Sleeper (The Waking Sleep Book 1)

by Lucy Adler

  _______________________

  They all decided that it would be good to take the rest of the day to relax. So, after lunch, they all wandered off to enjoy some personal space.

  Daria went out onto the porch. There were a few old-fashioned rocking chairs out there, so she pulled one into the best spot for admiring the view and made herself comfortable. The porch creaked and cracked softly as she slowly rocked back and forth. The breeze rustled the fir trees as it had earlier up on the hill, and birds shared their songs with one another across the open spaces between them.

  But then Daria noticed a different sound peaking through. Like sniffling, maybe? She stopped rocking and listened more closely.

  Is someone crying?

  She stood up and leaned over the railing. She didn’t see anyone at first, but then she heard what was definitely someone sniffling. It was coming from around the side of the house, off to the right. She tip-toed to the end of the porch, just to see what was going on.

  Then she saw Aury, sitting by herself next to a ring of stones that surrounded the charred remains of a fire. And she was obviously in tears.

  Do I go down there? Maybe she wants to be alone?

  Daria wasn’t sure if it was the right thing to do but she decided to call out to her.

  “Hey, Aury! Wanna come up here and sit with me for a while?”

  The girl looked up with a start. She quickly wiped her eyes with her sleeve and tried to smile.

  “Sure, ok,” she called back.

  Daria pulled one of the other rockers closer to where she was sitting, so they could both enjoy the view together.

  Aury joined her and sat down with a flop.

  “I’m still having a hard time getting my head around this view!” Daria said. “I’ve never been able to see so far before.”

  “Yeah, it’s pretty awesome. I like it when we get to come here.”

  Despite her words, Aury’s voice was laced with sadness. Daria wanted to talk about happy things to help cheer her up, but she decided to try something else instead.

  “Do you want to talk about anything? I mean, I know I don’t really know much,” she laughed, “but I can listen?”

  Aury pulled her knees up so that her feet were resting on the seat of the chair. She rubbed her eyes again and blew her nose into a tissue she had been clutching tightly in her right hand.

  “My brother died in one of those ‘hospitals’.”

  Daria sighed. “I’m sorry.”

  “He was like you, one of the rare ones.”

  She brought the tissue up to her nose again and sobbed. As she leaned her head forward, her hair covered the side of her face.

  Daria looked at the trees, and the sky, and then closed her eyes. She didn’t have anything to say, so she didn’t speak. Eventually, Aury sat up again, tossing her hair back over her shoulder.

  “I couldn’t help him. I was eleven and didn’t understand any of this stuff. My parents said he was sick and that there was nothing anyone could have done for him. That was all I knew for two years, until Max came for me. He was my brother’s best friend.”

  Daria wanted to cry now but she was able to hold it back. She didn’t want to make Aury feel sadder for having told her.

  “Did your parents know the truth?” she asked.

  “I’m still not sure,” Aury said, shaking her head. “I hope not, but I don’t know.” Then she looked Daria in the eyes and asked, “Do yours?”

  That wasn’t a question she had asked herself yet. She hadn’t had the time to ask it, with the whirlwind of the last two days.

  “I don’t know. I mean, they were there when the men came to take me to the Institute. They said it was going to make me better and that everything would be fine. I don’t know how much they really understood.”

  “They probably didn’t know much. Most parents of sleepers don’t, at least from what these guys have told me,” she said, gesturing toward the house with her head. “I think most parents just know what the Guidelines say and what the Doctors tell them. Then they do what they think is best.”

  Or they make you feel like a complete failure for not being perfect.

  “Yeah, I guess so,” Daria replied.

  They were quiet for a while. Aury started rocking her chair now and seemed to be returning to her lighthearted self.

  “So, do you miss any of your friends?” she asked.

  Daria also hadn’t had much time to think of friends. Well, friend, singular.

  “There was really only one. Brix. It’s short for Brianna Saxon. I kinda just mashed it up!”

  “That’s cute! She probably misses you.”

  “I hope so!” Daria laughed. “I wish I could let her know what’s going on.”

  “Probably better you don’t. It might put her in danger.”

  “True.”

  “At least you’ve got Jake. You guys were good friends, right?”

  Daria didn’t realise it but she blushed at the question.

  “Or were you mooore than friends?” Aury teased her. She flipped her knees around so she could lean a little closer towards Daria.

  “No, nothing like that. Really. Just friends.”

  Aury looked her in the eyes, obviously not content with the answer. Her overall air of sweetness made it difficult to resist her delicately prying gaze. It was a bit like being stared down by a kitten.

  “There might have been something. Just a little flicker of something. But...”

  “But what?”

  “I guess I sort of pulled away.”

  Aury’s head jerked back a little and she frowned. “Why?”

  “Well, before I knew about all of this sleeper stuff, all I knew was that I was tired. And I was screwing up everything in my life. I was too embarrassed, I guess.”

  “I get it. Max extracted me before I had a chance to go through anything like that. I’m not rare, though, like you and my brother. I’m sure a higher dose would have ‘fixed’ me but I imagine it would have been super awkward to be getting tired first!”

  “Yeah. And in my home, there’s nothing except 100% all the time.”

  Aury stopped rocking her chair now as she leaned as far as she could in Daria’s direction. She glanced right and left, then back over her shoulder. Then she whispered something.

  “Well, don’t let that kiss today be the last one.” She winked and then sat back in her chair again, resuming her rocking.

  Daria’s heart jumped.

  “Did everyone see?” she whispered.

  “No, just me,” Aury smiled widely. “He’s been super excited to rescue you and bring you to the group, you know. Like a little puppy!” she laughed.

  Daria blushed again. But her happiness overcame her embarrassment, and she smiled.

  “And don’t worry,” Aury added, placing her finger in front of her lips. “I won’t tell!”

  _______________________

  “I’m looking forward to hearing good things in the morning!”

  “I hope I don’t let you down.”

  “Oh, no, don’t be silly,” Julia replied, waving her hand. “You’re learning. We don’t have any expectations! And, honestly, if we had, you would’ve blown past them already anyway!”

  “That’s encouraging.”

  “Well, g’night,” she said as she pulled the door to her room closed.

  Daria was already in her pajamas. Julia had been kind enough to share a pair with her, and to wash the clothes she had arrived in after her extraction. With her own set of pajamas now and two sets of normal clothes, it somehow made the cabin feel a bit homier, even though the whole place already felt more like ‘home’ than her real home.

  She pulled the blankets up under her chin and stared at the ceiling until her eyes started closing on their own, and she drifted off to sleep.

  _______________________

  Almost as soon as she saw the veil, the urge to pass through it compelled her forward.

  She entered the dream-state joyfully,
eager to observe the purple light show. And it did not disappoint.

  She also felt it calling to her again, bidding her to walk further.

  And yet, she hesitated because she was suddenly afraid. All she could think of was the black cyclone that enveloped her last time. And the Crushing. She was anticipating it any second now...

  But the urging grew stronger.

  She wanted to. More than anything, she wanted to.

  She lifted her left foot and took a half-step.

  The fear was almost unbearable now. It might as well have been the Crushing because it was stifling.

  But high above it all, like a puffy cloud floating peacefully in the sky, the call remained unchanged. And the urging within her, unfazed.

  FORWARD. COME.

  Screw it.

  She lifted her right foot quickly and threw it forward, taking a full step towards the purple stars. And all at once, her chest and head felt relief. In one motion, the fear released its grip and she was joyful again. Peaceful.

  She took a few more easy steps after that, drawing closer to the glowing, pulsating beacons. One of the moving lights drifted over her shoulder, its tail hanging in the space beside her head. She turned to face it just as the streak faded from sight.

  Then she reached out to touch one of the stationary stars.

  But before her fingers made contact, the thing she had been fearing began to happen.

  The cyclone rose up around her. Blackness enveloped her again.

  And the Crushing began in earnest.

  There was no slow build-up this time. And it felt closer than ever. In fact, she was sure it had passed through her hair.

  But instead of obscuring her vision completely, it seemed to be showing her something. Instead of the swirling, churning blackness, pinholes of light started to appear in the dark.

  It was like they were dissolving in reverse, so that the scattered points rushed together until they had formed a complete image.

  And it was clear as day.

  Brix!

  16

  Month: 4 | Day: 1-2 | Year: 60

  THE NEW HUMAN

  “Wake up!”

  Dr. Reston slapped Jake Two across the face again.

  “Eric! Get up, you idiot.”

  “Please don’t call him that.”

  “Relax, Angela. He knows he’s an idiot.”

  Miss Croft scowled but Dr. Reston didn’t care.

  “Wha... what the... where am I?” Eric started to stir a little, his head rocking back and forth as he lay on the floor in the same spot where he had fallen about twenty minutes earlier.

  “Did you have a nice nap?” the doctor asked him.

  “Was I... sleeping?”

  “No. That’s not what those things do to you.”

  “Who... what happened?”

  “It’s ok, Eric,” Miss Croft interrupted. “Just take it easy. You’ll be fine in a few minutes. Don’t push yourself.” She knelt down and rubbed the side of his head.

  Dr. Reston paced up and down the corridor.

  “Aren’t you going to keep chasing them?” she asked him.

  “They’re long gone, I’m sure. If they were still trying to escape, we’d have caught them by now.”

  “They must have had help. How else could they have gotten past the guards?”

  “Probably,” he replied, nodding and then folding his hands behind his back as he continued his slow walk up and down the metal hall.

  “Who, then?” Angela asked in frustration.

  “My guess would be Corey Lee.”

  “You mean the research scientist? But why? Why him?”

  “Oh, it’s very complicated, Angela. I’m not sure you’ll be able to follow the logic.”

  She scowled at him again.

  “You see,” Dr. Reston said, stopping and looking at her like a parent about to tell some exciting secret to their child, “he’s the only staff member who hasn’t checked in since this whole thing started.” He tapped his wristband as he spoke.

  “So then, they could be anywhere.”

  “Very good!” he replied with a clap of his hands.

  “You’re really the biggest jerk I’ve ever met, Charles. Truly.”

  “I’ll take that as a compliment,” he said with a smile. Then he walked off, back towards the facility.

  _______________________

  Dr. Reston waved his wristband in front of the display pad outside his office. The door swung open and a voice greeted him.

  “Welcome, Charles.”

  “Thank you, Ada.”

  The door shut behind him and he took off his jacket. He hung it neatly on a hook that was attached to the end of a large bookcase. Well, bookcase in the sense of a traditional rectangular stack of shelves. No one owned books anymore, so they were really just shelves, period. But people still used the old-fashioned name.

  He let himself fall into his luxurious desk chair. It was high-backed with perfectly proportioned arm rests, all of it upholstered in the finest leather and stuffed with cushioning that was neither too soft nor too firm. If it weren’t for Sendrax, he probably would have fallen asleep in it on a daily basis.

  His desk screen flicked on as he turned to face it.

  “What can I help you with, doctor?”

  “Bring up the file on Grayson please, Ada.”

  “Certainly.”

  In just a couple of seconds, Daria’s face was staring back at him, her personal information displayed to the left of her picture.

  Dr. Reston leaned back, resting his elbows on the arms of the chair and folding his hands in front of his mouth. He let out a long sigh and then made a ticking noise as he thought about what he was reading.

  “Well, Mr. and Mrs. Grayson, I think I shall have to pay you another visit,” he said quietly to himself.

  Then he swiped the screen and scrolled down. His hands fell to his lap and he tapped his leg a few times.

  “And perhaps we should see what you know, Ms. Brianna Saxon.”

  The doctor tapped on her name and a photo of Brix appeared.

  “What do you say, dear? Can you help us find your friend?”

  He stared at the image of the red-haired girl for a little while and then stood up with a deep breath.

  “Ok, Ada, I’m finished. Thank you.”

  “Certainly.”

  The screen went blank and Dr. Reston reached down, opening one of the drawers on the right side of his desk. He pulled out a black case that was only a little larger than a typical sunglasses pouch. He unzipped it, revealing a plastic, handle-shaped object, as though someone had made the grip for a pistol but forgotten to finish the rest of the gun. There were also three vials of purple liquid beside it.

  He removed one of them, and the plastic object, and set the case down on his desk. He walked over to the sink that was mounted along one of the walls. At the top of the grip-like tool was a slot where he inserted the vial and then locked it in place. He removed a rounded cap on one end of the device and exposed a tiny needle.

  As he rolled up his shirt a few inches to expose his stomach, he looked at himself in the mirror that hung over the sink. Then he held up the injector, as if he were toasting the happy couple at a wedding reception.

  “Here’s to the New Humanity, Charles.”

  He administered the drug, or chemical, or whatever it was, and winced a little. Then he stepped over to his desk and fetched the next vial. And the next. After the third dose, he set the injector in the sink and rubbed his stomach. Then he leaned forward and looked at himself in the mirror again, opening his eyes as wide as he could.

  He stayed like that for a few minutes. Just staring. Waiting.

  Eventually, a faint red glow washed over his right eye. Then his left eye took on a bluish haze, which dissipated after a few seconds.

  He blinked several times, then looked again. Both eyes were normal now.

  Dr. Reston smiled at his reflection.

  “Here’s to the New Human.
”

  _______________________

  “Brianna? Brianna! Someone is here to see you.”

  Brix came down the stairs and into the living room.

  “Oh, Mr. and Mrs. Grayson! Hey, what’s up? How’s Daria?”

  “That’s why we’re here, actually.”

  Brix lowered her brow in concern and slowed down. She hadn’t made it to the couch yet and was still standing in the middle of the room.

  “Is something wrong?” she asked.

  “Daria is missing, honey,” her mom said.

  “Missing? But I thought she was at Caxton-Meyers? Some kind of rehab thing, or something.”

  “She was,” Daria’s mother replied, “but it seems that she ran away last night and they don’t know where she is.”

  “Why would she run away?”

  “Well, we were wondering if you could help us figure that out.”

  “Me? How would I know? I didn’t even know she was going there until I called and you guys told me about it.”

  “Has she been in contact with you?” Daria’s father asked gruffly.

  “No, not at all. I actually tried messaging her for like a week after she left but she never texted back. I was sort of angry about it, to be honest.”

  Mr. Grayson stood up and gave Brix a stern look.

  “Are you lying to us, Brianna?”

  “Please, Jack, don’t be rude. If my daughter says she doesn’t know and hasn’t heard from her, then that’s the truth.”

  “Sit down, dear,” Mrs. Grayson added, “Brianna hasn’t done anything wrong.”

  Jack Grayson squinted, as if he were trying to focus his vision to see through her lies. Then he followed his wife’s advice and took his seat again.

  Brix just rolled her eyes and then sat down on the couch next to her mom.

  “Do you think Daria’s in some kind of trouble?” she asked.

  “We don’t think so,” Mrs. Grayson replied. She looked scared despite her best efforts to maintain her usual calm, proper demeanour. “Probably just being rebellious. She’s been struggling with doing the right thing for a while now, as you know.”