Toys are to play

Day 6| The Doctor

He had an orange hair, perfectly arranged to one side of his head, and his skin was as white as the walls. He had no glasses, two bright eyes and freckles. And his little red nose was showing he had just sneezed.

The thing was that Dr Gene was younger than me. And so cute I wanted to jump and hug him, squeezing till death.

"Excuse me, Doctor" Sr took me out of my hug dreams. "you have visitors."

The boy looked at us and made a signal showing a white couch. My mom and I sat. We were probably thinking the same thing about his age. Maybe 11?

"It is a pleasure to meet you, Angelina." He said. He had a British accent.

COME HERE I WANT TO HUG YOU.

"It's a pleasure too... Gene."

"Do not call me Gene, please. It is Doctor Gene."

The way that boy talked gave me chills, and I instinctively touched the place I'd hidden my bag full of toys, just to check if it was still there.

"We are going to start with something you should be wondering right now." He said, changing his position on the chair to look taller. "I am 10. But my age doesn't change the fact that I am the most intelligent person in the world." He studied us. "Angelina Firenze, what would you like to know first?"

I thought about Oliver.

"How could you find me?"

"We sent a boy and a girl to your city before knowing you were an Arian. The girl was working in another school, fortunately. Who was your Finder?"

I cleaned my throat. "Oliver."

"Oh yes... Snowfields." Gene changed his position again and watched me for a while.  

       "Angelina, there are 3 steps Oliver, as a Finder, has to follow in each one of his missions:
       "1- Socialization. Meeting everyone at your school and observing the ones he thinks are curiously interesting.
       " 2- Approximation. That's when Oliver talked to you and noticed you were an Arian. Because you could feel his power."

His smell.

"3- Confirmation. The kiss. A kiss between Arians is different from a kiss between an Arian and someone ordinary; simply because of our different species. When a Finder kisses someone, is to be sure she or he is one of us. That's what happened to you."

My mouth dried, my throat started to hurt, burn, drowned in acid. Don't know if it was mom's hand on my back or it was just myself trying to get self affection.

Yes, Mr Unknown was acting all the time. And yes, he was perfect for that job, he could make a slug fall for him if he wanted.

"You have my permission to rest a little, Angelina. This part of the process surprises, specially you girls." He made a signal with his eyes, and I felt Sir's strong fist guide me to the exit.

•••

"Owe, sweetie, don't be like this."

"That was the worse part, we all have been through it."

"Yes, I remember when the Doctor said Hale was a fake boyfriend."

"Shut up, Sky, don't make things worse."

"Sorry, Zoey."

"Well, as I said, don't be like this..."

"I'm sure you will get over it... Like we did!"

Two girls had appeared from nowhere. And were trying to make me feel better. That was strange, and had no sense for me at first. They were beautiful, kind girls. Giving me attention- and that was a miracle. I dried my eyes. "You guys don't need to do this"

They smiled.

"Hey! you can talk! Nice to meet you I am Sky!"

Something good grew inside me, something like... I don't know.

"Nice to meet you, Sky... I am Angelina."

"And I am Zoey."

They then exchanged happy looks, maybe because of my face, or maybe they thought I was funny.

"So-" Sky grabbed my hand. "Who was him?"

"SKY!" Zoey punched her arm.

"Who?" I asked.

"She wants to know who was your- anm- Finder."

Maybe because I was feeling a little better, and because they were being nice; it went easier to control any shake in the voice when speaking Oliver's name. As soon it went out of my mouth Zoey turned to her friend, and they made some kind of silent contact.

"You're lucky. Mine was Hale." Sky rolled her eyes.

"Angelina... You don't have any idea how lucky you are, right? It is very hard to get Snow's attention, specially because he is from the highest leading crew... and, well, you've got a whole kiss."

"Fake, but Snow anyway." Sky added. "I don't think you should be sad about it. Finders sucks, none of them are good."

They saw I was about to throw up.

"Which type is your power?" Zoey jumped forward. I told her I didn't have a type yet, but I could give life to toys.

"You can what?"

"Give life to toys."

"How it works? Show us!"

They disengaged from each another, and I pulled my little bag out. Quite remembered Barbie's new untested body, but there were girls waiting for a show, I wouldn't disappoint them. Sky smiled at Lego Barbie character, and when it touched the ground, she covered her mouth with both hands.

"Holly shit!"

•••

I went to Dr Gene's room again, to finish our talk.

He told me about the first DNA mutation, and the nowadays kinds of Arians. He said I was unique because I could get whatever I wanted just with a simple thought and a piece of plastic or other material; and I admit, that made me feel happy. The problem was after leaving his office, when I began to cry. The speed of things was too fast. The amount of things too much. I couldn't bear it.

The girls Zoey and Sky agreed to be in the same place we had met before, so we could see each other after my second appointment with the Doctor. They were really there, and Zoey held my hand while I opened my heart to them, spitting it all out.

"... And I will meet some scientists tomorrow, so they can study me. Is that good?"

"No... They will take your blood and make a lot of experiments." Sky said. "And besides, the lab is near the boy's dorm. She will probably see Snow there."

"Stop talking shit, Sky!"

I froze. "She is right... I REALLY DO NOT want to see Oliver... what can I do..?!"

The girls stared, concern stamped on their faces.

        Zoey suddenly got on her feet. "Wait, Snow is not going to be here, tomorrow is Wednesday! On Wednesdays he is usually out in town, only comes at 4:00, because of Room 9."

"Yes! And he stays here till 9:00, so, Angelina, we can tell your guardian- Sir right?- that you want to meet the scientists in the morning."

        "Exactly, in the morning when Oliver is out there."

       My eyes wandered their faces slowly. There was something a little wrong going on. I asked how did they know Oliver's freaking to do list.

       "Bae; every living body here knows Snowfields' schedule. And you will soon learn it too."