"You will each pick a number from the hat. Your number will determine which experimental subject you will working on." My teacher, Cara, walks past the first two rows with a hat in her hand. As she walks past the tables, my classmates lean forward and pick out a slip of paper. She walks up to my table, and I pick a piece of paper. Four.
Cara then proceeds to demonstrate how to create serums.
…..
We walk down the hallway, some of us talking amongst ourselves. We turn a corner and climb the stairs. When we reach the next floor, we all separate. I walk to the fourth Lab down.
Inside, lies him. He glares at me, and my breath hitches. I ignore my sickening feeling and walk towards him. I just need to inject him with the serum and note his reactions. As I prepare his injection, he speaks up. "What's wrong with you?"
I immediately whip around. "What?"
He nonchalantly responds, "Other Erudites wouldn't be nervous when experimenting," shrugging.
"Well, I don't think other Erudites have been strangled," I retort.
He shrugs. "Not my fault."
"I know." He looks at me with a raised eyebrow. "I know it's the serum, and you have every right to hate us," I explain. He narrows his eyes but agrees.
He exposes his neck for me. "I've never done this before," I say as I bring the syringe closer to his neck with shaking hands. He breathes in exasperation. "Right here," he says, touching a spot on his neck with his fingernail. My hand still shakes a little as I push the needle in. He doesn't even flinch.
I take a few steps back, grab a tranquilizer, and brace myself for what comes next. His body slacks, then he looks up with alert eyes. Just like yesterday. However, he doesn't do anything this time. He just looks around for two minutes and focuses on me for a solid minute. He then collapses. I help him back onto the metal tray. He cautiously looks at me. "Are you okay?"
He nods. Relieved, I begin to note his reaction and detail his eyes in particular. I cannot exactly write more since nothing else happened. If I write about his eyes, my report will look longer.
After I complete my report, I look back at him. "Are you sure you're okay?" He responds the same way as before, so I say, "Bye…" hoping he would offer his name.
He doesn't bother responding. "I'll just call you 'Four' since that's the first number of your subject number," I say with a smile.
I notice his lips twitching but only briefly. If I blinked when he did, I probably would have missed it.
I smile at him and leave with a wave.
I hope this chapter didn't disappoint you.
