#1 - Nick Webster

3. A New Friend

            Nikki drove us into the small building beside a homely building. There was a loud door that opened before she drove us into the small building. I would have been nervous, but at this point, I trusted what Nikki was doing.

We both exited the car. Nikki covered the car with a blanket of some sort and turned the lights off. We both went outside and went toward the other building. It was really an old, beautiful brown building. There were plants on the outside of the building, which made it seem welcoming and warm. There were a few scattered trees as well farther away.

Nikki grabbed a small metal object, which was hidden near one of the doors to the building. Nikki pointed to it and said, "klyuch." I repeated, "klyuch" back. Okay, got it. That small and thin metal object is a klyuch. I think. Nikki used the klyuch to open the door and then walked inside. I followed behind her. When I stepped inside, I felt something was off. I couldn't place a finger on it... I'm not sure if it was the smell or the noises that I could hear within the building, but I could tell something was off about this place.

I was now somewhat skeptical about my situation, but what can I do about it? I tried not to let it show, but I could tell that Nikki knew how I was feeling. Nikki also tried not to show that she knew, but I knew that she knew. It was an odd connection... we were both eerily psychologically connected somehow and someway. It was almost like there were no... secrets between the two of us. At least for the moment. Could we sense what the other person was feeling or thinking?

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Over the course of the next two days, I learned so much. Nikki taught me the language that she and everyone else was using to communicate with each other. They were speaking a language called Russian in a country called Russia. It wasn't a very creative name for a language, but that didn't bother me.

I also learned the difference between men and women. I had an intuitive feeling that there were two sexes in the world although she was the only girl I had interacted with so far. Everyone else was a man. I was a man. Well, actually, I was a "boy." Nikki was a "woman" or a "girl." The difference between a boy and a man was age. Men are all grown up, have bigger muscles, and fully developed brains. Well, some of them do. Others she just calls, "stupid." I didn't have all that, which is why everyone else was twice my size. I thought they mutated me or something, but it turns out that one day I'll be as big as all the other men in this world. I looked forward to growing up! The thought of that made me smile.

Similarly, Nikki was a girl instead of a woman. That means she still has time to grow too. But what's the difference between a girl and a boy, you ask? I'm so excited to learn about these things that I would be happy to share with you! Boys go to Mars to get nice cars, and girls go to Jupiter to get stupider!

I'm just kidding. That was a joke she had read on a thing called the internet. She only showed it to me because she thought I would like it. I didn't really get the joke right away, though. I also learned that boys and girls are needed to make babies, but they must first grow up and become men and women. It's possible that we came from a man and a woman but not according to Nikki. I'll tell you about it in a minute. I'm really not sure one way or the other. I don't really know exactly how babies are actually made anyway. I think Nikki and I are just worried about surviving right now rather than where we came from or how we came into this world.

Most importantly, I've learned a lot about our situation. We were "born" in a laboratory in Норильск, Russia. I emphasize the "born" part because Nikki believes we weren't actually born like a normal pair of humans. Nikki isn't 100% sure of how exactly we were made, but she told me we were in a governmental research laboratory where they research genetically modified organisms. We are likely human creations that they did not expect to run away. Perhaps we'll find out for sure one day.