Gasp

• Ruby Mildren, Grade 8
• Short Story
• 2014

/They/ tell me it's not safe here.

The walls that surround me in this small room are white. My bed sheets, clothes, floors, chair and desk; white. I've grown to hate this certain colour and this room. I haven't seen the outside this room for 125 days, I've kept count on the walls with a black crayon in tallies. Each stroke represents one day. A large, grey metal door stops me from exiting, there's a key pad next to the door where you have to enter a series of numbers in order the un-lock the door. I walk in circles around this room, wondering about what /they/'re talking about, I suddenly hear distant footsteps, my eyes widen and I crawl into the corner.

/They/ tell me I'm going to die.

A few seconds later the door opens, 3 men and 1 woman all dressed in white with pale skin, dark brown eyes and black hair walk into my room, the sounds of their shoes tap on the ground at the same time. The three men stop at my bed as the woman grabs my arm tightly, she is extremely strong and easily throws me onto the bed. The bed creaks loudly and my hip hits the beds cage the pain quickly fading, two of the men pin down my legs and arms as the third ties a gag to my mouth, quietening my screams. My eyes narrow at the woman who holds a long needle with light green substance inside it. The third man steps back and says something and the others laugh. 'So they aren't robots' I think in my head. The woman says something then smiles flashing perfect white teeth, I realise now I've stopped struggling. I wiggle my legs around but the mans grip hasn't loosened. The woman looks at me happily, she has flecks of forest-green in her eyes. Ever so slowly she pushes the long needle in my forearm, it takes a few seconds to get the whole needle in. Pain shoots up from that spot and stops at my shoulder, the pain lingers in that arm. She then slowly pushes the substances into my veins. I begin to panic, what does this liquid do to me? My vision goes blurry and stars begin to appear, my breathing becomes heavier and the two men loosen their grip, I close my eyes then I open them again. The four people have gone. I stay lying down and I raise my hand close to my face, there's a bruise where they held me down. I'm now not able to see my hand, everything is black and my body has gone numb. My leg shakes suddenly but nothing changes, more stars appear and I become light headed. I hold my right hand to my face, covering my eyes thinking about how I got here in the first place. I quickly pull my hand away from my face, my eyes widen and I gasp.

/They/ tell me that I'm dead.