Project Neptune

Chapter 4

Chapter 4                                                                                                                                                                 Specimen T5

"We need names you know." My sister says taking a bite of her soggy peas.

"Oh, yeah. Human's have names, not numbers." I say thinking aloud.

"We don't have any names." She reminds me. I look at my oozing salisbury steak. We sit in silence and think.

"We can figure that out later." I say, realizing she's right. We are too close to just pick any old name. "That's the least of our worries right now." I gently prod my steak. My sister watches me.

"I know you hate this garbage, but you really should eat. You're going to need it tomorrow." My sister reminds me. I shrug because I know she's right and hold my breath as I dig into the slimey steak.

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We are so close to leaving I can hardly breathe. I'm excited and nervous at the same time and it feels like there is something crushing my lungs. I wonder how my sister feels, if she's scared, which she probably is, or nervous. Or maybe she doesn't feel anything at all. Maybe she's excited... I know I'm scared. I turn over in my bed, my eyes finding their way to the window in the dark. I find myself stepping out of bed and walking over to it. Gazing down on the little city, I'll finally get to go down there.

What if we get out there and I'm nothing like he thought? I hope I can keep my color changing hair under control. Even though he knows, it's still embarrassing because I've told him what the different colors mean. Just the main colors, blue for sadness, red for anger, black for fear and so on. If my hair turns pink, I'm done for. I hope he accepts me, and I hope my sister can accept him. After all, he is the one helping us get out of this living nightmare. I was torn from my thoughts when I heard a door close somewhere far away.

"We're going to be fine." I say to myself, trying to make myself believe. I, myself, was sitting on the window sill. This is what I do with most of my time, just sit and look out at the other world. Soon, I'll be apart of it, and I don't know if I'm more excited or scared. I look down at my hands and in my peripheral vision I see my hair change to a dark green. It's ugly and I roll my eyes hoping it doesn't stay like this for long. A mixture of black, fear, and green, sick or nervousness. It's a hideous color and I lay back down in my bed hoping sleep will make it leave. A pain shoots in my gut. What if this happens while we are out and about? What will we do?

I search my mind for something to bring, or do to hide our changing hair. Hats. Dr. Parry can bring us hats. I decide on. I check my wrist for a hair tie, there is two, and I know my sister has some. We can tie our hair up under a hat and no one has to see. I sigh and close my eyes and slowly drift off to sleep.

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It's just after breakfast. This, this is the day we leave. I turn my body and look out the window. It's a bright, warm day and the city is sparkling in the distance. I can't wait to run through the bustling streets with no worry of when our next exam is, or having to strip for inspections.

"Free. We're going to be free." I whisper to myself, a smile forming. I get up and run over to my sister, who is watching "Beauty and the Beast" I stand in front of the screen and smile at her.

"Do you mind? It's my favorite part!" She screeches. I don't move. "You make a better wall than a window! Please move!" She tries to look around me.