My Deceiving Eyes

Chapter 7

"Chess is a game of strategy."

May 1st, 2267

The definition of "bliss" is: "perfect happiness; great joy", which is the complete opposite of what the disease is.

"As time went by, the two diseases slowly merged into one. Instead of saying whether it was Deathbell or Swamp disease, the Government decided it was best to just call it one name: the Bliss." I'm sitting in Science. I'm back to learning about the disease and have been since last month.

"The Bliss shared symptoms of both Deathbell and Swamp disease. When someone first contracts the Bliss, most people would die of bone decay, just like Deathbell disease. This process usually takes up to a week but however, some people actually live past that because their immune system is strong enough to support the Bliss. If you recall, we read about the interview between Cory Barnes and Amber where they discuss how some people are able to survive Swamp disease because of their immune system." On the whiteboard is a large paper that has a compare and contrast diagram on it. The left circle says "Deathbell", the right one says "Swamp", and the circle in the middle says "Bliss". In the diagram, Ms. Grant writes down the symptoms of each disease and which symptoms correlated with the Bliss.

"After a week, if that person doesn't die from Deathbell disease, they will begin showing symptoms of Swamp disease. Just like Swamp disease, they will begin losing control over themselves and become very hostile. We call these people 'Drifters'. The definition for 'drifters' is 'a person who roams about without a fixed route or destination.' We call them this because they're found wandering in many places."

"The only difference is that since Deathbell disease affects the bones, these Drifters have a hard time running or walking for a long period of time. However, beware because some Drifters can still run because the disease hasn't affected their legs yet. This is because Deathbell disease decays the nearest bone they can find before moving to other bones and there is a chance that the disease targeted some of these Drifters' arms first. But, as time goes on, eventually their legs will decompose too." Ms. Grant sets her marker down.

"We actually have some of the Drifters in the facility that you will be seeing today." She smiles. "One of our agents who is in charge of taking care of them will be teaching you about the Bliss because it's better to visually learn something, don't you agree?" I looked at her. I don't know what to say. This is the first time in a few years that I've met someone new. Although, I'm not all that excited because the person I'm meeting is an agent. An agent is just another word for staff and most staff here aren't close to our age. Ms. Grant frowned.

"Okay...! I want you to leave everything in this classroom. No pencil, no water bottle, no jewelry, no nothing okay? I only want you to have your shirt and pants with you."

"What about my socks?" I sarcastically asked. And suddenly I realized I have never worn shoes before. The realization made me look down at my feet. My socks are non-skid grip socks with a tint of grey-ish blue. Why was I never given shoes? Why do only the agents get shoes?

"Yes, and your socks." Ms. Grant said with a dramatic sigh and then hurriedly told me to leave the room.

—

The building has at least ten floors. I'm not sure what most of the floors are used for but the 9th floor is where I sleep and do school on. That floor is the floor that I grew up on. Sometimes I'll go down to 8th to do experiments and tests but it's rare. But now, we're heading down to the 2nd floor. A lot further down than I have ever been at. The lift down was longer than I expected too.

I wonder what's on the 1st floor.

"When we get there, I want you to behave and listen to the agent, okay?" Ms. Grant spoke when the elevator started going down.