Chapter
4
Relativity
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I woke up gasping for air...
“Welcome back Sam,” Ms. William said as she placed her icy fingers on my forehead, “I can see you’re better now… phew you gave us quite a scare.” Ms. William gave me a motherly smile.
Us? Could she have meant Jane? I rubbed my forehead and felt the sweat on my brow.
“You were sweating, here.” She opened the drawer beneath the night table and pulled a white handkerchief. “Just use this.”
I took the soft fabric and wiped the sweat from my brow.
I got off the bed and almost lost my balance with my wooziness. My rear landed right back on the bed.
“Be careful,” Ms. William took my hand and helped me up, “Come to the kitchen the doctor left the medication.”
Ms. William left the room and I followed her.
A delightful odor brought me to my senses; it was a delightful scent, and left this unusual feeling of urge to take a taste of whatever that was.
The carpet felt cottony and soft as my toes wiggled over it, not cold and hard like the tile. The walls had a crème color rather then that pale white. Everything looked so perfect, the walls had pictures of sights I’ve never seen before; but out of all of them one picture stood out to me.
“Ms. William where can this particular spot be found?” I said.
I stared at a glamorous painting made of a sunset.
Ms. William giggled, “Well, it’s only a picture Sam. I think it’s just an artistic representation of one, not an actual local.” Ms. William explained.
“I’ve seen it before… I-I had dream… err uh nightmare, I’m not sure,” I scoffed at my own inept demeanor at this subject that Mary so clearly defined in my final moments with it… err perhaps her. “But yea.” I pressed my fingers down the laminated surface.
“What is a nightmare?” Ms. William asked.
Wonderful, more trivia: more unnecessary questions to see if my knowledge was in check.
I closed my eyes, trying to find some form of answer to her question. Again, the only thing I saw behind my eyelids was the picture of that anonymous stranger with the gun: pressing the trigger. I opened my eyes.
“I don’t know Ms. William.”
“A nightmare is a tragic vision Sam; it brings our darkest fears… secrets, anything we fear losing, to life its terrible Sam… terrible.” Ms. William took a deep breath and straightened, “L-let’s hurry to the kitchen sweetheart, we’re already late for your first class.”
A chandelier hung from ceiling over the small square kitchen. It was decorated blandly, the walls were white, a small wooden table had a green tablecloth, and a mid-sized refrigerator in between the counter and the drawers. On the table a large silvery beaker and multiple glass cups were on top, next to the beaker there was a big capsule full of pills.
“Ms. William how often do I have to… t-take this?” I said.
Ms. William handed me three red pills, “These, there’s more than one.”
I smirked, “Ha, ha, these,” I snarled as the three capsules landed on the palm of my hand.
Ms. William giggled, “You’ll have to take these until you’re accustomed to this temporal shift.”
So now I have to take medication in order to cope with all of this around me. Oxygen, the air, that human’s need in order to survive is an actual toxic to me. Quite spectacular.
“It’s because you were exposed to purified air your entire infancy, having contact with this more overly used atmospheric adaptation… it could cause harmful conditions to alter your health,” Ms. William explained, “We can’t allow that to happen.”
Apparently she saw my completely baffled expression as to why the oxygen is hazardous to me. Glad she clarified it.
“Your medicine must be taken: three times a day, three pills at twelve, three, and six pm,” Ms. William took the large capsule and read the instructions, “You’re on this medication for… ugh… wow, until your fifteen years old… the dosage will decrease overtime, Physician will keep in contact.”
Ms. William’s appalled face turned into a smile, “Well now that we’ve got that iffy information cleared up I say we go meet your instructor!” She clapped her hands.
Why would she be slightly confused about using this medication for two whole years? I was too startled to even care since everything happening right now felt so unreal.
I mean come on, how could I just randomly appear in Ms. William’s home a couple of hours after living in some chamber for a portion of my life.
And then that hit me there, I never once thought of that, I was trapped in that place yet all of this feels so natural, too natural: I mean I feel so tuned to all of this. How is that even a possibility when all this is new? Could it be human adaptation? I didn’t know, and perhaps my answer will come later today.
I followed Ms. William out the door.
I hurried ahead of Ms. William and stared into the sky with arms spread wide.
“Oh my gosh Ms. William…” I smiled with the sun’s touch and whips of cool wind brushing against my body.
“Don’t get too ahead of yourself Sam…”
Ahead of myself? How could she possibly understand the feelings I felt right now… this, all of this, I never knew it even existed. I felt Ms. William grasp my shoulder.
“Relax Sam, we’ll have time to play around here after your first class…”
I sighed and glanced up at her. “Can’t it wait a little longer?”
She shook her head. “Nope.”
I shrugged my shoulders. “Oh come on Ms. William.”
Her index finger flew an inch away from my face. “No is no young man. Come on let’s move.”
I sighed and nodded. “Ok Ms. William.
“Good. Now we can continue. This is our neighborhood, it’s basically a bunch of townhouses fenced together.” Ms. William pointed to the left and right showing a series of square houses extending far as the eye could see, each with their own fenced yard.
“Ahead of us,” she moved forward down a really, smooth surfaced, jet black sidewalk until we came across a wooden gate, “Is the park…”
I glared down at my feet and noticed I was bare foot, where have my shoes gone? I could have sworn I had them on… wait, I didn’t have them on in the house so I must have awakened without them.
As she continued to mope about the neighborhood my attention deviated away from her chatter to this small, conspicuous piece of nature that I only witnessed in photographs. A rose, not just a normal red rose, it was a yellow rose.
I stepped off the sidewalk onto the dry, prickly grass that crunched beneath my feet. I edged closer and lurched over it and before I grasp a hold of its stem, I saw little, black thorns all around it.
“Eh I’d be careful with those Sam,” Ms. William said, “They’re beautiful though aren’t they?”
I nodded.
“These are a new breed of the rose you’ve probably read about in your studies.” She explained.
She was right, I recalled them a red color too. “Are these thorns poisonous?” I ran my finger down the dull, curved spike.
“Nope.”
I chuckle. “Well then there shouldn’t be anything to worry about”
“They’re not poisonous but the thorns can still hurt!” Ms. William interrupted, “Anyways Sam, let’s get going we’re already pretty darn late for your class.”
I heard her step off the grass and, click, click, over the sidewalk, until the gate, screeched open.
I hurried over to her, “Ok,” I said.
Ms. William took my hand and we moved along the sidewalk, “If you look there in the middle is the park and that big building there behind it,” she pointed at the large building, “That’s where your classes will take place.”
I stared at the park, a big silvery slide, monkey bars, and three swings. Though it didn’t come to mind, the place was isolated. Not a twit
ter of birds or croak of crickets, only dead silence and occasional breezes that rattled the leaves and swayed the cutgrass.
“Ms. William are we suppose to be alone here?” I felt a bit unease, I felt this unusual supernatural feeling grasp my senses; a cold chill ran down my spine.
Ms. William’s grip tightened around my hand. Her beautiful blue eyes glittered as she bit her lip, she didn’t say anything.
Student Facility
Jefferson Campus
“Well, we’re finally here!” Ms. William said.
Ms. William and I stood in front of two large glass double doors. This unexpected recollection tore through my thoughts as I stared at my reflection bouncing off the polished glass: The Letter! I gasped, and I let go of Ms. William’s hand and reached into my back pocket. The envelope was still there.
Ms. William smirked at me, “Hey you ok sweetie?”
I sighed in relief, “Uh… yeah… yes Ms. William.” I answered.
Ms. William moved forward and pressed her thumb against a square fingerprint reader, a red light on the top, center of the door turned green “Access Granted,” a computerized voice said and then the double doors slid open.
Ms. William let go of my hand. Her eyebrows straightened and eyes narrowed. “Sam let me see your fingers.”
She gasped, “O-oh my, what happened to your fingerprints?”
I felt a tad nervous because last time I said Dr. Harris’s name she freaked out.
“Well uh… Dr. Harris… he took this hot laser thingy and burnt them off.” I answered.
“That Harris again, wonder what was his interest in you?”
“What happened to him?”
“That’s not important.” Ms. William added.
“Well it must be something since I-I mean, he did take me out of that...”
“V-I Isolation Chamber.” Ms. William added to my utter confusion.
“Yeah the chamber-thing, and took me to floor,” I crunched my eyes shut trying to find some answer in my head, “E101 I think was the floor.”
“Impossible, no one has high enough authorization to be in that floor not even a doctor… hell, especially not a,” she hesitated, “His clearance to do anything should have been revoked days after his…” she stopped herself again and locked her mouth shut. “Anyways. Sorry Sam.” She smiled. “So, you excited Sam?” Ms. William asked, trying to change the subject.
“Uh I don’t know, am I suppose to be excited?” I said, and I had the right to ask that, I didn’t know what to expect, or to be quite frank, I didn’t know what I was getting into.
Sure I was about to go to a class, but how would this class be taught? Is my teacher a real instructor or some mechanical piece of machinery that’s programmed to say what it’s supposed to say?
Ms. William outstretched her hand, “Let’s go meet your teacher.”
The doors closed.
“Oh and since you don’t have fingerprints… I’ll have to inform the Council Officials that they’ll need to give you an I.D.E to access most buildings.” Ms. William said.
I stared at my hands and grimaced. I wonder what were Dr. Harris’s intensions to have done this.
A long hallway stretched before me. More white walls, with ice cold polished marble tile beneath my bare feet. Ms. William moved and I followed close behind her.
“For security purposes the rooms must remain enclosed and hidden,” Ms. William explained, “So you walk until a door opens; the Mainframe Warden has every individual’s schedule so no mix ups occur. Of course, they’re currently using my I.D.E, since they haven’t assigned you one just yet. Another thing I’ll have to inform the Council. As soon as we begin we can explain things so much more thoroughly and… ugh… you’ll understand a bit more, ok?” Ms. William whispered.
“Ok… but,” before I could finish a wall slid open.
“Hold your thought, this is it.” Ms. William said.
She entered and I followed. The room was moderately large and rectangular; windows covered the right, a large white board in its center, and the rest of the room decorated with alphabetical wallpaper. A round wooden table with chairs was at the center and a desk at the far right next the white board.
“Well seems like Mr. Cove isn’t here yet… well since this is a secure room let me explain a couple of things before he gets here, come and sit down,” Ms. William took a seat and leaned against the table, I sat next to her, “Look this is the only class I am going to accompany you in, after this it’ll be your duty to come here every day ok.”
I nodded.
“Security systems constantly change. The Mainframe Warder, some virtual AI system that tracks individual movements, generalizes security threats and so forth. Personally I see no reason in it since it’s rare if anything happens, since once an anomaly is detected it’s squashed immediately. Hopefully by tomorrow morning your I.D.E will come.” I felt her icy fingers grasp my hand and turn it. “When did you get this?”
Her face had this suspicious fright applied all over its appalled gesture.
Then again, this was the first time I’ve notice this little stamp on my wrist in the first place… I don’t even recall getting it, unless, that moment of complete and total darkness and me appearing in Ms. William’s care: between then and now Dr. Harris could have applied it.
“When did I get this?” I asked.
She sat back, “It’s a bit of a complicated subject, but once you leave the Consolation Chamber you’re designated with a I.D.E number that’s normally on a card… however, this could be a new form that the Council has yet to introduce.” she pulled out a white card with a bar code and fluttered it.
“Will you get one of these?”
“I don’t know if I’ll get one like yours anytime soon, and I wasn’t aware of an I.D.E change… we’ll see.”
Strange that she didn’t possess one but I did. I could hear her discomfort in the subject.
The door opened, Mr. Cove, an elderly gentleman, back arched, and kept astride by his wooden cane, walked in.
“Good Afternoon,” Mr. Cove said, “Elizabeth,” his eyes dart to me, “And you must be Sam, pleased to finally meet you,” he staggered towards me and gave me a light pat on the back, “Welcome, welcome.”
“And how are you Mr. Cove?” Ms. William said with a smile.
“I’m wonderful Elizabeth, thanks for asking, and yourself?”
“Good as always!”
“Good, good, glad to hear, so, since it seems we’re all tardy, I say we get this show on the road.” Mr. Cove said, his voice expressing a dry joy.
Mr. Cove walked to his desk and sat down, “First and for most, introduction: Introduction meanings first impressions and understanding who we are and what we do, ambitions, facts, and goals.”
Ms. William and I nodded.
Mr. Cove snapped his finger. The classroom lights dimmed, the windows shut, and the white board turned black, Loading… on the upper right.
“Sam, you can address me as Mr. Cove. Today we’re going to speak about time; first question being, what is time?”
Letters typed themselves on the board:
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Time Is?
Time cycles in motion with every action we take, it's inescapable, and in some views we can never have too much of it.
Time is our weakness, time is our kismet; with each passing tick we become older, we age and wither away, experience, enjoy, fear, hate, and other humanly emotions.
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The monitor turned black.
“Now Sam, before I delve and enlighten your vocabulary, I’m going to show you a Yearly Calendar.”
Mr. Cove clapped his hands, the room lights came back on and the windows opened. He reached into his desk and pulled out a calendar.
“Sam come to my desk please.” Mr. Cove said.
I felt petrified, I quickly glanced at Ms. William, she grinned and nodded; I rose and then walked to Mr. Cove’s desk.
“Chin up, chin up, and s
traighten your posture.”
“Huh?” I replied.
“Raise your chin and your back, straighten it boy, best to fix bad habits earlier then later… you don’t want to be looking like me do you know?” Mr. Cove said.
“Mr. Cove I’ll take care of that, you just go on and teach.”
“Excuse me Ms. William, I’m well aware of that thank you very much, now just sit back and look pretty while I teach the boy proper manners.” Mr. Cove tone rose sharply.
Ms. William bit her lip, her cheeks reddened.
“Now let’s continue Sam, since we were so rudely interrupted; look here, look here, this is a calendar; a year is broken down into twelve months-January, February, March, April, May, June, July, August, September, October, November, and finally December”
“Each month is broken down into weeks and days,” Mr. Cove opened the calendar and flipped to February, “These are the days of the week-Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, Saturday, and Sunday; today’s date: Monday, September 22.” Mr. Cove explained, “You may take a seat again.”
“Ms. William… do I have to attend to that class?” I said.
Elizabeth stopped and turned to me, “Yup, Monday through Saturday,”
I gasped “No way!” I bellowed, “That’s like every day!”
“Yes, but it’s only for three hours,” Ms. William explained, “Look it’ll go by fast ok, and, it’s playtime afterward, so, yea, let’s go fix us some food and I’ll explain a couple of other things concerning your schedule.”
Ms. William peered down the vacant hallway. Her face saddened.
“Most likely after we eat we’ll go get you some new clothes and books too.”
Ms. William turned and began her way towards the exit, I followed her.
There was something strange about that small lecture, specifically the part about the calendar. It was incomplete, the month, day, but no year.
It was this constant annoyance just nibbling and nibbling in my curiosity.
As soon as the tanned double doors opened the same vacant sidewalk and empty courtyard remained unaltered. The sky cloudless, the breeze constant, and the temperature cool.
I ran ahead of Ms. William towards a daisy puckering out the grass. I knelt down and stared at the yellowy pedals and its supernatural dance as the wind pushed and pulled it.
“That’s a daisy,” Ms. William said, her arms crossed, and lovely figure standing perfectly aligned with her symmetry.
“Yeah, it looks identical to the ones I saw in pictures.” I said.
“They’re quite beautiful aren’t they?” Ms. William said a bit monotonously.
I nodded.
“Let’s go eat, I’m a bit hungry. And you’ve got to take your medicine,” she stood silent for a brief minute, “And then we can go grab some clothes and books.” I glared up at her. Her lips were pursed and eyes squinted. “And some shoes too.” She finally said.
So apparently I didn’t have shoes when I got to Ms. William’s resident. I couldn’t pass that; I couldn’t even pass the offer for some new clothes.
I plucked the daisy from the ground and stuffed it in my pocket.
“Ok, I’m ready Ms. William!”
She shuffled my hair, grabbed my hand, and dragged me down the sidewalk.
Ms. William placed a glass of water and my medicine on the table.
“Drink up… err... I mean eat up, they’re chewable, make sure you drink all the water,” Ms. William flicked the glass, “Water is an essential to make the medicine work ok?”
I reached for the pills but before I could grab it Ms. William slapped his hand away.
“Wait,” Ms. William said, “Open your hands and turned them around.”
I did as she asked.
Ms. William went into one of the drawers in the kitchen and had what looked like a miniature spray-can that looked like Dr. Harris’s hand sanitizer spray he used on me inside the Consolation Chamber. She unscrewed the top and sprayed my hands.
“This is Hand Sanitizer,” she shook the can with a grin in her face, apparently she thought I didn’t know what it was, but I didn’t want to stray her away from teaching me things I already knew, “Keeps those nasty little germs away from the pills... ok, now you can take them.”
The spray evaporated almost instantaneously as it made contact with my skin, leaving a nice cool, tingly feeling on my hands. I took the pills and ate them, and then gulped the water down.
“So Ms. William, what’s with Dr. Harris Brown?” I asked.
“You know, sometimes not knowing is best,” she slapped her hand against the table, stood, and massaged her temples as she moved over to the kitchen sink and leaned against it. She stared at her dim reflection bouncing off the window over the sink.
“Look, I shouldn’t be telling you this since you’re not of age, but in society there are bad people… t-there are those that try to hurt others… those that try to corrupt… the worst part of course is we as individuals allow it to corrupt us, and then we go and pervert the corruption in a whole new manner… you will soon learn of this, perhaps not in these classes with Mr. Cove, but you’ll learn about the acts of Human Nature’s captivating noose that’ll rope you to an entirely different area amidst your thoughts that you’ve never thought were possible.
“In these different, higher leveled classes, the teachers will try to teach you that society corrupts you, but the truth is, yes society does corrupt: but we as individual allow the corruption to take part… why can’t thinking take place? I mean obviously a small portion of your conscious would notice there’s something wrong… but besieged by its splendor the mind forfeits all form of reasoning,” Ms. William signed and shook her head as though disbelief with her own words.
She turned around and faced me, “We’re blessed with a brain, and we have the choice to think, we have a choice, but why choose corruption over certainty is the question I’ll leave you with Sam, why do we choose the worse over the wiser choice?”
I stared in Ms. William’s eyes, I saw the truth in her words, but I didn’t know what to say to it. I either take it by the hand and walk with it, or let it slip pass my conscious.
“Ms. William was Dr. Harris just a bad person?”
Ms. William straightened her posture, “He caused a lot of people to fall to a false hope.”
“What do you mean by hope?” I asked.
“Hope…,” Ms. William shook her head and grinned, “Hope is an illusion… if you wait for it too long, it’ll stab you in the back.” She whispered.
I grinned, “So hope, this abstract, is in other words unreliable, correct?”
Her reaction to my little speech left her jaw-dropped.
“No, no… it’s to hope, hope is an insubstantial, it could be a random, l-like luck, ah heck, let’s just cut this conversation Sam, I don’t want to eat my own words ok… let me ponder on my own beliefs and then we can carry this on.” Ms. William said.
Ms. William left my curiosity thirsty, her knowledge had me wanting more, wanting me to add more questions to the subject… but her answers would just bring questions, and my cycle of questions would be ceaseless.
“Ok, but Ms. William… how do I know what to believe in?”
“As you grow and experience you’ll build your moral, giving you certain views on certain things, you’ll have an opinion… and it grows and becomes firm… like a rock, you then just see things differently, see things more differently than others would, a perspective. Time, the choices we make, and the experiences we face shape us to the person we’ll become for the rest of our lives.”
A bit awing, “That’s kind of...”
“Overwhelming?” Ms. William remarked quickly.
She took the word right out of mouth.
“Yeah!”
“Yes, and when you feel overwhelmed by anything: that’s where hope comes in to place; if you feel like everything around you is crumbling down, just hold on to hope”
“But it’s a
n illusion,” I interjected, and it’s quite serious, why would anyone want to hold on to something abstract, something that’s not really there?
Could the mind open up in a way for that certain abstract thing to become an actuality? Or does it defuse itself into a cycle of confusion so that the host makes that inanimate thing a reality?
“Yes, because there’s not really anything there, hope is a false feeling that tries to boost determination to keep you sane in certain hair-pulling situations.” Ms. William said.
“So there’s not really anything there”
“Ok enough, enough, I’d love to continue but it’s time to stop this before I spill my views to a thirteen year old boy,” Ms. William’s keen eye stared at the small pen sized camera on the side of the refrigerator; its lens wide open, “Come Sam let’s leave, hurry, hurry before the shops close.”
Ms. William outstretched her hand and pulled me with her as we rushed out of the kitchen.
Ms. William shut the door quickly, she leaned against it, and her forehead stooped on it.
“Ms. William what is wrong?”
Ms. William turned around, combed her hair into a ponytail, and then smiled at me,
“Nothing sweetheart, it’s just sometimes these walls just feel like they’re ready to cave in… feelings are a mutual part of existence,” she quickly got ahead of me and I followed her quick stride, “They could destroy us,” she unlocked the gate and opened it wide for me, her eyes connected with mine, “Make us into the very person we fear to become,” she let me pass and then locked the gate right back, “Envelope us, restrain us,” she wrapped her hand around me and we walked down the sidewalk.
Ms. William seemed uncertain about things, just like me. I didn’t know what was happening yet; I was still boggled by the fact that I’m here, outside, looking at the very sky I only thought to be fantasy.
And by my side, this lovely woman, a female, the opposite counterpart to a male, her hand around me, as though she’s known me for a while… and it did feel that way too, everything did, it felt natural, as though I’ve been here... like a cliché.
“So you’re saying you’re confused about all of this,” I said, perhaps I’m seeing what she’s talking about... I mean everything does seem a tad bit too perfect, not only that, why are we the only ones out and about? It feels so isolated.
“Sam I just feel caged, we’re so isolated… I mean so vacant, this place used to be crawling with people”
“Where did they go, were they departed or something?”
Ms. William stopped and stared at me with squinted eyes, “Where’d you hear that word from?” Ms. William said.
I grimaced, “Dr. Harris, he said something happened… like a leak or something… well that’s what he told me”
“And it was a fact, it was terrible Sam… a dramatic outburst,” she laughed sardonically and started moving again, “I guess you can call the past times our darkest hour… we didn’t know what was happening, people visited by the Council Officials taken… beaten, the roaring screams of pain… they were being punished for god knows what, and then it was a big hoax.”
“A hoax?”
“Like a big joke… and it wasn’t funny, many were...”
“Departed?” I added.
“No, it’s a far worse word… a word we all dread, but you can’t be told of it,” Ms. William said coolly, “Not yet at least.”
“And Dr. Harris was in fault to all that occurred?”
There had to be cause, there couldn’t be an effect out of natural, nothingness.
“I honestly don’t know Sam, we’re kept locked tight away from important events… we just live its aftermath, the Council doesn’t allow things to disrupt their society.”
“Then how do you know his name and why freak out about it when I say it?” I said.
“The mind of a child,” Ms. William said with a smile, “Oh, we almost missed our turn,” she turned right to another long sidewalk that stretched until another big building, bigger than the school, was in sight.
“That’s the merchandising facility, that’s where we get goods, food, wares… and other perks.”
“But Ms. William how did you know Dr. Harris?” I asked again.
“Maybe when you’re older I’ll tell you, just remind me later in time… it might just accidently spill out,” Ms. William said, her eyes were drawn towards the clear heavens.
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