Antithetic's Tale

Chapter 8

"You won’t attend the classes this morning, Athena. Mreine wants to see you," Ion said. I was already wearing my uniform when he notified me so I have no choice but to change my clothes again. I went out and saw a familiar black van in front of our gate.

"Come on Athena," said Ion. Fortunately, I won’t see those two noisy women today.

I got in the car and sat next to Ion. Mreine’s laboratory is miles away from the city so this would probably a long ride. I decided to sleep so that I could see Thyra. I just want to hang out with her and look at the astonishing view of reality inside my dream.

"Thyra?" I called her but she continued walking towards an unknown direction. I approached her and held her shoulder worriedly. She stopped and put on a forced smile.

"Yes?" she answered sadly. What happened to Thyra?

"Are you sleeping now?" I asked her.

"What? Of course yes. You should sleep in order to dream right?" she replied with a smile. The sadness still lingered in her eyes.

"Have you seen me in person?" I asked her again. She looked at me and examined my face.

"Yes. At our school’s comfort room," she said hesitantly. Our comfort room? I went there yesterday and no one was inside except me and Lian.

"Are you sure?" I want to make sure that I heard it right. What she’s saying is impossible.

"Of course," she replied. If she saw me at the school’s comfort room, then she is probably one of the students who have dexterities like me. She must be near me.

I stared at her orange eyes. It looks like I can easily recognize her because of her eyes not unless we both use contact lenses.

"By the way I met someone and his name was Zephyr. I thought I would hate him because he is a human being but I didn’t feel anything. I feel comfortable around him even if he seemed more mysterious than Dwight and I don’t know why," I said. Yes, I dislike human beings. Maybe I liked him because we have the same stand and personality.

"Is he good looking?" I frowned at her question.

"What kind of question is that?"

"Just answer it," she said while pouting her lips.

"All human beings look the same. In my eyes, they are all equal when it comes to appearance," I replied. Well, I admit I find Zephyr’s and Dwight’s faces extraordinary but they still look like ordinary human beings.

"Wow!" If I would compare this conversation to our past conversations, I could say that I feel more comfortable around her. I could say that Thyra may be considered as one of my few friends. However, I still don’t know anything about her aside from her name.

"How about you? I haven’t heard anything about your life." I asked her. She merely stared at me. Silence invaded our world until she finally smiled and spoke.

"It’s just the same as yours," she answered. It is impossible for us to have the same life. Everyone has different stories.

"I go to school while discovering everything that I need to know," she added.

"By the way, I heard Antonette was impressed with your perceptions and with how you took your stand. What happened?" she said in amazement.

"No. I just said what I had to say," I said. I picked a white flower and smelled it.

"I really idolize you. It's really hard to impress Miss Antonette. Everyone is afraid of her," I shrugged my shoulders and decided to remain silence. I don’t care with what everyone thinks of me.

"Come on, let's wander around," she said and stood up. I followed her until we reach a field of flowers.

"Why did you bring me here?”

"I'll just want give you something," she added then looked at the ground. She scanned through the pile of flowers.

"Found it!" she shouted so I looked at her. She happily picked up something and jumped over to approach me.

"This is for you," she said and showed me a necklace. I took it and scanned the pendant. Inside the pendant is a dried pink flower. She took it from me and put it around my neck.

"It suits you well," she said with a wide smile.

"Thank you." I said and found myself in front of Mreine laboratory’s gate.

 "Good thing you are awake now. We’re here," said Ion. I looked around and saw the familiar buildings of Mreine.

What do they need from me?

Ion and I got out of the car and went inside the main building. Mreine’s exterior walls are painted in Matte black which is the same as my room.

"Why are we here?" I asked Ion. They definitely won’t call us over just to ask how my life is going on. They are heartless. They probably need something from me, as always.

"Maybe they want to catch up with you," he replied while laughing. Even Ion knows that Mreine won’t do that.

We entered the door and were welcomed by a bunch of guards. They bowed their heads and two of them accompanied us to the elevator. My room is located at the 18th floor which is the top floor of this building. Only authorized personnel could go to that floor that’s why this is my first time seeing the other staffs of Mreine. Before the elevator door closed, I saw how the first floor is filled with a lot of human beings. When I was still here, I thought that the only people here are the scientists, Charlotte and Ion. I didn’t know that there are actually a lot of human beings working under this absurd laboratory.

One of the guards pressed the 17th floor which is where Doctor Willows’ laboratory is located.

"Let's go to my room first," I ordered Ion so he pressed the 18th floor button.

When the door opened, I saw a very familiar black door. My room is the only thing on this floor that’s why the floor is restricted to the other staffs. My room’s door could only be opened using my fingerprints and the authorized personnel have a copy of my fingerprints so they have an access to my room.

I placed my fingerprints on the knob and it automatically unlocked. Darkness and silence welcomed me. I miss this.

I went in while Ion was left outside. He closed the door so the room was totally filled with darkness. I went to my bed and closed my eyes. I miss this. I badly want to come back here but it is still much better to live in reality. Even if my life became a chaos since I went out, I still prefer the real world than this dull room.

The heard the door opened again. The whole room lit up when they turned on the light. It’s no longer a problem because I am now used to light.

"You don't seem afraid of the light anymore, Iris." Smiling, Doctor Willows entered my room. They definitely need something from me again. I thought going to the real world means they would no longer have the chance to get pieces from my body. I guess I was wrong.

"Iris, we just need to get something from you." They will never change. They still see me as a toy that they could play with anytime they want to.

"What if I do not want to?" I asked him while smirking. His eyes widened because I never complained nor said no whenever I have an operation

"You just experienced living in the world and you became rebellious, Iris. Is that what those creatures taught you?" I raised my eyebrow and walked towards him.

"Aren’t you one of those human beings Willows," I said and saw how his eyes were gradually filled with burning anger.

"But I'm not like those weak ones."

"You're still one of those weak humans," I teased him with a smile.

"Let's not talk about that, Iris. That is so useless," he said with a fake smile.

"We need to get a piece of your brain again," he explained. I wonder why they have to get a piece of my brain again.

"Hurry up. I want to attend my next class," I ordered him. I went out and felt them following me. I entered the elevator alone and closed the doors before they could enter. When the door opened, I went straight to the laboratory and saw the familiar faces of the scientists. They still can’t look in my eyes, they are afraid of me maybe because of my dexterities.

Before, I always ask myself why they are so aloof when I am around. I thought that it is because I ordered them to do so but now, I guess that is not the only reason. They are really afraid of what I am and of what I can do. I merely ignored them and went to the bed.

"We're going to get a piece of your brain. Something is wrong with your brain and we can't see your dreams," said a scientist. I smiled at what he uncovered. Maybe I need to steal something later, thanks to this man.

"I don't need your explanation. Just do it," I commanded so they immediately readied the things they need.

"We will start,"

I felt a cold metal touched my head. I closed my eyes tightly when they suddenly cut through my skin.

"Wait," I said so they stopped. I felt a sting of pain on my head. The other operations were never this painful. I was so used to it that I didn’t even need the help of anesthetics. Why does it hurt now?

"I guess interacting with human beings made you as weak as them?" Willows said playfully. I am not weak and I will never be like them.

"Go ahead," I said and closed my eyes. I felt the cold clamp in my flesh. Drilling my skull shouldn’t be painful right?

I bit my lips hard when they removed a piece of my skull. I can’t believe that this hurts so badly. My last operation had the same procedures but it was never this painful.

"I'll get it now," Willows said. I took a deep breath.

I stopped myself from screaming as they took a piece of my brain. I do not want to show them that I could now feel pain. They shouldn’t know.

What is happening to me?

I got up and left immediately. I have to calm myself up. I still need to get something from one of their storage rooms.

The storage rooms are located at the 15th floor so I went down. The hallway is empty but there are too many doors. I don’t know where I should go so I decided to enter the room with an A and I engravings on it.

It has a fingerprint scanner so I put my index finger on it. To my surprise, the door unlocked. I saw a lot of glasses with body parts in it. This is probably the place where they store the pieces they got from me. This is like a mini museum of my body parts.

I scanned every bottle but the certain part that I am looking for is not here. I looked at my left and saw a mirror. I walked towards it and pushed it. I knew it! This is a secret door.

I entered and saw more than 20 computers around. I looked at the glass on the center and found what I was looking for.

Wrong move, Mreine.

"Something is wrong with your brain and we can't see your dreams."