Lab Rat

• Michaela Jones, Grade 10
• Short Story
• 2018

I was brought into a large room resembling an operating theatre. The walls were plastered in white, the smell of chemicals filled the air. In the middle of the room sat a bed and I saw straps hanging off the edge. Blinding lights situated at the walls, a table not far from the bed, tools spread over it. I saw needles filled with clear to coloured liquids. Goosebumps rose on my skin and the hair on the back of my neck stood on end. I was terrified of needles. I turned back towards the door, but it was shut and scientists lead me towards the bed.
"We need to do a blood test quickly, if you could just sit down, it won't take very long." One of the scientists said. He picked up a needle from the table and I quickly tensed. Something was wrapped around my arm and he jabbed the needle into my elbow. I looked away, biting my lip, trying to keep tears back. I felt the needle leave my arm and a small circular band aid was placed on my skin.
"If you could keep pressure on there for a minute, that'd be great." He whispered, handing the needle, now filled with blood to some other scientists, their white coats flowing behind them as they left the room.
'Why would they choose me of all people?' I thought as tears left my eyes. One finger held over the spot where my blood was taken.
"You are the fifth person we've tested on this month. Here's hoping it works. We don't need another participant dead." The scientist said plainly. My eyes widened in horror as those last words left his mouth.
'Others have died? I'm screwed, I am totally screwed.' I thought.
"Could you lay down please? We'll need to restrain you for safety purposes. Our last tester's reaction to this was dangerous and we can't let it happen again." He said, tying the straps around my ankles and wrists far too tightly.
The results to my blood test came back. I heard the men in white coats talking but couldn't understand anything. I looked over at the other needles, petrified of what was about to happen. They surrounded me. "What's going to happen?" I asked nervously.
"The thing is, we don't know. Every person we've tried this on has had varied results but died soon after."
They picked up more needles, terror filled my body, I tensed more as the first needle pierced my skin, then a second and a third. Tears ran down my cheeks. We waited a few minutes. My heart beat became faster, my vision became blurry and my body jolted about. I saw why they needed to restrain me. Everything hurt, but I couldn't stop it.
"What did we do wrong this time?" A man yelled. Only one stood by my side, watching as I lost control. Everything stopped, it all went black and I thought; 'I've become one of them...'