Wake Me Up (Hidekane)

C. 1

The boy floated, suspended in the blue liquid that kept him alive. Tubes snaked from several parts of his body. He didn’t react to anything, never uncurling from the cramped position he was forced into, thanks to the relatively small tank.

Hide watched the boy, absentmindedly running his fingers through his long blond hair. He was one of the scientists working on the experiment - which was the boy. The first artificial life. They had done everything they could, but nobody could tell when - or if - he would ever wake.

He was the same age as the boy, actually. Still, it was hard to think of the boy with an age. He looked so young, not having yet experienced anything the world had to offer. Sometimes Hide wished he could be like that. Innocent, clueless, content to float there forever.

“You’re lucky, you know,” Hide said, to break the silence. Although he’d never admit it, he talked to the boy often. He always tried to be upbeat, but it felt okay to drop his guard around the boy. Hide told him every one of his secrets, like a lot of people did with animals. He trusted that the boy would never tell them, mostly because he knew that the boy would probably never awaken. “You don’t have to deal with any of this. You get to sit there all day, doing nothing.”

He looked up when someone knocked on the door. It was Nishio-sempai, looking as if he had just eaten something sour. Hide knew from experience that that was his normal expression. Nishio-sempai was actually nice, once you got to know him. Well, not nice, exactly, but not as much of an asshole. “We’re closing up.” Nishio-sempai warned him. Hide started to thank him, but the door had already been closed again.

“That’s so rude, sempai!” Hide yelled jokingly, but he got no response. He shrugged to himself and started to pack up his things. He mumbled a goodbye to the boy without really thinking about it, and left the room.

He made it all the way to the parking lot before he realized he couldn't find his keys. He patted his pockets, confused, before he remembered that they must be back in the experiment room. He turned, and started to sprint for the lab’s doors. From the outside, it just looked like another inconspicuous government building. No one outside the employees knew what went on inside.

“Hold the door!” He shouted to Touka-chan, another scientist that worked there. She looked up from her phone, startled, and just managed to catch the door before it closed. She yelled at Hide as he passed, but he ignored it and gasped out his thanks.

Hide leaned against the wall, panting. He took about a solid minute to catch his breath. Touka-chan rolled her eyes and tossed him a set of keys, telling him to lock up for her. Then she left, and he was alone in the darkened building.

This is kinda creepy, Hide thought to himself. Lone scientist in a dark lab. It was usually the start of sci-fi movies.

That scientist always died first.

Stop that, he told himself. In those movies, they were dissecting aliens, not trying to create artificial life. It wasn’t like Frankenstein, either. They weren't sewing a bunch of body parts together.

When he got to the room, he noticed that something felt different. Maybe it was just that he had never noticed that the mystery liquid in the tank glowed. With the lights on, you couldn't see that. It wasn’t until he stooped to grab his keys from the floor that he realized what was off.

The boy’s eyes were open.

Hide froze, staring at the boy. The boy stared back, making no movements other than the occasional blink. A million and one thoughts raced through Hide’s head at that moment, the most prominent one being, shit shit I've told him everything shit. His second most prominent thought was, what do I do now?