Today is April 7, AC194.
Today is a day before my birthday.
Today, I am still thirteen.
And today, I arrived at Dr. Ex Allier's lab.
It was basically a big white space-age complex made of dark glass windows with a small plot of land with red and yellow tulips around it and between the parking lots. A long road surrounded with tall pines led up to this technologically advanced hell. It was far from any other housing establishment or business area for that matter. Far from civilization.
My mother carefully stepped out of the limo, her stocking legs leading up to her navy blue suit skirt hem slightly above her knees. Sunglasses were daintily perched on the bridge of her nose, and her lips were stained a deep red. She looked sophisticated, young, and foreign to me. She could almost pass for a middle-aged model from clothe catalogs with the prestige she emanated.
I, on the other hand, was dressed in a large tee shirt and blue jeans with my long hair tied up in a ponytail which poked through my baseball cap. I originally wanted to wear a light blue dress, but seeing how it'd upset my mother a great deal, I secretly stuffed it away into my luggage which consisted of boys' clothes two sizes too large for me.
"Mother," I timidly said.
"What, daughter?" She asked, walking straight towards the sliding glass doors of the complex, her high heels clacking on the pavement.
"Will…" I gulped, "Will you be here for my birthday?"
Stopping, she briefly glanced at me and said, "After today, visiting hours will be limited and when the procedure starts, contact is prohibited until it is finished. If I can make it, I'll stop by tomorrow."
I nodded my head, tears welling up in my eyes. Even if she was doing this to me, I still loved her and wanted her to love me. She was my mother, and I wanted her to be here tomorrow for my birthday. My dad probably knew none of this was happening. My mother said that she had told him, but I doubt her. I wish my dad was here, too, but he's on another colony doing business, unaware of what was happening to me. To his daughter.
"Mother…" I said again.
Irritated, she turned her face to me, those black glasses covering her cold eyes. "What, Relena?"
Under her glasses, I could feel her eyes piercing me. Stricken with fear, I shook my head to indicate it was nothing. It really was nothing.
We entered the building and went to the reception desk. The young brunette receptionist was dressed all in white with her hair pulled neatly into a bun, her fingernails painted a mauve color. She checked our appointment on the electronic micro planner, its larger ancestor being the computer. After being told to go to the eighth floor and into room D-2, we walked past the windows which curved above in a wide semi-arch, reminding me of a shuttleport. White, rounded metal beams supported the window panes and when they came down to ground level, a portrait of each famous scientist with a caption was hung on it.
I glanced at the strangers' portraits while listening to the steady clicking of my mother's heels on the white marble floor. Then, we reached the small corridor where the elevators were. Brushing the front of her coat, she watched the light that descended from each floor number down to the next, as if I wasn't standing right next to her, waiting for destiny to hit me in the face.
A small chime rang.
We got in.
The elevator promptly took us up to the eighth floor.
The chime rang.
We got off.
In stiff, military-like steps, I marched in time with my mother to the destination of my execution. As dramatic as it sounds, it's exactly what is was. My death.
Dr. Ex Allier appeared from the short hallway with uniform doorways, and greeted us with a warm smile. It felt as if I was at a dentists' office with little kids and play toys on a counter with red cushions aligned along the balloon and teddy bear wallpaper ramparts. There was only one word for it.
Surreal.
I briefly remember my mother signing more papers at the receptionists' desk, her neatly painted red fingernails pressed up against the tip of the black, ballpoint pen with an inscription on it. 'Allier' it read. Then, with a final swoosh, the pen was placed back on the pile of starch white papers and my mother proceeded to walk towards me.
…walk towards me…
'GO AWAY! LEAVE ME ALONE!'
She smiled at me and told me to be good.
She pressed a chaste kiss on my cheek and without another look, left the office.
Dr. Ex Allier was smiling at me, his beady eyes drilling into mine.
'Stop smiling at me.'
I swear I'll never smile again.