by Cooper Eaton
What's wrong with them? Since when has there been a room full of dead testers, and since when did I tell them that? They must be playing some practical joke on me. That’s the only explanation.
Jessica broke away from the others and walked over to me. “William, I think we should talk.”
"I'm done talking to you guys; you're acting crazy."
“Is everything okay?” She asked sitting next to me.
“Why wouldn’t it be?”
“You’ve been acting strange tonight, are you sure you’re alright?”
“I would be, if any of what you were saying made any sense.”
“Do you honestly not remember what happened last night?”
I’d calmed a little bit so I thought back. I honestly can’t remember last night. In fact, the entire night is one big blank. What did happen? “Not really.”
“You don’t remember what happened between us? At the pond?”
“I have no idea what you’re talking about.”
Jessica continued talking but now her voice was quiet and sincere. “Did anything happen between us? I remember taking our clothes off, but then everything is a little hazy. I can’t remember everything that happened, did we do something?” She tensed slightly.
“What are you saying? Since when did any of that happen?”
“Did we do anything we shouldn’t have?” She seemed afraid of my answer.
“Jessica, I have no idea what you’re talking about, but from what you’re insinuating, I’m appalled. You know me, I would never do something like that. Nothing happened last night. I think this conversation is over.” I turned over, relieved when her footsteps started, signaling her exit.
Chapter 13: Trying to Remember
“You told us you would tell us about the bodies and the color cords you're seeing. What’s wrong?” Chris asked confused.
Everyone seemed a little confused, but not as much as I was.
"Why won't you tell us? You're the only other person that can see the colors; I need your help." Matthew begged.
All of their voices had me screaming inside.
We’d finished the sim and made it back to real life. It was evening, and we’d just finished dinner and been given free time to prepare for the deciding game the next day. Rasben had brought me to the fireplace in the library where Jessica, Rachel, Chris, Jack, and even Matthew had gathered. They all had questions about things I supposedly had told them about. Matthew was questioning me on colors trails that I was supposedly seeing! What’s going on? Whose life is this? What is everyone talking about?
"What bodies, what colors, what are you guys talking about? I don't have a clue what is happening!" Luckily out of nowhere Mr. Blackwood came over and rescued me. "Hey, guys, what's going on here? You're in the library; you need to keep your voices down. Mr. Rose if you wouldn't mind coming with me, Dr. Madstein, our head of medicine, would like to talk to you.
I gladly followed Mr. Blackwood happy to escape the current nightmare I was now living. We walked briefly before reaching a small room on the other end of the hallway leading to the library.
Upon entering the room, Dr. Madstein fervently greeted me. “Hello William, it’s nice to see you again under more pleasant circumstances.”
“How so?”
"Mr. Blackwood, sensing my confusion took this as his opportunity to leave. "I can see you have your hands full doctor I will leave you too it, and get on with my duties. If you'll excuse me?"
“Yes, yes, of course.”
And with that Mr. Blackwood was gone, leaving me alone with the good doctor.
"Won't you please have a seat, William?" Dr. Madstein asked stepping aside to reveal two comfortable looking chairs made of plush leather.
“I feel as if we’ve needed to talk for quite some time. Are you struggling in any way?” He asked concerned.
"Well, I have been very confused. Everyone keeps questioning me on things that I've never heard of. It's very frustrating. I feel like I'm missing something."
“Well, that's what I wanted to talk to you about. You see, the other day, you hit your head very hard. The other testers don’t know, but it seems as though you might be suffering from mild amnesia. What kind of questions are they asking, maybe I can fill you in?”
This explains so much! No wonder I’ve been so lost, phew!
“Wow, that’s a relief, you don’t know how good it is to hear that. I’ve been so bewildered lately. I thought for sure I’d gone crazy! I keep getting asked about bodies I supposedly saw, and color cords flying around that only I could see, but I have no idea what anyone’s talking about. Does any of that ring a bell to you?”
“Those are some strange questions. Honestly, all of that sounds like nonsense. Are you sure they aren’t tricking you?”
“They seem genuine.”
"Well, then I would suggest reevaluating your friends. They seem like a distraction for you. You need to remember to stay focused on the test and to not let yourself become overwhelmed trying to figure out what those kids are talking about. To be completely honest with you William. The group of kids asking you these questions don't sound like the greatest friends. I would think about where my priorities lie and consider who my true friends are."
I don’t really know these guys anyways. Why am I friends with Rachel, Chris, Jack, or Rasben? I can’t remember. Jessica's hot, but she's acting weird and Matthew was never my friend, to begin with, so why am I even worried about him or his color seeing? Now that I think about it, my friends really don’t seem that great.
“Thank you for your help Dr. Madstein. What you’ve said has really struck a chord, I think I’ll take your advice.”
“Glad I could be of help,” he said reaching out once more with the same awkward hand gesture as before.
Unsure of what to do, I once again started.
"My apologies I forgot that your generation no longer uses this." He said pulling his hand back. "Well, I'm glad we got this opportunity to talk. Good luck on your task of evaluation, and hopefully I can check in with you later?"
“Yeah, sure, that sounds good. Thanks for the advice.”¶“You welcome, see you later.” He gestured to the door, which I then proceeded to exit from.
For the first time in 24 hours, I was feeling back in control. I finally know what’s going on, well at least a little bit. It looks as though I have some catching up to do.
With this new feeling of peace, I headed back to my room. The hallways seemed barren, my own footsteps echoed following me all the way back to my room. Upon opening my door, I found Rasben staring at a large book.
"Hey man, what's going on? Are trying to read the biggest book ever written. Haha.”
Rasben didn’t waste any time. “What happened, where were you.”
“Meeting someone.”
“Who?”
“Dr. Madstein.”
“What’d you talk about?”
“Nothing, Dr. Madstein just shed a little light on a very dark subject. It was quite an informative talk."
“What’d you talk about?”
“He informed me that I hit my head a day or so ago, and that’s why I don’t remember anything you’ve all been talking about.”
“Wait, what? Who said that?”
“Dr. Madstein.” ¶“William, I’ve been with you for most of the past two days, and nothing like that has happened. Plus when I’m not around usually your with Chris, Jessica, or Jack, and none of them said anything. I would have known about that.”
“Well, you must have missed it. I have mild amnesia, and that’s why I can’t remember.”
“Don’t you see, you this wasn’t an accident, this had to be ASTA. They did something to you because you were getting close to something. Can't you see that. Please tell me you're not fooled, you have to see that you're being played."
"If ASTA did something, I'd know it. It must have been me, that's the only explanation. I don't see why ASTA w
ould do something like this to anyone anyways; you're blowing things way out of proportion."
“Do you at least remember the colors! Matthew told us about how he sometimes sees colors flying around just like you told me. Willaim, please tell me you remember telling me about the colors shaped like snakes. Do you?” ¶“I have no idea what the heck you're talking about. I don’t see why you’re so worked up about this. It’s only slight amnesia, I’m sure I’ll remember everything with time, and I don’t think you should be criticising ASTA so much. Without them, you wouldn’t be here.
"If only," Rasben whispered to himself.
“What was that?”
"Nothing, I need to find something," and with that, he left.
He stood and walked from the room quite suddenly. I really wish he’d be more helpful, but why should I care? The Doctor had said to evaluate my friends, and my new evaluation of Rasben was that I should keep an eye on him and try and keep my distance.
With this in mind, I showered, brushed my teeth and crawled into bed all without Rasben coming back. Deciding he'd get back eventually, I closed my tired eyelids and was overtaken by the weight of the crazy day, quickly drifting into dreamland.
My dream was strange. I was on a path. The path was dark with trees rising on either side. Their limbs reached across the path almost as if they were trying to grab me as I walked. The ground was rocky and hard to traverse in the dark. I continually stumbled and almost fell several times, but I continued on. A slight breeze whipped around me as I continued finally breaking free of the thousands of trees and into a clearing.
The clearing was large, and even with a full moon shining overhead it was still very dark and pale in comparison to the sky. The sky was bright with stars. Everything seemed peaceful, but my skin prickled. Is someone watching me? I could feel eyes watching me from the forest. I couldn’t pinpoint where, but I felt them. They seemed to be watching, studying, waiting for the opportune moment. And then the out of a bush hopped a little man!
"Hello, stranger. Welcome to my clearing."
The man was tiny and had a small beard. He hopped over to me delightedly.
“I don’t know why I’m here. I’m lost, can you help me?”
The man’s voice was high pitched. “You’re lost? You didn’t want to come here? How did you get here then?”
“I don’t know, where is this? Who are you?”
"I am the keeper of the key. In order to find what you seek, you must first pass through me." He grinned clearly pleased with himself.
Then, I heard it! “Boom, boom, boom!” The forest crashed as something began to move!
The little man’s temperament changed quickly, to that of terror. “We must hurry, he’s coming!”
“Who, who is coming? Why?”
"That doesn't matter now! In order to defeat the beast, you must first open the box!" He pointed to what looked like a small rounded box that was sat in the middle of the clearing!
The chest shook as if whatever it contained were going to escape at any moment!
“We must hurry! You must give the answer to my riddle in order to open the chest and reveal the box’s gift!”
“Wait, what is happening?”
“Be quiet and listen! You must answer this riddle are your ready?”
“Yes but-”
“Alright, here it goes: I can bring tears to your eyes; resurrect the dead, make you smile, reverse time. I form quite quickly and last for ages, what am I?
The crashing was thunderous now! The beast was closing; it was almost here!
The tiny man hopped up in down in a panic! “What’s your answer! Give me your answer, or we'll both die!" The little man screamed frantically! "We're going to die! Tell me your answer! Think of something, anything!” ¶I couldn’t think! I couldn’t process what was happening! I didn’t even remember the riddle! What resurrected people!
“God. Is the answer god?”
"NO! No, you buffone! You've doomed us; we're going to die!"
“RRRROAR!” The thing was ripping through the forest!
Trees were ripped from the ground and thrown hundreds of feet in the air as the beast forged it path straight for us! The earth was shaking with each monstrous footstep of whatever monster was coming! This is it!
“Wake up, wake up!” My eyelids flashed open only to find Rasben shaking me. "You're just having a nightmare! You’re fine."
“God, the answer is god!” I sputtered as I was torn drearily from what had quickly become a nightmare.
“Willam, you're okay, you were having a nightmare. Everything is okay. Snap out of it.”
I was awake now, but I was drenched in cold sweat. “Phew, this is a relief. I thought I was a goner for a second.”
“Why, what was happening? What was your dream about?”
Just as I was about to explain a knock came at the door. “Bang, bang, bang.”
Rasben left my bedside and answered the door quickly. After a few brief words with whoever was standing there, he turned back to me. "There's someone who wants to see you. Right now."
“What? Who?”
“I don’t know, but you should hurry, it looks important.”
"Alright." I threw on my shoes and walked to the door. Waiting for me was a guard.
“Hello sir, I’ve come to take you to a very important man. He would very much like to discuss some things with you.” ¶“It’s the middle of the night, can’t it wait till morning?”
“I’m sorry sir, but it has to be now, please follow me.”
Without even giving me time to get dressed he left, and I was forced to follow. Our trip was slow. He was pretty big, but he seemed quite young to be a guard. He can’t be much older than me, but I guess looks can be deceiving.
We climbed multiple sets of stairs. We might have been on a sixth floor for all I knew. How many floors does this place have? Wow, this is odd. The hallway was very different than the rest of the castle. It resembled something that felt familiar, but I couldn't place my finger on it. The floor was made of something like brick, and the walls and doors were made from wood covered in small amounts of paint that were now stripping away. Did I step back in time?
We walked around the hexagon shaped hallway, past five sets of doors, stopping at the sixth.
"This is it. When you are done speaking to him, come back out, and I will be here waiting to take you back to your room."
“Who is he?”
“You’ll see.”
I gently pressed on the thin wooden door, and it swung open before me. I cautiously walked into the room, and to my surprise, saw no one. There was no light. The room was shrouded in darkness, but I had the feeling someone was watching me.
“Hello? Hello, is anyone here?”
Suddenly the room was lit by spirals of color! Red, blue, and green spirals came at me from all directions at once!
They flew all around me overtaking me in moments and all at once I was lost amongst a storm of color! Oh no!
And then a voice echoed through the walls of color. "Hello, Mr. Rose, and welcome." I spun in circles looking for the voice. Where’s it coming from? What’s happening?
“I wanted to speak to you privately, what do you think of my small friends?”
“Who are you? Where are you? What is this? What’s happening?”
I rushed forward desperate to be free of the tormenting colors. The wall of colors and the spirals parted giving me a clear path! I’m free!
Before me stood the man from the woods! What is he doing here?
“Hello, it’s nice to see you again.”
I only met him once on that night of exploration with Jack and Chris weeks ago, why does he want to talk to me?
“How are you here? What was that, is this a dream?”
“You seem confused, what happened? These are the colors you asked me about in the dungeon just a few nights ago. ” The man seemed intrigued my lack of knowledge.
> “What are you talking about? I’ve never seen anything like this. What night? I haven’t seen you since that night in the forest.”
“So you don’t remember the colors?”
"Well maybe I did, but I hit my head, and I have slight amnesia. Dr. Madstein told me it would pass."
“Ah, very interesting.” The man whispered suddenly deep in thought. “I see Mr. Blackwood is keeping a tight ship.”
“What are you talking about? Why am I here?”
“I brought you there tonight to explain some of your questions about the sight, but it seems as though my explanation would be wasted on you in your current state.”
“Wait, please tell me something, I feel as though you can help me. I’ve been out of the loop lately. Could you tell me anything that might help?”
“Well our time is limited, so I’ll tell you what I had you brought here for. You have a gift called the sight. Even though you don’t know what I’m talking about it is truly an amazing gift. You are one of the few to chosen for this gift.” He paused seeing my confusion. “The colors you just saw were strands of electricity. Regular people wouldn’t have been able to see what you saw. The gift allows you this opportunity and grants you the ability to be different. With the sight, you can do things others can't. In time you will learn to harness your gift and use it in ways you never thought possible." The man was absorbed in his words of wisdom almost as if he were focused on something else entirely. `
“Wait, what. What are you talking about?”
"Here's the simplest way to explain it. Everyone's brain runs on electricity. Your gift allows you to see people in action. You can tell what people are doing and what they are about to do. With time you will be able to use what you see and apply it to your future. All you need to know is that the sight is an incredible gift, you are truly blessed. With this ability, you will be able to act in ways others can only dream of!"
I was beyond confused at this point. I decided not to even ask questions for fear of their answers.
“You need to go now. Just remember, use the sight, let it take over. The more you give in, the more you will feel the power that flows around you. Eventually, you may even be able to see the world through the eyes of those around you."