Ataxia

Chapter 8

Sander

2055

The alarms shrieked their warning that Danique and I were escaping from the boot camp that we had been at for the past decade. God, did I hate this place. Our worn shoes clomped against the dirty cement floor, the lights flickered above and red lights flashed around us.

A speaker crackled on: "RJ1056 and AB1299, return to your dorms now or we will open fire!"

"Yeah, right!" Danique called as we both ran faster. When we came up to the looming back door that we always wished could break down, I took the piece of tape I had in my hand. I pasted it onto the little scanner by the door and it beeped, signaling us we were free for once in ten long, helpless years. The doors swung open and an alien wind blew into our faces. It was snowing.

"Freedom feels amazing!" Danique shouted over the wind as we broke off into the night. The gunshots that were promised sounded behind us, very close.

"Not so amazing!" I corrected as we took zig-zag lines through the snowy weather.

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When we were far away from that forsaken place, we found ourselves in the middle of the woods about a mile away from the facility that imprisoned us. It was dark, probably about two in the morning. The snow gracefully fell to the ground, mostly blocked by the roofed forest above our heads. Coyotes sang their wolf-like song in the distance.

"Well, we escaped." I breathed heavily, slumping to the ground at the trunk of a tree. The bark scraped my back and hurt immensely, but I didn't think of pain at the moment. Only the exciting fact they were free. Free indeed.

"Yeah. We finally got outta that stupid place." Danique said breathlessly, plopping to the grassy ground covered in wet snow. We sat in silence for several long minutes, catching our breath and listening to the sound of silence. It felt amazing.

"I'm gonna go to the town nearby. It was, uh, Colorado Springs, right?" I stood to my feet, feeling the thrill of efficiency once again, leaving Danique behind on the ground. All I thought about at the moment was the sweetness of doing whatever I wanted. Back at that prison, we only could do as we were told. If we didn't, we were punished in such severe ways that I don't want to remember.

"What do you mean?" He grabbed my shoulder and turned me around. "Sander, I thought we were in this together, man. On the run together until we were old enough to live by ourselves. Our promise? Don't you remember?"

"We made that promise when we were six, Danique." I shrugged off his hand. "When we actually had hope at the time when everything was masked by childish lies of the world." I put my hands in the pockets, biting my bottom lip. "What if I wanna finish school and go to college? What if I wanna have a shot at a normal life? Be respected and a real human being."

"Sander, those words are childish," He replied. "You're an ataxia. You'll never be normal. Because you're a supernatural human being. Do you really think people will give you a second chance?"

I hesitated before speaking. He had a great point. But I wasn't going to let odds tell me what I can and cannot do. "Danique, that is not what I mean. I'm not going to ignore my shot at this." I pulled out a sticky note from my pocket, which was written in bold black marker: PAI AGENCY and a random number. "I overheard one of the guards talking over the phone about this. It's this agency that helps out ataxias and I was planning to call them." I placed it back in my pocket.

"So you're just gonna leave me?" Danique raised a brow, crossing his arms.

"No, no, that's not what I mean," I replied hastily. "I wanted us to go together. You know, finish high school and go to that college we always wanted to go to in Philadelphia. Didn't you wanna become a biologist when you were a kid?"

"Yeah, when I was a kid," He stepped back. There was that phrase again. "I'm not gonna quarrel over this any longer, Sander. If you're going to betray me like this, then I'll gladly do the same."

"What're you saying? Our friendship is over? Just like that?" I asked questioningly as well as a little shocked. "Danique, this isn't like you. Are you okay, man?"

"Goodbye, Sander." He turned around and ran off out of sight.

"Danique, wait!" But it was too late. He was gone and out of sight. Whatever happened to best friends forever?