Young Adult / "Burns" Chapter 1

      I am a failed experiment.
      It was my first thought. It pestered me. Disrupted my sleep.
      Where was I? All I knew was that it was someplace cold. Someplace light. And definitely unsettling. Although I couldn’t see a thing for some reason.
      My eyes opened sharply to a blinding brightness. Cringing, they became small slits as they adjusted. What was I doing here? And speaking of being "here"...
      Soon, my memories will all come back to me in a rush. Just enough so I can remember something; anything that could tell me where I was. Who I am. Why I was here. But there wasn’t anything. Just a blank haziness that haunted me.
      My first glance in what seemed like my new life, it was white. All I could see was whiteness. And red. But all I could see were basic colors and shapes that were slowly getting clearer. When they focused, all I could see was the man, lying on the floor in an awkward position and clutching a flat, shiny round disk. His white lab coat was stained and splattered with a red liquid. Was he sleeping?
      I looked out of the clear glass pod I was in. Or, what was left of it. The glass was shattered and strewn about the glossy white floors, and it mixed with some sort of crimson liquid. The red was also mixed with a clear liquid, and it combined on the tile to make a swirling pink color.

     Well I can’t just stay here. Walking...how were you supposed to do it again? One foot in front of the other.…
     For some reason, I couldn‘t get out. There must be some sort of restraint mechanism that I‘m attached to. No matter. One powerful jerk of my arm and a ripping sound makes my head swivel around. I'm attached to bright colorful cords. And all I could think was, “How odd”. After that, more thoughts rushed to my head.
     Why was I here? Who am I? Is the man on the floor my…creator? Questions were speeding in my head like…gosh, it‘s so hard to think straight. Everything just seems…foggy.
      Maybe the man will know something. He can give some insight on to who I am. So I hustled over to him, though I was fixated on the disk. A red ooze covered his forehead, and even though it was a bit repulsive, I ignored this and shook him. Once. Then twice. A third time. His skin is cold and he will not wake up.
      Now, where to go.…I looked around, hungry for answers. My eye caught a sign beside the door:

Mason Laboratory
Donated by Eliza Lashia

     Mason Laboratory. Those horrible two words sickened me. Was I just some old test subject gone wrong? Shakily, I walked over to the plaque, my legs feeling like a newborn animal's. When I got closer, I saw that the date was chipped off. No help there, I suppose. Except I know that I’m in a laboratory. A laboratory with a sleeping man.
      To the left of the door was a white lab coat hanging on the wall. I put it on, feeling a sudden warmth, and my hand reached for the door.
      But wait, I thought. If this is a laboratory, than there must be some sort of information on who I am. My eyes soaked up the scene again, this time looking at small details. Maybe there was some sort of document on the tables.
      Walking seemed to be an easier task, now that my legs knew they had to support weight, and I walked to the table like any normal human would.
      Normal. Hah.
      Filled with hope, I picked up complicated papers filled with numbers and long words, and test tubes filled to the brim with weird liquids. Each one dampened my spirit a bit more. Nothing. Why was this so hard? Shouldn‘t they have some sort of record? My eyes drifted away and landed on another pod quite like mine.
      In the tank lay a teenage boy. And he was absolutely stunning. Words failed me, and I just stood there, mouth agape. His luscious, dark brown hair and relaxed, chiseled face made me swoon silently. He had hard muscles that made me a bit intimidated, but his soft, pink lips made me less nervous. It was all I could go not to smash the glass and wait patiently as he opened his innocent, wide eyes and laid them on me.
      Thou art the loveliest and the most temperate. I thought, though I had no idea what it meant or what I was thinking. If I hadn‘t realized that I was looking for information, I probably would have stared forever, like a child with a new shiny toy. And though I bitterly regretted my move, I decided to keep looking.
      To the right of the guy's pod was a girl who looked about the same age of him. She had a stunning, sculpted face, I must admit, but the features that caught my eye was the charcoal-colored wavy hair and her full red lips. She could have been the goddess to the match the god. Her skin, like the guy's, was flawless and smooth, with not a scratch or scar to be seen. When I looked down, all I could see was a very blurred image of myself. I had yellow hair. But I knew that my features couldn't compare to the girl in the tank.
      Something my stomach made me hate the girl, which was odd, for I had no reason to despise the flawless being before me. Above the tank, I could see, was a label that read "Good-C-" and it was ripped off from there. Good-C? What was Good-C? Was that the girl's name? Though I doubted it; Good-C doesn’t even seem like a word.
      The guy's tank didn't have a label, but mine did. Most of it had been ripped off, but I could still see two letters: "il". Racking my brain for possible ideas, there were too many words to choose from. Illiterate, ill-mannered, illegal…there was too many options. So I gave up.
      My eyes suddenly drifted to the man on the floor.
      It wasn’t his position that had caught my eye; this time it was the shiny disk in his hand. Should I…take it? It could give me an explanation to my existence. But it seemed I was reluctant to take it. Suspicion crept upon me- was someone watching? After looking for cameras, I cautiously removed the disk from the man’s hard clutch and slipped it into my pocket. A wave of pleasure tingled down my spine, and I felt light and happy. It almost seemed…fun.
Well, one thing was for sure: I wouldn’t get any answers here. As I walked to the door, however, my hip bumped a table, and a paper fluttered to the ground. Excitedly, I picked it up.

Status:
Experiment 1: Good
Experiment 2: NoComp.
~~Experiment 3: Abt.~~
Transformation not yet complete
Switch not yet made
10/20

As much as I wanted to go into the outside world, I had to know. I folded the paper and slipped it into my pocket, along with the disk. Did we not have names? I looked over at the pods. The girl was pod one: 'good-c'. The guy was pod two, and that left me being pod three. Simple enough, I suppose.
Paranoia stiffened my muscles and halted my activities abruptly. Suddenly, without warning, I had a strange need of nothing but to get out. Looking back at the pods, I swiftly began walking towards the exit. In my hastiness, the nerves in my foot exploded with a sharp pain, but I continued to I rush back to the door. Quickly, I gripped the handle and pulled. Well, here goes nothing.

      Cold winds nipped at my face as I looked into the night. My feet were not protected, so they slowly froze on the smooth pavement. Speaking of my feet…
      When I looked down, I saw that a fragment of glass had cut deep into the skin. Another burst of pain came running up my foot as I gave a hard tug on the glass shard. Then another. And finally, the glass clattered to the ground. Ouch. I looked up back into the night sky.
      I felt as though I knew this city. But yet, I had no past. I was a creation.
      Wasn’t I?
      Questions filled my head again, and whether I wanted to solve them or not, I knew they wouldn’t go away until I knew everything.
      Did I want to know everything?
      There were strange machines that were streaming past me, with two blinding lights in front so people could see them. As they moved passed me, they honked, and a few humans inside the machines yelled something incoherent. A flurry of red, white, silver, and black kept rapidly moving passed me that I had no choice but to retreat to the sidewalk. The honking, the smell of the machines, the sight of the blinding lights...this was all familiar to me, yet I knew nothing. How could I know nothing? I ran. It scared me how little I knew about the world that surrounded me. There was one thing I was positive about now, and it was that I knew I had a life before. But what life was that?
      The buildings that loomed above me seemed to be getting bigger and colder; more menacing. Why was it so hard to remember something I had already recognized?
      And I stared in disbelief as the world continued to pass me by, as if nothing happened. Nothing at all. So…does anyone know? Or does this happen often? A feeling of darkness washed over me.
      Where do I go? My brain frantically demanded. What do I do?
      Where do I belong?
      Where is my family?
      My parents… did I have parents? Siblings? Friends? A home?
      “Aqua!” someone called out. Was that me? Should I turn around?
      “Yes?” I replied. That someone was a girl; probably five feet. She had brown, frail hair and watery blue eyes that made her seem like she was crying. Her face was a bit splotchy and very oily, however she had no blemishes. Was this how most people looked?
      “Wow, I never thought I‘d catch you out here. I haven’t seen you in a couple weeks; why haven‘t you been at school? Or maybe you were, I don‘t know, you‘re always with your…” she drifted off for some reason.
      “I, um…” what was I supposed to say? ‘Well, I’ve been trapped in a lab and have been tested on. I don’t remember who you are, where I am, and have no memory, but enough about me, what about you?’. Yeah. That sounded brilliant.
      Before I had a chance to answer, she quickly fired another question at me. “Is that all you’re wearing? A lab coat? Aqua, it’s October. You can’t be barefooted.”
      “Well, you know how spontaneous I can be.” I laughed, going out on a limb. Was I spontaneous? I waited nervously, hoping that the girl before me would give me answers. She laughed, and I silently breathed a sigh of relief.
      “Fine, Aqua, I‘ll humor you. But seriously, if you don’t have anything to wear, you can come borrow some of my clothes. I don‘t know about you, but to me, you‘re always a friend.”
      “Um, okay.” I started to walk with her.
      Alright. So, I have a friend named…well, let’s just say I have a friend. My name is Aqua. And I’m not spontaneous. Well. What progress. But I knew I couldn’t go through my life with those pieces of information. A shiver was sent up my spine, and whether it was from the cold, or the fact that I knew nothing about me, I did not know.
      We started walking down the sidewalk, and the girl, at some point, started babbling away about some old boyfriend. I almost had an urge to tell her what was going on. But I knew she would laugh. Realize I was serious. Go into shock. After that, well, there were many possible ways I could go with this.
      The city’s buildings that had once loomed over us were now disappearing, and nice, two-story houses were taking over.
      “Uh, do you know where we’re going?” I asked. Sorry to interrupt your cute little story, but I really couldn’t care less. She beamed at me.
      “Of course! Maybe it’s been so long that you’ve forgotten where I lived?” she laughed lightheartedly. Like the old days. Hm. How amusing.
      We walked down the sidewalk quietly, the silence enveloping us.
      “Um, so…” I coughed, trying to fill the awkward silence. I hope she didn’t notice that I was using “um” and “uh” a lot.
      “This is probably very awkward for you.” she sighed. How’d she know? “After all, we haven’t hung out in so long. I mean, after you got new…” she seemed to choke out the word. “friends…I mean, I forgive you for acting rude to me, even though you didn’t apologize…” her words and her eyes drifted away. I was getting very frustrated with this girl and her drifting thoughts. It was the frustration talking, and I knew, but I kept wondering how I could be friends with such a intolerable girl.
      Finally, after walking for what seemed like an hour, we stopped in front of a two story home. It seemed average-- a red house with white shudders and a porch light that seemed to make it homey.
      We walked into what I assumed was her house, and I immediately got hit with warmth and the smell of something delightful.
      “February, is that you?” a sweet female voice called out. “I made brownies.”
      Alright. Her name is February. And the sweet voice made… brownies.         Whatever the heck that was.
      “Yeah, mom. Guess who I saw on the street?”
      Mom. So, that was February’s mom.
      “Who dear?” her mother questioned, coming into the room. She squealed with delight as she saw me.
      “Aqua! How nice to see you! Where on earth have you been?” she asked, wrapping her arms around me. “And why are you wearing a lab coat?” she asked, stepping away and looking at me oddly.
      “Oh, you know. I’ve been around.” I said, avoiding the last question.
      “Actually, that’s why we’re here. I’m going to lend her some of my clothes. Come on.” February grabbed my hand and dragged me upstairs to her room. She burst through the door and threw open her closet door. I felt the need to snoop around, looking for answers, but her room was so clean I concluded it to be an impossible mission.

     The walls were a purple color, and sparkly flowers were painted on them. On the north wall was a window, which overlooked a cluster of trees and the darkened night. To the west wall was a pruple bed, with tons of posters of rock stars plastered on the walls. On the south wall-- whch was also where the door was-- stood a brown wooden dresser, filled with liquids in fancy glass bottles.
      “Take whatever outfit you want. As long as it matches, of course.” she proclaimed, smiling. “I don’t know if the jeans will fit you…and sorry, all the jeans are blue, so…”
      Oh, February, I wanted to tell her. What a kind offer. A wave of disgust hit me as I saw her wardrobe: Jeans and T-shirts. T-shirts and jeans.
      “We can totally go hit the hot spots after you get out.” February called as I was changing. Hot spots? Does that mean we‘d get burned? She is definitely an odd one.
      I came out a few minutes later, wearing a brown Wallmart shirt and light blue Target jeans.
      “Sorry I’m not a name-brand type of girl. You know how mom is.” she rolled her eyes. February looked at my selection. “Hm. I would have thought you would pick something more…glammy.”
      Glammy? Name-brand? This girl shall kill me with her words, I just know it. I sighed as we left her bedroom. She was off in another story.
      “Mom, we’ll be out.” February interrupted her story. I walked out the door and waited for her to come out.
      “February, can I get a word?” her mother’s happiness seemed to have dissolved.
      February nodded and, tossing an apologetic glance in my direction, reluctantly went inside. They started conversing in rapid and slow whispers. I could only catch a few words: “shouldn’t be with her”, “needs someone”, and “she was probably…” were the only phrases I could decipher.
      The door slammed and when I looked back, there was February once again. “So? Where do you want to go?” she asked, her eyes glued to my face as if she‘ll never see me again. Be clever, Aqua. Don’t make it seem like you don’t know anything.
      “Um, why don’t you choose?” I asked.
      “Hey, you know this city better than I do.” she replied.
      What does it take?! I took a deep breath. Okay. Keep cool. Be on your toes.
      “How about that one place… what was it called again? The one with the cool…thing…” I said, snapping my fingers and looking up at the night sky, trying to seem like I was thinking of a place to go to. Inside, I was screaming, SHE’S GONNA FIND OUT!
      “Um, Club Revenge?” she asked, cocking her head to one side.
      “That’s it! Let’s go there.” I said, proud of myself for tricking her.
      “Okay, I’m not sure we can get in. Well, you probably could, seeing as how you know them.”
      What? Who’s ‘them’?! I clenched my teeth and my fists, wondering she’d be mad if I slapped her.

      The speakers were booming loudly to a tune I didn’t recognize. Of course, all the people trying to talk over the music didn’t help.
      “Great choice, Aqua. Best hot spot to go to.” yelled February over the blast of the stereo. Well, it’s not hot, that’s for sure. I wonder what she means by ‘hot’ then.
      We plowed through the crowd of people until we reached what February called a bar. A bar of what? Although I had no time to question my new vocabulary. I had an act to keep up.
      February sat on the barstool, and so did I. February ordered a Coke, and so did I. February talked about her life, and I wondered about mine.
      We talked for five minutes before a guy carry a red plastic cup walked over to us and put his arm around February. Blond hair and blue eyes that were glazed-over. How charming. He looked like he couldn’t keep his balance, and had to hold onto her for support. Was this the boyfriend she was talking about in her stories? I couldn’t help myself but to feel a bit smug, knowing I could probably get someone a lot better.
      “You. Me. My place. Now.” he commanded.
      “No, freak.” she replied sternly, taking his arm off her.
      This obviously wasn’t her boyfriend.
      I didn’t want to eavesdrop, so I tried to listen to the song playing.
      “Don’t look back or you’ll see your mistake…”
      His arm came back, but this time on her waist.
      “C’mon, baby.” he slurred.
      “No, get away from me!” she screamed.
      “The anger will rise, making you quake…”
      Focus, Aqua.
      He put his arm on her thigh this time.
      “I don’t bite…” he said softly.
      “Controlling your mind and getting you down, and your screams shall be the only sound.”

      That was it; I had enough. As much as I tried, I could not but help to overhear. I grabbed him by the collar and lifted him up, my whole body burning with a strange new emotion it seemed I couldn’t contain. I felt my eyes heat up, my hands heat up, my blood coursing more swiftly through my veins.
      “She said no!” I yelled.
      Then, an odd thing happened. His shirt, it seemed, had what looked like dancing shapes…yellow, red, orange, and blue. I let him go, but the shapes continued to dance where my hand had been.
      He was screaming now, and people were rushing out, screaming “fire” as they left. Fire? Was that what was on the man’s shirt? It must be dangerous.
      I looked over at February, who was caught between staring at the man, and staring at me, her mouth agape and her eyes wide. I didn’t know what that meant; all I knew was I had to escape.
      And quickly.

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