The Orbist

Chapter 13

 Then a loud bell rang. Teo stood up.

    "Breakfast time is over." He smiled, and turned to me. "Hey, Cay, do you like books?"

    "Yeah."

    "Rhetorical, Cayson. R-H-E-O-T-O-R-I-C-A-L. I know you love books."

    "Rhetorical only has one 'o'." I replied.

 All the kids in order by tables began creating a line starting at the two bright green doors where we came in. Soon, Teo and my table joined along, and walked out. We went forward, left, and came to two orange doors, which we skipped by going right. Then after some walking, we were met with the blue doors. The line slowly walked in, but the kids quickly scattered. There were shelves of books, and less guards, and flowered wall paper. I kind of liked it. I smiled as I turned my neck slowly viewing the whole-

    "Oh, no, no, no! Don't get caught up in their tricks." Teo saw the look at my face. "How about some key words to get you back on track? Bad guys. Imprisonment. Bad guys."

    "Calm down!" I turned to him. "Just enjoying the silver linings of my situation. Improving my mood. That's it."

    "I waited weeks for a roommate to help get me out." He looked me in the eyes. "Don't become like the other brainless slaves here. Be different. Be smart. Got it?"

    "Got it." I looked at him back.

    "Look," He muttered, shifting his view towards the left. "Here comes one of 'em right now."

 I turned and saw a big kid with short scrappy brown hair walking toward us. He grinned devilishly.

    "Hey, Teo. Looks like you found someone who can actually stomach your personality." He shifted his bulging eyes at me. "How cute."

    "Hi, Grant." Teo smiled back. "I'm busy now, can I ignore you sometime else?"

    "Huh. Smart talking." He snickered, then his face turned furious in less than a second, and he lowered his voice. "I get it. You've got a pal over here and you're going to start something. Does he know yet?"

 I looked at Teo quizzically, then realized, he needed me to help him escape.

    "I'm not planning anything, Grant. Sorry to disappoint."

    "I'm not stupid, kid. I'm on to whatever crap you're stewing up."

    "Woah...calm down, man." I said, then immediately regretted it. "I mean, sir. I mean, dude-bro-friend-no-well, uh..."

 His angry eyes burnt in to mine.

    "Go read a book, Grant." Teo said, and turned the other direction. I didn't hesitate to follow him.

 When we were far away between two shelves, I started yapping.

    "I don't think he's that brainless, Teo."

    "I know, but avoiding him is simple." He shrugged. "He's been here way, way, way, longer than me. Like, four months. He could have very well lost his mind in some way."

 I nodded, showing him I understood, though I still didn't feel that safe.

    "See, that's why we have to get out of here." Teo grabbed my arm, and pulled me a bit down so our eyes met. "Do you want to end up like that guy?"

 I shook my head. He let go and turned to the stack of books next to him, and grabbed the top one.

    "Tell you what, though. If I do get out of here, I'm going to become a paleontologist."

    "And...what do they study?"

    "Dinosaurs." He threw the book at my chest. It was hardcover, so I winced. I turned it around and on the front cover was the title Encyclopedia of Dinosaurs. "Being here for a while, I needed a hobby. And I love dinosaurs, so I read up. My favorite is the Megalosaurus, but I don't like that it lived in the Jurassic period, I'm personally a fan of the dinosaurs which lived in the Cretaceous period, and-"

    "Okay, I get it. Dinosaur stuff."

    "Let me finish."

    "Ugh."

    "So I liked Cretaceous the best because that's where the big boys started popping out. The horned dinosaurs started coming out, like the mighty Triceratops. And the almighty T-Rex came out, which is the one that's probably more famous than any other one, but you know what's kind of weird? T-Rex's had small brains and baby arms. Why'd they get all the love? I mean I'm not hating, but there are several dinosaurs better developed that should really be under the spotlight. I'm talking Troodon Formosus, Oviraptor-"

 He went on for a while. Were you listening? Me neither. I was thinking about my Iguana theory. So if bugs in the iguanas' eyes are iguanas, and they think they're lions, do they actually, like see it, or does their imagination overcome their actual vision? What's happening? No, but what's happening? Somewhere, in this very second, a man just kissed his bride. And somewhere else this very second an innocent woman is being strangled to death. The world is so big. I'm so small and insignificant. Why am I here? Why am I thinking about why am I here? Why am I thinking about why am I thinking about why am I here? Is life even real? Is Teo real? Is anyone I ever have known real? What if I'm in a coma? What if-

    "You're still with me, right?" Teo looked at me with his eyebrows raised.

    "Oh yeah. Yeah. Continue about the...uh....T-Rexes."

 Teo hit me with the book.