New Age.

Chapter Two

Warning: Contains strong language, adult themes, and graphic violence.

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Jupiter – Liantown Port

January 3rd, 2049 – 1456 hours

My being has been reduced to a way of life that not most women my age have to deal with. According to the scientists, I am nearly sixteen years of age. At this point in my life, I should be giggling with my friends and gossiping about the latest news or drama happening. I used to do that. I can’t anymore, not since I was brought here to this mobile piece of shit. My life has been moved from the carefree age of gossip and boys to the adult ways of being a test tube for scientists to look through and find something to experiment with. To them, I’m no longer a human being.

I’ve never seen any of the other patients around here. I know there are more. I’ve heard the scientists discussing their lab results as they stroll past my cell. I’ve heard their agonized screams of torture as another needle is shoved relentlessly into their reddening skin. I'd never socialized with them. Socialization never appealed to me. Why relieve my everyday worries - excuse me, thoughts; I do not worry - to people I barely knew or trusted enough to keep the secret to themselves? So I sat alone in my cell on most days.

The PA system had been worked on recently. The broken speakers in my room never relayed the information to me that was passed to almost everyone else. So the day that the PA system finally worked, I didn't get the memo that we were finally allowed to "socialize" with each other. I was merely sitting outside of my cell, handcuffs circling my left wrist and one of the lower hinges of the tiny door they forced my food through when another young woman dressed in the same white patient "dress" as I skipped past me, her orange-red curls bouncing. Light brown freckles adorned her baby face, a bright ear-to-ear smile flashing in my direction as she flitted by. A slender eyebrow raised, I watched her turn a corner. Several others passed by in their own fashions, a hulking figure meandering slower than the others, shoulders back, chest out, back straight. Military style. A nurse in her mid-thirties' stopped by my side, a tiny metal key in her palm. She bent, her ass directly in my face. Being the person I was, I couldn't help but stare.

Being in solitude all these months had led me to the realization that there was nothing better than a woman. I loved everything about them, the way their curves led into more curves, the way they walked and the way they talked. Everything about them drove me absolutely, mind-boggling crazy. I was as bad as a man. The nurse straightened as the handcuff loosened from the bars.

"You're free to go," she murmured, her blue eyes not making eye contact.

"Free... to what?" My raised eyebrow stayed at its summit.

"Socialize. Didn't you hear the announcement?" She glared, her icy stare freezing my skin. I shook my head. She slowly looked up at the door number and her mouth went into that 'O' shape most people use when they realize their own stupidity or mistakes. "Oh. You don't have the working speakers." Her tone was condescending, but I didn't worry. She didn't bother my ego.

I strolled along with the flow of the crowd, following them down the skinny hallways and corridors. I take it now would be the time to describe the surroundings, hmm? The asylum is in the shape of a hexagon except with the center cut out in the shape of yet another, smaller hexagon. In this center, it was a flat concrete "playground". There was a basketball hoop, a small baseball diamond and a very tall, very long fence that encompassed the area. Over two hundred kids around my age, younger, and older were crowded into the playground, each looking and milling around. Some chose to play the loner card, sitting in the shade by one of the six oak - I think; they were so dead I couldn't tell what type they were - trees littered around the edges. I strolled over to the fence and plopped down on the sparse grass. My hundcuffs cut against my wrists, reminding me of their presence. "I hate these things," I mumbled under my breath. The sound of my own voice startled me at first. Its strength hadn't waned since the last time I'd really spoke - not counting the brief conversation with the nurse. I mostly spoke to myself under my breath or in my mind. My voice had grown stronger and its alto tone rang against my eardrums. I leaned back against the rusted metal of the chain link fence and closed my eyes.