The Synthetic Lie

Chapter Two~ The Voice

"What?" I asked Ella, but she remained still. Frozen. I reached out my hand to touch her, but pulled back quickly out of anxiety. "Ella what is going on?!" I asked again. A single tear began to form in her right eye. "Ella please. You're making me scared." I whispered. Whatever state she was in she snapped right out of it because she ran at me and embraced me.

"Are you okay? Why are you scared?" She asked as if she didn't recall the last two minutes.

"You weren't responding. And then you started crying... For not reason." I stated I inched away from her a bit. Whatever was going on inside her head. It obviously made her upset.

"Oh." She whispered, she reached up and touched her right eye, a small tear was left on her hand. It went quiet as she looked at the tear on her finger. She must be thinking.

"Ella, are you okay?" I asked. She looked up. Her eyes shimmered with the coat of tear build up.

"Of course I am.... Why wouldn't I be?" She smiled. Because you were crying! I screamed in my head. Instead of talking I gave Ella a strange look, then continued to walk down the hall. We're such a mess I thought. I looked down at my fist. If only I could do something without being such a wimp. I turned to look at Ella. She appeared lost in her thoughts. Maybe she didn't charge correctly last night? It didn't matter though, she still would run fully operational even if she had 1%. That's how we're designed after all. 

I cut a corner quickly and began to stand a little taller. All the other members in my division were up ahead. Ella ran a little to catch up with me. She also looked as if she was trying to stand taller.
The room went silent. All of them stopped what they were doing to stare at us. I self consciously covered my arms, and tried to seem taller. Ella was about as tall as the other girls, but I was far from the height of the other men. I'm sure only 30 seconds went by before they returned to chattering, but it honestly felt like an eternity.

"Ella come on." I whispered, and I tugged her thought he hallway. I felt so young. Even though we were all technically the same age.  Five years ago we were made. At least that's what I remember. I finally stopped pulling Ella along with me when we came to our destination. A small wooden door. It was old, but it had this nice antique look to it. A small name tag was placed on the top center, it read Dr. Gairden.

Ella went in first, she walked straight to the couch and sat down. I heard some rustling in the distance as I walked into a small dwelling. It had a small living room that connected to an office. There was a loft with a bed and in another room a kitchen connected to a lab. I hesitantly sat down, but then stood back up. For some reason I wasn't in the mood for acting like the trip from our dorm to here wasn't hell. Gairden walked in holding a tray with crackers and apple sauce. He was a short man with crazy grey sideburns that shot out of the side of his face like cat whiskers. He was bald on the only the top of his head. He had a warm, happy vibe.

"Oh my, visitors." He chuckled like it was a surprise we were here.

"We don't mean to intrude." Ella stood up, I think she took what he said seriously.

"No you're fine, I actually prepared these for you," he smiled, "so how have you been feeling?" He asked. He sat the tray down on the coffee table. Ella relaxed a little and sat back down.

"Well actually-" Ella began, I didn't want her to mention the hall.

"Ella please-" I tried to cut her off.

"Nigel had a run in with one of the other escorts, he made need a check in." She had a hit of concern in her voice. I rolled my eyes, I was fine. Gairden sighed.

"Alright you know what to do." I nodded and walked over to the chair in the office. A small cable came out of the bottom of the chair. I opened the patch on the side of my pants and plugged it into a port on my side. Gairden walked over and shined a light in my eyes.

"Hmm." He murmured then turned around to check the laptop on the desk. "Did ya take your pills this morning." He asked I nodded promptly. He patted my shoulder. "You seem good bud." I stood up and stole a glance at Ella.

"Gairden." She said. He turned to her.

"Yes child?" He asked. He closed the laptop.

"What happens when you don't take your pills." She asked staring at the floor. What does she mean? Why would she want to know?

"Well. Your body is like a machine, but like all machines it gets outdated. The pill is simply a way to maintain a norm we have in society, it helps you. If I remember correctly your pills prevent you from hearing voices." He explained. Ella inhaled quickly. My head snapped to look at her. Whatever was going on with her today. I didn't like it.