Porcelain Doll

CHAPTER ONE: THE AWAKENING

The sky was dark outside when the woman opened her eyes for the first time in ages, although she could see the sun in her eyes. The world was beginning to change and people had no idea what was occurring. Everyone was ordered to rest many years ago, but now the time to awaken has become.

She looked around her environment, noticing that the rest of the chambers were still closed. So why was her's open? The woman went to take a step out of the bed, her entire body looking incredibly fragile and...clear? Her eyes widened at this fact, immediately running over to the mirror. The small woman was wearing a short, surgical gown-like dress with socks that extended to the bottom of her knees. Her hair was a deep auburn with eyes that matched, but her skin was very different. Before, her skin matched the color of snow. People would always make fun of her for being the "most pale" woman in existence, but now that paleness was extreme. The woman was now clear? It was as if there was one layer of skin in her body, but you couldn't even see any of her internal organs. The woman had no way to react to this. And she wondered how many years it has been since their rest.

The woman tried to ignore the thoughts in her head as she walked outside. Was her heart banging in her chest? She couldn't feel it, but she knew that the emotion was there. She saw a robot roll down the hallway. The robot was approximately up to her waist, but she was also abnormally short. For an average height person, it would most likely go up to their upper knee or lower thigh. The robot seemed to make eye contact with her before continuing its way.

Robots never existed before. Where did these robots come from? Has it really been that long that society advanced to the point of robotic AI? The largest robot she remembered was a laptop or the newest Playstation 2, but nothing to the extent to which her eyes have just seen. Or is she hallucinating? There was no way that it has been this long.

A voice echoed through the hallway, an oddly familiar one at that. His body appeared a few moments later, his skin just as clear as her own, but a little foggier. "C...Carson?" The woman choked out, her throat sore from the lack of speech for many years. The body of the voice tilted his head in shock, surprised that he saw someone else, even one who knew his name.

"Who are you?" He replied, his voice shaky as well, but it was obvious that he was awake for much longer than she was. "You're the only one who's known my name in this entire building."

"It's Zoe," the woman replied, "we were best friends before this all happened."

His eyes instantly lit up at her name. Carson has known somebody named Zoe before all of this went down, but he couldn't come to believe that it was his best friend Zoe. "Zoe...Bryne?" he asked.

"Yes, Caron, I'm Zoe Bryne," Zoe said with a soft laugh as Carson wrapped his arms around her. Even though it seems like their rest has only been a day or two, the two of them have never felt so alone. Being together was almost like a God sent wish.

"What's happened?" Carson asked before looking down at his hands. "And why do we look like this? I feel like my grandmother's porcelain dolls."

"I...I don't know..." was all Zoe could've replied without a short chuckle. The way Carson would compare things is why the woman seemed to enjoy the other so much. All of his comparisons were completely whack. His grandmother never even owned porcelain dolls!

And suddenly Carson pulled them back into the room in which Zoe came. "I heard somebody... The last time I heard a voice like that, the other fellow with me was smashed into pieces." He said just above a whisper. "Go back in your chamber and hide... I'll meet you back here later."

Before Zoe could argue, Carson was already running in the opposite direction.