The Intergalactic Experiment

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They don't like me. They like what I do. They think it's fascinating. They poke me. They see what happens.  They ignore me. They ask, "How deadly could it possibly be?" I don't know. They want to know. They keep me safe inside, because I'm a weapon, and I have to be locked up.

I don't remember being born, but if I had a mother, I must have killed her. I am the Intergalactic Experiment. I am too different from everyone. None of them have skinny sticks on their heads or came from Mars. All of them are apart from me by the glass wall. If I were let go, where would I go? I have to stay here. I can live only behind the wall.

I wish every day were the same. They watch me through the glass. The room is always cold and still. There is nothing in the room. The floor is still. I tried drawing on it with my laser beams. They saw it and made it a day with the hole. I fear the hole. They carved it in that day. It's the only thing that changes, and it changes and changes and hurts.

 I wish I were numb. They poke me through the hole in the wall. There was a syringe. The scientists injected my arm through the hole. My arm fell off. A new arm had grown again. They took note of it, but I screamed. I wish I were numb. I wish time would pass, and every day were the same.

They come through the door. They do things. I wish the room were colder. I wish the door was always shut, but they open it. They check on me. Some scientist came and peered through the glass. He looked smaller than the rest of them. They examined me. He examined me, but didn't write anything down. They left me alone. He was still there. He waved at me.

I was alone on my side of the glass. I looked to the other side. Why was he still there? Shouldn't he have left already? That was what they all had done. He scared me. He was smaller than them all. His head was strangely bigger than the rest of his body. He was too different and I feared him. His mouth began to move. "Hi!" He spoke!

He spoke. What had he just said? "Hi!" He said. What was he saying? It was so unknown from anything I had heard before -- nothing else had as much energy as he had. Was he about to burn me? What was he to do to me now? I feared him. If I was to lose anything else -- if he was to take my arms away, or my legs, no!

"Hey, don't be shy! I just said hi. Oh! I forgot to tie my shoes." He bent downwards.

Quick! What was going on? I was so confused. None of them ever forgot anything. But he bent down. Why did he bend down? What kind of test was this? Surely he could not have forgotten anything. Only I forgot. It had to be a test. I hid in the shadow in the corner of the room of mine. If he could not see me -- ! He rose up again. "There! I've tied my shoes." He had a big grin on his face as if he were about to kill me.

He appeared to me almost magical -- why did he bend down and jump back up again? How could nothing have happened? His mouth curved wickedly upwards in its corners. "Hi! I'm bored. There's no other kids here. Can you talk to me?"

Talk to him! What was I to do? What was he to do when I talked to him? What was I to say? They never wanted me to say anything! But he did. He did. He demanded it from me. He was an impish demon. He had seen me. How evil! I feared. I truly feared.

He had seen me in the darkness. I couldn't do anything. He forced me to do something! How wicked was he! What was I to say? I couldn't say a thing! No one taught me to speak. Talking was something far away from me -- even if I heard all their words.

I couldn't hide anymore. He was forcing me out. That was what it was -- that was what it must have been. I stared at the glass wall. He was on the other side. I screamed out loud. It was ugly and horrid! He would hurt me now! He would hurt me in a way I had never been hurt before. But it would be a stronger pain. I couldn't feel when I was alone, and he would carve into me. There couldn't be a day that mattered at all unless it hurt. He spoke, "Hey, are you alright? You seem really scared."

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