PARADOXICAL

Needles

They led her down the hallway till they got to the doors they had seen on their way to the waiting room.

"You'd go in now. Be of good behavior and answer questions if asked," Dr. Rizzle clarified.

The doors opened with the same mist from the Vator. She swallowed and went in. After it slided back shut, the two looked at each other and turned back.

She coughed continuously as the mist lingered on before clearing after awhile. It was like green and grey, the colors of the room. It wasn't any normal or ordinary type of room, there were equipment... laboratory equipment, modern lights, rollers, tables, gloves, and... matchings.

She swallowed.

"Have a sit. I'm sure you do not want to stand," a middle aged man in glasses and a lab coat said, coming from within or God knows where, to a table right next to an unusual type of chair. He brought out some medical gloves and put them on. "Please sit."

"What is this place?"

"Your knowledge of that depends on whether you're fit for the job. We want to make sure that only those who gets to work with us know what we work on about," he smiled, but it seemed forced.

She inhaled and walked slowly to the sit offered and sat in it. "Would you at least tell me what kind of test this is?" She asked as she saw him arranged a set of needles with a gun like end, and brought a light closer.

The man tilted his head and nodded unbothered. "This job is a very... tasking one. We want to know your health conditions first--"

"No one told me nothing about that."

He paused and looked at her. "Probably, but if you had asked earlier before now, they'd have."

She huffed nervously. "Would I be fit then? I know I don't have any illnesses."

He shrugged. "Only one way to know... and it's not about illnesses. Hold still," he took the needle and injected it in her neck taking it out swiftly, all within a split second that she couldn't feel the pain.

She brought her hand to where she had just been injected. "What now?"

He looked at the side of it and pressed his lips, then looked at her and smiled a forced one yet again.

~~~

"Isn't there another way to cary out the test? Needles freak me out." Sean said as he swallowed hard.

"I'm sorry, I wish there was," he said so plainly. "Don't worry, it'll be less painful - infact not. You wouldn't feel a thing, I promise."

Sean tried as much as possible to look away. The needle met his skin and he shut his eyes, opening them to realize that it was already retreated.

"That was... fast."

"I told you," he stared at it again and huffed silently to himself, as if almost impressed, but not.

~~~

"Would it hurt me?" Steve asked as he fidgeted a little.

"Maybe. But we have one way to find out."

~~~

Carrying out the testing process was itself tasking. These volunteers were only a few... not all of 'em, the ones who were fit.