Emeros X

Day 1.1

     In front of Erin was a small room. There were bean bag chairs, a small table and chair, and a bathroom to the right of her. The table had a stack of blank paper on it, with an entire art kit stacked on top; an actual art kit. Erin hadn’t seen one since she was little and was sure they didn’t exist anymore. Everything was on the computer now anyway, why would they make them?

            Erin set her bag on the chair and began to go through it. Checking her phone, she noticed that her service was completely gone. Her music player didn’t seem to work either. She sighed, dropping them back in her bag and walking into the bathroom. There was only a sink and a toilet, but there were instructions on the mirror.

Good Morning. The staff welcomes you to room 328. Please follow the appropriate instructions.

Opening the cabinet to the left/right, punch in your id number and your birthdate upon inquiry. You will be prompted to answer what day of testing you are currently in. Upon answering, you will be given two pills. Take one pill five minutes from each other with water. Do not attempt to get more pills. If the first pill upsets the stomach, causes headache, nausea, or hallucinations, do not take the second pill. Thank you.

Erin reads over the last two sentences of the instructions. After weighing the pros and cons of taking any pills at all, she follows directions and keys in her number and birthdate. The machine in the cabinet dispenses out two small, round and agonizingly pink pills. Erin looks at them in her palm, turning them over with her finger. Violet’s pills aren’t nearly this pink; her mother’s aren’t even pink at all. Still, she pops one in her mouth, taken aback by the strong sugary flavor, and fills the glass on the counter with water. She takes a sip, feeling the sweetness coat her tongue. Erin keeps the second pill in her hand and watched the clock, taking it exactly five minutes after the first before walking back into the room and sitting in the bean bag chair.

Twenty minutes go by, and Erin doesn’t feel any different. She takes it as the fact that only she is in the room, and sits down at the table to draw. Opening up the art set, Erin pulls out a couple pastels and starts to make squiggly lines on the paper. Erin smiles, noticing how the lines are all nearly parallel, matching her mom’s favorite skirt. She continues to play with the art set, making shapes and lines and doodles, until she hears her phone ringing in her purse.

Erin looks toward her bag, sure that her phone had absolutely no service in the building. She grabs her purse and pulls her phone out. The number is the same number as the building she’s in. At least, that’s what she recalls the number being.

“Hello?” Erin stammers.

“Yes, Good Morning Miss Foster. This is Dr. Peters speaking. You’ve taken the pills I hope?”

Erin stared at the phone, unsure of what to do or say.

“Yes? Almost an hour ago I think,” she answered, trying to calculate how long ago it was in her head.

“Perfect. How do you feel?”

“I don’t know, the same I suppose. Nothing really feels any different.”

“Yes, yes I see. If you could please walk to the room across from you, the door says ‘testing’,” he advised.

Erin obeyed, walking out of the room and opening the door in front of her. There stood two doctors and a boy.

“Miss Foster, this is Mr. Beecher,” Dr. Peters said, smiling.

“Hi?”

“Erin, if I may call you that. Mr. Beecher is your match,” the woman next to Dr. Peters interjected.

Erin took a look at him. He was just a few inches taller than her, but rather tall nonetheless. She noticed that he had freckles all over his cheeks and up his cheekbones. His ruffled hair curled over his ears, framing his face. He smiled, albeit rather crookedly. Erin smiled back, sure that he was also analyzing her looks, as neither of them were saying anything.

“Yes well, I’ll leave you two alone then,” Dr. Peters commented before walking out of the room, the woman close behind him.