Awake

…. tick…tick…tick… As we enter the room one at a time a suit removes our chains. I could feel my hand's tingle as blood flowed back to my fingertips. We go inside and the door slams as the last person walks in. It's quiet for a moment and all you hear is the annoying buzzing sound from the fluorescent lighting. I look around the room and it reminds me of the home I once knew, but it’s different. I look at the others and they aren’t the others that I lived with at all. Who are they? Something isn’t right… I count the beds one...two…three….-fourteen. I then count everybody else one...two…three…-thirteen? One of us is missing… I feel something grabbing onto my hand. And when I turned, it was her…the girl from the other facility. The girl with the blue circles for eyes. “Shhhh…” she says and pulls me to the other side of the room. “You've come…" she whispered. "They found you.” she giggles a chilling evil laugh. I pry her hand from mine and take a few steps back. “No no no…mmm…” she mumbles as her hands start to tremble. I can see the separation anxiety settling in. She takes a deep breath to steady herself and opens her eyes. Those haunting blue circles make it difficult to see where she is looking. “We wake…we walk…we drink…. we sleep…we wake…we walk…we sleep…. tick…tick…tick...” she repeats. I look over at the bed, the one that’s going to be missing its person. "……missing…. they were never normal…never ever normal," she mumbles. I return my gaze confused, can she read my mind? “Never ever normal…not like them…. they take them away…. I want to be away too… just like them...” she whispers then walks away dragging her fingers across every surface like a ballerina. I shake my head to get rid of her presence, then make my way to my new home and simply crawl into bed. Moving my hand to my neck and starting to unravel the bandages from it. My fingers lingering a crossed the stitches that remained on my skin, and I can’t help but pick at the plastic threads. “…. you’re hurt…” I heard her whisper again. She had come back and is standing beside my bed. “That’s how they found you…. you saw them…. Didn’t you?" She moves my hand away from it. "…don’t touch it… they’ll send you back and they might not be in a good mood…” In a good mood? “I know you’re awake… you need to get out of here…” she sings then twirls off again. I roll over and sigh. I shut my eyes and try to fall asleep.