Kaleidoscope (joshler)

- chapter one -

Stamp, shift, repeat.

Over and over again, signing documents. Why did he have this job?

Stamp, shift, repeat.

What are these papers even for? He and the crew hadn't found anything yet.

Stamp, shift, repeat.

Tyler sighed, closing the laptop in defeat. He pulled all the papers together, putting them in a binder that they barely fit in anymore. He wondered for a moment why he was even here if all he did was sit in a dark room.

He had spent hours in this building trying to come up with something worth studying, worth being alive for, scribbling imaginary reasons on crumpled lab notes. He questioned why he had signed up for this in the first place. He had studied long and hard, sure. He deserved his place.

He never really wanted to be here for the dark rooms, and the oral reports. Young and naive 17 year old Tyler though, he was looking for something that would teach him everything about what it meant to be alive, even if he found that the only ones who were truly alive were the rats outside of their cages. Even if he knew deep down that the ones who were truly conscious were those who never thought about it.

He wished he never thought about it, writing these reports about consciousness would be a lot easier if it was that way. It would be a lot more rewarding to just be able to sit in a chair like a normal human being. What was the point of thinking so hard if it always got you nowhere?

What was the point? His mind always went to the darkest corner.

As he was rummaging through the drawer of thoughts in his mind, he heard something. A faint sound with a strong energy. He heard yelling next. Yelling, and shouting, and the sound of guns firing.

Something escaped.

He never understood why they needed that alarm, up until now.

...

"Tyler, get over here!" Mark yelled. Tyler could tell he was holding a gun just from his tone, because he wouldn't be yelling so loud if he wasn't.

"Jesus," Tyler mumbled, grabbing his weapons and sprinting to the scene. He ran through hallways, his evening flashing before his eyes. I didn't cover my coffee. Why didn't I cover the coffee? No time for that, Tyler. Get. A. Grip.

Tyler walked into what looked like a battle scene, Mark's coat all bloodied up and scratched. That wasn't what he was looking at, though. His eyes were immediately drawn to what everyone else was looking at, which was something he could hardly see. Moving so quickly all he could make out were glowing red limbs.

Tyler kept his speedy eyes on the thing. He tried to get a closer look at it, his mind completely empty for the first time in days. Every doubt he had about a boring job was out the window, and that was a rare sight to see. The two of them were in the center, Tyler and Mark. The center of the circular room. Tyler had locked the doors without even realizing it.

A few other people stood scattered, but they were as bloodied up as Mark was. Or at least it looked like blood, it could have been dirt, or even saliva. The thing continued to run around in rabid circles, faster than sound. Tyler almost thought to measure the speed exactly, but he didn't have the tools or the patience for an accurate measurement.

"Does anyone have a speed camera?" Tyler asked, dodging a chair knocking down close to him.

"No, should we?" Mark yelled back. Tyler shook his head.

"Idiots! You didn't think to bring a camera with a new discovery?" Tyler yelled, his face turning a deep scarlet. Mark and the other guys shook their heads. Tyler facepalmed.

Oh my god, finally something happens to make this worth it, and they forget the camera. What the heck, guys?

Tyler wasn't focused in that moment, too lost in his disappointment. He was being pinned down faster than he could think.

Tyler got his breath back at some point. It could have been seconds, could have been minutes. All he knew is he felt dizzy, and confused, and so much warmer.

"Tyler, don't move!" He heard. He opened his eyes, just to stare into much bigger ones.

He could see it clearly now, big brown eyes and green tinted skin. Antennae and even a tail, and a little bit of an underbite with soft teeth.

Soft teeth?

The creature tilted its head, and suddenly was opening its mouth wide. Tyler didn't know whether to scream, or to play dead. The teeth were not soft on the inside. Sharp, bloody, and... so fascinating. As if it knew when Tyler was finished inspecting, the creature closed his mouth slowly, licking its lips with a long, pink tongue.

Tyler didn't get up, just watched as the creature moved quite gracefully away from him. Quick and steady, tips of ears, end of tail, and antennae, all glowing a peaceful lavender. I think it's fair to say that Tyler was absolutely speechless. It looked kind of human, human in the way that humans totally were not.

Mark was quick to try and run over to Tyler, but the thing was much quicker to stop him. It leaped around the room, standing in between Mark and himself.

Whoa... is it...What's going on?

The thing turned to Tyler for a moment, dark eyes staring into his soul. Seemingly looking him over, debating something. Thinking about something.

Deciding if I'm edible, maybe?

The thing's eyes softened. It stared for a moment, and then it moved closer to Tyler. Closer, closer, closer, and then it was practically on top of him again. It was taller than him too, and... strong? Up and down its arms, toned and freckled muscles were perfectly placed.

"Woah, holy shit." Mark whispered in astonishment. He started walking towards it curiously, but when his fingers touched its back, the thing's eyes shrank into its eyelids. It turned around and growled in a high pitch, and started sprinting towards Mark, but Mark jumped away.

"Ayo!" Mark yelped, raw fear placed in his eyes.

"Hey hey, no," Tyler said, rushing to stand in front of the creature. He ran and slipped on the ground, and straightened himself up to stand tall to the creature. "Hey... hey bud."

The creature's eyes softened once again, and it looked surprisingly... happy? Did it like Tyler?

On cue, the creature smiled. Well.. smiled ish? Whatever it was, the teeth were showing, and there sure were a lot of them. It was... kind of cute, to be honest.

"Oh wow," Tyler laughed. "Um.. cool?" The creature took the moment to nod its head eagerly, and then it began rubbing against Tyler like he was something extra fluffy, which he definitely wasn't.

"Oh- psh- stop that," Tyler laughed nervously as the creature continued to nuzzle him. Mark and the others stared in half astonishment, half horror.

"Okay, calling for backup, keep Tyler with you," someone said, and before he knew it, Tyler was holding the nervous thing by the hand and taking it back to the labs.