Child Control

The Marketplace

I walked into the building and looked around. There were a bunch of grey boxes with locks on them fastened to the wall, a brown welcome mat on the floor and another set of double doors. Beyond the glass doors was a small lobby with a wood floor and beige walls with nature paintings spaced on them every couple of feet. There was a door to the left labeled 'stairs'.

I went through the double doors and headed for the stairs. It was quiet and comforting inside the building. It felt... safe. I climbed up the third floor and found my apartment. It was a plain-looking wood door with the number '301' painted on it like all the others.

I opened the door and stepped through the doorway into a short hallway that leads to my living room. The color scheme was neutral like the rest of the building. There were soft normal chairs and a wide chair in front of a flat black screen. In the middle of the room was a cream-colored rug and a short glass table on top of it. There were lights on the ceiling I could turn off by flicking the switch on the wall. Is this how they turned on the lights in the Facility? I wondered.

I kept wondering and found the kitchen which had a large marble countertop, brown cabinets with everything I could ever need, and three large boxes. The tallest box was silver and had two components. The upper compartment was freezing and the lower compartment was cold and filled with food. The smaller box was on the floor, had I window in the front and knobs on top and the smallest box was sitting on the counter and also had a small window in it.

The bedroom was the same color scheme and bare except for a bed, a door leading to a walk-in closet, and a desk with a lamp on it. was except the bathroom which had a blue and white color scheme. The bathroom was the only place in the house with some color. Everything was white and blue. There was a white countertop with a sink, a blue mat on the floor and dark blue tiles on the floor. The shower had a sliding glass door and had two heads at the top that sprayed water down.

As soon as I was done exploring and some of my curiosity wore off the exhaustion hit. My eyes drooped and my stomach growled. I went back to the kitchen in search of food but didn't know what anything was and I had never seen a kitchen before, let alone cooked so I decided to go to bed hungry. It wasn't like it was the first time. I found clothes in the closet and managed to get the heads in the bathroom to work. Once I was clean I fell into the bed and passed out.

I woke to light streaming through my window and hearing knocking on my door. What is that noise and why do I feel so comfortable? My eyes shot open as the events from the last two days came back and I realized it was Piko at the door. I immediately got up and ran to open it. Piko was standing outside waiting for me. He looked me up and down and raised an eyebrow.

"I thought I said I would show up at 10 am sharp? I thought you would be ready by now."

"Oh," I said and looked down at myself. I felt my face get hotter and hotter. "Uh. I guess I slept in."

"It's ok," he said. I didn't show you how to use the alarm clock. I stepped aside and motioned for him to come inside. He did and sat on one of the soft chairs in my living room. "You know it's not common for people to wear regular clothes to sleep right? You wear pajamas."

"What are pajamas?" I asked. I thought what I was wearing was fine. I had on a similar outfit to what I saw some of the people on the street wearing yesterday: tight blue pants and a simple shirt.

"I forget how little you guys know. I've been out of the Facility for a while. I will teach you everything you need to know today and then you can get on with your life if you feel you don't need me anymore."

"This is a short initiation process," I commented.

"Yes. It's a lot to remember but once you have the basics down you will be ok. If you ever need any help I'm sure your neighbors would be willing to assist you. Now let's get started." he walked with me through the entire apartment and told me what everything was and how to use it. He taught me the wide chairs I had were couches and how to turn on the flat black screen called a television.