Subject 42

Chapter 3

Date: June 4, 1998. Age: 7

I stared up at the smooth, plain‐white expanse of the ceiling in my room, the same room I had known my entire life. It was small. Small and boring. Everything in it was white. The walls, the linoleum tiled floor, the bed, the small desk across from me. Even the tiny bathroom that connected to the room was white and colorless. I had lost count as to the number of times I had begged Raymond to let me have something, anything colorful but he always refused, each time saying something along the lines of 'You do not need color in your room. A lab rat does not need color to properly run tests and neither do you.'

One time, during one of the rare moments I was allowed to spend time outside, I had found a dandelion and had managed to sneak it inside. It didn't take long for Raymond to find out about it. He kept me locked in my room for two weeks after that.

I glanced over to the door to my room where the chair that was usually pushed under my desk was shoved under the doorknob. The door itself could only be locked from the outside, and barricading it was the only way I could keep it closed from my side. Earlier, two lab assistants had come to try and grab me for whatever sort of testing and experimentation that was planned for me. Neither of them had looked very old, probably just out of college and I didn't recognize either of them. When they opened the door to my room, they had both regarded me with apt curiosity. To make a long story short, they did not leave the room with me. Instead, they left empty handed, one with a broken collarbone and the other with a bite to his hand. Did you know that it doesn't take much force at all to break a collarbone? I hadn't even meant to do it, the guy had tried to pick me up and when I tried to get free, it just sort of happened.

I knew Raymond was going to be mad at me for what I had done and would punish me but I didn't care. Anything was better than testing, even whatever sort of punishment I might receive.

Suddenly, there was a soft knock on the door. I froze and turned my head. Raymond must have already heard about what I had done and sent a couple of guards to grab me and take me by force instead. There would be no fighting my way out of it, this time, it was over. Even though I knew that there was nothing I could do to keep them from taking me, I wasn't going to make it easy for them. If they wanted me, they would have to break the door down themselves.

I stayed on my bed and simply turned over so that my back was facing the door. There was another soft knock and then a voice spoke out. "Can you open the door please, Eve?"

I sat up, it was George's voice that had called through the door, not Raymond or any guard, but George. He was one of the only people who was ever kind to me, and he was the exact opposite of Raymond. George always seemed to care about me, he was warm and friendly, and he treated me like I was an actual person.

I hesitated for a while, biting my lip as I tried to decide what to do. George would never do anything to hurt me but I knew that he was here to take me to testing today anyways. After a while, though, I reluctantly slid off of my bed, walked over to pull the chair out from under the door and pull the door open.

As soon as he saw me, George smiled slightly. He was tall and heavily built and his skin was a rich, chocolate brown. His eyes were always kind and his hair was short, only a layer over his scalp and was just starting to turn white near his ears.

George knelt down in front of me so that his face was level with mine. There was no anger in his eyes. "So, I heard you broke someone's collarbone," he said, furrowing his brow slightly.

I hung my head, looking down at my feet, which were bare on the cold floor.

"Eve," George spoke again, drawing my attention to look back up at him. "Why did you do that?" He looked at me with an expression of...sadness.