Reality

Chapter 9

Meeting up with friends for lunch consisted of a boisterous groupchat, a mutual neighborhood crossroad rendezvous, and a trendy smoothie place. I was never popular but when I was added to a 20 person groupchat I'd have it read aloud to me as I was picking out my best pair of jeans and cleanest looking shoes. Knowing that these things are the birth place of livefeeds and too many selfies. But every chance I had to get away from my father, I ate it up. Even if it meant getting cropped out, being pushed to the end of the table or even a corner if I had to. I'd buy an expensive smoothie that tasted like I licked the bottom of a sandle after a play day at the park, and listened to so much gossip and giggles.

It didn't take long for me to take the hint though, after a few invitations and very few smoothies I deleted every account. Decided lunch was better with far less people and with actual food. Things you can pick up with your hands and didn't have the aftertaste of freshly mowed grass.

However, my lunch with Phoebe has my nerves jittering. I've been waiting all morning, till I was escorted to a new area I've never been in. A small cafeteria, twice as small as the one at school. 12 round tables span the room, a quiet buffet style table rests opposite of the entrance door and what a surprise every wall and every inch of the floor is a clean ivory white. Instead of serving ourselves, lunch was served via nurses, premade and just as unappetizing as ever. I got there first and waiting for Phoebe to be rolled in. A blanket lays across her lap as she sits in her wheelchair across from me.

Since she entered the cafeteria she hasn't stopped smiling, "Do you eat here all the time?" I ask taking a sip from the cup of water. She nods, "Usually I'm with Mason or a nurse. I'm glad they let you come. The foods warmer this way." She picks up her fork and dives in. I guess at some point in the 4 years she become accustomed to the food. Nothing about this mollases pudding, brick jello, or slab of protein will ever stop giving me the creeps. She slowly slices through the pink of the protein and steam rises out like a puff of fresh air. "Me too." I manage as I try not to sneer at the food.

"Thank you for helping me the other day." The lightness in her voice makes her sound far better than that day, before she was so whispy and weak. She seems more like herself, even in her face I can see some weight has been lifted. Her golden hair is braided off to the side making her look younger than she is. "That's what friends are for." I always wanted a sister, someone I could share secrets with and help dress for school. I feel an almost endearing attachment to her, the more of her I see the more I want to protect.

That's why I will abide by Daphne's request and not take my questions too far. But that wont stop me from asking enough questions to settle my curiosity. "Have you met any other kids here?" She takes a bite of the pudding and nods, "Gulliver, but we never really talked. He talks to people he doesnt like, I guess thats a good thing." She laughs softly. "There used to be another boy here, but he was transfered to another hospital, he got really sick and was getting everyone else sick so he had to be put into a special room that we don't have here."

"Other than that there's only a few kids I've met but I never really got to know before they were seperated too. A lot of us are scheduled at different times and the doctors and guards make sure we don't meet. All because of that boy, I think his name was Jessie. Because of him some kids got really sick." It all leads me to believe that Price was making a point telling me about my immunity, but it doesn't explain much further on why we are all here in the first place.

I chew the pudding slowly, the last time I had it an unexpected chunk of nothing good almost broke my tooth. "Scary, you never got sick I hope." She shook her head, "No, but Gulliver did. That's why he's so skinny now, he stopped eating and stopped taking medicine. I feel sorry for him." She has such a big heart, it's sad to think that it could be broken so easily. Someone like her is too innocent for a place like this. But maybe she's never seen the interrogation room or felt the pain of the alarms breaking your mind from the inside out. "What do you like to do for fun?"