Something Else

Insane

"AAuuGHH!"

The scream rips its way into my mind. I try and block it out, try and silence the pain I feel through listening. Levorians aren't supposed to feel empathy, they aren't supposed to feel how I feel now.

Sobbing like a child, I collapse against the stony wall. I don't feel the smash of my body on the concrete. I don't feel the jagged edges raking my skin. All I feel is the forced connection between me and the screamer, the tug of our shared pain.

"Oh get up, you big baby!" I feel the girl's rough hands, yanking me up onto my feet.

The walk to this room was a frantic rush down dimly lit corridors, each hallway so aggravatingly similar. I shouted at her to stop, told her there were cameras and that we'd be killed. She barely even seemed to care. The girl seemed to know the building by heart, though I can't imagine how. I never thought a place for insane people would be so... well insane.

I'm crouched in the corner of a small security room, fit with three screens and a large desk. The girl sits in a dark swivel chair, listening intently to something on her headphones.

Again, the scream wreaks its bloody havoc on my nerves.

"What is that!?" I cry.

The girl turns a toothy grin in my direction, seemingly unfazed.

"That," she starts, dramatically raising an arm."That's the sound of justice."

I stare at her in disbelief. "What in Euphoria are you talking about!?"

She chuckles dryly. "Just come over here. See what I'm seeing."

I walk over on shaky legs, willing myself to breathe. On the screen is footage from what seems to be security cameras. One screen shows a myriad of empty hallways, the second a still array of bushes. The one she's focused on however is much more... alive. I catch a quick glimpse of white-shrouded patients in dull white rooms before she clicks an image, filling the whole screen.

The room is white. White, like the frosty tips of mountains, forever obscured by the misty haze of clouds. This room doesn't feel distant. It feels close, frighteningly so. My eyes are immediately drawn by a flash of movement, a frantic waving of limbs. In the center of the room, a man in a white gown is being restrained by a tall, masked man in an officer's uniform. In front of the pair, two identically clad officers stand shoulder to shoulder, the taller of them armed with a large stick-like contraption, the other with a small tablet.

The girl taps the screen quickly, and a fizzing crackle erupts above us. It dies down, and now we can hear what's happening.

"Felix Jones," the unarmed man starts. "You are convicted of assaulting an officer."

Startled, Felix looks up. "Sir, it was an accident. I didn't me- AAuugH!"

Swiftly and without hesitation, the second officer rams his stick into the kneeling man's gut. I see a sharp crackle where it hits, and realize his weapon must be some kind of taser. Another scream shakes the walls, in time with the one on the speakers. This man must be the voice from earlier.

Back on the screen, Felix keels over, clutching his stomach in agony. Unfazed, the officer continues.

"You have been sentenced to four months in EK-12 and a demotion of two or more classes, depending on your behavior during your time here. In a moment, someone will be sent to brief you on what to expect."

The man looks up, one shaky hand on the ground for support. The officer restraining him lets go abruptly, and all three turn for the door.

"No." The word is quiet, barely audible. On shaky legs, Felix Jones rises to one knee.

The officer with the tablet turns and stares at him. "What did you say?" he asks.

"I said no." Felix's voice is loud now, powerful. "I did nothing wrong. I've never hurt a soul!"

The officer laughs coldly. I've never heard such a  horrible sound. "Mr. Jones, it's too late. If you were of your right mind, you would never have hit a colleague."

"It was a mistake! I told you already! I didn't see him and-"

"Either way," he interrupts. " You've made your choice. Carelessness is as much of a genetic flaw as aggression, especially when it ends in violence. Good day sir."

I don't know what tips me off. Maybe it's the time I've spent around these so-called "humans". Maybe it's something in the air, that first whiff of death before a move is even made. Either way, every muscle in my body tenses as Felix Jones rises to his feet one final time. The room is swaying, throbbing with his every heartbeat. In a clumsy haze of pain, he charges at the man with the tablet, eyes wild with loathing. His mouth opens, and a scream erupts from his lips. It's not like the sounds from before. This is a scream of fury, the only legacy he'll ever have.

The man doesn't wince. He doesn't hesitate. Without even looking at his tablet, he quickly presses down on a button in the center. At once, Felix cries out and his hands race to his neck. I stare in horror at the screen. I've seen it all before. Everyone in Euphoria's witnessed the death draft in action at least once in their lives. Without a sound, Felix Jones hits the ground, eyes wide and lifeless.

The air screams when he cannot. The room moves around me the way he will never move again. I stumble back, my own hands grasping at my bare neck. The last thing I see before darkness takes me once again is the face of the girl. Her demeanor is still, each muscle unchanged, trained to remain a plaster cast of emotionlessness. Her face maybe, but in her eyes I see pain deeper and more real than anything I've ever known.

Is this what "human" is? Is this the pain we're all running from?

Silence takes the pain away.