Dec 17, 2019 18:30:22 GMT
Post by 4̸̛̥̭̟̈́͛͜0̵̛̘̟̪͈̖̀4̴̪͐͋ on Dec 17, 2019 18:30:22 GMT
This isn’t like your other dreams. You've never seen this before.
You feel small, sitting in a bright room, surrounded by men and women in white coats. The light hurts your eyes, so you have to squint a bit to see properly. You see wiring in your peripheral– that’s when you realize you’re hooked up to brainwave scanners. A monitor reacts to this revelation– reacts to everything you do. The doctors don’t pay you much mind and are busy buzzing about the room, fiddling with strange instruments and devices. You count six of them, covered head to toe, no skin exposed. Are they even human? You don’t think so.
The wires tug as you turn your head slightly. There’s a man by the door at your eight o’clock, standing vigilant. You notice the gun on his holster, and wonder if it’s loaded. You imagine it probably is, considering they have orders to shoot if things get out of hand.
But everything’s fine, everything’s calm. It always is. There hasn’t been an accident in months, so no one seems too worried about you fidgeting and swinging your legs as they conduct the usual tests.
When they’re done, they remove the wires, and thank you as you’re shooed out of the room. Another boy enters when you exit– blonde hair and bright blue eyes, clear and beautiful. Like the ocean. You hope you get to see the ocean one day, so you can tell him his eyes are prettier. He gives you a smile, but it’s so sudden as he brushes by that you don’t have the opportunity to smile back.
They don’t mind if you wander. There are enough cameras that they can see you all the time, always watching and waiting. Armed men and women sometimes walk by, some joking, some with dark grimaces on their faces. A woman with blue hair stops and smiles when she sees you, and asks how you’re doing.
“I’m tired.” you yawn. You were never good at conversation. Not like the ocean-eyed boy.
“Why don’t you go sleep, honey?” she suggests, ruffling your hair playfully.
You shake your head defiantly. “No, I want to see the fishies.”
She nods, but seems undeterred. “The fish vivariums aren’t going anywhere, you could take a few minutes to sleep, couldn’t you? I don’t want all these tests to overwork you.”
You know what she means.
Sometimes, after too many tests, kids will retaliate in unnatural ways, leading to accidents. You always wonder where they go afterwards. You hear some of the kids saying they get sent home, since they’re too bad to perform tests on.
You know the truth.
This is home.
But where do they go, then?
You shrug. “Okay. I’ll sleep.”
The blue-haired woman seems satisfied with that answers, and pats your head again. “Good. Get lots of rest, okay?”
You nod.
She walks away, and you don’t go to your room. Instead, you keep trudging down the hallway to the vivariums. You just wanted to see the fish for a little bit– a few minutes wouldn’t hurt anybody.
You push the door to the vivariums open softly, careful not to disturb the animals within. There are many plants, and many reptilian, amphibian, and aquatic creatures here. You think the birds and other animals are elsewhere, but you don’t know. This place is too big, sometimes.
You come here for the fish. The entire room is bathed in a soft blue glow as half the room holds various tanks and aquariums, all with exotic fish of all colors and sizes.
You’ve named a few after the other kids you’ve met here, but you find it difficult to discern one red fish from the other, so you’re certain you’ve gotten them confused in the past.
You sit down in front of a particularly menacing tank– deep and wide and suffocatingly blue.
There are a lot of names for a lot of things, you think. You wonder if you have a long, complicated name, too.
You watch the all the fish swim around, countless colors amidst a blue landscape. You hope you get to see the ocean one day, so you can see all the other types of fish in the sea. You wonder if you’re good enough, maybe they’ll let you work here in the vivariums when you’re older. Then you can learn the names of all these fish and can introduce yourself to them properly.
A hand is placed on your shoulder and you nearly jump out of your skin. The fish seem startled by this too, and all swim away. With the magic broken, you turn to face the visitor. It’s a man in a white coat, but he doesn’t look very familiar. He calls you by your name and helps you up, which you politely thank him for.
“I have good news for you.”
News? You don’t get to ask what it is.
“Your tests results are low enough that you get to go home.”
“Home? I thought this was home.”
“Your new home. With new parents.”
Parents?
Like a mom and a dad? You feel an indescribable emotion. You think it’s happiness… but also fear.
You’re lead to your room, where you grab what few things you own before you’re taken to a part of the building you’ve never seen before.
It’s a large room, with wide windows and lots of chairs and tables. It all feels… soft. There are different colors here, too. Warm browns, golds. Nothing like the glaring white hallways you’ve always walked down.
There’s a couple sitting at a sofa… you don’t recognize them, but they seem very nice. The woman has a pretty smile that she gives you as soon as she sees you walk in. The man seems happy too, but his eyes were sad and quiet. Opposite them was a man in a dark suit, who you’ve seen around sometimes but have never spoken to. He seems older than anyone else you’ve seen before, and you’re startled when he pats the space beside him. You sit. The man in the white coat leaves the room, and you feel nervous surrounded by so many strangers. You pull the straps of your backpack a little bit tighter.
The old man says your name.
“These are your parents. You’re going home.”
1,130~ words
