." He stared at it and wondered whether it would fit around both of her wrists if he broke it in half. "I think I have some aluminum foil too." he mentioned, looking over at one of the drawers under his kitchen counter.
 
"I just need it around one wrist." Erinn said, taking the chain from him. She put it on her wrist, hissing slightly as the bracelet started to burn her wrist ever so slightly. She looked back up at Lee, giving a pained smile. She felt her eyes water slightly and quickly rubbed them. A yawn escaped her lips as she felt the pain dull slightly.
 
"Does-Does it hurt?" Lee asked, stuttering helplessly from his continuing confusion over the situation. It was clear that the chain had made Erinn uncomfortable somehow, even though she tried to hide it by smiling at him. "I'm sorry. I just don't know anything about any of this. I wish I understood more... about your powers and everything. That way I would be able to help more." Erinn yawned and Lee realized she was probably exhausted from the ordeal, and not ready to explain everything about her past to him just yet.
 
"It's alright..." Erinn said. "Where do you want me to sleep?" The room that he had prepared earlier couldn't have possibly been for her. Or at least, that's what she wanted to think. She looked up at him, waiting for him to tell her to sleep on the floor. She played with the chain, causing it to burn other parts of her skin. She didn't react, not wanting to show anymore discomfort to the man who was letting her stay with him.
 
"Upstairs, in the guest room." he replied. "Do you want me to show you?" He knew she had seen it before, but he thought she must have forgotten after all the chaos that had just occurred. He started to walk towards the staircase.

"It's right near my room, so if you need anything you could just call me or knock on my door. I'll show you where it is." He felt a little better now that the situation seemed to be settling down due to the metal on Erinn's wrist keeping her under control.
 
Erinn nodded as she followed him. She memorized where his room was before walking back to the guest room. Once there, she took a couple blankets that were on the bed and put them on the floor, curling them up like a nest. She placed the pillow down, next to her blanket next. She lied down on the nest, curling up and laying her head on the pillow. She fidgeted a lot, trying to find a comfortable spot. Twisting and turning, she continued her normal routine for falling asleep.
 
Lee went in his room to go to sleep, exhausted after the day's events. He had no idea that in the other room, Erinn was curled up in a nest of blankets on the floor instead of lying on the bed. He himself got into bed and engulfed himself in the comfortable and familiar blanket and sheets, curling around them, feeling completely overwhelmed with everything but feeling safer and less stressed with the softness all around him. He didn't know what the next morning would bring, only that his life would probably be different from then on.
 
The next morning, Erinn slept through the morning birds call, still curled up in her nest of blankets. Her neck was curled toward her right shoulder and her arms were curled to her chest. She was lying on her back, the pillow thrown away. She breathed silently, never one to snore. The skin around her wrist was a raw red, as if something had been rubbing against it all night. The chain still hung onto the raw skin, clinging to her left wrist.
 
Lee woke up a little later than usual, having not set his alarm before going to bed. He had been completely exhausted by the night's ordeal, but his biological clock had let him wake up at least not too late, still in the morning time when the birds were chirping and the newly risen sun was shining through the panes of his bedroom window.

He went into the upstairs bathroom, doing his morning routine, brushing his teeth, washing his face, then went back into his room to change into some clean clothes. Then, he exited his room again and looked to the door of the guest room, seeing it was still closed. He wondered if Erinn were still inside, still asleep. He approached the door, and lightly knocked.

"Erinn?" he called softly, not wanting to startle her if she was still asleep. "Are you awake?" He figured he should make breakfast for the both of them
 
Erinn groaned slightly and sat up. "The doors open... I'm ready for the tests..." She said, still half asleep. She rubbed her eyes, hoping the doctors weren't too hard on her. She yawned, wanting to go back to sleep. They didn't like it when she slept past test time. Last time she got punished. A small crick bugged her neck as she rubbed it. She must have slept awkwardly. A loud yawn perforated the peacefulness of the room.
 
Lee heard Erinn say something, in a sleepy groan. Something about "The door's open" and "tests." Cautiously, he turned the doorknob and found it wasn't locked, then creaked the door open and saw the girl lying on the floor.

"What are you doing down there?" he asked, and then saw something that horrified him - the raw red flesh around Erinn's wrist, with the metal chain hanging off it.

"Oh my gosh, what happened?" He panicked-ly thought that he had made the chain too tight around her wrist, not remembering that she had put it on herself, and that it had been fairly loose due to being a long necklace, not a bracelet. But it had burned her skin.

So stunned by the horror of seeing Erinn's injured wrist, Lee grabbed the chain and ripped it off, not even thinking about what he was doing.
 
"What?" Erinn asked, grabbing the chain from him. "That's what happens when a pk user wears metal for too long." She put the chain back on her wrist. She didn't hear the first question as she stood up. Still yawning and rubbing her eyes, she stood up. She looked around, becoming fully awake. She ran a hand through her hair. She'd have to explain everything to him now. Great.
 
"Doesn't it hurt?" Lee asked, almost pained himself that she would put the metal back on her raw red wrist after it had burned her. Then again he knew that if she didn't wear the metal her powers might get out of control again, and he didn't want that either.

"And... why were you sleeping on the floor? Was there something wrong with the bed?" He looked over at it, somehow already feeling responsible for something there was no evidence that he had caused.
 
"I'm allowed to sleep on the bed?" Erinn asked, surprised. She was never allowed to sleep on the bed. This definitely was strange. She looked down at the nest of blankets and pillow. She should probably clean that up. She knelt down and grabbed the blankets, spreading them over the bed. She smoothed them out before putting the pillow on the bed, making it look nice. She turned back to Lee, hoping she didn't anger him at all.
 
"Yes of course you're allowed to sleep on the bed." Lee replied, confused. But then he thought about it. Erinn had probably never slept on a bed before. Based on how she was acting and what she had told him, she had probably never been treated well before, and that made him feel a deep pang of empathy for her as she cleaned up and smoothed out the blankets that had previously been on the floor.

"I'm sorry... I know you're not used to these kind of things..." As he spoke, he knew he strongly wanted to ask Erinn about what had really happened to her, about the details of what she had gone through, not out of morbid curiosity but more out of knowing that the more he knew, the more he could understand and help with the situation at hand. That way, he wouldn't have to deal with any more causing her powers to go out of control, or her going through some discomfort, like sleeping on the floor, because she didn't understand normal human hospitality.

But it also seemed extremely insensitive to ask for those details, and he hesitated to ask even the smallest question about her past life.
 
"It's fine. Experiments aren't usually used to any type of anything." She said. "Besides tests." She made sure that the bed was completely perfect, refusing to look at him. She pulled on the sheets, wrinkling them and un-wrinkling them. Anything she could do to keep her hands busy, she did.

She had never been good at talking with people. Even the other experiments, when it was free time she never played with the others or talked with them. She sat alone in the corner. She supposed that was why she survived so long. She didn't interact so much that her chemicals were never imbalanced. She never got mad, sad, angry, or hurt. The experiments that died always experienced some form of these emotions before burning themselves out and dying.
 
Lee frowned. "You don't have to keep fixing the bed. It looks perfect." he told her, seeing how she fidgeted with trying to make the blanket perfectly smooth.

"What... kind of tests did they do? If you don't mind me asking... I know it's probably hard to talk about..." He too was avoiding eye contact as he spoke, and the atmosphere in the room was very tense.
 
"Physical, mental, emotional, and general tests." Erinn said simply. "All of them involve some sort medication or pain." She didn't listen to him as she messed with the bed. She needed something to do with her hands. Something.

She looked over at him, tilting her head. He seemed nervous. Why? Why was he nervous? She looked back down at the chain. Oh yeah... that was why. She sighed as she continued to mess with the bed.
 
It was awful to hear about the tests they had done on Erinn. No human being should have to go through that cruelty, Lee thought. "I know they hurt you," Lee said, "but they can't get you now. Can they?" He didn't think about it until that moment - what if they were after her? What if they were tracking her and they came to his house and tried to take her? He shivered a little, but it still didn't make him think of kicking her out.
 
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