Project: Life

Project: Life Part 2

I hobble down the hall to me Home Cell. The Cell is a very efficient room, all white, and holds in it my bed, a refrigerator, a microwave, a tray for meal times, and a dresser. Every Home Cell looks exactly the same.

As I punch in my code to get into the room, Projects 5910514 and 456v369u practically run over me. "Oh my gosh, Abcde, some idiot in the Playground said that you reached your Maximum today and I know that you're real close, so I dragged 456 down here because I freaked out! Oh my gosh, I'm so glad you're oka--" 591 gets interrupted by a scientist walking down the narrow corridor. "I'm fine, 591," I tell her. She hugs me and I tense up a bit. "Um, my spine got kind of crushed though. Release?"

"Oh, of course!" she says. "Sorry! Come on, let's get you inside." That girl could talk the ears off of anybody, if they'd stop trying to kill her long enough to listen.

She helps me inside, 456 trailing in behind us. I plop down on the bed, and they sit on either side of me. "So," 591 says. "How was it? I haven't been in the Arena for a couple of months now. Last time I was in there, the Gladiator sat on me and--" I interrupt her this time. "It was fine. He was a little rougher than usual, but I sent him home crying for his mommy." 591 grins a little, showing off her pearly white teeth. With a wild mane of dark brown hair and coffee colored skin, she could be a model. If we were Naturals, she probably would be.

456, my other friend, puts his arm around my shoulder and squeezes it a bit. He's kind of scary looking, that 456, with black hair that covers the better part of his face. His hair isn't much of an indicator of his character, though, because he is the kindest person I know. He's pretty good-looking too, despite the 'do. If we weren't stuck in the Complex, and I wasn't about to die next week, I might... Nah. He's like a brother, and besides, he wouldn't reciprocate the feeling.

Suddenly, I'm crying silently. Crying because I will die next week, yes, but also because I have to leave these two beautiful souls here, and because although I may be alive, I never got the chance to live.

456 presses his forehead into my temple. "Please don't cry. I know that you're scared, but you are the strongest person I know, and crying makes it real." For some reason, this shuts my blubbering self up. 456 has this effect on people; he is weirdly good at calming us down.

"Yeah Abc, shut up. We don't want to have a feels party tonight. We are going to eat and play games and laugh and if you cry again, I will have no choice but to tickle you." I laugh between my drying tears. "Oh no! Not the tickling!"

"Yes! The tickling!"

456 starts to laugh. "Remember that day in fighting class, right after I transferred here? When the teacher taught us that knee technique?"

"And she called on Abs and 5357 to demonstrate. 5357 grabbed the back of Arc’s knee and pinned her in like, five seconds because behind her knee is Arc’s tickling weakness? Of course I remember!"

I blush a little, remembering 5357 as a short, ditzy blonde girl. "If my memory serves, 591, she took you pretty well the following year. You know, in that fight you two got in over the piece of cake?" I remind her.  She scowls a litter. 5357 and that fight is a bit of a sore subject for her. 5357 technically "won" it, and because of that, she got put down. 591 got off with only thirty-nine lashes. (If you ask me, 591 is lucky that she lost.) The fight was deemed as an act of rebellion, and it's rebellion that got us into this mess to begin with, so fighting is frowned upon greatly.

456 claps his hands together and says, "Okay, who's ready for some food? I know that I am! Food! Yum! Why don't you come help me, 591?" She continues to glare at me as 456 drags her away by the arm.” Come on 5, the girl has a week to live. Don't antagonize her." 591 snorts. "456, you know how she feels about pity." The pair of them walk the rest of the short walk to my fridge in silence. They pull out three bland chicken dinners with celery and carrots. "Aye, Abc," 591 calls. "Come help us. We do not enjoy serving you." I giggle. "But don't you though?" My stomach lurches suddenly, remembering earlier, when I said those exact same words to the doctor. I wonder how many times I will pay for that statement.