Perfect Human

This is just a short story which i wrote last year for my English Folio.

Please comment, & I'm open to better title suggestions

                                                                                 Perfect Human

Chapter 1

There goes another one; another innocent child taken into that mysterious room. The room where people go in with a personality, and come out completely different. They look different; they act different; they're not the same person. It's been going on for months now, yet nobody knows what happens in there. Not even the ones who have been in it. To be honest I don't even want to know. Yet I can't stop from wondering, puzzling, and guessing. I watched as the boy, only in first year, walked into the room. I felt pity for him. He didn't know what he was getting himself into.

"Alice!" I heard my best friend Sophie say. "Alice!! Will you hurry up or we're going to be late for history."

She tugged at my sleeve.

"Huh? Oh right. History." I said, confused.

We walked to history, pretty much in silence. Sophie thinks I'm getting really obsessed with what happens in that room. But wouldn't anyone? I want to know what happens. It seems weird.

"Y'know, you're getting worse" I heard Sophie say when we got to history.

"What do you mean?" I asked her already knowing the answer.

"With that room!" she answered, "Every time we pass it, you stare and every time you see someone go in, you mutter something. You don't even answer me when I talk to you."

She went on and on, until we were let into class.

We were doing the 2000's to the 2010's in history. I wasn't really paying much attention, until I heard a knock at the classroom door. A tall, bearded man wearing a white lab coat came in. It was one of 'them', one of those people who work in 'that' room. He'd come for another victim.

"Excuse me?" he spoke, in a rough voice. "May I please have Sophie Jones?"

Sophie. No not Sophie. Not my best friend.

"No!" I gave a little squeak.

"Don't be silly. It's probably just some hard test or something." She whispered to me, and then left.

The man in the white coat followed behind her.

I sat anxiously waiting for her coming back. I could barely concentrate. I kept thinking about what could happen to her. Ten minutes passed, then fifteen, then twenty. I was getting more anxious until, thirty minutes later, she returned. I stared at her, shocked. It couldn't be. She'd completely changed. The worst had happened. Her eyes were wide, and brown, not her usual green. Her hair and skin were lighter, and there was definitely something weird about the way she was acting.

"Sophie?! What have 'they' done to you?" I whispered.

"'They'? Who are 'they'?" she asked, her voice sounding the same, but almost robotic.

"No!" I screamed, and the class turned to look at me.

"Do you have something to say, Alice?"Mrs Carter, our history teacher, asked.

I shook my head.

The last few minutes of the period were tense. Sophie didn't look at me or even speak to me. She just looked at the board and wrote.

'They took her to that room,' I thought to myself, 'they took my best friend away. All that is left is some upgraded Sophie. All robotic and clone-like'. Yet no one else seemed to notice

The bell rang for the end of the period, and lunch. Sophie just walked out. Straight-baked and un-human. I didn't follow her. I just gathered my stuff, and went straight to that mysterious room. The one place I was trying to avoid, I was walking right in to.

I stared at the big red letters on the front of the door- "KNOCK BEFORE ENTRY"- they read. I gulped and then knocked furiously on the door. A woman with similar features to Sophie opened it.

"May I help you?" She asked. Even her voice sounded the same.

"What are you doing to all of these kids?" I yelled at her. "An hour ago my best friend was normal. Now...now...now she's some robotic clone, and it's all because of YOU!" I yelled.

She clapped her hand over my mouth, and dragged me into the room. I struggled, but she was surprisingly strong.

"Your friend is fine. She's a perfect human being now, not some robotic clone." She said to me, with a plotting look in her eyes. "The government want a perfect Britain, full of perfect people. Sort of like that German visionary in the 1940's. We're simply readjusting and tweaking their personalities." She said in a patronising tone. " Now, as you can't see the benefits in your present state, let's get you into the chair." The sarcasm in her voice made me furious.

The woman went to grab me with her 'perfect' hands. I dodged, panicked. I started to run for the door, but I felt a hand grab my wrist. I turned round and saw the bearded man who took Sophie away. I tried to scream, but his hand was over my mouth. He then dragged me over to the chair, where the brainwashing took place. I tried to struggle, but it was hopeless. The woman came over to help the bearded man strap me in. Heavy, metal cuffs came over my wrists and ankles. A helmet was placed on my head and a belt came over my waist.

"Now, let's upgrade your personality." The bearded man stated quite matter of factly, and pulled a leaver.

I was stuck. I was to become a robot clone. Bit by bit I felt my personality fade. My life became a blur, and my skin tingled. Slowly, my eyes closed, and I disappeared. All that would be left was an empty, personality-less shell.

When I opened my eyes, a woman and a man were smiling at me. I felt like I recognised  them, but only their faces, not that we'd met before. I felt weird. Like everything was a blur. I looked in the mirror across from me. My skin pale, my hair a light brown, and my eyes wide and brown. I smiled. The man and the woman smiled again.

"So," said the woman. "Do you think you're a robot clone now?"

I looked at her puzzled "Huh?"

They both laughed.