Prompt: It's not a disease. Many doctors have confirmed it for you. It's not a prank. You live alone. So, why is your body turning greener day by day?
The doors slid shut.
Lea looked at the door helplessly. She felt trapped. Why did they bring her here? Her mind screamed as she thought frantically of a way out.
What can she do? Her body was being engulfed with something that even doctors have no answer to.
Who can she turn to? She had never felt so alone as she did then. If only her Father had not abandoned her.
It all started innocuously enough. A small greenish spot right above her navel, appearing a few days before her 32nd birthday.
"That's strange," she said wonderingly. Touching it lightly, she tried to feel if it's swollen or irritated. She felt nothing, however, and there was no pain either.
Staring at it for a few more minutes, she decided that it looks small enough. It will likely go away on its own after a few days. An opinion that was seconded by her Doctor when she went to have it checked.
It did not.
Instead, the spot just grew bigger until her whole stomach was covered in green. She had never seen anything like it. She seriously doubts anyone ever had.
She felt the tentacles of fear, slowly gripping her.
"Father, where are you?" she whispered brokenly. "Please help me."
She had been living alone for the past year. Ever since her Father suddenly upped and left the night before his birthday. Leaving only a note with instructions for the money he left her. That he loves her and to not worry.
But, how could she not? She had no one to turn to. Not with this thing slowly engulfing her. Trapping her further, alone in her own world. She was afraid to go out, fearful of people who will be pointing fingers at her, of the stares at the abomination that she was slowly becoming.
A sudden pounding at her door.
"Who is it?" she asked tremulously, her hands shaking as she tightened the robe around her green body. Would they see it? She must not let them.
Her face and her upper neck were the only parts of her that have not changed yet.
"Security here, Miss," she heard a strong, clear voice call out.
Checking to make sure that the chain was in place, she opened the door just an inch. "I'm sorry, I'm sick and will not be able to let anyone in." She forced out a cough to try and sound more believable.
Snap! The door's chain broke like a thread and they came in. Men in dark suits and one in a white lab gown who seemed to be directing the show.
Lea could not believe they would just force themselves in.
"Who are you people? I demand that you leave right this minute!" her voice rang out. She tried to reach for the phone to call the authorities.
"I wouldn't do that, Miss," the man leading the group said.
As Lea stared at him in horror, he continued, "We are the authorities."
And here she was in an unknown facility. Waiting, not knowing what was to happen next. Only, the green is spreading now to the whole of her shoulders and back. She can hardly recognize her body anymore. She can die out here without anybody else knowing. A green monstrosity.
The doors whooshed open. This time, a lady came in. Another doctor, she could see. But, this one seemed different. Her eyes had a look of - compassion? That look which was missing from the people who forcibly took her earlier.
"Hello Lea, my name is Doctor Adams," she said, looking at me kindly. "I'm sure you have a lot of questions. Rather than explaining, as it is difficult to explain something impossible anyway, I ask that you take a look at that paneled glass window behind you."
Lea looked at her searchingly, trying to gauge from the Doctor's expression what she was about to see. Doctor Adams had gone quiet, waiting for her to make a move.
Standing up slowly, she faced the glass panel. To the right was the button controlling it. One touch and all will be revealed. Whatever it was that connected her to this place. Whatever it was that caused her to be here.
"I'm afraid," Lea murmured, and she felt Dr. Adam's hand touch hers fleetingly in comfort. She stared at her arms and hands, all green now. It was her body and yet, it was not. But, Dr. Adam's touch on her hands felt so welcome. It had been so long since she felt someone's concern, how she missed it so. How she longed for her Father so.
The thought seemed to free her from whatever fear was holding her back. She suddenly wanted to know, with an intensity that seemed to choke her, what was behind those glass.
At Lea's touch, the panels slowly opened.
Colors.
People that are the same, yet, different.
A world like ours, only more beautiful.
"Several years ago," Dr. Adams began, "We got wind of several missing persons cases in this particular location. Our network of doctors have raised the alarm, noting similarities between the cases. People reporting sudden changes in their skin color. They would go to the doctor for a checkup. The doctors, not finding anything unusual, would send them home only for them to go incommunicado. A few of them were reported missing by their co-workers or neighbors but most of them just seemed to drop off the face of the earth, never to be heard from again."
Dr. Adam's voice seemed to come from far away.
"We traced their last known location here." The Doctor continued, "Lea, that world exists right beside us. It's been calling people out there and they are growing."
"As I have been called," Lea said, turning towards Dr. Adams. She felt her face changing, the green now enveloping her fully. Her breath started to come in wisps, her body becoming light, moving towards that place which they were both looking at.
Lea suddenly thought of her Father. He was out there! He never abandoned her. Just like her, he was one of those called to inhabit that strange, new world.
In a flash, Lea was standing out there. She stared directly at Dr. Adams from behind the glass. Before all thoughts that bound her to the world from whence she first came was lost, she mouthed:
"Thank you. We are here, we will all be waiting for you."
#scifi #fiction #greenearth #mystery
