The subject of nuclear weapons is always a tricky subject to tell. If brought up in polite conversation, it could trigger quite a number of interesting reactions among the party. Nuclear weapons were first created in the 20th century when humans were looking to develop an explosive powerful enough to deal with their enemies in a violent and very show-biz like way by  going out with a bang (if you’ll pardon the expression). And because of the “great” (point of view term) success that was had for the Americans when a group of middle aged men sitting around an oval table decided to drop two on different locations in Japan, the United States decided to put time, money, and effort into the development of nuclear technology that could do even more indirect self harm to their habitable space called “Earth” on the grounds of self preservation. There will probably be an added note somewhere in this story commenting on the level of stupidity that certain humans can exhibit when given too much power.

This story happens to center around a man named Ben Williams. He was just promoted to a Lieutenant, and he is about to discover something rather shocking that could affect the course of his entire life, in a very short time period. He is at an airfield in Las Vegas, and is about to meet up with a general of the military government who will introduce him to the special project that he has been assigned to. But as of right now, he has no idea what the project actually is.

“Lieutenant Williams!” The General shouted. “Good to see you again!”

“Likewise General,” Ben replied.

“I hear you’ve been assigned to our division.”

“That’s right. I have.”

“Well, that’s good. I could sure use a guy like you to oversee this project.”

“What type of project are we dealing with?”

The General laughed.

“What? No one told you?”

“No, they’ve kept me in the dark about that one. They just said it was special”

“I can see why though. You know, top secret and all that. Come on, I’ll show you the project firsthand.”

The General led Ben through a door that led to the outside of the airfield, where a large military plane was sitting outside. It looked like a giant metal tube with two wings attached to it.

“Let’s move out!” The General announced enthusiastically.

“Cool. Where are we going?” Ben asked.

“You’ll see.”

The two boarded the plane, went through the pre-flight checks, and took off from the airfield.

Inside the cockpit, Ben suddenly realized that he had no idea where he was going.

“Where are we going?” Ben asked.

“Area 51,” the General replied.

“Seriously?”

“Well, that’s where the plane is headed.”

“Oh, okay… Wait, what?!”

One of the things that is most peculiar about the world is the greater populations addiction to military power. The world is divided up into sections known as countries. Most countries have a military. And these military groups’s sole point of existance is to attack the military in other people’s countries or defend their country from the attacks of other countries militaries. Either way ends in usually disastrous results mostly due to the casualties of the wars, especially the great ones. It could be argued that history can be defined by the great wars that took place along the timeline. With random footnotes on important assassinations, right behind world changing inventions, all tied together with time periods where the control of these countries has changed hands through instances of violent conflict. Many aliens from other planets have stated their curiosity and bewilderment over this earth’s idea of war. Their main argument is this, “if they can get along well with people from their own country, why can’t they get along with the rest of the world like they get along with their country?” So far, that question has gone on unanswered and with good reason. Honestly, the aliens just avoid earth altogether since their reasoning is that there is going to be a major self caused catastrophe if the human race keeps up its ridiculous tradition of going to war with each other every other decade or so. Even worse that they keep shoveling money into it like their life depends on it.

Meanwhile, Ben and the General have been traveling for about a 100 miles towards area 51, and at this point they’ve overshot it. Not accidentally though.

“General, we’ve overshot area 51,” Ben said.

“Don’t worry, the plane is turning around to go there,” the General answered.

The General flicked the switch to autopilot. The plane started turning around. The General led Ben through the plane to the tail end. The General gestured his hand to the row of parachutes.

“Pick your favorite,” the General said.

“We’re parachuting?” Ben asked.

“How else would you get to Area 51.1.”

“I thought the plane was taking us to area 51!”

“No, I said that plane was going to area 51. We’re actually going to a place that is so secret, you have to parachute to get there.”

“How will we get out of area 51.1?”

“That part will be explained later.”

Ben proceeded to put on the parachute along with the General who seemed to have done this a thousand times already.

“How many times have you done this before?” Ben asked.

“I come out here every two weeks for two days to oversee the construction,” the General stated

“Construction?”

“Yep. Come on, we’re approaching the drop zone.”

The light on the plane turned red and the rear door started to open.

“Wait!” Ben exclaimed. “Who’s going to fly the plane?”

A voice spoke from the plane. “Autopilot engaged.”

“Well that’s convenient,” said Ben.

“Wait for it…” the General said.

The light blinked red for a few moments, then turned green.

“Let’s move out!” The General shouted as he jumped out of the airplane. Ben cautiously followed.

The feeling of being in the air was sensational. If felt like flying, or falling with style if you want to put it that way. The General was falling like a graceful swan that had been through this a million times whilst Ben was falling through the air like a fat pigeon that had never flown before, was attempting to fly, and had simply fallen out of a hole in a plane on it’s way to Paris. He of course had parachuted out of a plane before, but only few times and hadn’t gotten the hang of it.

The General flew over toward Ben and showed him how to position himself so he would have an easier time falling. It worked, and soon Ben was falling like a graceful brick. It got to the point where he started showing off, and the General had no other alternative but to fly over to Ben and pull his chute manually. The parachute opened and Ben floated to the ground exactly the same way that a plane without wings wouldn’t. The General pulled his chute soon after that and they touched down on the ground.

They came down on a barren desert wasteland with white sand covering the surface of the ground.

The General walked up to Ben as he struggled to untangle himself from his parachute.

“Not bad at all eh?” The General asked, a smile imprinted on his face.

“Not bad at all. Actually Quite fun,” Ben said. “Do you have any more surprises I should be informed of before we continue?”

“Well I can’t say I have more surprises for you, but-”

Before the General could finish, he took out a remote and pressed a button. The ground below immediately below them as well as the ground within a 40 foot radius started sinking into the desert sand.

“What the hell is going on here?” Ben asked.

“Were taking you to your destination,” The General replied.

“Okay then,” Ben just stood there as he said this.

Two panels closed above them, encasing them in darkness. Then a bunch of lights came on. Meanwhile, the platform was sinking ever more into the earth at a gradual rate. It seemed to keep going down inevitably.

“How long before I get the bends?” Ben asked.

“Very funny,” the General replied. “We’re not going down that far.”

After about a two minutes, the floor came to a stop.

“And disembark,” the General said as he pointed his hand to a metal wall.

“But there’s nowhere to go,” said Ben.

The giant metal wall parted revealing a very, very high tech facility.

“I see now,” Ben replied.

“Let’s give you the tour,” said the General.

The General led Ben through the facility. A very high tech laboratory with lots of important scientists running around operating various apparatuses that would make any normal person go insane from the amount of buttons and dials marked using the type of english that is confusing for a dictionary. Then Ben saw something that really surprised him.

“Oh my god, is that Stephen Hawkings?” Ben asked.

“Yep, he’s been a helpful insight into our project,” the General replied.

“What is this project?”

“This project is one of the most important projects since the Manhattan Project.”

“The Manhattan Project?”

“Yeah.”

“Is this project related to the Manhattan Project?”

“Directly”

“How could a more powerful energy source be made?”

“By adding more of the powerful energy sources together,” Stephen Hawkings replied.

“AH! Stephen Hawkings!” Ben shrieked. “It’s you.”

“Yes, it is me.” Stephen replied. “I’ve been helping the United States by providing my knowledge on advanced nuclear technology.”

“That’s wonderful,” said Ben.

“It certainly is,” the General replied. “Let me show you the main attraction.”

The General escorted Stephen and Ben through the complex to the ‘main attraction,’ a large Nuclear Reactor and processing facility.

“This is where a lot of our government funds have gone into. Lieutenant, I give you the worlds most powerful nuclear weapon that has ever existed. Capable of not only splitting the atoms we have in there, but capable of splitting the atoms of at least 2000 pounds of surrounding material. Enough to blow a pretty big crater on the side of our planet. We also have been developing a nuclear reactor based on the same technology. Capable of powering all of North America without having to be refueled for 50 years ”

“But, why would you need a bomb as powerful as that?”

“In case those damn Russians figure out that they can get us at any point in time, or use our technology against us. We’ve got mach 12 scramjets on this thing that’ll send it to Russia in minutes and POW! Instant crater 1000 miles wide. That’ll show those bastards they can’t mess with us” The general’s face produced a smile that seemed to match the width of the intended crater.

“These people are crazy” Ben thought to himself.

“Isn’t this power too much for any one nation to have?” Ben asked.

“Maybe,” the General replied. “But if there’s any country out there that can handle these types of nukes, it’s us.”

“Agreed, science and logic are on our side,” said Stephen.

Throughout Earth’s history there have been many instances where power and might has been grossly mishandled under the assumption that they have complete control over it. Human error more than often plays a part in it because most people underestimate how stupid and careless they can be. That’s not even taking into account the state of being of humans under various substances and liquids. Even if they do manage to control the power and human error doesn’t play a part, in a lost of cases the power is misused.

Meanwhile, you are about to witness the Nuclear Research facility experience some trouble, mostly due to when about a year ago. When in a small house in Silicon Valley, a Polish coder was coding away at the program for keeping the reactor in check. he was about a week behind and had been forced to stay up all night for about a month, only surviving on Red Bull and coffee while listening to Deadmau5. Under this hypnotically trippy state, he accidentally put in a wrong word in his code. This line of code would have the readout display that the Nuclear Reactor wasn’t overheating and melting down, when in fact it actually would be. This would cause the meltdown to go totally unnoticed until it was too late. This current scenario that would produce disastrous results if it actually happened is now being re-created in real life. And one of the technicians is pointing out the scenario in real life.

“The reactor’s overloading! We can’t contain it at this rate!” A scientist yelled.

“How the hell did this go unnoticed!” The General shouted across the room.

“We need to contain it before it reaches the critical point!” Another Scientist shouted in response.

“Get a technician in there and remove that plutonium!” Another scientist shouted.

“I’m on it!” A scientist named Bob yelled as he rushed across the floor with a device meant to remove the plutonium while cooling down the reactor.

Ben looked at a screen that displayed the new calculations coming in. He was very startled to read what it said.

“You’ve got twelve seconds before something bad happens according to this screen!” Ben screamed.

“God-damn-it!” The general screamed as he kicked a chair halfway across the design floor.

10. 9. 8. 7. the worker ran across the metal bridge to the center of the reactor that contained the plutonium. Unfortunately, the reactor suddenly shook violently in the exact same way that a regular brick house doesn’t. The scientist fell in the reactor pool along with the device meant to calm the reactor and remove the plutonium. 3 seconds left on the clock.

“Well,” said Stephen Hawkings, “We are all fu-”

I’ve never had much structure in my life, I’ve never had someone to sit me there and tell me about the ways of life, telling me how to do my chores, I never had anyone to tell me to sit down and do my homework.. Hell, I don’t even think my parents would have known what grade I was going to every year if my school wasn’t constantly sending progress notes about the trouble I caused in class that day. Frankly the only thing that I remember of the days were waking up in the morning, and falling asleep at night. It’s never been something that I wanted to think about because when I was younger I didn’t think I lived the childhood that all kids lived, I’ve always had the feeling like something was different than others. Not believing that I was ever better than others, But.. Just different.

I’ve always told myself that if I were to die tomorrow, I would be content with the state that I’m in, I’ve seen everything that I want to see, lived everything I wanted to live, felt everything that I wanted to feel, Ah shit, I don’t want to turn this into one of those stories where I’m going to express my suicidal thoughts and shit like that, Because that’s not me at all actually.. I don’t want to die, and I don’t have the balls to take my own life. But I feel like I’m ready, like.. I’m not scared.. ya feel me? I don’t feel myself either. Yeah it’s whatever.

Well let me get the hell out of feelings and hop out of this bed, I can hear my grandmother’s footsteps coming upstairs because it’s 10 minutes past my alarm clock and she doesn’t “Hear my footsteps”.... Aw shit, I hear em coming.

“TREEEEYYYYY!, you awake? get it moving, pick it up, I don’t hear my footsteps up there!!” Grandmother said

“Yes, I’m AWAKE! Jesus christ”  *As I say it under my breath*

What’d you say?” Grandmother said

“Oh nothing, I love you!”

Grandmother walks back downstairs into the kitchen to finish breakfast

One thing that I’ve never understood is the way my grandmother tries to teach me “Responsibly” but always feels the need to baby me. Jesus Christ I’m eighteen years old. Maybe if she was too to stop babying me, you know? and start treating me like an eight year old, but then get on my case when I start acting like one. It’s like I can never win in this dreaded house. I hate life, Ard.. I don’t have the worst life when you see me in person and you if you didn’t know me.

I live in a pretty financially stable family, my neighborhood is filled with million dollar houses where you can’t see the faces of neighbors without walking up to their front door. We have three cars.. Three cars that I can’t even DRIVE! But ... O take deep breaths to calm myself down, Okay... Let’s breath, that’s beside the point. But yeah .. it’s okay. I live with my grandparents, my grandmother works for a federal judge, while my grandfather owns his own law firm.. Yeah I live with some stuck up people, but I love them.. I think? Guess I’ll find out when they die.

You can say I live the best of both worlds.. My mother lives in West philly, down at the bottom where you can’t see the sunlight.. She used to live in Germantown before my father took her house from her in a nasty Divorce, eh, that’s a whole other can of worms. But anyways... yeah I don’t see her to often.. she’s always busy and when she’s not, I’m always busy. We make phone calls to each other when we can, but it’s mostly phone tag. But when we do get on the phone, that’s okay.. But it’s a celebration every time we link up. Haha, Speaking of the devil

My phone started to ring and immediately I knew it was her. I picked up.

Hey mom!

“Hey son, how are you?” Mother said

Oh I’m fine, I’ve been thinking about you, I miss you, We never get to see each other anymore, I wanted to know if we could hang out sometime, If I’m not busy like always.

“Oh that’s fine with me, just give me a time a date” Mother said

Okay, I’ll talk to you later mom, I love you!

It seems like those plans.. never plan out. I actually don’t remember the last time that I’ve seen my mother longer than for a hour. It seems like it’s ALWAYS something that comes in between us that stops us from hanging out, almost like something is watching me. FBI agents climbing in the trees and keeping their close eye on me as I try to make these plans and they’re like “Noooo nigga”. Whatever.. I should probably get ready to wake out the house, I look over at my phone

LUNCH TIME AT SCHOOL

When I walk into the lunchroom, I see a bunch of people that I'm really not friends with. I seem to have trouble making the friends that I actually want to keep around, or do they want to keep me around? I actually don’t know. It’s 11:30 and I have to leave early to go to the doctors, I don’t usually go and I don’t remember making an appointment but my grandmother called me to tell me that we we’re going at 1:30, well I guess that this day is cut short. Remember when I said that I didn’t wanna live anymore? I just hope that the doctor will tell me that I have some type of cancer or something.. Like Lung cancer? Nah fuck that.. that’s a slow death.

If there is anyone that I would want to talk too in this world right about now. it would be Dovi, See .. she’s this girl that I have 2nd period with everyday, we’ve actually never even spoke, but I don’t know why I haven’t talked to her anyways.. Every time that I want to talk to her, I just start folding and my stomach reaches toes and I just want to run away.. Shit shit.. She’s coming up the hallway and I have no where else to turn.

*Scares at Dovi walk by*

Hey Dovi! *Says in his head*

*She looks at Trey like a weirdo*

Shit shit, ahh it’s whatever. she was never going to notice me anyways. I’m just glad that I’m leaving now,

*Calls on the loudspeaker*

Trey Harper, COME TO THE OFFICE FOR EARLY DISMISSAL

Welp, I guess that’s my cry for help. I’m out of this hell hole, only for the day.

As I walk out the front doors of the school, I can see my grandmother in the car with a smile on her face, but I know deep down that she’s a bitter woman, but anyways that’s beside the point.. I get into the car and we say nothing to each other, I ask her why do I have to go to the doctors again. She kinda just ignores me for five minutes then tells me.

“It’s just a check-up on your surgery” She said

Ah, that dumbass surgery.. I remember it like it was yesterday. Well I actually don’t remember it at all. It was the summer of 10th grade when I spent a week a christian camp, It was some overnight camp in the middle of bubblefuck PA, the people were too nice and the food was nasty. I remember I would wake up every morning at Six O’clock on the dot to go into the bathroom and wash my face, brush my teeth and workout.. but anyways, I was playing football with a bunch of other kids and I slipped and hit my head on a rock that was in the park, the only rock that was in the park..

I was rushed to the Hospital that day on a helicopter, I barely remember the ride, I barely remember anything that happened before the day that happened, I had lost all of my long term memory, well there goes my childhood.. I was 17 years old and I didn’t even remember my 5th birthday party. I didn’t remember where I went to school and I didn’t  even know who I was. My family tells me that I came out a different person once I got out that hospital.

When I got to the doctors to have a check up on my post surgery, I didn’t have much to say, I didn’t have anything to say at all actually. I never like talking about it because I start to think about my life before the surgery, and I don’t even remember my life before the surgery. The doctor just gave me a short talk about how I can get through it and how everything will eventually get better, and that I might be able to get my memory back, ah shit.. don’t get me excited.

After the doctors appointment, my grandmother and I got into the car and drove home, quiet as usual. I started to think about my past, like .. what if? I’ve always thought it was weird that my family never really tried to tell me, or let me know about my childhood.. It was just something that I learned to let go, But what if I found out about myself? the things that I got into, Hell.. I don’t even know if I’m a virgin or not.

Once I got home, sitting on my bed,  I don’t know what to think about my life anymore, I think that I pretty much went over how I’m done with life right? I just want to know my life again.. Damn I have this crazy ass headache, this is the worse that I’ve ever had in a while, or just in my life, period. I think I’m going to grab some advil or something to take the pain away.

Oh I can feel that this advil isn’t working.. I’m going to need something more powerful. I don’t think that there is anything that’s in the medicine cabinet. Maybe if I just take a nap, when I wake up, I’ll feel all better and It’ll just wash away.. hopefully.

Whoaaaaaaa; what the hell? where am I?  why does everything look so different?! HEY HEY!

I look around and I don’t see anywhere that looks familiar, I woke up in a car style bed, like when did I get this? where the hell am I? I don’t think that I’m home anymore, this is some crazy shit. I don’t even know where my phone is, I turn around to my left and I see a little ass boy laying in bed next to me, Aw shit, I’m not in pervert in this dream right? this is a dream right? I keep asking myself these questions when I know damn well I don’t know the answer too. I fell to the ground as I just jumped off the bed as fast as I could, I was frantic and worried like shit. I just want to get home, I hope I don’t end up in jail. I hear the door knob moving and I just know it’s someone’s parents rushing in, aw shit.. shit shit shit..

“HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO YOU, HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO YOU, HAPPY BIRTHDAY DEAR TREY, HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO YOU!!!!!” Random parents.

“Mommy! Daddy!!!!! Thank you!!!” Random boy laying in the bed.

“Come downstairs, we have something waiting for you baby!”

The boy next to me, jumps out of bed so excited.. runs out of the room to go downstairs, The only thing that’s going through my mind right now is that, HOW THE HELL DID THEY NOT SEE ME, WHAT IS HAPPENING RIGHT NOW!! and those parents look really familiar, familiar to my own parents. I’m so confused right now.. what is happening. I’m going to just walk out of this slowly and try my best to get out here.. As I’m creeping out the little kid’s bedroom and I take a quick peek out the hallway and I see a group of little kids rush past the room.. I slammed that door so hard because I didn’t wanna get caught. I peeked my head back into the hallway and I didn’t see anyone. I walked down the hallway towards the front door steps. I see shit load of people sitting down, kids running around the place and I didn’t know what to do with myself. Still, STILL.. Not one soul noticed me, it’s like everyone is just looking through me like I don’t exist, what is happening right now? The only thing that I see are a bunch of people screaming happy birthday to that boy with the same name as me.. man this shit is getting weirder and weirder.  

When I was weirded out in the background, I noticed that the boy was wearing the same socks that I have in my drawer at home, My grandmother use to always tell me ”These were you were favorite socks when you were younger” she always told me to hold on to them that maybe one day, They’ll help me “Remember” I never knew what she was talking about ....

Until now.

Holy shit, it’s my 5th birthday party...

Is this a memory? dream? what’s happening.

The crazy part is that I don’t think that I’ve ever seen this memory, I don’t remember being here, I don’t remember my parents ever being together.. my family being happy.. I notice that I had a smile on my face and all of these people around me who I didn’t even know, knew me.. where are all of these people now? I swear after this day, I’ve never seen these people in my life again. After the accident, I don’t remember seeing these people at all.. this was really weird. But really the only thing that I remember is me... living life after 10th grade. When I look at this, it doesn’t look like I was on the route to where I am now.

As I sat down and watched all of them play and have a party... I took one blank and I ended up in my bed at home.. I woke up .. but didn’t I already wake up? I’m so confused, what is happening right now? as I got out the bed I turned to my phone to tell who texted me, I had got multiple calls and messages from my friends asking me to come workout with them.. I was only asleep for a night? it felt like forever. I have to tell my friend Shawn this when I first see him.

As I got to school the next morning, I had to run and find shawn to tell him that I think I had a dream about my first memory. When I walked into first period I saw him sitting on the other side of the classroom by the window, I walk over there and sat down with him

“Yoooo Bro” I said

“Yo, what’s up bro” Shawn said

“I think I had a crazy ass dream last night, I don’t know if it was a dream, bad nightmare or both”

“What do you mean bro?”

“ I just had a dream that I woke up in the bed with my younger self.. It was my 5th birthday party and I walked through the house and saw everyone cheering for the little version of myself” it was weird as shit.”

“Damn that’s crazy”

I decided to let it go, thinking that it was just a dream.. maybe it was nothing important.. but I felt like I was in there forever, I couldn’t leave, and that headache though? why did I get a headache and thought about that before I actually fell asleep?

When I got home, I just went to my kitchen table and I sat down and looked for advil and other pills to secure my headache. I didn’t know why I was started to have these headaches more and more often and didn’t know what to do. I think that i'm going to go to bed and just hope that nothing happens, I'm going to sleep.

I woke up in a dark room where I didn’t know what was happening. I just got straight up and looked around. I walked out the room and I was at a school.. did I just walk out the cleaning closet? The first thing that I hear on the the loudspeaker is.

“TREY HARPER, PLEASE REPORT TO THE OFFICE”

I didn’t know where that was so I just walked aimlessly around the school and I walked up a staircase and I saw this little light skin kid walk past me, he looked really sad, like he was about to get into a lot of trouble that he knew was coming to him. He walked into the office, so I followed him into the office and again.. it was like no one could see me. I saw that light skin kid sitting on the chair in the office and waiting to be called into the Principals office, I was just in the cut, watching him look like he was waiting for his death sentence..

As I was sitting down and watching everything progress. The principal called him into his office and I slipped into the office as he walked in there. Once we got into the office, he sat down and the principal and him started talking

“You have been being disrespectful lately, I can’t keep fighting for and standing up for you” said the Principal

“ I just .. I just don’t know.. I’m sorry” Trey

“ I’m sorry Trey.. but you’ve been expelled from Cedar Grove christian academy.”

As I was sitting in the background, I was thinking.. I didn’t know that I’ve gotten expelled from private school.. When I would ask about what middle school I went too, she told me that I went to Henry, she said that I transferred from some little school because I didn’t “fit in” whatever that meant. Was I always a bad child? I didn’t know what to do next.

I woke up the next morning wondering why I was going through these memories, it’s like I was jumping through. It seems like I’m getting my memory back.. every night I get a new memory every night and I get to re grow my past, to see why I’m the person I am today.. Ah man this is going to be a long ride.

--------------

Ever since he could remember, Tanner loved being outside. He enjoyed playing by the creek, climbing trees, running through the barn and purposely tripping only to land in a pile of hay. Naturally, he was Mother Nature’s child. He loved the sound and feel of rain, he loved wind storms, and large waves; there wasn’t one thing in nature Tanner Boyd was not fond of. Sometimes, however, he got a little too carried away and began acting as the nature. He would go toward his mother, and try to blow her off of her feet by pretending he was the wind, or he would zap his long fingers over her head and scream, “BOOM,” and say he was thunder and lightning. Now, it seems normal for a kid to be imaginative, but he started to become obsessive and would spend hours sitting in one spot in the forest, just staring at tree trunks. One time, his mother stepped outside to call him in for supper, but he wasn’t in their backyard garden. She wandered toward the forest and noticed him by the large pine tree. She called for him, “Tanner, time for supper!” He did not respond. She called for him again, this time louder, “Tanner! Let’s go!” He quickly flung his arms in the air, and swung his head toward her and screamed, “Psshhh.” He was pretending to be the tree. His mother was aggravated because the supper she cooked was getting cold, so she went to get him. Tanner walked home normally, but made nature sounds under his breath.

Tanner Boyd did not have many friends. He had some acquaintances that admired who he was, but they never wanted to get too close. During his time in the 7th grade, Tanner decided that he did not need to go to school any further after that year. He was advanced in science and never cared for money. He sometimes said, “I don’t need to finish school because I don’t need money to live, I can just live with my friends in the woods.” So many people were convinced that he was not coming back for his 8th grade year, even a few of the teachers, but his mom did not tolerate it. He was there for part of 6th grade, then unexpectedly disappeared. The entire community was looking for him. His mom, his peers at school, the trees were even rapidly moving.

About 5 months of time had passed, and Tanner was still not found. His mother had gone insane, and started smoking a lot of marijuana, but she still had some hope that he was out there. For the longest time, Tanner’s mother looked out of her window toward the forest, hoping to maybe see him pass by, but she never saw anything. She never wanted to go back into the forest either, she thought it was possessed and maybe it ate her child alive. One day, when Tanner’s mother was really high, she walked into her garden, stood in the center on the cobblestone pathway that splits the land of grass down the middle, and screamed toward the forest, “Do you have any type of this leaf?” The forest responded with wind brushing through it’s branches. Tanner’s mom stumbled back inside. She cried every night after that for 3 weeks.

--------------

Tanner and his mother lived in a small town in the south-western part of Nevada. They lived in a quaint home that had solar panels and a large yard. With just three main rooms on the ground floor, and four rooms upstairs, the Boyd home was Tanner’s kingdom. His mother, who is in her late 40’s, loved to cook. She had a major case of OCD and always kept her house exceptionally clean. She hated when Tanner would track dirt from the forest through house. Tanner would always reply back to her expressions with a, “It’s all natural, just like your organic cleaning stuff.”

Tanner loved to mess with his mom’s emotions like that. He would purposely make her anxious by stepping in large piles of mud and leaves, then vigorously walk toward the house. He sort of felt bad though, so he would run quickly on his tippy-toes from the doorway to his bedroom upstairs. In his bedroom, he would strip, take green, yellow, and orange Sharpies and draw a landscape on his stomach. Usually, the landscape would be of tall trees, large bushes, a bright sun, and chirping birds. His drawings were always so detailed. His mother rarely sees his stomach art, but when she does, she asks what he wants to be when he’s older. Tanner says, “I want to be someone who plays with plants.” His mother is not surprised, since he does spend every minute of his free time sitting in/wandering the forest.

--------------

About 7 months after Tanner’s disappearance, the local police heard word that a young boy was spotted walking from the south-western border of Nevada toward the Eastern border of California. Police officers immediately rushed over to Tanner’s mother’s house to inform her. She opened the door with droopy eyes, asking the officers why they were there. “We have news about your son, Mrs. Boyd.” Her eyes widened as she grabbed the one of the officer’s ties, and pulled him toward her. “Where is he? Did you find my son?”

“We currently have the state police on the way to the south-western border of Nevada. We believe that he’s trying to cross over into California.”

Tanner’s mother was confused. Why would my son want to go to California, there’s nothing there for him, she thought. “I’d like to be driven to where the police are going. I want to be there when they find my son.”

“As you wish, but there is no guarantee that we’ll find…” one of the officers said.

“I’d like to be there.” Tanner’s mother firmly spoke out.

The two officers escorted Tanner’s mother to their car. They turned on the siren and lights, and rushed over to the border of Nevada. When they arrived at their destination, other state police were already there surrounding the entrance to California. They waited patiently for Tanner to be noticed, but nothing was happening. About 3 hours passed, and still no sign of Tanner. The State Police Director ordered for the job to be postponed due to the amount of time they waited. Tanner’s mother was devastated and said nothing. As she turned toward the police car door, however, something came over her and she ran toward the Director with anger. She began hitting him and yelling, “You son of a Bitch! I just want my son back! Bring me my son back!” Other officers pulled her off and contained her fury, but the Director understood why she reacted like that and let it pass. He compromised with her and said that he would contact California’s State Police Director and have him order officers to be on the lookout for Tanner Boyd. She calmed down, got into the car, and cried until they left.

--------------

Tanner had this crush on a girl in school, her name was Tabitha. She loved arts & crafts, and riding her bike. Tabitha lived down the street from Tanner, but only Tanner knew that. He would sometimes watch her walk to the bus stop, right before he would run out into the road to get someones attention - no one ever noticed him when he did that.

Tanner thought Tabitha was a jewel. Her chestnut hair, green eyes, and golden skin created some of Tanner’s deepest lusts. He tried to ask her out one time, but he ran away before she even turned around. Tabitha was gracious, but she knew that she would never date someone like Tanner. She often said to her friends, “He’s too weird for me to like.” She knew who he was, but had no interest in him.

One time, Tanner was just staring at Tabitha in class. He sat in the back, and she sat in the front. She turned around to speak with her friend, and mid-conversation, she noticed him looking at her from the corner of her eye. She turned toward him and told him to stop, but he continued. When she turned back around toward the front of the class, Tanner yelled, “Why won’t you talk to me?” Tabitha felt embarrassed and kept her head down. He yelled again, “Why won’t you talk to me?” She wanted to tell him that he was an odd child, but she decided not too.

--------------

California’s State Police Director reported back that they found Tanner 2 months later. The park rangers of Sequoia National Park called in about a young male wondering the grounds by himself. When Tanner’s mother heard where he was, she immediately knew why he wanted to go to California. He crossed the border, walked through Inyo, and reached Tulare County, where the park sits. Sequoia National Park is home to the largest tree in the country - The General Sherman. When the State Police arrived at the park, they found him sitting in front of the tree, staring at it. An officer tapped on his shoulder and said, “Son, do you know how much trouble you're in?”

“I just wanted another friend, sorry I caused so much trouble.”

Tanner followed the police officer to his car. They drove back to the border of California, where Nevada’s State Police Director and Tanner’s mother were eagerly waiting. As soon as Tanner’s mother had sight of a California state police car, she began jumping with joy and relief. Tanner got out of the car and ran toward his mom. She cried, and held him for thirty minutes in one spot on the road. Tanner apologized again; his mother accepted it. They went home, and Tanner said nothing the entire way back.

--------------

Four years had passed, and Tanner was still obsessed with Tabitha and staring at trees. It was time for his high school graduation and Tabitha was the valedictorian. When she went up to the podium on the stage to give her speech, she tripped and fell up the stairs and the first one to jump to help her was Tanner. He held her hand, she pulled back and said “I’m fine, I can help myself.” Tanner sat back in his seat in the front; he was sweating profusely and his hands were shaking. In the middle of her speech, she looked down toward the area in which Tanner was sitting in, and paused in her speech because Tanner was staring at her again, smiling. The entire crowd was staring at her, but Tanner’s staring was so familiar, and so distinct. She remembered the last time this happened and what she did. She couldn’t look down this time, just up and forward. Tabitha continued her speech, then left the stage and sat back in her seat.

After leaving high school, Tanner decided to move away from home. He thought he would never see Tabitha again since she moved away, so what’s the point of staying there. He moved to a large and populated area on the East coast of the country - New York City. Tanner got into Columbia University with a full scholarship for a major in Cytology and a minor in Botany. He did exactly what he said he would, become a scientist, but no one ever thought he would go to such a place for it.

Tanner lived on campus in a door by himself. Everyday at lunch, he would go to a local store, buy a sub, gummy bears, and a water, and go sit in Central Park. He would usually be found on a bench near the oldest trees in the northern part of the park. Tanner never took his lab coat off because it made him feel important. After lunch, he would rush back to the lab at Columbia and study plant cells for hours. At night, he stayed in his room with his desk lamp on, and his laptop open. He would spend several more hours researching facts about the oldest living trees in the world. Old Tjikko, the oldest living tree in the world, located in Sweden, was what pushed Tanner to do well in school. He decided that after college he would take a plane to Sweden to stare at Old Tjikko.

Six years passed and it was time for graduation again. Tanner Boyd was graduating at the top of his class with a PhD in Cytology and a Botany. He was also his school’s valedictorian. As he gave his speech, he began to think of how much he wished he was a little more social in high school and college. He shrugged it off, finished his speech, and left the stage. Immediately after his speech, he left the grounds of Columbia and moved into his new apartment. He then packed his suitcase and boarded a plane on its way to Sweden. Approximately 8 hours later, Tanner landed in Sweden, then took a train to Dalarna. It was late, so he waited until the next morning to get a fresh look at Old Tjikko.

The next morning he climbed up the mountain on which Old Tjikko sat on. When he arrived at the tree, he stood in amazement. Tanner sat next to it and stared for a long while. After about 3 hours, he got out a kit full of scalpels and needles; he was taking samples. What he was about to do was illegal, and he knew that, but he wanted to research the trees chemical make up. Two days later, he arrived back in New York City. He was staring a new job at a lab in Manhattan that was testing the reactions of certain plants to certain medicine. Tanner did his job, but then stayed after to conduct his own experiments. He found that the tree had a certain chemical that came from the antennas of roaches. This chemical gives an endless amount of lives to largely rooted plants, like Old Tjikko.

Tanner Boyd had this brilliant idea of testing this chemical on humans. He thought, What if humans could be immortal? He he was onto something… Tanner spent months concocting a serum to experiment on someone. He finally created a product. He named it T2.

--------------

There was not one person Tanner found great enough to test T2 on; he searched for months. He would sit in his usual spot in Central Park and stare at humans for experimentation. Tanner would go back to his apartment after people watching and write what he absolutely wanted his “lab rat” to be. She should have long hair, a slender body, beautifully colored eyes, and golden colored skin.

After writing in his journal, he would sit and cry at his desk for hours. Tanner was describing the type of girl that got him aroused. He was a lonely man that desperately longed for a woman’s attention.

The next day, when Tanner was walking to work, he accidentally bumped into someone. When he saw who it was, he was astonished. He had bumped into Tabitha. Tanner didn’t know what to say, so he just said hi. “Hey Tanner! How ya doing?”

“I’m.. I’m alright.” He replied.

“I’m just on my way to work, lets chat some other time. Here’s my card. Nice to see you!”

The card read:

Tabitha Luck

Assistant to Editor-in-Chief of VOGUE

tluck@vogue.com

He turned around to see where Tabitha was headed. Tanner followed her for three blocks until she went into the VOGUE Magazine HQ. He remembered how pretty she was; beautifully colored eyes, golden skin. Tanner knew that Tabitha Luck was the one he had to test the serum on.

--------------

Tanner began following Tabitha. He would wait for her outside of work, he would spy on her by her apartment; he was everywhere she was. One day, Tabitha noticed Tanner. She went up to him with a friendly face on. “Hey, what are the odds? You never called me! Let’s set a lunch date.”

“Okay.” Tanner plainly replied.

“Does Tuesday work for you?”

“Yes.”

“Alright, I’ll meet you at Warm Breads at 1. See you then!”

Tanner was excited that Tabitha Luck asked him out on a date. He creepily smirked as she walked away. He waited until that Tuesday to see her face again.

--------------

Tabitha had already reserved a table for the two and was sitting inside of Warm Breads waiting at 12:30. Tanner walked in, noticed her, and walked over to sit down. They both ordered coffees and started to chat. “So what have you been up to, Tanner?”

“Nothing much.”

“Are you still into nature?” Tabitha hesitantly responded.

“Yes.”

“You know, you’ve been very reserved ever since we bumped into each other. Is everything alright?”

Tanner paused for a minute to think. He looked down at the table, then quickly looked up at Tabitha. He said, “I think I left the water running in my bathroom, and I can’t afford to pay more for my bills. So I’m just worried.”

“Oh… I’m sorry. Would you like to go back and then meet me later?” Tabitha suggested.

“Why don’t you come with me? I’d hate to cut our date short.” Tanner suggested back.

“Okay, why not!”

They walked 5 blocks to Tanner’s home. It was a bright day, with clear skies. When they arrived at his apartment, Tanner unlocked the door, and let Tabitha in first. His home had a scarce amount of furniture and almost no art on his white walls. There were few windows, a small kitchen, and only one closet. Tanner didn’t leave his water on, but he pretended he did. He went into his kitchen, and turned the faucet on and off. Tabitha looked exceptionally stunning that day. She wore a large sunhat, a low cut V-neck dress, and her hair was curled to the side. Tanner was staring at her for a long time before either of them said anything. “Can I use your bathroom?” Tabitha said.

“Sure, but you have to walked through my bedroom to get it.”

While she was freshening up, Tanner had gone into his bedroom, locked both of them in, and placed the serum on his bedside table. Tabitha came out, she jumped back to see Tanner sitting in the room. “You frightened me.” Tabitha laughed.

“I’m sorry, why don’t you come sit down over here?”

“But, there’s only one chair…” Tabitha responded, confusedly.

“That’s alright, my bed is comfortable.” Tanner kept trying to persuade her.

“I think it’s time for me to go actually, we’ll do it some other time.” Tabitha rushed toward the door.

“It’s locked.” He was waving the key around in his hand.

“Let me out, Tanner, or I’ll scream so the neighbors can hear me.”

“I’ve sound proofed my room.”

Tabitha knew she was getting out of this room unless she were to attack Tanner for the key. She tried to punch him, but he grabbed her other and twisted her around before  she did anything. “You thought you could get the key, huh? You have no chance.” Tabitha tried to break herself free, but Tanner was too strong. He began to run his hand down the side of her leg, then up around so it could land right below her backside. “I’ve  been waiting for you, Tabitha.” He stuck a needle in her back and put her to sleep.

--------------

When Tabitha woke up a few hours later, she hardly had any clothes on. She had all of her limbs strapped to all four corners of Tanner’s bed. She began to yell for help, “Can anyone hear me? I’m trapped! Someone, please help me!” Tanner walked in and stared at her. She felt so ashamed that she was half-naked in front of him. He ran up next to her and lied down. “How are you sweetheart? You’re looking really good.”

“What did you do to me?” Tabitha softly said.

“Oh nothing, I just did… a little exploring.” Tanner walked out of his bedroom laughing.

When he returned a few moments later, he was holding the serum. He walked over to his bed, kneeled next to Tabitha and said, “Open up.” She squealed and kept her mouth closed.

“I’m not going to say it again. Open up.” She still didn’t do it.

Tanner had to use force. He pried open her mouth with his hands, and took out a drop of the serum from it’s bottle. Right before he dropped it into Tabitha’s mouth, they stared at each other. He smiled, she cried. He dropped the serum in and said, “Thank you for your cooperation.” Her eyes shut.

“They walk, they talk! They look just like real humans, but can do so much more!” The announcer proclaimed. His voice projected clear words but the audio itself was muffled like an old fashioned radio. My Proyo was old and hadn’t been cleaned in months, so the projected images came up  electric blue and blurry, while the audio was just understandable. I glanced back at the Proyo from under my glasses and set my pencil down.

“Choose from a wide variety, or customize your own!” The Proyo then projected a 6 inch tall, 3d image of female robot onto my coffee table. The projection looked up at me, smiled, and waved, as it walked on a loop. “Pause,” I said aloud. The audio stopped, but the projection continued. I shivered as its lifeless eyes followed mine, endlessly smiling and waving at me.

“Hey, Cyril, you there?” I turned back to my papers and pressed my glasses up to rest on my nose. The sound of someone approaching their mic echoed in the room. “Yeah, pretty good commercial, huh?” Cyril replied. I made a face of disagreement he could probably picture over the phone. “The prototype is a bit....unnerving. The menacing smile may scare off clients.”

“Menacing smile?” A chuckle came from over Cyril's end of the call. “Well, we’re still working out the kinks. It’s in the work’s, you know?” I scribbled down part of an equation I had just remembered onto my papers, then turned to switch off the Proyo. I subconsciously nodded even though Cyril couldn’t see me, and muttered “Yeah.”

Shuffling my papers, I stood up and carefully walked to the drapes on the other side of the room. My condo was small but spacious enough to house it’s modern victorian interior design. Large, cream colored drapes concealed the moonlight shining in through oblong windows, causing the victorian chandelier to be the main source of light. It’s warm glow quickly filled the dark room automatically at the absence of light.

“By the way, did you consider our offer?” Cyril asked. I peeled back one of the drapes and peeked outside. The moon was full that night, large and hanging low, outshining the small stars speckling the royal purple night. “I have....” I said eventually. Cyril could hear the hesitation in my voice and sighed. “ It won’t be a replacement for Nally, Ez.”

Nothing could replace Nally, my ex wife. I had been more passionate about her then for my passion for science, and for awhile, I thought likewise. I was still a robotics engineer at the time she began her work with quantum mechanics. She had made breakthroughs with shrinking atoms, which had never before been thought of as possible. By gaining control over the spin of electrons in atoms, she was able to control their density, and in the end, size.

After successfully shrinking our pet cat, she decided to test the procedure on herself and her lab assistant. Contrary to my protests and the Councilmen of Human Sciences, she secretly conducted the experiment in her lab. The following morning, I discovered a note by a telescope that read:

Ezra-

I decided to go on with the experiment. No matter what you and the councilmen claim, this procedure is safe, and for the betterment of mankind. You’ll find this note next to a telescope with a slide on it. I selected our target destination (after being shrunk) to this slide. If the experiment is successful, you’ll be able to view us once magnified to x2,000,000. I realize I may be killed from this, or I may never be normal size again. I just want you to know: I love, and will always love you.

I paused at the last sentence and looked over at the slide. If she truly loved me, why hadn’t she listened to me? Was her love for science greater than her love for me? I grabbed the note and rushed to the TEM microscope. Before looking inside it, however, I frantically unfolded the letter and continued to read for further instructions:

But, in the case that this experiment somehow fails, I need to tell you a few things. In the lower left drawer of the desk by the door I’ve locked most of my scientific discoveries and notes in various cards. The key is beside the microscope.

I’ve also not been very faithful, Ez, and I feel that you deserve to know that.

My heartbeat quickened as my hands trembled and tried to hold onto the paper as I scanned the rest. An aching pain grew in my chest as it became hard to breath; I could feel the veins in my forehead swell as a headache formed. A burning sensation stung my eyes, a single tear escaped my tear ducts.  

The letter went on to say how she had cheated on me with her lab assistant. For a few moments, I simply was shocked, almost to the point where I couldn’t believe I’d read those words. After a few seconds, however, reality sunk in and transformed my innocent confusion to blinding rage. How could she betray me like this? I had given her everything she had ever wanted, yet she rejected me for a young scrub of a boy?

Mindlessly I crumpled up the paper, neglecting to read the rest of the letter. I had no interest in reading an explanation for her actions, so instead I took revenge. Without a second thought I grabbed the slide, not looking to see if my wife was indeed on it, and broke it in two. I ripped the note to shreds and discarded the evidence on my way out.

My wife, the only one whom I had truly trusted, instead created an empty void in my chest; the feeling of sorrow would always remain. Literally, my wife was dead to me. After the incident, I hadn’t told anyone about the letter and she and her lab partner where deemed dead from the “failed” experiment.

“I know,” I answered. “It’s not that....” I dropped the curtain from my fingers and walked towards the mini-bar beside the window. I poured myself a drink, and sat down on my red, fainting sofa.

“Then what is it?” Cyril asked. Placing a hand in my pocket, I swirled my drink around, the ice clinking against the glass. “The whole thing seems...unnatural, I suppose. Who’s to say these machines won’t malfunction?”

“Every machine malfunctions, Ez. That’s why it’s your job to make a note of any problems.”

Yes I remembered. It’s my job and the only thing PAX still needs me for. I had been retired from robotics for almost 5 years, moving on to become a Chemist. Cyril's company, PAX, needed someone to test their newest robot. Model EL-3 was due to hit the market in a month or so, and they needed to test it in a home environment-last thing PAX wanted was a major lawsuit because of a minor mistake in EL-3’s build. Given I had some extensive knowledge with robots, Cyril recommended me.

I personally hadn’t work with robotics on that level, creating whole, human-like machines. I had constructed and designed robotic arms for factories, and helped invent the Proyo, a home projection screen. I was totally uncomfortable working with such advanced machinery, but the compensation was good, and it was for science. Like my wife once said, it was for the betterment of mankind.

“Right....so when are you dropping the model by?” I took a sip of my drink, then spoke to the room’s speaker phone. The wall’s trembled as Cyril shuffled papers on the other side of the line. He cleared his throat and settled back into his seat a moment later. “Tomorrow? Fill out the form I sent you, and we’ll create it based off of your preferences.”

“Okay. ‘Til tomorrow.” I raised my glass to the walls in a toasting gesture, imagining Cyril doing the same, and hung up. “Desktop.” I said aloud to the room. In an instant, a bright flash filled the room and a projection of my desktop appeared before me. The desktop was a flat square about 9 inches in length and 1/2 cm in width, a bit transparent but I could still see icons. I selected the form that Cyril sent me, a ping! noise bouncing around the silent room.

The first part of the form was simple, asking only personal information like my name, age, and address. Getting to the details about the actual robot was the difficult part. The section “Appearance” projected a robot without an exo-skeleton below the desktop. Quickly, I selected female, with fair skin. The projection updated to a female robot, bald, with no eyes. After finishing up in the appearance department,  came “Personality”. I paused at this section. This robot wasn’t truly mine, and I hadn’t even wanted it in the first place, but here was an opportunity to make it everything Nally wasn’t.

She wouldn’t be a replacement, I told myself, simply an experiment.

*****************

The shrill sound of an alarm went off, making me jump out of bed. “Damn,” I muttered, rubbing my face. “Forgot Cyril’s coming early.” I looked at the time displayed above my bedroom door, it was 9, and rushed to put pants on. Then, with toothbrush in mouth, I pulled on a simple white blouse and black vest. After brushing my teeth, I rubbed my chin, scratching my the stubble. I contemplated shaving, but decided against it. It was just Cyril arriving, so my appearance for the moment didn’t matter. 5 minutes later, my Proyo announced “Cyril Bodkin is at the door, Ezra.” Briskly I walked to my apartment door, my cat Noral treading closely behind.

“Ez! Was wondering if you were awake...” Cyril greeted me, as I opened the door. He was a bit too enthusiastic for 9 in the morning, so I simply grumbled a reply. I was still a bit dazed, as my brain was transitioning  from peaceful dreaming to the complicated consequences of being awake. Cyril, on the other hand, always seemed avid. Even though  he was an old time friend, I still was adapting to his eagerness and fashion. His clothes often reflected his mood- he would always sport extravagant victorian jackets or vests, tight pants, with tall buckled boots. I rarely saw him without a pair of brown leather goggles that rested on his forehead.

I rubbed sleep from my eyes, and invited Cyril inside. That’s when I noticed his companion. I heard it before I saw it, it’s parts softly humming and squeaking as they rubbed together. EL-3 awkwardly jerked it’s way into my living room, stumbling about like a fawn just learning to walk. I shot a look of disbelief at Cyril, who shrugged in reply. “She’s fresh off the belt, so she’s still getting used to walking.”

“Getting used to walking?” I asked, stepping back as the robot jerked some more. “I thought this was a robot, designed for immediate use? That’s how it works, isn’t it?” I turned to examine EL-3, who at this point had stopped walking. Unlike traditional steam powered robots, who looked like......., this one looked extremely human like. It’s skin was made of pig’s skin, a pigmentation similar to a fair-skinned young woman. It’s hair was thick and a chocolate color, and was pulled back into an elegant bun. EL-3’s face was almond shaped with thick eyebrows to follow its frame, while her bubblegum pink cheeks matched the color of her full lips. I paused for a moment as we locked eyes. EL-3’s appeared to be  unrealistic, yet intriguing. They were large and doe like, a light hazel color.  It had a tall, slender body. Surprisingly, it came up to my chest- I was a fairly tall man.

It cocked it’s head to the side, likely trying to pin-point face recognition, and blinked 2 times. Strangely, it was able to make a face of innocent confusion, which I couldn’t help but stare at. It was dressed like any other young woman, in a nude colored corset dress and brown buckled heel boots. It held a small cream purse in it’s hands, it’s fingers creepy moving around it.

“It’s an adaptive bot, Ez. It learns as it lives, like you and me.” I glanced at Cyril and frowned. “No, I wouldn’t say like us. These things will never be us.” The mere idea of these machines seemed like an abomination, as humans tried to play god and create a daugther species. Instead, PAX had created a monstrosity of metal and gears, dubbing it a perfect creation. The problem with humans playing god, was they themselves were imperfect. Anything they could make would only be a reminder of their imperfections and limitations.

EL-3 blinked as I said this, but it’s face remained emotionless as it cocked it’s head to the opposite side. I shivered and placed my hands in my pockets, trying to ignore it’s unnerving stare. “Well, anyway,” Cyril said, turning to the robot. “This is EL-3, or Ellie, for short.” I couldn’t help but chuckle at the idea that Cyril had actually named the thing. It was pathetic but cute; he was acting like a parent naming their child.

“EL-3,” I held out my hand to it, waiting for a returning hand shake. Instead, EL-3 stared at my hand for a second or two, and began to extend it’s arm. Clumsy, it dropped it’s purse onto the floor, and jerked back, startled. “Oh,” It said in a feminine voice that had a slight echo to it. I bent down to pick up the purse just as EL-3 did, and ended up hitting heads with the thing on the way back up. “Shit...” I snapped, rubbing the back of my head. The robot frowned, and stepped back, realizing it had made a mistake. It eye’s met mine as it appeared to nervously twitch it’s fingers by it’s side’s.

“Sorry sir,” It managed to say after quickly blinking twice. I shot EL-3 a look and sighed. “Here.” I reached out to hand the purse back to the robot, who seemed tense. It looked back at Cyril, who was finding the whole situation amusing, and gave him a worried face. It’s facial expressions were extremely human like, perhaps the result of having artificial muscles linked and laid under it’s skin. Hesitantly, it took the purse from my hand and held it close to it’s chest, protectively. “Thank you, sir.”

“Yeah, whatever. Think I already found a problem with it, Cyril.” I chuckled. Cyril laughed as well, before placing his hands in his vest pocket and taking out a pocket watch. “ I should get going, you two have fun.” I walked Cyril back to the door, as EL-3 stood silently watching us from the living room.

“How long does it have to stay?” I asked Cyril softly. He opened the front door but paused to answer. “5 weeks should do it. We have 7 until the release date, let’s hope all goes accordingly.”

I nodded and leaned on the door, looking outside. “Oh,” He added, placing his watch back into his pocket. “If you anything goes wrong, call.” He then grabbed the doorknob and closed the door behind him.

I walked back into the living room to find EL-3 staring down at Noral. Noral returned it’s gaze, cautiously trying to sniff it’s foot. Slightly bending it’s knees, it reached out to touch him, but froze when it heard me approaching.

“What’s this?” I said, walking over to pick Noral up. He nestled deep into my arm and turned to stare back at EL-3. He was a tiny black cat, that was almost concealed by my muscular arms and vest, yet his tiny head still peeked out from over my shoulder.

“Sir?” EL-3 said, standing up. I glanced down at Noral, who began licking my ear, and stroked his back. “Cat, EL-3, it’s a cat.” It cocked it’s head to the side like before, it’s large eyes locked onto Noral. Slowly, it leaned forward to touch him, as if unsure whether I’d permit it to touch him or not. I turned so that it could reach him, and its long, feminine fingers gently stroked in a line. The vibrations of Noral’s purring traveled down my arm.

“Cat.” EL-3 repeated. The corners of it’s mouths lifted slightly, and for a moment, I thought it smiled. I chased this notion out of my mind and pulled away to set Noral down. EL-3 stopped mid stroke, confused, but then turned it’s attention to some old frames by the window. Jerkily, it walked over to them, and silently stared. As Noral scampered away, I turned to notice EL-3 looking curiously at a photo of my wife.

“That’s my wife,” I said approaching it from behind, hands in pockets. “Well, ex-wife.” I couldn’t help but look away as the feeling of despair returned to my chest. It was as if a heavy weight was being balanced on top of my ribs and lungs that would at any moment crush me. EL-3 didn’t notice my distress, but continued to look at the photos across the dresser. “Wife?” It eventually asked, turning to look at me. I shrugged, and looked down into it’s eyes.“Yeah, you know...a wife’s someone a man cares for and loves.”

“Did that... ‘wife’....love you?” EL-3 struggled to say, in a chilling voice. I paused, a bit taken aback by this question. Why would EL-3 want, or need, to know that? What had caused it to ask such a question? I looked at it suspiciously until I realized it’s question was one I had asked myself countless times before. Had Nally ever truly loved me? Had I been so blind that even a robot could see it just by looking at her?

“That doesn’t matter, EL-3. Clean up around here, would you?” I rubbed my hand across my face and started to walk away for a drink. A soft humming sound came from behind as EL-3’s part’s slid across one another, and it opened it’s mouth to say something. “Right away,” It paused, as if trying to continue, but couldn’t develop the words. I raised a brow and waited for it to finish, as it blinked at me. “ Call me Ellie, sir.” It eventually said. A bit confused as to why it named itself, I realized it must have caught onto Cyril’s pet name for it.

“Alright, Ellie.” I sighed. Ellie’s eyes squinted as the corners of her lips pushed up her cheeks once again. This time, I was certain, Ellie smiled.

**********

It had been almost 3 weeks since Ellie’s arrival, and she was showing noticeable progress. She had gotten used to using her legs, and walked much more gracefully. Her parts made less noise as she glided and strutted across the apartment silently. She began showing more emotion and expression, and had gotten into a habit of calling me ‘Ezra’ instead of the programmed ‘Sir’. At first I hadn’t picked up on this glitch, put it soon began to bother me after a conversation one evening.

“Do you have a ‘wife’ now, Ezra?” Ellie randomly asked, setting the food she had cooked onto the table. She had made grilled salmon, my favorite, which was also a step up from the simple pasta dinners she had been serving when she first arrived. Distracted by the food’s aroma, I didn’t answer at first. We hadn’t discussed that topic in weeks, so I had mostly forgotten it.

“What?” I said finally, just as I was about to put my fork into my mouth. The question had finally reached my brain and I froze, not knowing how to react to such randomness. “ Do you have a wife?” Ellie repeated. She sat across the table and looked down at an imaginary plate. Ellie didn’t need to eat food to get energy. Instead, I plugged her into a powersource every night in the living room, while I slept in the next room.

“No,” I said abruptly. “I don’t, and I don’t intend to have one anytime soon.” I set my fork down and examined Ellie. Her head hung after this answer, and she stared at the cotton table cloth, as if searching for words. I watched her silently as I ate, expected her to clean, play with Noral, or just do something. But she remained quiet, mindlessly getting lost in the black patterns before her.

“I,” She softly said, slowly looking up at me. “I see.” Not expecting much more of a conversation, I began to stand up to leave the dining room. The curtains were drawn, so the room was dimly lit, shadow’s dancing across Ellie’s face. “Have you...thought about offspring?” She asked timidly, the echo in her robotic voice bouncing off the walls of her metallic throat.

I knew where this was going. Tired, annoyed, and a bit vexed, I angrily crossed my arms and glared at Ellie. “What? No... of course not. Why is that a concern of yours anyway? You’re a robot, nothing more.”

She scrunched her face up as if hurt, and looked down at her feet. Her eyes seemed to be glazed over, but no tears came out. She blinked twice, distraught about something. “But,” She said, her voice shaky. “Isn’t that the same thing as you? You take commands from others, you often repeat the same task everyday, we both want to be something we’re not.”

I gasped, surprised by EL-3’s sudden display of consciousness. Had she known about Nally after all? It was true, I wanted to be everything Nally wanted me to be, I just wasn’t. Ellie wanted to be everything I wanted her to be also, but she just wasn't.

Ellie waited for my response, but I simply scowled at her and walked to the next room. She stood, staring at me as I walked away and whispered:

“We’re made for each other, Ezra. We are the same.”

***************************

That night, I had numerous nightmares. My body felt like it was being cooked inside an oven, my muscles became tense and a headache formed. I endured the unusual pain until morning, waking up in a cold sweat.

“What...” I murmured, as I gasped for air. My breathing gradually slowed as I looked around the room. No one was there, but it felt like someone was watching me. Cautiously, I leaned over to the side of the bed.

“Agghhkk!” I cried as I leaned on my arm. A sharp burning sensation jetted through my arms and jolted my body, and I swung my arm around to see the damage. Below my shoulder, on my upper forearm, was a large, blue-ish purple bruise. Looking closer I noticed the center of the bruise had a tiny hole the size of a pinhead. It appeared to be from the sting of a bug or maybe even a needle. I touched the skin around the sting mark and winced. It was soft like a rotten orange, my fingers leaving indentations after pressing too hard.

Applying cold cream on the bruise did soothe the pain a bit, but I was more worried about how I’d gotten it. It wasn’t there last night, and I was sure I hadn’t left my room. As I wound the bruise in a bandage, Ellie watched quietly. The eerie silence of the room chilled me. It was rare that Ellie hadn’t spoken to me yet; she normally at least greeted me with a “Good morning, Ezra. How did you sleep?” But that morning she just observed my arm while cooking breakfast.

Her strange behavior only pointed at the fact that she had made the bruise. By trying to act conspicuous, she was making herself look obviously suspicious- oddly enough, a human characteristic. As I wrapped the bandage around my arm a final time, I pondered on whether to ask her about it.

No, I thought. She won’t admit to hurting me.

Instead, to act as if I wasn’t on to her, I sat at the table as she served breakfast, my thoughts racing around my head. I had to keep a calm composure or else Ellie would lose it.  Why’d she hurt me? Is she dangerous now?

I looked down at the food in front of me, my fork covered in eggs and hashbrowns. What if she poisoned my food? Ellie stood near the kitchen arch, her arms folded and eyes glued to me. I swallowed, goose bumps forming across my body.

“I’ve... got to make a call.” I stood up suddenly, the chair screeching as the legs rubbed across the floor. Ellie cocked her head to the side, something she hadn’t done for weeks, and glowered at me. “Aren’t you going to finish your breakfast?” She said in her signature metallic voice. Her spindly fingers twitched by her sides.

“In a moment. I forgot I had to make an important...uh, business call.” I replied, not trying to sound nervous. Ellie didn’t bother to ask what the business call was or to who, but a look of suspicion grew on her face as she watched me exit the kitchen.

“Call Cyril,” I said to the walls, locking myself into my study. The room was sound proof (no sound escaping in or out) so I was safe to converse without Ellie eavesdropping. A low dial tone made the room tremble until there was a quick click! and a “Hello?” on the other side.

“Cyril, it’s Ez.” The heels of my boots clacked against the wooden floor. “I think it’s time you come get Ellie.”

***************************

“What’s wrong with it?” Cyril asked, as he walked into the living room and set his top hat onto an arm chair. Ellie was in the other room dusting, not aware that her creator was here to take her away. I gestured to the coffee machine, to which Cyril politely shook his head no.

“It’s been...asking things about Nally....and if I want kid’s.”

“That’s interesting...” He placed a hand over his clean shaven face and furrowed his brow, pondering. “Sounds like our EL-3’s developing a crush on you.”

Mortified by his joke, I turned away and crossed my arms. My cheeks burned from embarrassment as I broke eye contact with Cyril and looked at the ground. “That’s disgusting, Cyril. You know how I feel about those things.”

“I guess, but is that it? Otherwise those are just a side effect of EL-3 adapting to it’s environment.” Cyril explained. I fingered the bandage on my arm and turned to look back at Cyril. Slowly, I unpeeled the bandage to reveal the bruise. “I think Ellie did this.”

His eyes grew wide, and he slowly inhaled. He gently unpeeled more of the bandage and examined it closely, his burly fingers somehow massaging the skin. “That’s not good. We’ll have to take you in to get you checked. As for EL-3,”

“What about EL-3?” Came a softer voice from behind. I glanced behind my shoulder to see Ellie, duster in hand, with a face that looked betrayed. Her parts softly whistled as she looked from Me, to Cyril, then back to me. For some reason I felt the feeling of guilt rising up from my stomach, as if I had just been caught in the act of cheating. Had Nally felt like this?

“EL-3,” Cyril sighed, acknowledging her presence. “I’m taking you back for dismantlement.”

Something that sounded like a soft whimper came from Ellie, as her eyebrows shot upwards. She stepped back a bit, her arms defensively placed in front of her. “I’m afraid I can’t do that.”

Cyril and I exchanged confused looks as I rubbed the bandage material between my fingers. “And why is that?” Cyril asked, slowly stepping forward. I readied myself as well, in case I had to tackle Ellie.  

Ellie herself seemed distressed, as she struggled to answer. Her fingers twitched more then before,  her eyes dancing across the floor. “I’ve successfully conceived Ezra’s offspring.” She whispered.

Cyril paused, horrified, then turned to look at me. I choked on some air, placing a hand on my forehead. “You what?” Cyril seemed like he was about to faint, so he leaned onto the arm of an arm chair. “She’s pregnant?” I jerked my head to look at Cyril. “Is that even possible?”

Ellie folded her hands together, and stared at her buckled boots. Cyril placed a hand over his head as well, gasping up at the ceiling. “Yes,” He managed. “ Female EL-3’s are built with artificial wombs.” My brain just couldn’t seem to understand what was happening. It was if I were outside of the situation, looking in through a cloudy window. I wish that was the case- I’d do anything to be the neutral bystander. I didn’t want anything to do with this.

“Couples who can’t conceive put their DNA into EL-3. They create the baby, El-3 carries it.” Cyril took out a hanky from his pocket, his watch noisily falling to the floor. Ellie started to bend down to pick it up, but retreated when I shot her a look of disgust. “There’s two problems with this. One: Ellie needs a females DNA to create the baby. Where did she get that DNA? And two: You actually had sex with the thing?”

The burning sensation returned to my cheeks, this time the result of anger. “Of course not!” We both turned to Ellie simultaneously. “Well? How’d you do it?” I barked. Ellie flinched in response and batted her eyes innocently. “For the past week I’ve drugged your food.” She admitted. I swallowed, realizing that that was why I couldn’t sleep. “Then, when you slept, I would take your DNA through injections and stimulation.”

She’s gotten out of control I repeated over and over. But Ellie continued, as Cyril wiped his face with his hanky. “ I reverse engineered your DNA to create a female version, then combined the two. The result has taken up nearly 10,000 gb on my 1,000,000,000 gb drive. I have been able to speed up the pregnancy process by 3 times. I am currently 2 months, 16 days pregnant.”

“Do you know what this means, Ez?” Cyril peered at me, bug eyed. I shook my head, still in shock. My brain just wouldn’t accept the news, but I knew the shock would settle in soon. A numb feeling had enveloped my body, as if preparing it for the blow from the announcement. For this, I was grateful.

“EL-3’s has been able to create life without female DNA apparent. EL-3 created life on it’s own.” Cyril wobbly stood up, and gently grabbed Ellie’s arm. I stood a safe distance away, retaining a disgusted look on my face. “I’ll have to take some tests to see if all of this is true, but still. The result of this union would create a perfect human.” I knew this to be true. Ellie, who was a robot made to remove errors, would have removed all “imperfections” in my DNA. This child would never be sick, this child would never die.

“It will have blue eyes, black hair.” Ellie announced, as Cyril lead us out of the apartment. “Just like you, Ezra.” She offered a strange and familiar smile, and I froze. For some reason, this robot’s reminded me of Nally’s.

Would I accept this hybrid baby? Would society accept it? What would become of Ellie, the rogue robot? As we stepped out into the daylight of day, the warmth washed over my skin and washed these fears out of my head.

“Two imperfections make an perfection.”  Ellie whispered.

sources: http://www.livescience.com/1419-robot-eyes-humans-human-eyes.html

http://www.hollywood.com/news/movies/55006355/jurassic-park-3d-science-jack-horner-dino-chicken-20-years

I turn on my television and see Bradsworth Deacon making a speech about how everyone should be treated with as much dignity and respect as the next retus:

“......regardless of wealth, skin color, sex or age. I know you may not understand why I wear my milk colored skin with such pride. You may not see the beauty in anything but bronze. But I tell you, this is the body I was born into- free of melanin, knowing that I am due to be free of oppression!”

The sea of milky people go into jubilant uproar. I only get sad and quickly turn off the program.

Whenever I go into the bathroom to look at myself, I get even more disgusted at my complexion from the bright lights that drown out any color I may have. My mom is scared of the dark and insists on putting the highest wattage light bulbs in here so she can spot anything that may be lurking at night. This house has not even had an ant march through it once in my 17 years of living here, but you can’t always understand people’s fears. I fear that I will be white and poor my whole life. At least my skin doesn't flake and chafe like Ursula’s. I have buttery smooth skin, without the golden buttery color. I guess I’m the color of plain movie popcorn, not even with the salt. My mom is the exact same way. She’s never excited about anything. When I told her that my school was letting us have pen pals she didn’t even glance in my direction. She just told me “I hope it’s not a black person who’s going to make you feel bad about yourself.” I understood, but God, does she always have to be such a pessimist? I guess she doesn’t really have a choice but to be that way. She saw her dad beaten on the curb by black policemen for being out too late and looking “suspicious” when she was just six years old. My mom said he was just wearing a red T-shirt and cargos with beat up tennis shoes. He could not afford to buy tailored suits, the usual attire for people of color. They told him to cut his stringy hair to get his bangs out his face. He didn’t have beautiful thick wavy hair like the policemen that brutalized him. My mother is terribly protective of me because she doesn’t want to ever be in danger and withstand the torture her father did.

“Nothing this exciting has ever happened for me before. I’ve never even been outside of my town of Honon. Now I get to actually interact with someone outside the country. I hope they’re nice to me. I could use a friend.”

“I know precious. I just always wants what is best for you.” My mom grasped my face firmly. “And I need you to always know what is best for yourself. Now go to sleep. Good night.”

“Good night mommy.”

All heat on my planet Jupitron is artificial. I heard on others planets they have something called Sun that shines on them. We don't have that luxury so it's always cold. My best friend Ursula and I walked to the hot cream shop to warm us up with a treat on the freezing day. So cold that if you spit, it would turn into an icicle before it hit the ground. The shop was a hole-in-the-wall rinky dink place that allowed white people. It was nothing special, but it felt like a second home to the both of us. It was only place that we always felt welcomed at.

“Do you like your pen pal so far?” Ursula said with a mouth full of sia flavored hot cream. I had grown to comprehend her muffled words that came along with her grotesque table manners. “Did I like him? Like was an understatement,” I thought to myself.  He was perfect. You could never find a boy like him walking the streets of Lindus.

“We video chatted last night.” I tried to keep my voice even and inconspicuous. I didn’t want to gush over him today just to find out that he’s a jackass tomorrow. “He seems nice. He lives in Geniha.”

“Geniha!” Ursula said with eyes so wide you’d think they would burst out of her skull. “Home of the pond of melanin. Has he taken a dip?” She chuckled.

“No, no. No need for that, he was born brown.”

Ursula’s face straightened immediately. “He not like...colorist right?”

“He’s really the farthest thing from it. He even went to jail for joining in an anti-colorism protest that turned violent. He said if I ever needed him to handle someone bullying me because I’m white, he had my back.” I laughed a flirtatious laugh that confirmed all of Ursula’s suspicions.

“You love him already….I mean I expected you to like him but wow, so soon.”

“Aw stop it! I do not love him, he just a really good guy.” I said it with a genuineness that her know that’s how I really felt.

“Hey Joshua.” Daniel teased as a greeting to our email conversation. I told him I hated when people called me Joshua.

“Here we go..Hello Dan.” He hated that nickname much more than his actual name.

“Are we done with picking on each other?”

“I guess so….for now. Your voice is different than I thought it would be.” I wasn’t trying to flirt, it honestly was. His voice sounded stuffy, but not horribly nose-oriented like mucus was draining from his nostrils. Only enough that you would really have to focus on what he was saying to catch everything. I liked it. I knew it would require him to be the center of my attention when talking.

“Well it’s not typical.” Daniel said it with malice in his tone.

“You’ve got it all wrong, I like your voice. Go on, talk some more.” I said with confidence to let him know I was nice, but not weak.

Daniel went on to tell me that his family was considering moving to another town. “Yeah my mom is doing really well and he wants to move us to a better neighborhood.”

“Well what does she do for a living?” I said curiously. I never personally knew someone wealthy.

“She….is a famous model. Have you ever heard of Henna Dejore?”

My heart stopped for at least five seconds. “Are you still there?” Daniel sighed. “I really don’t want you to turn out to be one of those people that only likes me because I’m the son of someone famous.”

“I don’t care who you’re related to. I’d like you even if you were dirt poor...like me. I just never saw myself being friends with someone even remotely close to fame. I’m sorry if people have used you in the past because of it.”

“My ex was the last person I would have ever suspected to try to profit off of my fortune. We had been together for 6 months when he started to make me feel guilty for not spending more money on him. He said I was selfish. He said I was ashamed of him because I didn’t show him off as much as he desired. I was just 16 and dumb so I believed him. Then crazy stories started coming out about us in tabloids. I could not understand why they were spreading these lies. One said that I was cruel and hot-headed and used a picture of me yelling at him. I was mad that he was being friendly with the paparazzi. He was using my fame to make him famous. When I figured this out I broke up with him. But he told stories about me being an out-of-control spoiled brat who got mad whenever I didn’t get what I wanted. His sob story still has him posing for magazines today.”

I let him know I would never do the same thing. “You’ve got a friend in me. That’s all I want from you, is to be a good friend too.”

“Not even an autograph too?” He asked sarcastically.

“I mean if you’re offering…..” I said letting out a long laugh, so long that it made Daniel laugh along with me. The mood was light for the rest of the night.

My mom heard me on the phone every night. Of course she had to inquire who I was so ecstatic to speak to. “So uhhh...it seems like you’ve got a new friend. I hear you guys on the phone every night now.” She accompanied the assumption with a huge Grinch grin.

“Sure do, his name is Daniel. He lives in Geniha.” “Really now?” my mom said with a sly look on her face. Everyone knows you have to have a few dollars to live in Geniha. She looked off to a random spot on the ceiling with slightly squinted eyes like she was trying to reading something in a small font. “What I would do to dip in that pool of melanin.” “Pond, mom.” “You know what I mean.” “Well you’re perfect as you are and we’re doing just fine so don’t worry yourself with such thoughts.” “Yeah you’re right. Well I’m guessing he’s a nice guy.” “Yeah mom. I’m glad he’s my pen pal.” My mom scruffed my hair playfully and walked toward my bedroom door. “I’m glad he is too. Good night sweetie.” “Night, mom.”

The next morning I headed to an in-town urban swimming pool in relatively comfortable weather. There was no wind blowing cool air in circulation, the kind I hated because it messed up my hair. The sky was particularly purple. “That’s the color of Daniel’s blush.” Just thinking of him made me blush bright red, I’m sure even without being able to see it. The bus ride was an hour long but I knew I would get the job as lifeguard. I’m an amazing swimmer.

I showed up to the interview with full confidence. “Hello, I’m Joshua Sigon. I’m here for the lifeguard job interview.”

“Oh, oh no. There’s been a terrible mix-up.” The burly brown woman sat there with a frustrated puzzled look across her face.

“What do you mean a mix-up?”

“Well, you sound….different over the phone. Honey, this is a Browns only job. You don’t qualify.” “It’s my fault. I should have asked your color.”

I went home and cried for hours. What was I to do? My mom was depending on me to help her with bills. Her housemaid job pays her nearly nothing. I didn’t know what to tell her when she got home.

“How did the interview go?” She jumped her tall slender frame back and forth in front of me.

“It was a browns only job. I couldn’t have it.”

My mom collapsed to her knees. I ran to make sure she was okay.

“Mom? Mom!”

She lifted her head with tears in her eyes.

“Josh, I don’t know how much I can stay at my job. The man that lives in the house keeps coming onto me. I know if anything happens, I will get the blame and I’ll be called scandalous and might never get another job. I didn’t want to worry you so that’s why I didn’t tell you sooner. But I have a plan.”

“Well let me hear it mama.”

“The family is fiercely wealthy. If I can steal some jewels from the house, then I would have enough money to send you to dip in the pond of melanin!”

“Are you insinuating that you want Daniel to be in on this?”

“I’m glad you can keep up baby. All Daniel needs to do is to have a way to get you to Geniha without spelling trouble.”

“Mom I really don’t know if he’d be up for this.”

“If you tell he what we’re going through and he doesn’t have mercy on our soul, he is just as bad as the rest of them.”

I thought about it long and hard the next day. I decided I would ask. It was for the best.

“Mom, you home?” I would usually smell fuku cooking when I came home at 6 g’no and heard her harmonizing her favorite tunes. But this night, I was welcomed with no smells, no sounds. Just as I was about to start searching for her, the phone rang. “Josh,” I could tell it was mother’s voice immediately, although she sounded way more frantic than she usually would. “I’m in jail. Mr. Johnson’s wife started insinuating that I was having sex with her husband and we got into a fight. They are talking 25 to life. Please take care of yourself and GET OUT of that house. Retus services is looking for you. I gotta go. I’m sorry baby I love you.”

I was sure that was the last time I would ever hear from my mom. I dropped the old fashioned glass phone and it broke. It was probably for the better. I did not want anyone else calling. My mind went blank. I could not process what just happened.  

That night I got on the phone with Daniel was the first time I wasn’t particularly excited to speak to him. I had no idea how the conversation would end- with me feeling secure and me not, or vice versa.

“I have favor to ask of you.

“What, do you finally want that autograph mailed to you?” he joked.

It would be even better if I came and...got it.”

It fell silent for a few seconds.

“What do you mean?”

My tone got low and serious. “Daniel I need you to help me get to Geniha so I can dip in the pond of melanin.”

“Do you know how much it costs to get in the pond of melanin? Where would you get that money?”

“I need you to pay for it. I am NOT trying to use you. Just know I need to be brown immediately or else some bad things will happen to my life.”

“I just don’t want you to become brown and start treating bad and abusing your power as revenge. I know you carry anger in your heart for brown people. But you can succeed without being brown. I love you as you are and I know one day others will too.”

It was the first time he ever said he loved me. I couldn’t fully appreciate it because I was fuming in anger from his ignorance.

“You don’t get it. You don’t know the torture I endure day in, day out. Daniel, my mom went jail for assaulting a black woman. They’re talking about giving her 25 years. You KNOW how this country is. I can’t be an orphan or my life will be hell. Last week I tried to get a job and they turned me down because I’m white. I was poor before but I have NOTHING now. I just really need this favor from you. I’m begging you.” The snot now clogging my nose made “I’m begging you” sound like “I’m bugging you.” and if Daniel had any heart he would not take that as what I was doing. If he couldn’t understand, there was no point in associating with him at all.

Now Daniel was sobbing. I thought he was laughing at first, but no, bawling. “I wish you were here with me right now. I wish I could change this world from being so goddamn ugly and unfair. But since I can’t, the least I could do is end your agony when you need it most. So, what’s the plan?”

Daniel told his parents that I was going to be his personal servant. He said had been lonely and feeling neglected and since we had been communicating for three months, Daniel knew he could trust me. His parents agreed nonchalantly.

I had to sneak out of the country under an alias. Otherwise, Retus Services would have captured me. Daniel and I agreed on Forye Iton. The man that picked me up from the airport was quite condescending. “So Forye, you’re okay being a servant for this young man?” I almost didn’t answer, but then I remembered that was my name from now on. “I really don’t have any other option.” “Young man, let me tell you something I realized a long time ago. If you are not part of the solution, you are part of the problem. It is fine if you work for these people in order to stay alive for now, but you have to also get an education and make a difference so that your sons and daughters don’t have to do the same thing you are doing. You have to speak. Do not stay quiet. You have to be the voice for those who cannot speak. I look at you, and I see something special. I see a revolution in your eyes. But you did not know it until now. You must go no longer without knowing your worth and power.” My mom had always told me to guard myself, but never told me I was as strong as this man just said I was. “Thank you. No one has ever told me anything like that.” “And is why I had to let you know.” The rest of the ride was silent.

I knocked on the doors that were at least 5 times my height. A very fit, beautiful brown woman answered the door. “Ahhhh, you must be Josh.” “I am. Nice to meet you madam.” I bowed my head as I said it. “Daniel’s right upstairs.”

I knocked on the open door. Daniel turned around with all of his illuminating 32 teeth in his smile. He quickly said “Well hey buddy ol’ pal!” before pulling me in, slamming the door behind me and kissing me. I happened so fast my head was spinning. I came back down to Jupitron when I realized he was hugging me. “Well, hey there.” We both laughed at my attempt to be cool.

For the next week I cleaned his room, got his food, took care of his pets, even washed his feet. He loved it. “Having fun, aren’t you?” I said playfully to hide my hint of anger. “A lil bit, but I’m most excited for you to get what you need.” I dried his feet and he lead me to his bedroom, which I had became all too familiar with over the last week.

“I have a present for you.” “Awww you remembered that it’s my birthday.” 18th to be exact. I was an adult. “Of course, but one question before I show you what it is. Are you sure you want to brown?” Daniel looked me straight in my eyes, trying to make it sit in that I could never go back to being white again. “I have never been more ready for anything in my life.” Daniel scrounged through his junky nightstand drawer and pulled out a bar of platinum. He held it like a sword. “Okay, we’re ready to go.” He said laughing. “We’re going right now.” I couldn’t speak I was so happy, so I just hugged him.

The pond was so hot because it had to open my pores in order to let the melanin seep in. I let my body curl up and touch the floor of the pond. I cherished my last moment of being white. I never hated the color my skin. I hated what other people thought of it. When I was finished with my moment I swam upstream to the ice cold water that would close my pores. The more I swam, the clearer the water was. I was floating on my stomach and looked up and saw Daniel. I lifted my head, grabbed my face, and wrung the water off of it.

“Hello my beautiful brown man.” He held up a pocket mirror. “Woah.”

When we got home, he said I would have to leave because my parents might be able to tell that I was still Josh but brown. “I thought about that. Yeah that would be best. I wish I could have more time with you though.” Daniel grabbed my shoulders and looked me. “We have the rest of our lives.” One last kiss and I was on a plane to a small town called Jeno.

I knew I needed to call Ursula as soon as I landed. “Helro?” She's stuffing chips in her mouth. Typical. “Guess who!” “Josh?! I’ve been worried sick about you! Where are you?” "I’m in Jeno. I can’t give you too many details still but I’ll be back in Lindus soon.” “Okay, stay safe.”

I quickly got a lifeguard job and was able to buy an apartment with a shady landlord that didn’t ask for any background information. I started going to the library and reading to educate myself. I joined anti-colorism groups in Jeno.  Things were looking up for me. I talked to Daniel every night. I'm working on visiting my mother once I learn what prison she is in.

I sometimes still have an internal fight with myself if it could be seen as betrayal to my people that I decided to be brown. But then I remember the man who picked me up from the airport. I have a divine purpose to end oppression, no matter what means I had to go through in order to be able to use my skill. If I would have stayed white, I might have died and for sure would have been held back from fighting colorism. It is not about the tricks you play to get ahead, it is about what you do with your privilege.

“Crixus! Crixus! Crixus! Crixus!” the crowd cheers.

I close my eyes as I hear the gates open, and walk towards the sunlight as the announcer says my name over the speakers.

“Get ready everyone as he approaches...the fresh, the young, the quick, the cunning...Atticus!!!!”

The fans are fired up. Yelling their tonsils out as I breathe it all in. They love me now but I know they’d love to see me in pieces by the time the match is over. I turn and look at my opponent. Crixus the Creator. He was given this name due to the way he demolishes his foes with flawless victories. His matches never last more than 5 minutes, he’s surely one of the Gladiator Gods. Standing at an opposing 6’3” with a built wrestler body that appears to have no weaknesses. I need a plan if I’m going to make it out of here alive. I circle the ring as I stare him down scrambling to find an achilles heel. I determine I can’t find one as the bell rings.

“Do not fear death,” was all I’ve been told through training. Right now, I’m pretty frightened.

“Fuck, I’m done for!” I think to myself as I make a break back to the gates.

They shut right in my face. There’s no way out. I clench the metal and press my face on the gate with my eyes closed as I pray to god and start my repentance.

Maybe he couldn’t understand me though, since I was bawling my eyes out so hard I stopped breathing for a couple of seconds.

I muttered “p-p-pl-please god forg-forgive me for all my sins,” as I broke down.

I’m cut short by the sound of moving chains and Crixus’s battle cry “Ahh!!!”.

I turn around to see Crixus swing his smart disc at my face, I immediately fell to the ground, dodging the frisbee of spikes. I scramble to my feet, gripping my flaming sword so hard my fingers began to lose their color.

“Ha, ha, ha, ha. You look scared boy! Why don’t you make this easier on both of us and just give it up. I’ll make it nice and quick.” I lift my fiery sword in it’s fighting position. “Have it your way!” Crixus charges at me at full speed. I swing my flaming sword back and forth, up and down but surely miss all of him. He laughs again as he swings his smart disc to attack.

“Get down! Dip! To the Left!” my brain tells my body as I dodge the spikes. After playing defense the whole fight I close my eyes and swing my pyro sword towards Crixus’s face as I feel myself connect. I open my eyes to see him standing there shocked. I cut his cheek and drew blood; something that’s never been done before; something that made him angry. As the crowd got louder, Crixus got angrier and charged again, this time with harder, faster, and sharper blows. Knocking me to the ground with a punch to the gut, the wind was knocked out of me. After a few seconds of laying in the dirt, I flip over onto my back and only see the outline of his body as the sun behind him blacks him out.

“Fin-ish him! Fin-ish him! Fin-ish him!” the crowd chants.

On my last plea I reach for my pyro sword and he steps on my wrist, reassuring me that this fight is over. Crixus then grabs my sword and cocks it into the air above his head, ready to strike for the kill. I stare into the sky and await for the world around me to go black. In the last couple of seconds my life flashes before me. The training sessions with my dad where he used to pull me close and apologize profusely on how this was his fault that I was in this situation, my mother’s smile, and most importantly the times I shared with Augusta. Damn, I know she misses me as much as I miss her. At that instant, I look to my soon killer and a tear rolls down my eye. It’s really over.

In the crowd I hear “Atticus! Atticus!” just as the blade is coming down.

“Atticus get up!!’ I lift my body up, look around and see my room, feel my arms and chest to make sure this is real.

“It was just a dream?...” I say to myself confused as I wipe the night sweat off my forehead.

Right then my mother barges in the room

“Atticus! Wake up! Now!”

“I’m up! I’m up mom. Chill out, no one wants to hear you yelling this early in the morning,” I mutter to myself.

“What was that?” my mom replies. I don’t respond.

As annoying as my mom is, I respect her enough to never disrespect her to her face. When I’m alone though, that’s another story.

“Good. Now go to the store and pick me up some milk, we’re going to need it for our Cream of Wheat.” she orders.

I look out my window into the city and daydream what it’s like to live down there. No one I’ve ever known has ever been downtown. Our kind isn’t allowed there. I roll off my mattress and pick up my old flip flops, throw on my dirty tank top, and slide into my dusty shorts while leaving my room. I hate it here. Calling my room modest is a stretch. I have an old hand-me-down mattress that is on the floor, a bookshelf that’s just collecting dust (what does someone like me need to read books for?) and I only have enough clothes to fill one drawer. 5 pairs of underwear, 8 pairs of socks (half of which are ripped), 3 pants, 4 shirts, and about 10 cockroaches running around my house floors. I run down the steps and kiss my mom on the cheek goodbye as she hands me $1 and I head out the door.

“Augusta! Augusta!” I scream out at the top of my lungs to her 1st floor bedroom window.

She then replies “Atticus! Shut up! I’m trying to sleep!”.

“Aw c’mon! I’ll be out here screaming all day if you don’t come out!” “Ughh fine! I’ll be down in a sec,”. There she is my best friend Augusta.  She lives across the street and we’ve been best friends our whole lives. Her dad died in a gladiator fight just like mine, which only made us grow closer. Her luck is better than mine though, since she’s a girl she doesn’t have to fight, she just cooks and cleans. Unlike me, on my 16th birthday I have to register to be a gladiator to bring money home for my mom. After technology took over the world, the U.S. decided to invest most of it’s money into the “new age”. One day the cloud that controlled all forms of technology became overloaded and broke down. Leaving not just the U.S. but the majority of the world broke. Most large countries decided to re-introduce gladiators to cut down some of the population and to bring in some revenue. The problem is, that every 16 year old boy living in poverty must register. I’m not too threatening, 5’8, 130 lbs. Athletic build. I’m more on the small side. So I’ve been training vigorously on the tree in my backyard so when my time comes I’m remotely ready.

When she finally made it out the house she went on a rant “You’re crazy. You can’t just yell at the top of your lungs in the middle of the street like some crackhead.”. .

“Well good morning to you too!” I replied.

She rolled her eyes and said “What’s the rush anyway?”.

“Oh nothing I just needed some company to the store,” I said.

“You got me out of bed for this? You know I’m not your bodyguard right Atticus? You’re a big boy now. You can walk yourself to the store.”

“Ouch. That cut deep,” I chuckled as I picked up the milk.

As we made our way home it hit me that I am turning 16 in a couple of months. I wasn’t ready. I wish there was somewhere for me to run away from all of this.

When Augusta saw my face she nudged me and asked “What’s wrong?” Since Augusta was always a tomboy, I always saw her as a brother and nothing more. She’s tougher than most guys I know. She’s not afraid to fight and not afraid to get dirty, two traits that I wished would rub off on me.

I walked her to the door and said “Nothing. It’s just the big day is coming up and I’m just nervous as all.”

“Oh yeah...I’m sure you’ll do fine. You’re still practicing right?”

“Training Augusta! It’s training! But yeah, speaking of that, I gotta go train right now. See you tomorrow!”

“Bye!” she replied.

On my way back across the street my mind was swirling: “How do I get better?; I’m so small they’ll beat me to a pulp; Stop Atticus. You’re great you can do this!” I negotiated with myself. So I dropped the milk off and went outback to train. “Let’s start with some cardio” I said to myself. 100 jumping jacks and 100 jump ropes. Next up was lower body “50 squats, 50 lunges” then I finished with 100 push ups and 100 crunches. After my gruesome workout, I was beat, so I fell asleep on the grass.

I awoke to the screaming of my mom “Atticus! Time to eat!” said my mom. “You shouldn’t be working out so hard in this heat, you’ll drop dead!”

“I have to, I have to be ready for the registration on my birthday,” I replied.

Then she said “I know, I just hate to see you end up like your father. I can’t lose you too.”

She began to cry and I didn’t know what to do so I assured her that everything would be alright, even though I didn’t have the slightest amount of hope in myself. After Dinner, I made my way back outside and practiced my poison dart accuracy. The darts consists of Komodo Dragon saliva extract and enhanced to kill it’s victim within minutes. At that time, I was new to this, so I practiced throwing darts at a target over and over. I never hit the bullseye. Most times I missed but sometimes if I was lucky, I hit the outer ring. I gave up and decided to just call it a night and head to bed. I had to get up early tomorrow for school. I attended Spartacus Secondary School. It’s a pretty big school even though it’s only from 8th to 10th grade and only boys are allowed to attend. Boys from around the city come here before they’re sent off to the camps for their fights. I have less than a year. Less than a year to live my life before I become someone else’s property. In less than a year I’ll be transforming from a good kid who wishes there was a way out of the system, to a cold-blooded killer, a warrior, a gladiator.

I woke up the next morning and was so late that I almost missed the school hovercraft. I chased it for blocks when it finally stopped and let me on. As I walked down the aisle, everyone was laughing at me and throwing paper balls at my head. If you can’t tell, I’m a wimp here. I get no respect and I’m constantly pushed around by my enemy, Leonidas. When he catches me in the hallway he calls me names or he knocks all of my stuff on the ground. But today he took it too far.

“Augusta! Augusta!” he mocks as he laughs at me with his friends. “How’s your little girlfriend short stuff?”

“That’s not my girlfriend Leo, what do you want?”

He became serious, “I want your money. Give me everything in your pockets,”

“C’mon Leo stop playing, I have a class to go to.” I said while trying to walk away.

“No you don’t,” He said as he moved closer menacingly. Then him and his friends suddenly  pushed me to the wall and started jumping me. Bang, bang, boom, the sounds my body was making while they punched me in the face, eyes, stomach and ribs. Even though my body was killing me, I attempted to raise my hands and fight back but my body wouldn’t let me. I was weak and fell to the ground and curled up like an armadillo. During this time, all I could think about was how much I hated being smaller than everyone else, how much I hated being bullied, and how much I hated Leonidas.

Before I blacked out, I heard my savior. “Stop! Stop! Get off of him!” as the bullies scrambled away.

It was Mr. Petrus. He ran over and helped me stumble to my feet.

“You got quite the beat down there kid. Good thing I came over when I did, I don’t know how much longer you would’ve lasted!”  

“Thanks for your help Mr. Petrus. Beat downs like that are starting to become routine.” I said as I spit out blood from my mouth.

“I used to be like you, so I want to help you.” he said in a friendly voice. “Something like a mentor,” he added.

“Like a trainer?” I questioned.

“Exactly. I’ll just have to talk your mom and run it by her. Also, I have to be sure you’re dedicated to this. I can’t waste my time on a pupil who doesn’t want to learn.”

“I promise I’ll be dedicated I promise!!! Just teach me how to fight so I can stand a chance.” “Alright, just let me take you home and we’ll work it out with your mom.” he said assuringly.

“What happened to your eye!?!?” my mother said.

“Nothing mom. But Mr. Petrus is here to talk to you about training me for the registration.”

“Training? What kind of training?” she asked.

“Well Alexandra, as you can see your son Atticus gets bullied quite frequently. I would just like to help him get better, faster, and stronger; since you know his big day is coming up.” said Mr. Petrus.

“Why does he need your help?” she retorted.

“Well ma’am Atticus’s registration date is soon approaching and he needs a lot of work. I was once in training for Gladiator fighting and could be of great help in the survival of your son. I see my younger self in young Atticus and would only like to push him towards reaching his maximum potential.” he said heartwarmingly.

As I looked at Mr. Petrus I could see the vague description of a former Gladiator. Wide Shoulders, big arms, muscular frame. He was probably one of the best; I thought to myself.

“The training would be every day directly after school, and I promise, if Atticus gives me his maximum effort you’ll see a change in him. Physically and Mentally.” he reassured.

“Please mom please? I need help! I’m always getting pushed around and the registration is only a couple of months away!” I pleaded.

“I don’t know Atticus…” she argued.

“Mom! Please!” I groveled once more.

“Ok! Ok! Fine! Just keep my son safe Mr. Petrus. He’s the only thing I have left.” My mom said as she started to tear up.

“He’s in good hands Alexandra. We start tomorrow bring your A-game kid. I don’t need my time wasted.” Mr. Petrus said seriously.

“I will!” I replied.

Then he looked at me with a smirk and said “Good, that’s what I want to hear. I’ll be over here around 4 tomorrow so we can start.”

then he walked away. I couldn’t wait I was so excited. I called Augusta outside.

“You’re looking at a soon to be gladiator,” I said cockily.

“What are you talking about?” she asked.

“Well I’m gonna start my training for the registration starting tomorrow with one of my teachers.” “Well it doesn’t matter what training you do. I could still kick your ass.” she retorted.

“Ha. Ha. Ha. I could whoop you with my right hand tied behind my back.” I said.

“Yeah, yeah, yeah. I can’t wait to see it with my own eyes.”

After school the next day I rushed home and got ready for training. Mr. Petrus was already there waiting. “You’re late Atticus.” he said seriously.

“I’m sorry, I got home as quick as I could.” I responded.

“Well let’s start with an overview of your weaponry.”

“Okay, I have my poison darts, flaming sword, and my ray gun. I need some help in learning how to use them. I’m not confident in them.”

He looked me in my eyes and said “First lesson. You should always believe in yourself and if you do, a sling shot can become a deadly weapon. What’s a gun without a confident shooter behind the trigger?” We started with the poison darts. He got behind me and fixed my form and showed me other ways to improve my accuracy. Next we practiced my sword fighting. Mr. Petrus brought his sword from his gladiator days to help me. Finally, I had target practice for my ray gun, hitting bottles of a gate 10 yards away and gradually getting larger. After months of training I could see a change in myself. I became confident, faster, stronger, a better fighter, and an actual contender.

The day before my birthday, he told me it was my last day of training and that today was the final test. I had to fight him. “Are you sure Mr. Petrus?” I asked. “I don’t want to hurt you,” I continued.

“I’m your enemy now, he’s not worried about your wellbeing so why are you worried about his? I’m trying to hurt you. Hands up.” he said calmly.

“But Mr. Petrus I d-” he punch me in the nose. I fell to the ground, surprised, and confused. “Get. Up.” he said angrily. “You better fight back or I’m just going to beat you down,” he swung again. I dipped to the left then dipped backwards to avoid the combination of punches. Then I swung and hit him in the mouth. His emotion didn’t change, he just pulled out a sword and charged towards me. I pulled out my flaming sword as I got in my defensive stance. “Mr. Petrus, I don’t want to fight you!” I replied.

He replied calmly “You have no choice.” he struck his sword towards my legs as I parried his attack numerous times. “Click, Clank, Clank” the sounds of the swords clashing together under the sunset orange sky. Until an elbow to the chin disarmed Mr. Petrus and knocked him to the ground. I stepped on his chest and put my sword to his neck.

“Stop. It’s over.” He gripped a handful of soil from my mother’s garden and threw it in my face. I rubbed my eyes and before I knew it he had my ray gun to my face.

“No. Now it’s over. Bang. You’re dead. You lost.” He put the gun down. “You never show mercy to your opponent,” The most important lesson he told me was to “kill the opposition before they killed me.” “Atticus. Everyone has a reason and a drive to keep them in the Gladiator Battle. Yours is your mother. Without you, she’s done for. She needs you to bring money home to live. Now these other guys on the other hand, will either be slaves fighting for their freedom or poor, desperate boys like you who are in the battles to bring home money for their family. There’s no room for nice guys here Atticus. Remember that.” He helped me up. “You’ve grown so much in these last couple of months, physically, as a fighter, and as a man. I can almost look at you as a son. It’s been a pleasure to train a wonderful young student like yourself. I only wish for the best of you on your registration day.”

“Thank you Mr. Petrus, thank you for believing in me and saving my life. I don’t know how long I would’ve lasted without you.” We started to pack everything up.

“Night kid, I’ll see you at the registration,” He waved and walked off into the sunset.

The next morning I went to the bathroom and looked in the mirror, I didn’t see my former self. The small, fearful, young kid was now gone. He’s been replaced with a confident, walking tall, lion hearted man. Before I left for the registration, I had to talk to Augusta. “Augusta! Augusta!” I called out like I used to.

“Hey Atticus, long time no see.”

“I gotta talk to you,” I called out.

“Alright, I’m on my way down.” she responded. “Wassup?” She said.

“No Happy Birthday? You’re the worst.”

“I was getting around to it!” she laughed. “Besides, it’s not much of a happy day. But, I got something for you.” From behind her back she pulled out a dog tag that said “A.A. the dynamic duo. Together forever.” I stared shocked.

“How could you afford this?...” I said, with my eyes still wide open.

“Don’t worry about it! Just a little saving,” she smiled and laughed.

“You like it? I bought it so you’d know, during the registration and during your fights I’ll be there fighting with you.”

Still in disbelief I said. “I love it. I’ll never take it off. Shit. I’m almost late!” I gave her a long, tight, 5 20 second hug before I ran off. When I got to the registration there were hundreds of boys already there. Most looked ready but some of them looked frightened like me before training with Mr. Petrus. I felt bad for them, I knew how they felt. When it was finally my turn to register, they asked me my name, my weight, where I was from and my weapon preference. I told them what they wanted and received a number and waited for my number to be called.

After waiting for some hours I heard “#773 and #821 report to your respected locker rooms.” When I got there a man was waiting for me.

“Today you will be put up against another contestant in a fight to the death. The winner moves to the next round and will travel to Camp Sparta for further training and battles. I’d advise you to make yourself appealing to the fans to get your name out there. Okay? You have 10 minutes to prep.” and he left, just like that. I sat in the locker room and thought about my mother’s smile and cry when I left, and most importantly the times I shared with Augusta and our last moments together. Finally, I tried to remember everything Petrus taught me before I put my gear on.

“5 more minutes until showtime Augusta.” the man said. I took a deep breathe as I walked to the arena tunnel. I could hear the crowd get pepped up as I moved closer to the end of the tunnel. I closed my eyes and kissed my necklace from Augusta and then traced a cross on my chest before my name was called. “Hereeeeee comesssss Atticus!!!!!” The crowd roars as I grip my weapons and walk towards the light at the end of the tunnel.

“Hey buddy, you got any spare change?”

Karl stared at the bum, straight faced, and began to take the next few steps towards the

door of the internet cafe he spent his off time in.

“Alright buddy, God bless you,” the bum said with bored disappointment.

“What’d you just say to me? What the fuck did you just say to me?” Karl was shouting; people were stopping to see what was happening.

The man behind the counter of the internet cafe with the grease slicked hair looked up from his laptop screen, a rare occurrence. A cab driver turned the corner and honked his horn to try to stop Karl. At this point, Karl had a grip on the man’s shirt collar and was hurling weak, clumsy punches at his head. The bum, realizing he was no longer in any actual danger began to loosen up. Karl’s blows weren’t nearly enough to do any real damage, so the bum was able to crack a dirty, swollen smile.

The bum began to laugh and a crowd began to gather around the scene. Karl was incoherently screaming scientific facts about how God can be disproven and that saying, ‘God bless you,’ was the greatest insult of all to him and his community of intellectuals.

“You idiot plebeian!” Karl screamed, tears streaming down his face.

The crowd that had gathered around them began laughing with the bum. “Easy killer,” someone sarcastically remarked. Karl, out of breath, his wool khakis spotted with sweat around the buttocks and waistband, realized that he was probably on the losing side of this fight. He quickly dropped the bum and grabbed his leather laptop case which had fallen off his shoulder in the commotion. Then, quite ungracefully, he turned and ran back down Main Street. He ran for what felt like forever to him, but what was actually about 3 blocks to his apartment complex.

He burst through the front doors of building 4, crying and sweaty, and was greeted by the doorman.

“No luck today downtown, Mr. Johnson?” he asked. Karl ignored him and kept running to the elevator.

He ran past the pamphlets for events; Singles Dodgeball, Singles Aqua Aerobics, Singles Cooking Classes. Karl’s apartment complex was geared towards singles looking for love between the ages of 30 and 50. Karl got into the elevator and as soon as the doors closed he collapsed in the corner. No longer fueled by rage, he could only think, ‘I am so out of shape.’

The elevator bell dinged. Floor 69. The top floor.  Karl pulled himself up and waddled out of the elevator, his pants chafing him with every movement. His was the only apartment on floor 69, a lazy design flaw by both the architect and engineers, and was located at the end of a long, doorless hallway opposite of the building’s elevator corridor. The floorplan was exactly the same as all the others, with apartments ranging from numbers 401-420. The 69th floor was different though, apartments 401-419 were nonexistent. The hallway was long and dimly lit, with cobwebs all along the length of it. It was in stark contrast with the rest of the apartment complex which was undecidedly modern and clean.

Karl opened his door and immediately disarmed the multitude of alarms that protected his home. Next to the alarm panel sat his homemade aquarium that housed one of his closest friends, a Chinese Red Cap Goldfish named Poncho. Poncho was the kind of goldfish that looks like it’s brain is popping out of it’s head; Karl praised it for being “one of the smartest non-humanoid beings he had ever met.” In reality, Poncho was nothing more than a common pet store variety goldfish.

Over the 8 years Karl had lived in his apartment he had spent upwards of $2,000 on furniture pieces for Poncho’s aquarium. He wanted to base the interior design of the tank off of the general aesthetic of the mythical lost city of Atlantis. His imagination of the mystical world stemmed from a version of it portrayed in the Disney film Atlantis: The Lost Empire. Poncho’s aquarium, garnished with a plethora of sea grasses,  brass gears, and miniature brass submarines, was top knotch - to say the least. Karl liked to attribute Poncho as being one of the strongest and most supportive people he’d ever met. He would speak for hours to Poncho, explaining all of his ideas for inventions: gloves to keep dorito dust from caking your hands, a machine to perfectly synthesize the taste of Monster energy drink from home, a vehicle to travel between parallel universes. Karl had almost no scientific knowledge to backup his outlandish invention ideas, and Poncho knew that, but he never actually spoke up to dash Karl’s dreams.

Across the apartment, next to the collection of Victorian era gears and the scale model of an A-Frame house floating above the ground, suspended by a steam powered flying apparatus, sat an object that hadn’t moved for years. It was overgrown and unkempt but still gave off a certain aura that made you feel as though it’s eyes were following your every move in the house. Karl had gotten this Chia Pet years ago, and it bore a striking resemblance to the actor Adrian Brody. It wasn’t quite him, but for a second you’d think it was. Karl still called this ceramic planter Adrian, though. He had been tormented in his dreams by Adrian, an issue he often brought to Poncho for advice on. That aside, Adrian and Poncho were Karl’s only friends. He even considered them his family ever since the incident.

Karl spent his 30th birthday in the basement of his parents’ home, alone, in his underwear, and watching The Big Bang Theory. When his parents got home from their night at the theater they found him half asleep on his couch, with his bare hand in their peanut butter jar and peanut butter covering the immediate area around his mouth. He had done this regularly for his whole life and it drove his parents understandably insane.

Karl had ruined countless jars of peanut butter this way. His parents would try to salvage the jars but by the time they would get there, Karl would have already tainted them with a toxic mixture of Mountain Dew and crushed Doritos. On its own, the Dorito-Dew cocktail was tolerable by some but it was something about the oils in peanut butter that changed the chemical makeup of the mix and caused it to be repulsive and extremely conductive to electricity. His parents were tired of this happening. Their son turned 30 years old that night and he still had no job, no life, and no aspirations. Judy and Paul were both successful lawyers and it pained them to see their son wasting his life this way. They didn’t understand his internet comics or steampunk outfits. When they found him at home that night, hand in their brand new jar of peanut butter, they decided that they had to do do something. His father looked at him in disgust and disappointment, “Get your hand out of that jar and get out of our house,” he said with a crack in his voice. Karl’s parents paid for his apartment and gave him money to live off of every month but otherwise they hadn’t spoken since Karl left his childhood home 8 years ago.

At home, Karl often had night terrors. He would wake up in the middle of the night, drenched in sweat and thrashing in bed. He described his incredibly vivid yet terrifying dreams to Poncho every morning. “They’re pushing me to my limit, I’m telling you. The dreams, they.. they keep getting more and more elaborate. It’s hurting my huge mind!” He said one morning while reading his copy of Anime Quarterly.

That night, Karl poured himself a snifter glass full of Mountain Dew and sat down by the window to look out at swirling night sky. Karl found Kansas City profoundly beautiful at night, more so than any other city in the world, even though he had never actually been out of the Midwest city. He would just sit and watch the sky and think. Doing this, he found, was just as therapeutic as discussing his problems with Poncho.

Karl watched a helicopter fly across the sky and land on the helipad of Kansas City Memorial Hospital. He scoffed and figured that some idiot from Park City probably blew up their meth lab or something. The night was especially cloudy and he could see lightning striking a few miles away.

“Storm’s a brewin’,” Karl heard from across the room.

“Wh-who said that?” Karl asked tentatively after taking a gulp from his glass.

“The lightning’s getting closer. You better get ready to go.” Karl watched Adrian’s ceramic lips move and he couldn’t believe his eyes.

He took a gulp from his glass, finishing it, already intoxicated from the high sugar levels of the soda, then threw it against the wall. Karl knew exactly what to do.

He had a strange sense of Déjà vu; he had seen this all in a dream before. It had all happened, up to him throwing the glass at the wall. Adrian wasn’t oddly cryptic in the dream, though. He was uncharacteristically conscice. Adrian knew everything about Karl and therefore had the utmost control over him. He was able to use Karl’s insecurities against him and play with his heart. Karl could recount a handful of dreams where Adrian had given him what were supposedly top secret government secrets, information about the future, and even the meaning of life. This got Karl into a lot of trouble after he would wake up and try to act on his new found “information.”

The lightning cracked again in the sky, this time slightly closer. Karl recounted a dream he had had just 2 nights prior in which Adrian gave him the blueprints to a vehicle that could travel between universes in the multiverse. Adrian mentioned specifically the codes that needed to be input into the machine to get to Karl’s own version of Utopia: the steampunk universe.

Karl rushed around his apartment to assemble to components he could remember from the list Adrian had given him. He ripped the circuit board out of his television remote and hot-glued it to the lense of his camera. He then ripped the battery pack out of the camera and replaced it with the ignition switch of a barbecue lighter. The intended outcome of this hodgepodge invention would be for the user to stand perfectly still and press the shutter button of the camera, which would cause a web that sucks in everything within 5 feet into a different universe.

Once Karl had the contraption set up as best he could, he took a look out of the window to see where the lightning was. It had just struck the lightning rod of another highrise in his cluster. He took a look around his apartment. It was littered with all of the waste he detested from modern American society. His gaze turned to all of his steampunk figurines and scale models. He grabbed his bottle of Mountain Dew and took a swig straight from it then grabbed a Dorito and his jar of peanut butter and took bites from both in one sweeping motion. He turned around quickly and clumsily, knocking the open bottle into the pile of crushed chips and peanut spread. He was ready to be in the universe he was meant to be in.

He pressed the button and nothing happened. Karl was shocked; for some reason he couldn’t believe that Adrian would trick him like this again. He looked over at the chia pet, it sat there petrified with a smirk on its face. Karl sighed deeply with disappointment and dropped the camera on the ground.

Just as his camera hit the ground, a bolt of lightning shot through his window and struck his kitchen table right at the divergence of the Doritos, Mountain Dew, and peanut butter. It’s hyper-conductivity and complex chemical makeup caused a reaction once the lightning hit it that viciously tore a hole in Karl’s universe and swept him up into a Purgatory-like tunnel. He was falling, yet felt weightless in this strange vacuum. He saw clocks and gears and vast expanses of color flying past him. He looked to his left and narrowly escaped the grip of a dinosaur’s jaws. He was confused and scared.

Karl realized where he was after 10 long seconds of falling that felt like forever. He remembered stumbling upon a book at work, Costco, that detailed theories about our universe. He remembered a chapter about the multiverse theory that hypothesized that our universe is nothing more than a bubble, surrounded by fundamentally similar but slightly different universes in their own isolated bubbles. The theory dictated that each universe began the same way but followed a different timeline of possible options. In one universe, the dinosaurs never went extinct, in another, dogs were the dominant life forms. Anything was possible in the parallel universes. Karl realized that in this case, the separate universes were stacked on top of each other, explaining the pipeline he was falling through.

Karl realized the potential for a positive outcome after getting pulled out of the tunnel. He knew that somewhere, somehow, there’d be a universe that followed the steampunk timeline. Karl also realized the potential for his new universe to be catastrophically bad. What if he got sucked into a universe where Earth was just a barren wasteland? What if he was shot into a universe where everything was claymation? He couldn’t handle that.

Just as these thoughts were going through Karl’s swelling head he felt himself being pulled in every direction. ‘This is it,’ he thought, ‘It’s happening!’ All of a sudden, Karl’s senses were hindered. He was floating in a sensory depraved bliss. All of the thoughts that troubled him, all of the pet peeves that drove him insane, and all of the physical limitations of his imagination were gone.

Karl woke up on a foggy, moss covered beach. His wool khakis soiled and his polo shirt stained with tears and his own saliva. He rubbed his face and touched the ground, just to make sure he was actually conscious and in a real place. He sat up, his head pounding and massaged his temples. He looked to his left and through the fog saw what looked like a man. Karl examined the man from a distance. He immediately noticed the man’s faded brown leather tophat, garnished with brass trim. Karl had once seen a tophat like it on an online steampunk forum. He kept looking at the man, to see whether he was friend or foe and noticed the man’s extremely thick neck. In fact, the man was quite large all around. He could tell from a distance that this man certainly possessed a physical strength far greater than his own. Karl began to wonder why this man was sitting in perceived solitude on the beach.

Karl tentatively approached the man whose gaze seemed to be set on the open ocean. Or was it a harbor? Karl had no idea.

“Hello comrade!” Karl yelped from about 20 feet away from the man.

Karl watched the man slowly turn his head and stare at him from behind a pair or horned rimmed brass glasses. After about 15 excruciating seconds, the man lifted a finder to his mouth and made a loud “Shhh” noise.

“Where are we? What year is it? Who are you?” Karl spat out nervously.

“I reckon you’re new here, huh boy?” The hulking man said. His voice slow like molasses with a thick accent that sounded cajun.

“The name’s Tommy, Tommy Hilfiger.” He said

“L- Like the designer?” Karl asked, thinking he was being duped.

Tommy gave a crass chuckle. “I do declare you’re out of your element, son. I am no designer; I’m a military man myself. Been fighting ever since I can remember. I know what you’ve been through, I’ve been through it too. The war has ravished our society and displaced many a person like you and I.”

Karl knew this man had no idea what he had just experienced and normally he would aggressively correct him but something inside him told him that would be wrong. Did the trip into this new universe change him? That was neither here nor there he decided. He wanted to talk to this stranger more to try to piece together where he was. At that moment a huge airship passed over them both. The fog parted and light was set onto this steam powered goliath that resembled a cross between a zeppelin and a fighter jet. “Great scott..” Karl managed to whisper to himself. He had made it, he was in the steampunk universe.

Karl heard a faint hissing in the air, the sound of steam being released at an incredibly high pressure.

“I’d say we should probably find a new spot to talk,” Tommy said nonchalantly. Karl didn’t hear him, he was focused on that incessant sound coming from the sky.

“You must be some kind of simpleton,” Tommy said, grabbing Karl’s arm and in a swift sequence of steps pulled them both off the beach and behind a pile of boulders about 30 feet high.

“How dare you call me a simpleton!!” Karl screamed, unaware of the brass box that had just landed on the spot they occupied just moments ago.

Before Karl could continue his rant, Tommy grabbed him and forced him in a cavern formed in one of the boulders. Once again, Tommy silenced him and nodded towards the beach. Within seconds, an explosion rocked the area.

Trembling, Karl stood up. He was ready for Tommy to give him guidance. A tear ran down his fleshy cheek and he couldn’t believe that the world he had always dreamed of living in was plagued with war.

“Let’s saunter over to my safehouse, son.” Tommy said, sensing fear in Karl.

“That’d be nice,” Karl managed to say.

Tommy noticed that Karl had soiled his pants during the explosion and muttered a well intentioned, “God bless this boy,” under his breath.

My mother killed me. Before you close the laptop and walk away, hear me out. She was trying to heal me, but things went terribly wrong after August of 2001. I know this is weird, but let me tell you I have lived two lives on earth and the third is just beginning.

“In recent weeks we learned that scientist have created human embryos in test tubes solely to experiment on them. This is deeply troubling and a warning sign that should prompt all of us to think through these issues very carefully. Embryonic stem cells research is at the leading edge of a series of moral hazards.”

“Sara, did you hear?” Virginia said.

“ No, what happened.” Sara replied.

“Apparently our president is a scientist now. He’s cutting off all funds for stem cell research!”

“Wait, he can’t do that? Can he?”

“I guess he can. After he said it was a ‘moral hazard’ I had to cut it off.”

President Bush addressed the nation in April of 2009 to announce the federal budgets ban on embryonic stem cell research. The scientist in my mom’s Pathology lab were appalled because no one has ever put a ban on science.

My mother has dedicated her entire life to science, especially after the school district’s budget cuts. You see my dad was an art teacher, art was his only passion, besides his family of course. With his long dreads, and septum piercing he only wore loose clothing, with a chill attitude. After the cuts my dad was laid off because the school could no longer afford an art class. Mason is a cool dad, even after losing the his job he manages to keep the family happy. He’s a stay home dad with no reservations about his about his role.

On the other hand, my twin sister Sabrina is a brat. She’s a total daddy’s girl and because of that she can get almost what ever she wants. It’s not like she’s dumb or anything, she’s brilliant. She skipped the 1st grade and has made honor roll since pre K. I’m not jealous, just confused as to how on she inherited of the smart genes. Her best friend Riley is cool too. She has a bunch of cool art supplies, eggplant colored hair, and already has a career goal in mind.

Oh yeah! I’m Hayden, I’m the reason my mother even studies embryonic stem cells. She was originally studying the Unfolded Protein Response phenomenon in the 90‘s.Back then UPR was fairly new and doctors had no clue how it correlated with illnesses within the human body, my mom was on to something when she was studying C. Elegans, then she got pregnant with me. The doctors had told her that I had high risk of having type 1 diabetes because it was a trait in my family. “High risk” to her ears meant for sure. And at the age of 5 she was correct. My mother made it her job to find a cure for type one diabetes, so she preserved our placenta. With the placenta she would be able to use my stem cells to grow more beta cells.You know the cells in the pancreas that make insulin. Hoping that one day she would be able to make me better. Who can say that their mom is trying to find a cure for them?

In order for my mom to study this has to do some ungodly things, but I say hey if it’s for the greater good then why not.

It was a friday when this all happened my mother came home from her research lab and  draped herself over the couch. She looked defeated, and I knew just how make her better.

“Momma, momma!” I yelled from the top of the carpeted staircase.

“ Yes love?” she responded.

“Look at me! I’m a brand new beta cell.” I skipped every other step, once I reached the bottom I jumped on to the landing and put my hands on my hip. “Beta Boy to the rescue!” I jumped over the umbrella bucket, or at least I thought I did. Before I knew I was laid out on the floor. My mother had fallen asleep on the couch while I was making my grand entrance. I got up, turned my cap to the back and walked over to her. “Mom.” I nudged her side.

“Yes?” she said sleepily.

“Do like my new costume?”

“I love it. Where is your sister?

“She and dad went to the market to get groceries for dinner,” I said walking towards the t.v.

“Oh great I don’t have to cook tonight,” I was happy too, my mother isn’t the best cook.

“ How’s the research?” Although I was 10 I knew a thing or two about what my mother did in those big labs. She always came home with cool stories about explosions or cool treatments for patients. Most of the time I asked just to see if she had come closer to finding a cure for me.

“It’s not so good Hayden,” She says sitting up. She extended her arms out to me to come sit on her lap. “Listen you know our president right?”

“No.”

“Well our president name is George Bush. He doesn’t believe in the same things that researchers believe in. He’s against science. “

“Is he bad?”

“No hun he’s not bad just, incompetent.”

“What does in...in...compethent mean?”

“Don’t worry about that, but he’s not into science.”

“Good afternoon everyone!” My dad came walking in the door with his hands full and Sabrina trailing behind him with a small toy in her hand.“Virginia, what’s the matter?”

“Things aren’t so good at the lab. I’m going to take a shower, then we can all talk at dinner. Deal?”

“Ok,” I responded. My mother was never this somber. She may be tired, but she always’ managed to talk to us and make us smile.

“Hayden come help us,” My dad yelled from the kitchen

“Yeah come help!” Sabrina echoed.

“O.k.” I ran upstairs to take off my cap. As I walked passed the bathroom door I could hear my mom whimpering. “Momma, are you ok.” I knocked

“Yes love, I’m fine.” I could hear her wipe her tears.

I continued to my room, when I arrived I laid on top of my bed with my legs stretched out. I laid their mesmerized by the chipped white paint dangling from my ceiling. I smelt the food cooking and the shower running, but my gut would not untie itself from the knot it was in. I was awaken by Sabrina’s loud voice coming from the bottom of the steps.

“Hayden Butt head Jordan come eat!”

“Who are you calling butt head!” I yelled from my room.

“You!”

“Oh I’ll show you a butt head alright!” I dashed down the steps ready to battle Brina in a screaming match.

“Hey, you two, cut it out!” My mom yelled from the dinner table.

“Yeah, before neither of you eat dinner.” My dad said . “Dear I thought we made lemonade last night?”

“I had to dump it out a fly landed in it.” As we all sat in our unofficially assigned table seats my father asked the question I’ve been dying to have an answer to.

“So dear what happened today?” He said scooping mashed potatoes on to his spoon.

“Well Mr. President has decided to put a ban on funding for stem cell research as well as banning it in the states completely.”

“ Mom can you still do research?” I said holding my fork to my mouth.

“Um, honey look I have plans on how I’m going to keep doing research, but we won’t be able to live in the states.” She said as she cut her steak.

“So where do we have to go?”

“Indonesia.” She put her cut steak in her mouth.

“Indonesia?” My dad said with a puzzled look on his face.

“I know it’s a stretch, but I know that I’ll be able to find a cure there.”

“Dear, why Indonesia?”

“Indonesia has a large population of orangutans. Orangutan are primates and with these animals I can further my research. Also because the country has not put any bans on stem cell research. Look guys I know this is a stretch, but Imagine living in the jungle, playing in creeks, and curing Hayden.”

“Can I talk to upstairs for a minute dear?” I knew my parent were going to be gone for the rest of the dinner so Brina and eye just went to the couch to watch t.v.

“Do you have uproot our lives and carry to the other side of the world to find a cure? It’s not like the boy has cancer! He has diabetes, all he needs is his insulin.”

“I took him to the doctors a week ago and he told me that his immune system is not only killing his beta cells but is also beginning to eat away at his liver and lungs.”She said as she walked to the divan

“There is a possibility that is cancer, but the doctor said that it was some sort apoptosis mutation. Instead killing cells it eating away at vital internal organs.” She sat down.

“Does he know?”

“No, I don’t want to worry him. It’s bad enough he doesn’t think I can find a cure.”

“But Dear...” My mother cut him short.

“I don’t want my 10 year old to think of death before he is able to ride his bike, without training wheels. I don’t want my son to have to live each day waiting to die. He is a child! My child deserves to live.”

“Dear you aren’t god you can’t heal everyone.”

“That is why I dropped all of my past experiments to help him! I am not healing everyone I am healing my child. Why don’t you get that?” She stand to walk out of the room.

“I do, I’m sorry. I just don’t want you to be discouraged if you don’t discover a cure.”

“That’s the difference between you and I hun, I won’t stop. I won’t sleep. I promised my son I would cure him and I will.” my mother rushed out of the room and down the steps. “Kids! pack your things we are moving to Indonesia next Saturday.” She said as she stood in front of the t.v.

The next week was hectic. My mother still needed to find us a place to stay, my dad had to take us out of school, and my sister and I had to prepare ourselves to live in a different country. We had never been outside the country, the only places we’ve been were to Puerto Rico, Virginia, and Kansas.My father told us that we were relocating for a better life for us all especially me. I understood it all, but I couldn’t help but think that something else had to be wrong.

“Kids when we get on the plane chew the gum immediately, Brina you know how your ears start to popping as soon as we hit cruising altitude.” She said as she handed out our boarding passes.

“We are now seating rows L through O.” The woman called over the loudspeaker.

“Ok guys that is us, lets go.” My father led the way through grey tube that took us to the airplane. “Brina and Hayden are you excited?”

“I’m excited dad. You know I was a bit nervous this morning on our way over to the airport, but now I am super excited.” Brina said

“I just want to go explore the jungle,” I said as I looked back at my mom.

“Oh and I will be you two’s new teacher,” My dad said

“ Dad can we have school in the jungle?”

“Everyday!”

When we got on the plane I felt like crying. I didn’t know where we were going, I only saw google images of Indonesia. When we arrived I was in awe. The trees were so green, the soil was a glistening brown tent, and the sky was clear.

“Welcome to the jungle kids!” My mom opened her arms wide as if she was going to hug the forest. “Our home should be just up the trail!” It was just up the trial, disguised as a tree. I ran into the family room to a panoramic window. “That over their love is lab,”she pointed to a smaller bungalow, “is where we will be spending most of our time.”

A week later my mother took the placenta to the lab and began to extract stem cells. She also took some cells from my pancreas to study the cell lines. Then she found an impregnated orangutan, bled her and took her beta cells. My mother worked tirelessly for weeks. She created an artificial protein that would allow the pancreatic cells to produce insulin without the immune system killing them off. This worked well in the orangutan cells so she tried it on mine.

“Mom, how’s it going?” I asked her when she walked in the door

“Great! I’m really close but I want to run a couple more test to make sure that everything is ok with the cells.”

“What kind of test?”

“To see if the cells are actually able to produce insulin.”

“Oh ok,” I reply I as walk to my room. I close my door and lay on my bed.

“Hayden?” I hear a soft knock at the door.

“Who is it?”

“It’s Brina.”

“Why are you whispering?”

“I don’t know. I thought it would make it would cooler.” Brina said as she walked in.

“I miss Riley, man. I can’t call her, or see her.” She said as she laid on my bed.

“I’m sorry to hear that.”

“Don’t be sorry bro just listen.”

“Um, ok.” I flop on to the bed too.

“I like Riley.”

“Of course you do! She’s your best friend.”

“No, I mean... I like Riley the way that boys like girls,” She looked away from me and out the window.

“Oh. Ok. How long have you felt this way?” I turn to find the back of her head.

“Since the beginning, besides you, she’s the only other person I feel close to.”

“Na uh, dad.”

“Not even him.” She out her hands across her stomach. “Are you... scared?”

“Scared of what?”

“Of dying.”

“I mean, what if mom’s little potion doesn’t work?”

“First, it’s not a potion! It’s cells, beta cells. Secondly, mom would never put a deadly cell inside of me.”

“Oh, if you say so.”

“Why do you think that?”

“I have that weird feeling in my gut. Like I’m afraid for you.” She reached out and touched my shoulder. “Hey if you trust it then so do I.”

“Yea, I do.”

“Oh yeah dad told me to tell you to come eat.”

“I’m coming.” I turned over and stared out the window.

“Hayden some eat!” My dad yell from down the hall.

The next day was the big day. My mother had fed me a hearty breakfast, or should I say my father made it and she made sure I ate it all. She told me I would need as much food as I could get because it would be a long process. After I ate the plate clean we walked to the research facility, My mother gave me a white gown, and then laid me on her check up table.

“OK Hayden I’m going to inject this needle right into the pancreas.” She help up the longest needle in the world, and plucked it. “It’s going to hurt a bit, but try your best to stay still.” A short tan man walked in and introduced himself.

“Hi, I’m doctor Carr I will be administering your cells today.” He held out his hand.

“Cool, I’m Hayden.The patient.” I shook his hand.

He giggled a bit and responded, “ Alright I’m going to ask to to lay flat on your back.”

“Alright Doctor Car.” I closed my eyes tightly and laid flat.

“Take a deep breathe.” He said while my eyes were tightly shut. Soon I felt the needle penetrate my skin. The needle was long, and putting the cells in took even longer. I was beginning to tear up, but I would not open my eyes. My insides felt felt warm and fuzzy, and I no longer heard my mom and Dr.Car in the room. My skin began to feel furry, and brittle. I opened my eyes and my vision was a bit different. I lifted up my hand and saw the reddish orange fur.

“Mom.” Although it didn’t sound like english or human. “Mom!” I yelled even louder and it sounded like a groan. I was afraid, no one returned to the room. “Brina!” No one heard me because I wasn’t speaking I was groaning like a monkey.

I got up from the table and fell to the floor. I was shorter, furrier, smellier. I ran around the room trying to find a mirror of some sort but I couldn’t. I ran to the bathroom. I knew I find a mirror in there and I walked in on my mom fixing her lipstick.

“Mom, mom, mom!” I scream from within the body but the words couldn't translate to english when they left my mouth. My mom began to fight me, or at least try. I jumped on to the sink and I saw my reflection. I was an orangutan. How?

“Get out! Now! Stop!.” My mother screamed at me.

I jumped downed and walk towards the entrance. I had to get Brina to realize me.

“Get out of here you monkey!”

My mom went back later that day to check on my body. I was gone physically changed I was gone. My mother had seen me and did not even notice me. Brina was right about having that feeling and that feeling I had on the plane. I felt better, I wasn’t tired or sore I was effervescent and healthy. My mother say me approach the entrance and  came charging at me.

“Get out!” She opened the door and shoved me out.

I was in the jungle, exposed, confused, tired, and Dr. Carr was no where in sight. I had to get to Brina, she would notice. Well I think she would my mother didn’t.

I had been in the jungle for the 3 days, no orangutans in site. I’m sure my parents were worried sick!I had to say living of the and had been a lot of fun. I could swing from trees with out my mom yelling get down. I could eat all the fruit I desired. I heard Brina walking towards the garden my senses were heightened as a monkey. I walked up to her calmly, hoping out twin telepathy would spark something in her mind. I stood there looked her in her eyes and didn’t move.

“Hayden?” She squinted her eyes as if she could see me in this body. “Hayden, answer me.” I made an awful noise and she knew i was in there somewhere. “You can’t talk can you.” I shook my head as she walked closer. “Look come with me, you can hide in my room.”

I followed Brina home. When we arrived dad was looking out the front window.

“Wait here,” She said. “Hey dad, can you come help me?”

“Sure kid. Did you see your brother or something?”

“Yea I thought I saw him up the trail. At the blue sign go over there before he leaves and I meet you, I have to go change my shoes.”

“Alright, hurry up”

She watched my dad walk down the path before she signaled me to come. She took me up the step and into her room. Brina was a private person so I was never invited onto her room before.

“O.k. stay in here, I’ll bring you some food. You must be starving.” I nodded my head.

I heard Brina talking to our mom in the kitchen.

“What is that on your hand?” My mom asked

“Oh nothing i as trying to climb a tree earlier.”

“I need to put some neosporin on your knee on it and clean it. Go up to your room I’ll be right there.”

“Oh no mom it’s fine I have to go meet dad.”

“No before I clean that scar, you don’t want it to get infected.”

I ran to Brina’s closet, but I couldn’t get in there fast enough.

“Hayden hurry get in the closet.” Brina shoved me into the closet I could hear the worry in her voice, but I wasn’t going to get in the closet mom would notice me. “Come on get in.”

“Sabrina! Step away from the monkey. Come here. Now. Close this door and step outside.”

My mom looked me in my eyes and walk out closing the door behind her. I thought maybe she had some sort of reversing serum, but she returned with some sort of gun.

“Look, I told you in the lab to leave my family!” I jumped up and down trying to get her to notice that it was me. I walked closer. “Back up! she shot the liquid at me but I jumped back to fast. “Slick one huh?”

“Mom stop Brina yelled!”

“No it was trying to hurt you!” She shot it again and it hit me! I slowly turned back into Hayden, the boy. I could see the regret in her eyes. “My son, my son!” She ran over to me and held me in her arms. I looked up at her then my eyes closed. And I was gone.