the garden [sophia lillis]

[three]

"the door to all inside emotions"

-

"Shelter yourself from the vicious natural world"

  I scoffed slightly at the announcement speaker as it recited its script again, the world is definitely a vicious place if you burn to death after you take a step into it. Despite my growing hatred for this place, I kept my head down for the next day or so, not wanting to fur fill the threat I had revived after my outburst over the incident the other day - the kid who was a complete stranger to anyone else other then her now-broken mother, but is now in the back of all our minds. I found that she's been in my thoughts an awful lot considering I saw her for a mere few seconds before she died, especially when I'm gardening. I had been put on more 'shifts' (if that's what you wish to call them) since then, more time for me to 'think about the consequences next time'. 

"Forget where you've come from"

Patting down the petty soil to keep the dying plant into the troughs, I kept my thoughts swimming inside of my mind instead of disturbing the peace. There wasn't many people gardening today - it was an off day for most - but me and a new camper, a coloured woman that hasn't spoken yet, were trying our hardest to make these plants look as presentable as possible. The woman's daughter sat in deep thought off to the side, not able to move as her legs stopped where her ankles should be. Two scruffy cloths cover the ends, tightly wrapped to hold them on. I felt sorry for the kid, but at least she won't run off and slowly cook until her spirit has left her body completely. 

"Forget who you are"

The hum of the wind was loud today, almost as loud as the speaker that was still reading through its script. It sounded like a whistle, a rusty gate, the pitch rising up and falling back down again. It was soothing, yet terrifying. It almost represented us, the naturals. We would come and go, but our legacy would remain here forever, we won't be forgotten, just like that tune. 

I looked back at the gate, thoughts of the little deceased girl overpowering my mind. I couldn't stop thinking of her; the images would reply in my dreams for nights to come, until another gruelling scene would play out in front of me and haunt me before the cycle repeats itself. The eerie mist hung thick outside the gate, the fumes of smoke and deadly embers still slowly eating away the corpse that was very kindly donated to it only 64 hours ago. The sun peeped through a slight hole in the clouds, enlightening the world even more for a few seconds before hiding back under the fluffy-looking things. Its rays of life bounced off the troughs, catching my eye a little. But what had gripped my attention more then anything at this moment in time, was a particular ray of light that reflected off a glass eye. A perfect condition, glass eye.

"Integrate into the only family that remains"

I squinted at the object, trying to see if the thing sat there was actually there or if I had gotten too much sun in one day. Is it? The sun slipped back into its hiding place one again, letting my sight go back to normal and answering my questions. It is. The bear, that had featured in my exclusive nightmares these past two nights, was sat there on the ground. It fallen over onto its stitched arm, the weight threatening to push the entire thing over onto its front, but it hadn't. Even so, the bear was untouched, unharmed by fire or flames of any type. It was just sitting there, waiting for something to happen.

-

I struggled, my breathing hitching majorly as the reality set in. This was it. Virtual mechanics flashed up over my eyes as Azul set up the machine to (kill) integrate me, he having done this a million times made it a quick and easy process. The slight sweat that broke made this struggle more intense.