Separated By a Wall

The Other Side

"How long do I have?" I ask Caitlin. I'm standing right in front of the door. The truck has left. I'm clutching my injured hip. The pain has spread to my ribs my legs are so close to giving up. The high pitched ringing in my ears still has not gone away. I'm almost positive that I look like a wreck. But right now, that didn't matter to me.

What mattered was the fact that I was inches away to fulfilling my dream. "You have until four o clock tomorrow morning. That's the next break time, the door should be open. I'll be waiting for you to take you back home but you have to have your CareBot in you're hand in order for the security system to let you in." she tells me. I look up. Stars are speckled on the royal blue sky and the half moon shines brightly over the city.

When I cross this wall, I will see the same sky but I will be somewhere else entirely. "Are you ready?" I raise my shaky hand placing it slowly on the knob. "I- I think so." But all of a sudden, I started to feel queasy. My eyes drooped and I could feel myself on the verge of collapsing. Was I going to pass out? I started to see white and my breathing picked up. "Rose, calm down."

"Why are you using my name?" I shout, sounding frightened and angry. The exact opposite to what I was feeling. "Open the door. You have to go, you're going to be fine. It's almost 10:30 you have more than six hours." I don't know what's happening to me. The world begins to spin and fade. "Rose! Relax. I'm coming." The line goes dead. I hear a beeping and thinking it's another bomb stumble away from the door. I soon realize that it's Caitlin standing over me. She slings my arm over her shoulder and hoists me up.

"The officer shot you with a tranquilizer dart." I feel a quick stab of pain as she jerks it out holding it in front of my face. "You have to be the one to open the door. My CareBot won't let me." The world is no longer fading as I try to focus but instead becomes triple vision. "Where's the knob?" I say sleepily. She groans and lifts my arm placing it over the knob. "Now turn it." I turn it to the left. "It's not opening." I cry, feeling my eyelids get heavier and heavier.

"Okay, I'm going to have to throw you in. But first," she takes out her earpiece and puts in my pocket. "I get the feeling that if an Anoch finds a human passed out on their side their going to take your earpiece away. Here's an extra." I nod but it feels like bricks are hitting me every time I throw my head forward. "Turn it to the right."

"What is it with you and right?" I groan. But without a response, I grapple the knob and twist it to the right. The hinges of the door squeal in protest as it opens. I feel myself flying and then I hit something nice and soft. It feels strangely natural. And the world went black.

***

I wake up to a ceiling. My thoughts were fuzzy as I tried to recall last night's events. 10:04 PM. I see the outline of a guard? I try sitting up only to feel a dull throbbing ache in my head and settle back down. "She's awake." I hear whispering and debate whether I should sit up or not. My mind tells me to stay down and rest, but I always follow my instincts and hesitantly swing my legs over the side of the...bed? I look up. Unfamiliar faces are staring at me with curiosity.

One small boy and a woman step forward. The woman offers me water and the boy simply stares at me. "Thank you." I tell the woman. I'm handed a cup that looks strangely like clay. I take a sip not realizing how thirsty I am and chug it down, not minding the looks I was getting. "Are you a human?" the boy says.

The memories of last night hit me like tsunami. The guards, the bomb, the running, the freedom. I distinctly remember Caitlin being with me at the wall and then I was on the other side. I remember the sky. Wait, if I'm on the other side of the wall then...

"Oh my god." I stumble backwards falling off the bed and landing on the cold ground. The woman immediately steps forward to offer a hand but I scurry backwards until I'm cornered. "She's scared." she tells a man next to her who had simply been watching me with a glint in his eye. "I'm sorry. Are you Anoch?" The door behind them flies open and another boy who looks around my age steps in. "She's awake." Why are they talking like I'm not there?