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7. Wherein Bloom Discovers Other "People"

Bloom Beckett - Day 6

Left. Right. Left. Right. I wanted to find someone I knew, the disorder of my life began to control my actions. Instead of having anxiety attacks, or getting stressed out, something about my genetic makeup slowed down my heart rate. Considering the cause of death for most of my family - anxiety based illnesses - the doctors said that this was normal.

          Day two here, I finally called my parents, finding their numbers naturally, all the information was fed to my little mind disk. They were on different continents, begrudgingly working together to make it here. Very begrudgingly. It would probably take a while, though, considering the current governments turmoil. They were suddenly thrown into deep trouble, as the truth began to surface.

         Days three and four on this planet were pretty mundane. I pulled up a floating screen of the news, all of it stored in the tiny piece of tech imbedded in my temple. People weren't allowed to see this, but I managed to scrape up a little bit.

20 million.

Failure.

Explosion.

          These phrases drifted in and out of my head. I didn't know what they meant, didn't know what information was hidden from all of us.

Aliens.

War.

Death.

         Nobody really knew about what happened, or what was happening. They just carried on, whistling tunes of the past. But I searched for answers, finding some hidden links around. I'm not a computer genius, but I did know a few. Secret news outlets were starting conspiracy theories on what really happened to Earth. We only got phrases. Single words from these illegal sources.

         So, here we are. I couldn't think for an entire day after that, watching everything fall apart in my mind. Trying to piece together the frayed ends. Unanswered questions. But I'm here now. Alive. Racing through the cafeteria. Telling a story in my mind.

         Without a sense of stress, I had ways of getting out nerves. It felt unnatural to sit around, unfeeling. I resorted to actions that made me feel more confident. To regulate and lower stress, my body also changed.

It amplified the unnecessary quick circulation that comes with anxiety around my skin. I'm still not sure how, something about all my cells being connected. Letting blood flow normally, but also heating up my body. Somehow, it had evolved to withstand high temperatures, lower blood pressure.

There was something else that evolution threw at me. I don't like to think about it. Besides, many humans in this generation have a similar trait. Just manifested in less destructive ways. I was constantly calm in stressful situations because of this. Impulsive actions helped me cope.

         Actions like grabbing a club for a house. These packages were ancient, I found, even for my underdeveloped country. Since everything on Earth was left behind, we were told to start over. With only a few pieces of old technology left, all government issued. I thought about setting it all ablaze, just rubbing my hands together and starting a fire.

          If we really had to start over, why not revert back to the earliest ages of society? The ones that most history text books have forgotten. Over the past millions of years, we've started over a ton of times. So why didn't it ever work out?

          Too many pieces of our previous lives. Meant to be used as a reminder of our mistakes, but only guiding us towards the same cycle.

          Couldn't humanity ever learn? Destroy all that was current, and finally live in peace? No. It was impossible.

But sharing this information, finding the truth, and living a "normal" life again? That was a possibility.

It was at that point I realized how far away from the cafeteria I had gotten. Well, a colorful figure helped me remember. Multiple, actually. The scuffle that ensued ceased quickly. I wasn't much of a fighter.

Her name was Uda Pallidus. I would later learn that she was more important than most, shown by her skin. A shocking blue color, paler than the sky. My voice became coated with niceties.

"I'm so sorry for bumping into you!"

           My hands started burning. Literally. I wanted to run, scream, just get out of the situation. But some of us don't get a flight or fight response. I could only show my anxiety through one thing: chaos. It helped me feel more in control.

           Yes, I would try to diffuse the situation, but my body itched to do something else.

          Burn.