KAISA HÄMÄLÄINEN

"I had all and then most of you
Some and now none of you
Take me back to the night we met
I don't know what I'm supposed to do
Haunted by the ghost of you"

KAISA WOKE UP screaming. She thrashed around, looking around her cell with wide eyes. She felt the fire, all over her. It was begging to be released, but she took a deep breath and kept it inside. She can't let anyone know about her powers, especially not the guards and scientists. Who knows what tests they'll run on her, what they'll do to her.

She sat up and took a deep breath, not wanting to repeat history. Suddenly a big crash pierced her ears. The now all too familiar sound, the aggressive door opening only the guards here could do. Her head perked up as they walked in, all completely armed this time, begging everything she has ever believed in before to not let it be for her. The first guard set his eyes on her and yelled something. She knew it was over, they came for her. The little girl stood up, trying her best to supress her emotions that were burning her skin, especially her chest, pleading to be released, just like when she woke up five minutes later, only this time a thousand times more intensely.

The guards opened her cell door and dragged her out. Kaisa looked back, checking to see if she accidentally has blown up something or showed even just a tiny glimpse of her powers. Nothing, everything seemed to be exactly in its place with no unexpected or unexplainable flames whatsoever. So that left one possibility. Another experiment.

To the thought of that, the blonde let out a small anxiety breath. They always managed to find her at the worst possible times. Not that there were 'ideal' times for torture disguised as 'experiments', but right after a nightmare? Yikes...

Only this time they took her to a different, unknown room. There was a small forest green sofa, on it sat a man with a notebook in his hands, behind him was a large bookshelf with possibly a hundred books about psychology and so. The room wasn't white like the lab, instead it was a lime green colour that made her head hurt and want to pull out all her hair strands one by one. There wasn't many things to look at, but there was a window, it was snowing heavily outside.

They didn't strap her down and there were no scientists around. The man looked up from his notebook, his glasses sliding slightly down on the bridge of his nose, making him seem like a strict professor in university. He raised his eyebrows and looked at her curiously. There was something in his brown eyes that made Kaisa want to scream and run out of the room.

"So... You're the new subject for Project: Poltergeist, are you?" The man asked, leaning back on the sofa and putting his glasses on his head, pushing back his brown hair with white streaks in it.

Kaisa remained silent, not wanting to answer that question. Or any question, for that matter. The man sighed and motioned for her to sit down, so she hesitantly did so. The man handed her a glass of water, to which the blonde girl just looked down at with suspicion and a lot of confusion.

"Don't worry, it's not poisonous. Here, I'll show you." And with that, the man raised the cup to his chapped lips and took a small sip, then flashing her a smile. "See? It's perfectly safe. I just need you to stay hydrated for this session..." His voice trailed off as he let out a small chuckle, obviously finding something he said funny. Pathetic... "This isn't an experiment, I promise you that. We just need you to tell us some things about yourself. You can do that, right?" He paused, waiting for Kaisa to react, but she didn't even blink as she stared him down. He sighed once again and looked down at the notebook in his lap.

Kaisa still didn't drink the water, no matter how much the man in front of her tried to prove that it was safe to do so. She waited for the man to speak. He did, and when he did, his tone sounded different, it sounded more authoritative.

"Alright, so, let's try this again, shall we? Hi, Kaisa. My name is John Meller and I want to ask you some questions and I would really appreciate it if you could answer them, because, as you may already know, without them we can't continue the project. Okay?" He finally looked up at her and something else glimmered in his eyes, something that demanded respect and answers, so the girl reluctantly nodded.

"Good," He nodded back, satisfied with the almost-answer. "Your full name?"

   Kaisa sighed and whispered, "Kaisa Veera Hämäläinen..."

   "Good girl," She internally cringed at those words. "How do you spell that?"

   "K-A-I-S-A V-E-E-R-A H-Ä-M-Ä-L-Ä-I-N-E-N" The girl snarled, hating herself for giving in to this man, but hating the man more for gathering information on her, like this is some sort of initiation ceremony and from that point on she belongs to them.

   After that, the man asked her more questions, mostly about her powers and the accident in the house she was previously living in. Then he asked about her place and time of birth, weighted her and measured her height, then asked about her family. She stubbornly only answered in Finnish, not wanting the man to think that he got to her even a little bit. The man then asked her how many languages she could speak, now rightfully curious.

   "Puhun suomea, englantia ja unkarilaista." She looked up at the man with a cocky smirk. (I speak Finnish, English and Hungarian.)

The man nodded and wrote down what she said, wiping the smirk off her face. 'Damn it... Fucking multilingual people' She thought to herself as she bit her lower lip to keep herself from saying it out loud. It was tempting to do so.

-______-

After the talk that felt more like an interrogation was over, the guards took her back to her cell. They pushed her inside as harshly as they could like it was a sick and twisted way of letting her know that they're in charge, not her. Kaisa almost cried as she fell right on her chin, the pain instantly kicking in but she blinked back her tears. She had to stay calm and reserved. She can't let the assholes know they got to her, that they broke her. But deep down she knew they broke her the moment she got to the first location, she knew no one was looking for her, she knew she didn't have anyone to care for her or love her, she knew she was nothing more than just another puppet on their strings and she knew she can't do anything about it. As much as it pained her to admit it, she was longing for the love, care, comfort and happiness other people -especially kids- had. She was trained to believe that emotions made her weak, but sometimes, in the middle of the night she cried herself to sleep, wondering if the lives she had taken was the reason why she was always alone, no matter how much and how hard she tried to find a family. Then it hit her, out of nowhere... She had a family. The couple. Sure, they were weird and secretive but they took her in when no one else even batted an eyelid at the fact she was just orphaned due to a car accident. And what did she do? She pushed them away. She didn't talk to them, didn't look at them and didn't even want to get to know them. Hell, she didn't even remember their names!

   She felt something warm, familiar dropping down her chin and she wiped the blood off, now more frustrated than sad.

As she sat up with a deep breath to calm herself down, she felt a pair of cold, calculating eyes practically burning holes into her. She looked up and her eyes met James'. She stayed silent, not knowing if the previous "shut up" from him was still on or his anger has subsided since. She was now on guard and very cautious around him.

Suddenly, James spoke in a slightly more calm and friendly tone, which surprised the girl. "Hello."

That's it. That's all he said.

Kaisa looked at him with uncertainty as she replied, "Hi," She blinked twice as she looked deeper into his eyes, trying to figure out whatever he was thinking about, to no use. "Are you... normal again?" She asked hesitantly.

James looked away for a second, seemingly thinking about the question for a second, the girl could almost see the gears turning in his head, before looking back at her and responding with a question that only confused the little girl further, "I feel like I know you... Have we met before?"

Kaisa nodded, then stood up and slowly walked to the window-wall separating the two. Her steps were slow and cautious, like she was approaching a wild, unpredictable animal as she tried to understand just what was going on. "James... Do you not... remember me?"

James shook his head as he, too, stood up and walked towards the window.

"Do you remember your name? Or... anything? Where were you born? What happened...?" Her voice trailed off as she quickly realized she was overwhelming the man. She took a deep breath and decided to ask one question at a time, "Do you remember who you are...?"

James seemed to be in deep thought, trying desperately to remember even just a small glimpse of his life, then let out a frustrated sigh and shook his head once again.

"Your name is on your weird necklace," Kaisa stated, trying her best to stay positive and patient with him. After all, it probably wasn't his fault he had amnesia, but rather the scientists'. "And my name is Kaisa. Kaisa Hämäläinen, and we've met before."

James looked down at the tags around his neck and kept his gaze down, like he was processing all this new information. Then he looked back up at Kaisa's small figure and asked a question that surprised the girl even more, "Are we... friends?"

Kaisa stood there for a second, looking at the man in front of her with unblinking eyes and a ton of hesitation and confusion on her mind. Were they friends? Is that what he considered her as? She was dumbfounded and felt lost. If she told him "yes", then later he got back his memories, he might get mad at her and break the window, possibly choking her with his metal arm. But if she said "no", then that would most definitely make him sad and upset. She has never had friends before, she didn't know what it was like to have one and it was eating her up from the inside. Maybe if she responded with a positive answer, she'd help him regain his memories and isn't having friends about helping the other? She had at least a million thoughts running through her mind in the span of two seconds before she made up her mind. Whatever they had done to him, he deserves to have his memories back and a friend to help him through it.

"Yeah. Yeah, we're friends." She smiled at him. James nodded and walked back to his spot, sat down and looked down at his tags once again.

That was the point Kaisa started to wonder just what they had put this poor man through... Whatever it was, it was now her duty to help him get through it. As his only friend in this hell. It was beneficial for the both of them, she helps him and he helps her. Who wouldn't want a big, strong man with a metal arm as a friend? It was a good choice, even for the dumbest person alive. Of course she wanted a friend and having a friend like him was just another bonus.