"I...I can't believe it...Kayla Roberts? The girl always at the back of my class?" I cry out in shock, a twinge of recognition striking my foggy and addled mind.
It had to be her, I'd heard for sullen and dispassionate voice so many times in my classes. The lanky tall girl who always sat up the back in those heavy baggy clothes, trying to lay low until class was over, dismissing my questions and claiming she just didn't know the answers.
Her grades reflected this too, having been in a steady decline since she moved to my college from the local community college out in the suburbs. My mother had spoken fondly of Kayla, telling me she was a bright student. However, since the move she had just grown more and more despondent and was now on the verge of flunking out of college altogether.
"Yeah, you got me Mr. Hughes" Kayla's voice chimes out over the speakers, a subtle buzz beginning to emanate from the walls.
"What...what are you doing?!" I shout, the loudness of my voice causing my head to throb with pain as it echos in the confined room.
"This was a mistake, it was all a mistake" Kayla grumbles distractedly, her mind obviously preoccupied by something else entirely.
"What...what was a mistake?" I ask, hoping to talk her down from whatever it was she was doing.
"College, transferring. I can't do this...I'm...I'm going to fail" she mutters frantically.
"You can...look I know it's hard work, but you can..." I begin to respond, a burst of static cutting me off as she begins to talk again.
"No...no this is better" Kayla titters excitedly. "My dorm mate works here as a receptionist. She told me the security system was being updated tonight, no cameras to catch us. I just lifted her keys from her bag and now...once I work out how to use these things...I can skim and swap traits from anywhere in the world" she explains, obviously growing frustrated at the controls.
"What are you..." I begin to ask, Kayla quickly interrupting me in a huff.
"I'm starting over, better than before. I'm going to have the life I wanted" she fumes, the sound of clicking keys subtly coming through the speakers.
I lay staring at the ceiling for a moment, taking in what she was saying. I thrash once again against my restraints to no avail, finding the soft material holding me in place about as tough as resilient as one would expect.
"But...but why am I here?" I stammer, straining my neck as I try to crane my head up.
"You...well you were always...you were a good teacher and...well I didn't want to just leave you behind" she mutters nervously. "You tried to help...more than my parents and the school ever did."
Through my foggy mind I'm pulled back to all the times I had tried to help the gloomy girl at the back of my class, all the times I remembered how hard it was in my undergraduate and had reached out to offer help only to be rejected or dismissed out of hand.
"Sorry about spiking your...never mind, either way you're here now" Kayla says, her apologetic tones rapidly shifting back to sounding firm and resolute.
"What...what are you planning to do with me?" I whimper, sounding pathetic as the whirring in the room begins to pick up.
I can almost hear the smile creep across Kayla's lips as she begins to speak.
"Oh, well you see..."
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