a/n there's a few mentions of sensitive topics again, beware 

Ryder's POV

Once I had finished putting the clothes away, I placed all my new aeroplane models on the shelves. Like Sam had said, it looked pretty cool. I then went and showered, and once I had returned, my bed sheets had changed from white to dark blue. 

I tilted my head at Sam. "Coulda sworn they were white,"

"I used my God powers to change the colour," he said, smirking. I looked at him skeptically. "Tessa changed them."

"More believable," I was now wearing black cargo joggers, and a light blue sweatshirt. I looked at the Pacman alarm clock on my bedside table. 8:24.

"See? Totally worth it," Sam said, looking at the pacman. 

"I agree," I said, drying my hair with my towel.

"If you feel up to it, we can go and see Rick," Sam said. He had showered as well, and was now wearing a tight grey t-shirt, with blue jeans. "And then we can grab something to eat, and I'll show you around,"

I nodded, "Yeah, sure why not,"

"Cool," Sam said. His damp hair was in front of his eyes but it didn't seem to bother him. He grabbed his phone and slipped on his shoes. I put on some black converse high tops with white socks, and followed him out of the room. My hair was a little damp, but I ignored it. Sam locked our room with his key card. "Gray said he'll get you one of these," he said, placing the card back into his pocket. 

We got back into the elevator, and Sam pressed level 20, the highest floor. An automated response came through on the speaker. "This level is for restricted personnel only, please enter identify yourself,"

"Samuel Hargrave," Sam said, loud and clear. 

"Samuel Hargrave + 1: authorised," the voice said, before the elevator started to move. 

"That's cool," I said. "I'm the plus one?"

"Yep, I know right? I wasn't even allowed to do that until a few years ago, it's the floor where all the important people stay," Sam said. 

"Is there anything I should avoid doing or saying that will make them hate me?" I asked, starting to get a little worried. 

"Not really, just stay calm and answer anything he asks. He can seem scary but, afterall, he is my brother. He's like a bigger scarier version of Blake, who can't walk in a straight line," I raised an eyebrow, "He got injured a few years ago, so he has crutches,"

"Oh, that must be so difficult for him." I said. It was unfortunate, since Sam told me earlier he was only 26, but I guess he runs the place now. 

The elevator stopped and I followed Sam out of it. "We have to wait here while we get scanned, or alarms will get set off," Sam said. 

We stood in a box while a red laser scanned us. After it was done, Sam led me down the hall to a large set of double doors. Two well armed men stood either side. 

"Jeremy! Thomas! I missed you guys," Sam spoke to them as we neared. 

"We missed you too kid. Who's the lucky girl?" said the man with J. Lee on his uniform. The other one had T. Rand, so I assumed this was Jeremy. 

Sam did well at ignoring their suggestive comment. "This is Ryder, we picked her up from England. We came to see Rick," Sam said. 

"Nice to meet you love," Thomas said, and I shook both of their hands. 

Jeremy opened one of the doors and Sam and I followed him into a large room. The room was practically empty, with just a large conference table at the back, and a sofa with a huge tv in front of it. There was also a large desk, with lots of papers and stuff. On the sofa, sat a blonde man, and he was watching the news from a different country. 

"Sir, sorry to interrupt, Samuel and the new kid are here to see you," Jeremy said. 

The man turned his head to look at us. "Thank you, Jeremy, you may leave," he had a kiwi accent, like Sam and Blake. After Jeremy left, he stood up, with his crutches, and made his way over to the large desk, sitting behind it, and turning of the tv.

"Take a seat," he motioned to the chairs on the other side of the desk, and I followed Sam's lead, sitting down beside him. "Brother, how was England?"

Sam smiled. "Pretty boring, till I met Ryder," 

The man looked from Sam to me. "Hello, Ryder. I'm Rick, Rick Hargrave,"

"It's nice to meet you," I said. I didn't mean for it, but my voice was quiet. 

"How was the journey here?" he asked. 

"It was good. I like plane journeys." 

"Good. Do you like your room? I hope you have no problems with sharing with Samuel,"

"I like it. No, I don't mind,"

"Don't be afraid to let somebody know if you're not satisfied with something. This is now your home, after all," he said, leaning forward in his seat. "Now, I'm sure Samuel has made you aware, but most of us have some kind of gift. And mine, is the ability to read minds, and pasts, through physical contact. Did he tell you?" I nodded. "Good. Then I'm sure you won't mind," he held his hand out, expectantly. "A series of memories may flash in front of your eyes for a few seconds,"

I placed my shaky right hand on top of his. He smiled, closed his eyes, and tightened his fingers around mine. 

I started to see things: me playing with toys as a 3 year old; me at the airport admiring planes; my parents slapping me; my sister getting ill and being rushed to hospital; the children at my school calling me fat, ugly, unloved; the children in my school kicking me and hitting me; returning home from school and my parents shouting at me, and hurting me; my sister's condition getting worse; more and more and more painful days; the kids in my school telling me to hurt myself; me listening to them; my cousin telling me not to, that I'm better than that; my sister's doctor tells us they can't help her anymore; my-

After just a few moments, I felt my hand being dropped and I opened my eyes to see Rick pushing back against his seat. 

He stared at me for a few seconds, a pained expression on his face. 

"Ricky? You okay?" Sam asked.

Rick leaned forward again, taking my hand. "Let me try again, there has to be more than just pain," he said, before the scenes start flashing in front of my eyes again.

---me opening my locker at school to find racist notes; my best friend lying to me, and talking behind my back; a boy in my class pretending to like me so that he could use me; my teacher calling me attention seeking in front of the whole class; my parents depriving me of food for a day because I talked back to them; my cousin telling me to stay strong, that this will pass someday; all the nights I cried myself to sleep after my parents shouted at me; my crush from school sending me videos of his friends calling me a whore-

I felt my hand being dropped again. 

"This can't be real," Rick said. 

"What do you mean? What did you see?" Sam asked. 

"How can somebody go through so much pain, and suffer so much abuse, but still be sitting here, so strong?" Rick said. "I held your hand for 10 seconds. 15 tops. But even I cannot bare to see this kind of life,"

I gave him a sad smile. "It's no big deal," 

"Never, in my 26 years, have I ever seen so much sadness in a person's life." his eyes had glassed over, like he was on the verge of tearing up. He slammed a fist on the table, making me and Sam flinch. "This is it. No more pain, no more suffering, no more abuse for you. I am going to make you the strongest woman the world has ever seen," he waves his hand, implying we could leave now. As we reached the door, he spoke again. "Keep her safe, Samuel, she has come so far already," he said. Sam gave a nod, before leading me out of the room.