The Journey That Is Life; A Teenage Perspective

Chapter 18- Keep On' Dreamin'

If there is one thing about my dreams at night, none of them seem to be pleasant, it never has been. And the worst nightmares seem to be stuck in my head, and every time something reminds me of one of them, I get the chills. My biggest fears at the moment are zombies, being a lab experiment or being abducted. So my brain decides to make sequences at night about them. Most of what I see at night is in 3rd-person, so seeing myself in my head just makes everything worse.

***

The dream I had tonight, seemed long, like it never ended. The details seemed almost real, and I didn't dare wake up, I wanted to see the end:

***

 Within minutes, a man walked in. Dressed in a long black lab coat, and his face was blank, as he examined a girl, he pulled out a syringe out of his left pocket and injected a dark grey substance into her left forearm’s vain, as it throbbed. Her body started to shake, as she clenched his teeth together trying to stop her-self from screaming. She knew what would happen if she did.

     She was in what looked like a white chamber, and it had a cold feel, maybe it was even below freezing temperature. Matilda lay exposed on a silver table top, with her wrists and ankles strapped down to her sides. She could see her own breath every time she exhaled; her eyes stared blankly at the roof. Her teeth chattered, but made no noise. Her skin seemed blue and it was cold to the touch, as she tried not to think about what would happen if she made any sounds.

     Within another long minute, her body stopped moving— the heartbeat she felt in her arm slowed, and her breathing lessened as sweat formed on her face. The man observed once again looking as if he was making mental notes about her current condition before leaving the cold room, out the same door he entered in.

      Relieved, she opened his eyes; but no hope could be seen. Her sight was canted, as her head spun in pain. She was used in a human experimentation, and has been for a while. The routine never changes, every day, she was stripped of the dirty clothes she wore and strapped to the same silver table. The temperature varied from extremely hot to below freezing each time. The room itself was bare of anything. No windows to look through. No pictures to give life to the empty space. Just four pure white walls and a locked door. A camera in the corner helped the scientists observe her from the outside.

      What seemed like now hours later, two men in the same black lab coats and the same blank expression came and released her from her restraints.  She was given a thin unwashed gown to cover herself in and small glass of water, once again. Then, she was led down the narrow hallway out the locked door to her cell. There was no mattress to rest on. There was simply a blanket laid in the corner that she could either sleep on top of or use to keep warm. For actual meals, she was given a plain cheese sandwich and another glass of water. It was very inhumane; everything she remembers has always been inhumane.

      She had that grown since she first arrived, a year ago. She could see and feel her own rib cage and her muscles started to deteriorate just a month ago. Her hair had grown to cover her chest. Her showers were simply made up of a metal tub filled with cold water and a small bar of soap for her body…

 A few short moments after settling in her corner, and dosing off the best she could, she was kicked in the ribs. Waking up, she was pulled up by the elbow and hair and dragged to the room again. Once she was tied down, not stripped this time they injected her with a very light grey translucent liquid. This time it didn’t hurt. It was thin and flowed smoothly into her blood stream. She felt her eyes get heavy...

 Muffled voices reached her ears. He could barely make out the woman’s voice and an unknown voice. He managed to decipher certain words. No choice. Death. No choice. Death. Failure.It didn’t work…

‘Were they going to kill –‘

***

     I woke up suddenly, sitting up in bed, my breathing was heavy, and my heart pounded in my chest, I couldn’t take it anymore. I lay there in bed, recalling every detail, and the feelings that seemed so real. I looked over at the clock and it read almost 7am, the time I usually wake up around, so I got up and took a long hot shower, letting the water cover over my body, comforting me. I'd talk to someone about the dreams I have, but I’d seem crazy.