The Dying Generation

Chapter Fifteen

I could feel my heart rate begin to pick up, to the point it almost felt like it was about to burst out of my chest. My vision was a bit hazy, I wasn't able to make out a lot of objects very clearly. My legs felt weird, I felt sad.. Why? Flashes of moving images went through my mind. I could see the concrete ground beneath me, I tried to really focus. What was happening?

My vision began to clear up, I could see houses, people running away in fear. I scanned the area around me, as soon as I turned to look behind me, I had to throw myself out of the way of falling ruble that had almost smacked into me. When my body had hit the ground, I could feel the ground scraped my arms and legs. But that was the least of my worries.

I could feel the little tremors in the Earth, earth quakes? Maybe?
I looked back in the direction I was originally facing, feeling an attraction to the direction. Like something was pulling me, telling me to go that way. I started walking, then running. A house that stood there drew most of my attention.

I focused in on the building, determined to get to it. Until a loud boom broke that connection. I fell to the side, down onto the ground. My eyes shot open, now being greeted by a different setting. Dark, a little chilly, sleek texture underneath me..
It was all a dream, I'm back in the box.

Cedric closed the door to Alton's room, turning back to face me.
"Might as well wake up now, we gotta get a move on." Cedric quickly unlatched the hook and stuck his hand in. His large fingers curled around me firmly, pulling me out of my prison. He made his way up the stairs and to the rest of the house.

"Are we.. G-going back.. now?" I asked with a little worry, not really bothering to get into much detail about what I meant but I was sure he already understood.

"Unfortunately, yes." He set me down onto the dinning room table, walking off into the Kitchen.

I took a few steps forward.
"Am I coming back or... am I going to be kept there from now on..?" I tried to ask a little louder, since he was now in another room, I had to raise my voice to be sure he heard me.

He came back into view, looking back in my direction.
"Keeping you here was only an order, since you were injured. They didn't want to make matters worse and they had to wait before they could do anything more." He set a smaller plate (by their standards) down in front of me. Only one slice of toast rested upon it.
"I'm still in charge by keeping up with you but you may not see me as often. At least, I don't have any control over you. It's all what the boss wants us to do. The most I can do is suggest some other means of doing things or talk them out of it. Plus, I'm sure you learned from last time and won't try to run away again."

I looked down, adjusting my glasses when they attempted to slid off of my face.
Cedric sighed, putting his hands on his knees and getting down to my level. He set a finger under my chin and pushed my head up to make me look at him.
"I'm sorry, I wish I didn't have to do this. I may not be able to make this completely painless, but I will try to be sure it will never go as far as they did with this." He pointed to my stomach, referring to the large scar that hid underneath my shirt.

He rested his fist onto the table in front of me.
I went to my knees and leaned my head down onto his hand. It took only a few seconds for his fingers to uncurl from being a fist and wrap themselves around my body in almost like a hug-like way.
His thumb stroked my head about three or four times reassuringly, then his grip tightened. I sharply inhaled from the sudden action, but relaxed when I realized what he was doing, he never took me away from the table, just moved me back over to the plate. He let go of me and moved the plate closer to me.
"You might want to eat, we'll be leaving in a few and I don't know when you will be able to eat again."
He walked back off into the kitchen, I looked down at the piece of bread that sat in front of me. I tore a piece off and placed it in my mouth.

This is it, this is the day I've been dreading for weeks. The time I am really gonna mean nothing to people and just be a study subject. Cedric said something about 'he wont be able to make it completely painless,' so the type of tests they will do will be painful? What will they do? How long will it take for them to realize that there isn't much more of a difference between me to them? After all, the only difference that I have notice was size and possible hearing.

I turned my head to look in the direction to the door that leads downstairs, seeing Alton come through it and shutting the door behind him. His eyes were tired and his brown hair was wet from most likely the shower he had just taken. I found myself nervously looking back and forth from him and looking back down, not able to keep my eyes only on him.

His dark brown eyes glanced to me, no emotion at all. He quickly reverted his eyes to ahead of him and continued walking all the way into the other room, the room where his Father was.
I exhaled, looking away. Cedric says it wasn't my fault to why he was acting like this towards me now. It kills me, I want to know what did Cedric say to make Alton have this complete change back around, and back into the wrong direction. He's been ignoring me, acting like I am nothing to him, getting in trouble with the police and being around his bad influenced friends more often.

I reached back down to the plate but only to feel nothing there, just realizing I had already eaten what I was given. I retracted my hand.

Cedric rushed back into the room and went downstairs, and not a second later, ran back up with the glass box.. I swallowed hard.

He set the box down next to me, making me jump back from it suddenly being placed down so close.
"Alright, Alton, hurry up. We'll make a quick stop by work and I'll drop you off at school  afterwards."

"Okay.." Alton sighed, walking over to the front door to wait for Cedric.

Cedric held the door open to the box, awaiting me.
"Come on." He urgered, nudging me from behind to get me in. Which of course I obliged, at least he wasn't just grabbing me. It was like he was trying to give a little respect, like he understands that I am a person like him.

He carried the box I was in away and to the door, pulling it open I watched as the house I may not see again disappear.
As soon as he started walking up towards his vehicle, I could hear the gravel crouching underneath his feet.

He grabbed the door handle to the dark red vehicle and yanked it open. Getting inside at the same time Alton got in. Not even looking at him, he passed me over to Alton.
"Hold."

Alton carelessly took it a little too fast, causing me to fall over.
The little sketchbook I had with me fell forward as well, barely missing me. Even if it did hit me, it shouldn't have hurt.
He set it in his lap, having his hands on each side of the glass. Alton removed his right hand away and grabbed the drawstrings on his hoodie, twirling it in his fingers while staring out the window. Not a moment later, he just started chewing on them.

He watched as all the trees went by, I could only see so much being in the position I was in. I would only have to rely on the sense of movement. I looked over to my left, seeing Alton's left hand pressed on the glass wall to hold it in place.
I was beginning to miss him..
Was he really always like this? At least, before he met me? I changed him for a short period of time but what made him change back?

I scooted closer to the corner, leaning my head on the wall where just on the other side of the thick glass was Alton's hand.
Will he ever talk to me again? Would he be my friend again or will he one day just find himself behind the cold bars of prison?

He moved his hand away from me, setting it on top of the box. I followed it with my eyes, looking up at his face to see his narrowed eyes staring back at me with no expression.
I bowed my head, turning away from him and laying my head back where it was. I grabbed the old cloth that was near me and wrapped it around myself to keep warm from the AC that blew through the air holes of my box.