The door closed behind Sam and he didn’t care that it shut in the face of the boy from the hallway. Two of them in one day had been taken out. The Sphere said that people with stronger, more dangerous abilities were living on another floor of the building, but from what Sam had seen he was certain that was a lie. He walked to his bedside and picked up a lump of clay. He held it in his hand as the ruins etched in his skin turned a deep red and the clay was replaced with a steel spear. The teenager set the spear on his bed and closed his eyes.

He wanted out. This place felt more like a prison than a hospital and he couldn’t stand to be in such close proximity to so many people with abilities who weren’t allowed to use them. Sam had tried to coax people into practicing in private like he did, but the others seldom did out of fear that they would be taken to another floor. Rumors spread like wildfire through The Sphere and it was impossible to tell what was fact or fiction.

There were some who believed that this place was good and helpful, while others believed it was only a matter of time before they were all experimented on and left for dead. After doing some snooping of his own Sam had discovered the truth. He pointed his hand at the steel spear on his bed as his etching filled with red and watched as it transmuted into cinder block. Picking up the cinder block with little effort, the boy walked to his wall and placed it on the ground. Sam placed his hand on one of the blocks in the wall and felt the power leave his body as the cement crumbled, turning into dust. He slid his lighter, fake block into its place and sat cross legged. The wall was almost completely composed of his fake bricks now, allowing for an escape whenever he wanted. It just needed to be the right time. He wanted to take as many people with him as he could but that required people listening.

The old man with the chess pieces was doing his part, as far as Sam could tell, and they had a small group of six ready to break through the wall at a moment’s notice. The chess guy had given them each a paperclip that he said would get hot when the time was right and so far it hadn’t.

Sam sat on the ground tracing patterns into the dust that lived there, wishing his time away, feeling the etchings on his hands begin to itch. The etchings had appeared when Sam was around ten. He couldn’t be certain on the time because it was a gradual fade in. He had noticed the lines softly appear in spots but the condition grew worse until he could feel them like ridges on his skin. Being in middle school at the time, Sam thought it best to hide the abnormality by wearing long sleeved shirts and gloves, which granted him the nickname ‘Sparkles’ thanks to some books about vampires.

The name calling and bullying grew worse and worse until one day Sam got incredibly frustrated and the gloves transformed into snakes that chased after a group of kids. The boy stood shocked, feeling light headed, and noticed the deep red that the lines had turned. The snakes disappeared after chasing the kids and luckily no one believed them, getting Sam off the hook. From that point on, he had tried to practice turning things into other things. At first he thought he could only turn things into snakes, but he mistakenly thought of slugs during a practice and produced the slimy mollusks, causing him to venture into new territory. Through his hands, Sam could turn anything into anything else. He could make a dirt clod into a gold bar, or a leaf into a plate. The only draw back was that after using his power, he became light headed and weak. Turning big things into new objects nearly killed him on the occasions that he had tried but he had worked his way up to items the weighed nearly forty pounds.

Sam flexed his fingers, feeling the muscles as they tensed and relaxed with each motion. The facility had grown quiet again after they had taken the girl with the colored hair away. No voice came over the intercom to say that she had been taken somewhere else and that worried the boy. Deciding to go on a walk, Sam stood and put on a fresh pair of clothes. He brushed his teeth quickly and stepped into the hallway. A nurse pushed a cart from room to room a ways down the hall but no other person inhabited the space.

The boy turned to his left and decided to visit one of the group and see what she had to say about an escape soon. He walked past three doors until he came to her room and knocked lightly on the wooden barrier. The door opened in seconds and a girl with bright blue eyes welcomed him in. Sam walked into the room and took a seat and waited for the girl to grab her notepad and pen.

“Is it time to leave yet?” the boy asked irritation slipping into his voice.

The girl, named Sophie, wrote on her notepad and showed Sam. ‘It’s nice to see you too, grump.’ it read. Sophie was mute but had beautiful handwriting. She began to write again and let Sam read the finished product. ‘Something's about to happen.’ Sophie gave a reassuring smile as she jumped off her bed and grabbed a duffel bag already packed.

Sam looked at the girl with wide eyes, as the sprinklers overhead burst open. Water rained on the two as the boy jumped from his seat and ran into the hallway and to his room. People rushed through the hall as the water continued to pour, leaving puddles here and there. Sam grabbed his own duffel bag and felt the paperclip he kept around his neck begin to burn. Within moments, the boys room was full of people, Sophie and the chess man among them, and the door was shut and barricaded.

“Are we ready to do this?” Sam asked as he stood by the wall he’d replaced.

A tall man stepped forward and placed his hand on the wall giving it a small push. “I’ve waited long enough.”

The wall gave way as sunlight and a breeze rushed in. The sextet jumped the few feet to the ground and ran as fast as they’re legs could carry them to a forest that surrounded this section of The Sphere. Sam looked back at the dwindling building and saw no one pursuing them but pushed forward still. They had planned to run as far as the day could take them and there was no stopping them now.