Azule (Interlude)

Testing 1.2.3.

"So, again...tell me who you are and why you are here."

I took a deep breath, sure of it this time. I knew who I was. I was still unclear as to why I was here, but I was ready to answer her or anyone's question.

"I am Azule, a survivor of some energy outbreak that I cannot remember. But I am here to get cured," and it went from there.
The interviewer had a few more questions for me, and then she called for the next person on her list as I left the small room.

It went from one explanation to the next, so it seemed. We don't know why we are here, none of us. We wake every morning at the same time. We do the same routine every time. As if we are pets. Small animals to them. We follow orders. Yes, they're called rules, but we live under harsh demands.
I made my way past all the patients sitting in chairs waiting for their turn to see if they were worthy enough to receive further care, and this process has been ongoing for five long years.

Every year I go in and out of the testing rooms and see all types of doctors, scientists, and curious official agents. I believed their story the first few years until I talked to my elder in my head, and he told me to trust no one, safe to say!

I hit the right corner of the hub, and I walk into the cafeteria. There was good food, and there was terrible food. Since so many of us were here, they had a few opportunities to connect with us through food. It was a way to keep us happy. Sane.
I saw past it.

Although I knew what they were doing, I couldn't make myself too suspicious. Here, if you cause any trouble or stick out like a sore thumb, you're dealt with and never heard from again. So I keep my mouth shut.

I go to the burger shack and pay my respects to the cook for the meal.
With my burger on my plate, I head to the benches outside, where Ebony is waiting. She is sitting with her hair in a curly bun, our famous white turtleneck zip-up, her white slippers, and a different book from the last I saw her.

"So, where'd you get that?" I asked her. She looked at me, confused. I point towards the book. "The place where you get all books," she told me with a bit of sass.
"You just had one with a red cover yesterday!" I answered back. She closed her book and put it on the table—something she did when she thought of something to say.
"It's from the same collection I have been trying to get you to read since they moved it here." She finished with a fake smile and an eye roll before returning to the book.

I looked at the book in disgust. I like to read books. Just not their books. They lack adventure and emotion. They put them here to bring us to their world, and I wasn't satisfied.

"So, how was your test? Do you think you are worthy enough to stay and be treated?" Ebony questioned jokingly to me. She and I have been here for a while, but I was here nine months more. I am an original baby!

"You know better than I do. I've been giving the same answer for years. I just answer their questions." I take a big bite of my burger and take my time chewing and thinking. I look around outside. The fence standing tall with bob wires at the top. What's inside the wall is fertile. We live off of it. But they don't.

Some people are fine with the circumstances. They don't mind living under rules. They don't see the asset of freedom.

I finish my burger, and then I have to head off to work. Ebony and I do our initial goodbye shake and part ways. I work in the garden. Since we live off the land inside the gate, we must treat it carefully. I've always been a nature lover, or so my dreams make it seem. I can't remember much before I got here. I was here when I opened my eyes to a flash. Lying on their table plugged up.