Maybe You're the Reason Why

Chapter 5

As I drift off into my thoughts, they become more and more violent and abstract. Almost like a fever. My mind keeps coming back to the same phrase, 7844 Nikolhardy Lane. My mind keeps swirling around in circles until it suddenly seems to stop and lock in on one specific core memory: my childhood.

I take in a deep breath and the polluted air fills my tiny 5-year-old lungs. Old, greasy men, much like the one from the simulation, sit laughing, drinking alcohol and smoking pipes. One turns and looks at me with a snarl, and says,

"You little RAT! Go on inside. Shoo SHOO!"

As I am running inside, a couple men snuff out their cigarettes on me and one even throws his glass filled with a foul-smelling liquid at my head. As the glass shatters and cuts open my scalp, I start to cry, trying to make it inside the abandoned schoolhouse faster. By the time I get in, blood is trickling down my face and it's mixing with my tears. One of the ladies that work there grabs my wrist and tells me to shut up. I try quieting down but then her hand moves to one of the recent burns caused by the cigarettes and I start crying even harder. Within the next few moments her hand hits my face with a loud, satisfying smack followed by my shrill scream. Apparently not happy with my reaction, another few rounds of smacks were delivered to my already bloody face. When she finally stops the abuse, I get thrown into a musty, unsanitary room to wallow in my own bodily fluids. Water is leaking out of the ceiling and the entire room is covered in black, splotchy mold that was slowly killing me. In my earlier punishment I had hurt my wrist, leg and torso so bad, that I could barely move. Breathing was becoming more, and more difficult until I couldn't anymore. My vision kept fading in and out and I didn't have enough energy to try and gasp for air. And then, I hear giggling. I hear a high-pitched giggle and then a knock on the wall away from the rest of the building. I try walking to the wall but fall before I can. I hear a small crash and then I see a boy. It's too dark to see any prominent features but I see brown hair, short, and curly. I open my mouth and gasp, but he comes close to my face and shushes me. He giggles again and then takes his hand and closes my already strained eyes. I let out one more scraggly breath and fall into a deep slumber. The next time I awake I am in a pure white hospital room with a broken wrist, a broken rib, and a broken mind. Once I healed, I started school with the rest of the kids under the governments care. And this has been my life since.
Graduating at the top of every class. Always an early achiever. In everything except for the one thing that will determine my future. I was always so sure of my future though I didn't exactly know what it would be. I knew that no matter what, I would be at the top of the class, get the best job, and live a comfortable life. I thought I knew everything. And now, I don't know whether I can survive the rest of my life.