Isn't it nice how being outside on a sunny, clear day warms you to the bone? The vitamin d soaking into your skin makes you wish the sun would never set, especially after over a week straight of clouds and rain.
Days like these are best spent at a park or a beach; someplace where people can enjoy each other's company and take in the long-awaited-for good weather.
I, myself, was alone at the park on such a day. It was nice to sit on a bench and take in the sights and smells of people interacting with their friends and families.
I closed my eyes and inhaled deeply, allowing the smells of a nearby garden, hamburgers on a grill, and a duck pond to send all of my senses reeling. My eyes remained closed as the sun's warmth soaked me to the core and the wind blew through my short, blonde hair.
"Beautiful day, isn't it?" Opening my eyes, I saw a young girl, roughly my age, standing in front of me. She was fairly attractive with long auburn hair and big hazel eyes. I could tell that she wasn't at all shy by the way she looked me in the eye. Her unfaltering smile also helped me draw that conclusion.
"It just got a little more beautiful," I said as I inspected the strange girl. Color flooded her cheeks at the flirtatious complement.
"Mind if I join you? I'm waiting to meet some friends, but I'm here a little early," she explained as she sat down without waiting for me to respond. "I'm Abby by the way. But some people call me Kate." She held out her hand, which I shook.
"Kate? Why Kate?"
"Hmm... I'm not sure, exactly. The people who call me Kate say that I look like a Kate, but I disagree. I think I look more like an Emma or a Rebecca. But anyways, I thought I would come and sit with you because you were here all alone. Are you waiting for someone too?"
I smiled at how talkative Abby was. "No, not really. I'm just-"
"Oh. Well, you're more than welcome to join us. We were just going to meet here then go to lunch at Papa Luigi's Pizza for lunch." She looked at me with hopeful eyes and a big smile.
"Um... I would but I actually have to be somewhere," I said, standing up and looking at my watch.
"Oh. Well, it was nice meeting you..." She stopped short when she realized she didn't know my name yet.
"James," I informed her as I shook her hand again, "Nice meeting you, too, Abby."
As I turned to head toward my car, I began to feel a line of tingling-pain down the right side of my back in between my spine and shoulder blade. It didn't bother me too much, so I ignored it and kept walking.
When I was about halfway to my car, a second line of the annoying tingling began on the left side of my back. I tried to reach back and scratch it, but found my arms would no longer obey me.
The tingling worsened into a dull ache as my legs also stopped working. Before I knew what was happening, I was flat on my back, looking up at the clear, blue sky. A sense of panic and fear rose in my chest as I struggled to get my unresponsive limbs to move.
"He's waking up!" shouted a far-off, muffled voice. The ache in my back had escalated to a constant, throbbing pain that made me clench my teeth.
"So give him more sedatives!" came a second, male voice. They were getting clearer.
"He's already had too much! Giving him more could kill him!" argued the first voice. It was a woman speaking.
My eyes darted around for the source, but my vision was fading as well.
The man swore harshly as I awakened from my dream. The voices were still very muffled, and I realized I was actually submerged in water with a breathing mask covering my nose and mouth.
Slowly, I began to realize where I was. They had put me in one of those water tanks surgeons use only for the most complex and dangerous operations. My back now felt as if it had been sliced multiple times with a dull knife in the same two spots.
The dream had completely faded now and I was wide awake, thrashing wildly in a futile attempt to escape.
"He'll hurt himself!" exclaimed a third person. This was also a woman's voice.
"Sedate him! Now!" the man barked.
"But-"
"Do it. We've worked too hard to get him, we can't risk any injuries."
Everything that had happened in the past couple of months came back in a rush: My parents dying in a car crash, my sister and I being placed into a foster home, then getting kidnapped and sedated. It seemed like I had only been dreaming for a few minutes, but in reality it had been days. I started to fight harder, and realized I had been screaming.
As the world around me began to fade once again, I drew this conclusion: the people operating on me were scientists, and I had become their experiment.