Chapter 3
The day was hot. A day so hot that, instead of being drenched in sweat I was completely dry, my skin so hot that the water immediately evaporates, or rather, my body was so desperate for water that my pores have shut tightly, holding on tightly to the sweat that so dearly needed to escape my body.
It didn't help that I'd been walking for hour now. I left the school at around 8:00-8:20, and the sun made it seem like it was already 9:00. I need to stop looking at the sun, as horrifyingly beautiful as it may be, and focus on the task at hand. In the distance, I saw a large laboratory-shaped building. I would describe it in more detail but once I looked away I forgot everything about it. Color, texture, shape, all lost from my mind. Or, taken from my mind, by some all knowing being trying to protect me from dangerous ideas. I really wish he'd let off sometimes. I mean, it's nice to forget, but not when I need to remember, and this time around I definitely needed to remember.
Approaching the laboratory, I took out my notebook and a pen and began to write about my experiences today. I know, I know, It's illegal to use pens and paper, but I figured that the amazing and progressive team of scientists that work with Carlos were not also Narcs. Half of this chapter, along with the other two chapters before this, were written it the time between me seeing the building and me entering the building. I knocked on the door when I arrived, and was quickly met by a beautiful man in a large lab-coat.
"Are you here for scientific or personal reasons?" he asked. I then explained to Carlos my day, and gave him my journal. As predicted, he was not a Narc, taking the notebook and even smiling a bit, before swiftly restoring the stoic, scientific expression on his then began photocopying the individual pages of my notebook. "You're not the first person to report this, you know." he said. I asked him, "what else has happened, that you know of?"
"well, yesterday morning, a man who lives in my house, uses my money and sleeps in my bed got up early to surprise me with breakfast. For reasons I'll get into in a moment, once I figure it out, the door to our kitchen was standing in the middle of our bedroom. Naturally, he walked in, for reasons I could never explain but always expect. He saw something similar to what you saw, but instead of a composite of all bathrooms, it was a multi-dimensional kitchen."
I asked if there was anything shaped like the man's head, but he said not that he'd heard of. "Now, the findings you bring me are very interesting, scientifically." He started spitting a bunch of hot science jazz into my brain, and I was loving every second of it. I had always wanted to visit the laboratory, but mom says that too much education is bad for the brain, so I was never able to come. Finally being able too, it was like a dream. A dream that was abruptly stopped once Carlos mentioned Erika. "I also wonder how and why Erika saved you," He said. "That is, if it even is Erika." In a moment without thought, I said "Oh, Erika! Isn't that one of the angels?"
I should have just kept my mouth shut. Not even a second went by when I heard the window closest to me shatter as a member of the secret police burst through.
I didn't even try to run. there was little to no chance I'd escape, and escaping would only mean more trouble. escaping would mean less of a chance I'd escape. I got down on my knees, put my hands behind my head, and sat there. I sat there for over an hour while the officer pointed his gun at the ground and stared into me, his cold unfeeling eyes tearing at my soul. he then walked over, pulled my wallet out of my pocket and punched a hole in my Alert citizen card. "Good job!" the officer said, "You have reported -5- spatial oddities and -1- lovecraftian horror to the -authorities-. Find -7- more and you'll get a -buy one get one free- ice cream tub of -16- ounces or less at -Dave's-." He then smiled, gave me a firm, almost robotic pat on the back, and did a somersault back out of the window, landing with the grace of a professional gymnast.
Carlos, who was standing behind me, watching the entire ordeal, helped me onto my feet. "Do you want a ride home?" he said. I told him that I wanted to help him figure out what was going on, and that we could stop it together, but he told me that "a good scientist knows when he doesn't." I didn't understand what that meant, but I figured that since Carlos was a scientist, he was probably right, and had my best interests at heart.
Carlos showed me to his car. It was very messy, with papers and gadgets covering every seat except for the passenger side. He had a pair of fuzzy dice and an air freshener hanging from the rear-view mirror, and a small scientist bobblehead on his dashboard. it's eyes seemed to follow my eyes, and it's expression was that of ignorant frustration. I Ignored the bobble head as best i could and gave carlos the directions. he dialed my address into his phone and started driving, only remembering to buckle his seatbelt after he left the parking lot. It was very quiet, for longer than comfortable. I was about to say something, but he spoke first. "so, you like science?" he said. I nodded. "cool" he said. There was a pause. "you know, I've been wanting to do an internship program at the lab for a while, like they have at the the radio station." he said. "would you be interested in that?"
My heart skipped a beat, but then made up for that lost beat with an extra beat. I told him about my moms' thing against education, but also how I would love to intern at the lab. He thought for a second, smirked, and started grabbing at papers in his backseat. He must have dug for a good minute or two before pulling out a manila folder filled with tabs and documents. " somewhere in there is a form that talks about how close to safe science gets, and how cool it is. It should be able to convince your mom to let you intern." I then started digging through the folder and calculating how much time we had left in my brain.
I was too excited.
