by P K Stadnyk
He smiled a little but only for a second.
“How are you doing?”
“Fine.”
“Honestly. I’m sorry about your mom.”
“Did you see them?” He pointed at a cage with two colorful parrots. I didn’t notice them at first. I probably I took them for a picture. I went closer.
“They’re nice.”
“They’re nice… awk!” a parrot repeated.
“And they talk. Well, you have two new friends.”
“Not really.”
“Don’t say that. They can hear you.”
“Hear you...awk!”
“See? They heard what you’ve said.”
“I didn’t mean that. I mean I also have a hamster and a guinea pig. They brought them this morning.”
“Wow. Nice.”
“Yeah, I guess. Mom would never have let me keep them all at the same time. She would have made me clean it all everyday…” He started to cry.
“Hey, it’s okay.”
“No, it’s not. We all got an injection, but it didn’t work for her. Dad tried to stop her, but it was too late. She shot herself.”
“Oh, I am so sorry.” I felt horrible. I couldn’t say anything to make him feel better. “Do you need anything?”
I heard beeping and from his closet came similar humabot to my old Bet and gave him a tissue. I wondered if her/his name started with a B too.
“Thanks for coming by. I want to stay alone now if that’s okay.”
“Okay. Visit me one day.” Then, turning to the humabot, I said, “You don’t take your eye from him and keep him well.”
“Yes, sir,” replied the humabot.
When I was leaving his room, I noticed his ceiling had a sky too, but his clouds were moving and birds were flying by. Was his room cooler than mine? I hoped it was. He deserved it. Poor Alvin. I couldn’t imagine for a second how he was feeling.
I went for a walk. It was nice to walk in nature, but it would be better if the soldiers weren’t every few meters away. The woods were full of them. I noticed one pissing on a tree. When he noticed me he got red and apologized but he couldn’t hold it anymore. I smiled and walked away but he still was looking around if anybody else seen it. It wasn’t a big deal, but I remembered the soldiers guarding our street. Maybe they were in a similar situation and could get disciplined for taking a little break. They were dressed similar but why were they in these woods? I guessed talking to them wasn’t the best idea.
Finally, I found another house and hoped it was Joe's and Will's. They always brightened my mood. Thankfully, it was. I wasn’t in the mood to meet with Oliver. He was probably very smart and interactive with all the new stuff in his room, trying to learn and remember all the books.
When I got inside I felt like in our home, but I looked around and the decorations were different. Houses were all built the same. I noticed their parents sitting together, laughing and watching a movie. I wondered how long it was going to take my parents to get back to normal. I was getting tired of the situation in the house.
Joe and William had separate rooms at first, but they didn’t like it. Soon, people were called and took half of a wall away. So they had one bedroom again but if they had a fight, both could go to their rooms. This however never lasted longer than 10 minutes. They were inseparable. Joe's part was decorated in machines, cables, and numbers. Engineer, I thought. William's part was... the same. They even had the same ideas for the future. I found new computers, parts, and tools in their room.
“Hey, Max, do you have humabots too?”
“Yeah, two. They were fighting in the morning.”
“Cool. Ours don’t want to go out of the closet. Joe was joking about taking it apart, and it screamed, ran inside, and we can’t open the closet.”
“Will says he heard it shaking its teeth.”
“Spooky, metal teeth, yes.”
“How are your parents? We heard them on the plane and in the tent. Everybody did.”
“They’re fine.”
“Still not talking?” William asked.
“What? I said they’re fine.”
“Max, we’ve known each other and your family for a very long time. Don’t worry. One week or two, and they’ll be fine,” assured William.
“I’ve seen Alvin. Poor guy. I tried to help but I don’t know how.”
“You can’t, but you’re lucky. He didn’t want to see us. What’s his room like?”
“What’s your room like? Asked Joe.
“Mine is for an astronaut. His in animals. His ceiling is even moving! Did you see all these things before? I didn’t know or think of having a robot! Do all Americans have them?”
“Thanks for asking who we want to be,” said William.
“I know, engineers!”
“Not just any engineer. Special. We’ll build something extraordinary! Maybe a UFO ship for you! I didn’t know you wanted to be an astronaut. Good choice. Alvin wants to be a genetic scientist making the animals stronger, saving them from dying out. He never liked the idea that something small or weak had to die or lose. Bad idea playing with genes and things. Our ceiling moves too, look!
“What is this?”
“That is a simple speaker, like in your PC. We’re taking it apart and putting it back together. Do you want to see?”
They couldn’t put it back together, but it was funny to watch. I noticed that ceiling was very educational thanks to projected images onto it.. Was that a new way to learn? We played some games, and I decided to go home.
“Oh, don’t go to Oliver. Since he wants to be a scientist, he plays with chemistry and we heard things blowing up from his house. It’s safer not to. We went back home when we heard the explosion. His mom called us later asking to get him outside, but we’d rather keep away for now.”
“Heh, thanks. See you later.”
The walk home took me half an hour. That gave me some time to think. I wondered why we had all this great stuff. They had to be expensive and all meant to teach us. It almost felt like someone was literally pushing us to learn. I guessed we weren’t supposed to notice it as lessons, but just as fun…but why? My thoughts were stopped when I saw Dad.
“Hi, Dad! Do you have a minute? Can we play football outside?”
“Hi, Max. I’m sorry, but not today. If you ask any of the...err staff, they’ll go. By the way, they brought some more things to your room. Why don’t you check them out? I need to go. We’ll play some other time.
I went to see what he was talking about. I saw Mom and all the humabots were hiding in the corners from her. Dad, however, didn’t call them that. Staff he called them.
I found a massive telescope in my room, a star map took all of one wall, and the ceiling was actually moving. It was showing the night sky and telling each star’s story. Then it changed and showed planets one after another, telling all the facts and myths about them. That was fascinating.
I spent few days watching it and I learned so much! Learning wasn’t even painful as I remember from school. It was pleasant, and I couldn’t stop watching it. My friends were coming over sometimes but not for long, they rushed to their rooms. They were designed to keep us inside and away from watching what was going on. There was no channel on the TV with news, but only movies, animations, and some ads. At one point, it was good and harmless. However, for a person to grow up, they must go through, know, and learn every aspect of life, including pain, terror, loss, etc. Somebody growing up not knowing these things will only become a selfish, greedy, unfeeling, ignorant, and empty person with very few exceptions. Maybe they just tried to make us forget the horror we had been through. It worked for me. I was forgetting zombies more with every day. It will cost them a lot to take this memory out of Alvin if they’ll ever succeed.
One day, I woke up and felt I was missing something. I was going around the house looking for it, but I couldn’t find it. I went to Sophie’s room. She obviously didn’t have any ambitions for a life other than chewing
all the toys of the world. So, her room was simply a light pink color with princesses on every corner. I never saw so many dolls in one room before. Sophie wasn’t there. Mom probably took her for a walk. She started talking with Dad, at least a bit more and I felt the tension between them going down. I went to my room and called my friends to hang out. They didn’t want to, saying they were too busy. I didn’t want to be the one going around either. I started playing the video game. It worked for a day. I was lying in bed and couldn’t fall asleep again.
“Bet? Old Bet? Are you there?”
“Yes, I am. Why don’t you sleep? Do you want some hot milk?”
“No. I’m fine. Do you want a new name?”
“I don’t know.”
“How about Ruby?”
“Very nice.”
“Do you like it?”
“Very nice.”
“Okay. You’re Ruby from now. Is Bet getting on your nerves?”
“Not anymore.”
“That’s because she had a few more accidents and I asked Ben to give me someone else. I was getting sick of hitting her in the head. Yes, it was fun at first but then she was freezing so often my hands were getting sore. So, I got Bat.”
“Good.”
“Yes. Good night.”
“Good night.”
CHAPTER 28 - I WANT TO GO OUT!
I spent the next few days playing games. It was incredible how time was flying. I started a new game in the morning and planned to play for few hours and then I noticed it was time to go to bed. When I mastered all the single-player modes in all the games, I started them again, playing at the hard-core difficulty level. That took a little longer, but I found that it wasn’t as impossible to achieve as I previously thought. Then it was time for multiplayer or co-op. I couldn’t connect to any of the servers, so I taught Ruby how to play. She was getting better every day, and I think she enjoyed it, if that were possible. I got sick of it after a month, and my butt hurt from sitting on it all the time. I wanted to go and see the city. Since we moved here, we had never been out of the house. Mom will take me, I thought.
I found her outside in the garden, which I didn’t even knew we had. It was beautiful but not as much as the first one we had. It was missing the heart my parents put inside it at Somerfield.
Sophie was smiling and pointing at me.
“Mom. Can we go to see the city? I’m bored.”
“You’ll have to ask your father.”
“Where is he?”
“I don’t know. Did you check the library?”
“No. I didn’t know we had one.”
She smiled for the first time in a long time and said, “Okay, I'll take you, but you two have to be quiet and don’t tell anybody.” She put her finger on her lips, and Sophie copied her with a very serious face. “A small sightseeing trip won't hurt anyone. I’m sick of this place and no new people.”
We got in the car and drove away. I felt this feeling inside that wasn’t leaving me for a minute was getting lighter. The farther we drove, the lighter it was. We had been driving for about 20 minutes and still were in the woods and more soldiers were between the trees. Some even looked like trees. After a few more kilometers, the road just disappeared and forest was in front of us. Just like this cutting through the road. The trees were so thick and breaks between them so small that it was impossible to make it through in the car. Mom stopped the car and said, “Sorry, honey. Looks like this is the end of the trip.”
“Mom, look!” I said, pointing to a soldier.
“Good morning, ma’am. I need you to turn around and go back.”
“Why can’t we go outside?”
“That’s a restricted area, ma’am, and I need you to turn around.”
“Why? What’s going on?”
“Did nobody tell you?”
“Nobody is telling me anything!” She broke down and started to cry.
“Ma’am please turn around, Ma’am?” But she didn’t listen.
“Mom, it’s okay. Let’s go home. There’s nothing more interesting out there anyway. We have everything. Let’s go for a walk around the garden. I haven’t seen it before. I need you to tell me what flowers are in there. You know that all I know about the flowers is what color they are. Come on.” I didn’t feel that way, but I would say anything to comfort her and make her turn around. I think it worked because she turned around. I knew exactly how she felt. Like a prisoner. Realizing it only made it worse. We did have a lot of space to do whatever we wanted and everything and even more than we needed but we missed simple things as going to the store for milk or walking down the street, meeting new people. Seeing the same faces all the time or humabots was good for a while and TV wasn’t the same thing. We had been isolated from normal life and civilization. Now I knew why we had everything. To keep us from thinking about it. If a guinea pig is given the largest cage in the world and the best toys and food, that won’t stop it from looking for the way out.
“Please don’t tell your dad,” Mom pleaded.
“That’s no problem. It was my idea anyway.”
“And thank you for all you’ve said. I know you hate flowers.” She smiled.
“I don’t hate them. I'm just not going to be a gardener. Well, I do hate the boy-eating flowers.” Another smile. I was doing well.
We spent the rest of the day together like I proposed. It was fun. Sophie giggled almost all the time. I never spend so much time with her until that day. I don’t even know why. She was my sister and I was ignoring her most of the time before, thinking of her as a baby, not as my sister. She was trying to pull my nose and ears out, tried to bite me, spit up all over my shirt and face, but it was great. I started to truly love her. As a sister, not as a little pink crying and screaming baby. I made my mom's day too and, soon, we forgot about that incident we had.
CHAPTER 29 - FIXING THINGS UP
None of us told Dad. He tried to make it up to Mom and was doing little and big things for her. He even built a swing in the garden with his own hands, which was hard when all the humabots tried to do it for him. They surrounded him at every step trying to get the hammer out of his hands. When that didn’t succeed, they tackled him to the ground. Still he somehow managed to do it himself.
Soon his hard work was rewarded, and they got back to being a normal married couple like before. Even better, Dad was inviting Mom for dinners with candles, roses, and music. She absolutely loved it. He started spending more time with her, walking in the garden or simply watching TV. He was coming to my room too. We talked for long hours, looking at the sky or maps, and, one night, I screwed up my courage and asked him, “Dad, can we go to the city one day?”
“Yes, sure.” But I knew he lied.
After a few days, when we were playing football, I asked him again.
“Max, there’s something I need to tell you about, but you need to keep it to yourself. In any case, don’t tell Mom. I’m going to tell her myself.
Was that the reason why he was so nice to us? To buy our trust, put to sleep our suspicion, and then hit us with some bad news? It was going to hurt.
“Ok, sure. I’ll listen. I won't tell anybody just like I didn’t about our trip.”
“Hehe, I forgot about it. You’re a good boy, Max. You see, I planned it all differently, but life has its own plan, doesn’t it? I wanted to take you to the city, but they won't let me. Something bad is going on outside and, this time, even I don’t know what it is. They won't let me or any of us out and they won't let anybody in. We need to stay here. I don’t know for how long, but it might be months or even years. I need your support and help. Please understand.”
“I understand, Dad. It’s not your fault. Do one thing for me.”
“What is it?”
“If you need to tell it to Mom, be delicate and keep spending time with her. She looks so happy now.”
“I will, Son. And I’ll spend my time with you too, Max.” He kissed me on the head, put an arm around me, and we started walk
ing home. It was hard, but I saw from his eyes that he was honest and couldn’t do anything about it. Somebody else was pulling the strings, not him.
I overheard his talk with Mom later that evening. He told her everything and even more than me, but she understood. She didn’t push him away this time. This situation was making them closer to each other. Hard situations are good for checking a couple’s strength. Will it make them stronger or separate them? The first thing was working with my parents so they were right for each other. They started supporting one another from now on. Mom even told him about our trip, and I expected him to get angry. But he started crying and kept repeating that he was sorry. There was nothing to be sorry for; he saved our lives. Mom must have read my mind and told him the same. That was heart-warming. I decided that night that if I would have a wife, she must love and support me as much as my parents each other. But right now, the closest relationship I had was with Ruby.
That feeling of wanting to go outside left for a while. Dad kept his promises and I still played with Ruby. She won a couple of times already. My friends started to go out more, and we spent more time together. When they saw how I taught Ruby to play, they tried to play with her and realized how good she was. Then they started training their humabots. As far as I knew, they didn’t succeed. I guessed mine was special.
CHAPTER 30 - CHAOS
Time was going by really slowly. I was bored and walked all over the house. I found lots of new rooms. When I was passing the kitchen I overheard the conversation between Ben and Dad.
“…and get some of newspapers for me, but make sure nobody else gets them. I also need some paper and pens. I’ve used up all you got me the last time. And the apples you got were so delicious. Can you get some more of them?”
“I’m sorry, sir, but they were from our garden. You can go and take as many as you want and whenever you want. We’re not getting fresh produce from outside. It’s not safe.”
So he was going outside, but how? Maybe I could get out too and take a little trip. I made sure my dad went out, and I followed Ben. He went to the garage, got in the car, and drove away. Another three cars were following him behind. Why did he need guards for? I guessed he wasn’t going out every day so I had to wait. He came back after six hours with full bags. That should last for about two weeks, I thought but I checked every morning if he was going out. One day, finally, he was getting ready, made a list of things we needed, and went to get changed. That was my chance! While sneaking to the car, I had to make sure nobody would notice me. Finally, I was in the back seat. I covered myself with a blanket I found in there. Otherwise, he probably would notice me.
