Riddle Middle Two

Chapter 33: The Question

Phil (1st person)

I woke up in my room the next morning, on Tuesday, covered in sweat. "Phil!" Lila shouted, standing over me. I groaned. I was miserable. "...Phil..." Lila said, looking at me like she actually cared for once. I forced myself to sit up. My head was pounding. "Why'd you yell at me?" I asked, rubbing my eyes. "I wanted to wake you up without... touching you," Lila said, hesitating, probably debating whether or not to explain why. "What time is it?" I asked, leaning over my bed and trying to stand. "It's almost nine. Don't worry about going to school, though. You look like you need to stay home," Lila said.

"No, I have to go today. Don't tell mom I was sweaty, okay?" I said, getting some clean clothes out of the closet. Lila looked me over one more time before leaving. I showered, changed, brushed my teeth, and ate. It was about nine fifteen by then, which is when I normally leave. Lila walked out of the door and down the driveway with me. "Those dreams we keep having... We all share them, right?" Lila asked. "That's what it seems like. Why?" I asked. She shrugged and walked back up the sidewalk to 5 like she usually does. I can't say, but I think she likes him. She seems obsessed with him. I went to my friends farther up the sidewalk.

"There you are," Phred said, nudging me. Smiley didn't greet me, but she grabbed my hand and squeezed it gently. Zack merely glanced at me. "So, you guys had that dream too, right?" Zack asked. "Yep. Where were you?" Smiley asked. I don't remember seeing Zack at all during the exceptionally long dream. "In some lab. They just did blood tests and stuff. Turns out I'm fireproof. Oh, and my blood is highly flammable," Zack said. "That could be useful later, I guess," I said. Maybe we could somehow use Zack's blood to set that demon on fire. Then again, maybe she's fireproof too. "What did I miss?" Zack asked. "Not much. We were all put in a humanoid prison, transported in some boxes, and then they took 5..." I said. I decided I should ask 5 what happened once the humanoids took him.

"I'll be right back. I'm gonna go talk to 5 real quick," I said. I squeezed Smiley's hand, and she let go. I walked up the sidewalk for a while until I got to 5 and Lila. 5 seemed tense, but Lila seemed okay. "5," I said, standing next to him and walking with him. 5 looked down at me. Even though he'd been friendly recently, he was really tall, muscular, and he'd beaten me up before. All of those things combined made me rightfully scared of him. "...I..." I swallowed hard. "Where did the humanoids take you?" I asked. My fear showed evidently in my voice. "They... Uh... They just did some tests," he answered. "Oh... Okay. What kind of tests?" I asked. He looked traumatized. He sighed. "Endurance tests. That's what they called them, anyway..." 5 said. I wanted him to give me more information. "What happened?" I asked. "...They wanted to see how long I could last under different circumstances, I guess..." 5 said. It sounded like he was tortured. "Oh... Sorry," I said. "It's fine, I guess," He said. 5 kept glancing at Lila, and I don't think he wanted to give me any more information. "Okay, well, thanks. I'm just trying to piece these dreams together," I said. 5 nodded as I turned around and began walking back up the sidewalk. I walked far enough for them to assume that I was out of earshot. I glanced around my shoulder. "Lila, I have to tell you something..." 5 said. "Yeah?" Lila asked, grabbing his hand. 5 pulled his hand away.

"I'm sorry, Lila, but I... I have a feeling you like me. If that's the case, I- I don't like you back... You should apologize to Pico. He said that you said you never liked him, which I know isn't true. The only reason I asked if you had a boyfriend was because I didn't want to interfere... I'm an idiot, I know, I'm sorry..." 5 said, refusing to look at Lila while he talked. Lila stared at him, her hands in front of her chest. She looked like she was about to cry, and I wanted to comfort her, but I knew she would resist me. 5 let out a heavy sigh and sped up his walking. He also looked like he was about to cry.

He left Lila, passing me and then crossing the street. I hung back and waited for Lila to catch up to me. We still had about ten minutes before I had to be at school. I was expecting Lila to pass me, but she just pressed against my side and whimpered. "C'mon, Lila, let's sit down for a minute," I said softly, sitting on a bench. She sat with me and buried her face into my side. She was crying, and she didn't try to hide it. "It'll be okay, Lila," I said, rubbing her shoulder and pulling her close to me. 5 was almost at the school by then. I could tell that he had desperately wanted to leave as soon as he'd finished taking. I understand why, but I still felt it was a little unfair. Lila was clearly upset, and 5 had immediately ditched her.

I held Lila for a few minutes until she calmed down enough to finish the walk to school, then I walked her there myself. I comforted her as much as I could throughout the school day. After school, I wanted to walk home alone, and so did Lila. I was still pretty worried about Lila. Smiley approached me anyway, even though I'd told my friends I'd wanted to be alone. "Hey," she said, walking up on my right and grabbing my hand. She squeezed gently, which comforted me immensely. She also smelled like fresh laundry, which was comforting on its own. "What's wrong, Phil? Do you want to talk about it?" she asked in a soothing tone. She always uses that voice when she's worried about me.

"This is all just a lot, you know? The dreams are becoming a real problem. It seems like Lila liked 5 and he rejected her. I don't think he doesn't like her, I think he's just scared of Pico... Apparently Pico hurt 5 last night in the dream. Lila's really upset, and she wouldn't be if it weren't for the dreams..." I said. "I'm sorry you have to deal with all this, Phil... It's weird how the humanoids only ever take us. I mean, Zack I understand, but I'm nothing special," Smiley said. "Don't say that," I said, squeezing her hand. "Well, you know what I mean. We're all just... Regular humans. Why do they want us?" Smiley mused. "Well, what if we're not?" I replied.

Smiley looked thoughtful, and a bit scared. "It's just a thought," I said quickly, squeezing her hand. Smiley was silent for a moment. "Well, we know that these dreams didn't start until after we all became friends," I said. "After the abduction," Smiley said as if correcting me. "Right... Maybe the aliens did something to us that makes us special," I said. It didn't seem impossible. Smiley let out a little sigh. "I'm sorry this is all happening, Smiley. It's all my fault. You should've never been brought into this. If I didn't try to leave school, none of this would've ever happened..." I said, pulling away from her hand. "Hey, it's worth it to be with you," she said, grabbing my hand again and squeezing it hard. I stopped walking, and she did as well. I wrapped my arms around her and hugged her tightly. She did the same. Once we were finished, she looked up at me, her smile fuller than usual.

"Well, some good things came from these dreams too," she said. "Like what?" I asked, still holding her hand as we continued walking. "We've been spending a lot more time together, even if we're unconscious for most of it," Smiley said. "...Yeah... I wonder what the humanoids see when we wake up. Do we just disappear?" I asked. "Maybe we should ask 54321," she suggested. I nodded. "I'm glad we don't wake up injured. I was really sweaty when I woke up this morning, though, and I had a headache," I said. "So I'm not the only one. I thought it was just puberty or something," Smiley replied. "...Yeah... Are you ever tired when you wake up from those dreams? Like, not sleepy, but sort of... Exhausted," I asked.

"Yeah..." Smiley said. Zack approached us. "Hey, guys," Zack said. "Yeah?" I asked. "I forgot to tell you, but 54321 told me some stuff in one of the dreams," he said. I hope he wasn't eavesdropping, because that would be a little creepy. "What did he say?" Smiley asked. "Well, he said that he made the future. Well, he made a parallel universe. No, wait... He didn't, but the humanoids did. He made the cybervexes. He didn't want them to take over the world, though, it was just a test to make a utopia sort of world for us. That's why they made another world, and I guess they just fast-forwarded time or something. I don't know. He also said that their world isn't a dream, and they just sort of... Mentally bring us there, I guess," Zack said.

It took me a minute to decipher what he'd said. "Maybe it's hard to bring us or keep us there. Maybe our bodies can't survive being mentally transported somewhere else for too long. That could be why they only ever keep us overnight, and why we were so sweaty last night," Smiley said. "You guys were sweaty last night?" Zack asked, raising his eyebrows. "Shut up, Zack," I said. Now certainly wasn't the time for jokes like that. Smiley's explanation made sense. But that brought me back to my original question. Why did they choose us? Was it a coincidence? Or were we, as me and Smiley worded it, not normal humans?