I twiddled my thumbs, staring fixated at the paper before me. It was laid flatly on my desk, the words I had scribbled down sticking out. The plan was ready, set in stone. Time to say goodbye to this hellhole. I read over the paper one final time, and shredded it. No soul could know or even think of what I was planning to do. This 'apprentice' crap was getting out of hand. And that guy- Doctor You kazoo- was full of it. It reeked in the air it was so obvious. This was my only chance at freedom.
I walked along the cold, dank hallway. An ocean blue light from the tanks illuminated the darkness, which proved to be fairly potent. Mentally I went over what I was going to do in my head. Find an exit. Run. Figure things out from there. This seemed to be the best thing I had, considering that staying here was clearly not an option. I was less than trusting of the Doctor. And suddenly offering me a job with his little freak show scientists? Not exactly enlightening.
I kept turning down corridors, getting more lost that I thought, and was about to give up, when suddenly I found it. In bright, glowing red letters was the simple word 'EXIT'. Finally! I grabbed the door handle, turned it, but then abruptly stopped myself. It was too easy. There wasn't a soul in this lab, it was tranquil, and nothing got in my way to find this exit. I hesitated. Then, shaking my head and scrambling the thoughts in my brain, I opened the door.
I'm not sure what I expected. Maybe a city, with roads and tall buildings, fast food places and hookers on every block. Such a city where flurries of people pushed and shoved each other on their way to work, so wrapped up in themselves that they forgot to have courtesy. But what I saw was a barren wasteland. Perhaps it had once been a city, many years ago, but all that remained was an astonishing amount of sand that blew harshly across the sky. Particularly large mounds of sand that were rectangular in shape seemed to resemble the buildings that I so desired to see. The sand itself was grainy and almost orange in colour, and threatened to get in my eyes several times.
"Is this what you wanted?" A stern voice asked from behind me. I slowly turned around, the raging winds blowing my hair out behind me.
"Yukizu?" I stared blankly at him. "What...what is this?"
"It's what I'm trying to protect you from. Your mental state is outrageously unstable right now. Please, come in and we can right you out. Perhaps some time to lay down and a nice cup of tea would do the trick..." He took a step towards me. I took a step back.
"My mental state is fine," I said. "You just need to give me some answers. What is this?" I gestured to the wasteland before us. He stared at me like I was crazy.
"Oh, Sasha," he said. "what you're seeing is an illusion. Come back, let's sit down and-"
"No!" I exclaimed. "There is an...an apocalypse right here and you're ignoring it!"
"Sasha-"
"Don't 'Sasha' me! Tell me the truth!"
"I'm sorry," he said with a pitiful look. I opened my mouth to yell something back at him, but then felt a great weight on my chest stop the speech from coming out. I struggled, the weight getting heavier the more I did, but I kept trying. The Doctor watched me with the same look on his face as I sank to my knees, ultimately falling unconscious.
With a great lurch, I shot up from where I was laying down. Thrashing wildly, my breath caught somewhere, I fought to breathe with a great might. There was noise around me - noise I couldn't decipher, but could understand was human speech. Orders were barked at others, and hands were laid upon me. I struggled, fearing that these hands would mean my demise, but stopped when air rushed into my lungs again. I opened my eyes.
Pouring over me, removing some sort of machine, was a woman in a face mask and doctors clothing. I saw her, and then the other nurse beside her, and the several other nurses that crowded me.
"Back away, give the girl some space!" A voice all too familiar chilled me to the bone. The crowd of nurses dispersed, and I found myself gazing into the amber eyes of Doctor Yukizu. He leaned over me concernedly, speaking to me in a soothing voice.
"Are you alright? That's a silly thing to ask, but is there any sort of pain?" I shook my head staring at him in bewilderment. "Numbness? Disabilities? Can you move at all?" I wiggled my fingers and toes, and even my limbs, to show that I was fully functioning. Yukizu smiled.
"Amazing..." he marveled. "You are truly a trooper, Miss Allingmen. The chances of you surviving were below ten percent, and yet...you're still here with us today."
"Yukizu," I said, my voice merely a croak. He looked surprised.
"Incidentally, how do you know my name, child?" I stared at him and chuckled.
"Long story," I barely managed. Yukizu furrowed his brow.
"I'd love to hear about it later. For now, you need to rest. Your lungs have barely just begun to work on their own again; it would be best to let them get some recovery time in before you go about using them again." He patted me lightly on the shoulder and departed. I sat there for quite some time, surrounded by machines and thinking to myself. Was it all a dream? I looked out the window that was only a little ways to my left. A bustling city moved about its daily life, people pushing and shoving, and the odd person helping the old lady cross the street. Truly this couldn't be the same place I was just moments ago.
I stared at my bedside table. Flowers of all kinds bloomed beautifully, and I felt warmed in my heart that there were people out there that cared enough to give me such things...an idea flashed in my mind. Celeste. Mom. Dad. They were alive. That nightmare...that lucid dream, or experience, was of my imagination. It had to be.
A few hours passed without much happening. I drifted in and out of sleep, only waking up when a nurse would come in to check on my vitals. It was peaceful, and then the time came where I had visitors.
"Sasha! Oh, my God, Sasha!" A voice overfilled with joy bubbled over me, and I was lightly embraced by a woman who smelled of lavender. Upon her lifting her head, I saw a massive set of curls and two gleaming blue eyes shimmering at me.
"We thought you weren't going to make it..." A man was weeping as well, his balding head shining in the light. His black, beady eyes stared at me as if he couldn't believe it all himself.
"But you did," a mature, woman's voice that I could instantly recognize said. I looked to the woman who said it, and saw my sister. Celeste, Mom, and Dad. They were alive. I felt the tears pour from my eyes, and I let them fly freely.
The road to recovery was difficult, to say the least. It took more than a week for my lungs to fully recover so that I could speak comfortably without having to have a break every minute. I gained strength in my body again, as well, able to walk around and feed myself. But what kept me going every day was that I could see the family that I had - that I really had - alive and well. I was soon going to be set back into the real world again. I had told everyone of the odd delusions I had had, and they listened intently.
Bit by bit, I was able to tell my story. Though every now and then I could have sworn that they exchanged glances with each other, as if they knew something I didn't. Nevertheless, my life was turning to a new page of excellency and refreshment.
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