You are getting very sleepy... {mara0107}

I wince as I feel the needle punctuate my skin. Through all the years of living in this research center, I haven’t become used to this feeling. It still hurts and I still hate it. I’ve been begging for them to hook me up to something more permanent. Some kind of tube that just stays in my vein and that can be reused numerous times before they have to change it but they won’t allow it. They don’t even give me an explanation why they won’t do it. I mean, it’s possible, I’ve seen it on other “lab rats” like myself but they just won’t do it for me. Maybe for research reasons they don’t want to do it or maybe they just want to torture me. I don’t know but I think it’s because of research reasons. They wouldn’t willingly torture me, would they? Well actually, maybe they would…

With a few swift and well-rehearsed movements, Gloria, a grumpy old nurse hooks me up to the IV. She’s not someone who talks a lot so she remains silent the whole time unless she absolutely has to say something. It works for me: I don’t want to talk anyways. I don’t like people that just keep talking and talking and talking for no reason at all. There is this one nurse a few floors up, Nancy, and she just can’t shut up. I’m so glad she doesn’t work on my floor on a regular basis because I’m sure she would drive me nuts. She has helped out a few times and these were some of the worst days in my life. No matter how often I told her that I wanted her to shut up, she didn’t care and told me everything about her little dog or her sister or the guy she slept with and who was a complete disaster. Like I would care. I like Gloria a lot more. She keeps quiet and so do I and it’s worked for the two of us ever since.

I feel tired already and probably would fall asleep any minute even without them injecting an anesthetic into my veins but I doubt that this would stop them. I can feel cold fluid starting to flow into my vein and let out a small sigh as I look out the window. It’s fall and the leaves have started to turn red and orange and fall from the trees. It would be so nice to go outside and walk beneath the trees, jumping into big piles of leaves or collecting the most beautiful leaves to decorate the room. Of course it’s forbidden to decorate the rooms we sleep in because they have to be cleans for the experiments but we are allowed to decorate the dining hall. I envy the kids who are allowed to go outside this afternoon while I’ll be sleeping until the drug wears off.

I don’t even realize as Gloria starts to hook me up to the ECG and I just merely notice the beeping noise marking my heart beat. I look outside and watch a squirrel collecting nuts and hide them underneath a big tree in the facilities garden. I actually got really lucky to have been assigned a room with such a nice view. I like watching the birds fly and the squirrels play. It would be even nicer to be allowed to go outside but if staying in my bed is all I can get, I’d better not complain or they would assign me to a different room. One with a view to the street or one with no window at all. I feel a shiver running down my spine as I think about having to live in a room without windows. No, I really do want to stay here.

Glorias rough voice calls me back to reality. “We’re going to start experiment 41.7 E now. You’re going to get a higher dose of anesthetics today.” Her voice sounds bored and as always I wonder if she really likes her job. I don’t think she does, but I think she has to do it. Maybe she has a family to care for. Who knows. “Count down from 10 to 1 starting now.” , she adds in the same bored voice. I yawn before I start counting.
“Ten.” I hate the burning feeling the anesthetic causes in my arm.
“Nine.” I yawn again.
“Eight.” I can tell they’re using a higher dose because…
“Seven.” … the fuzzy feeling in my head starts already.
“Six.” Wonder if I make it down to four today…
“Five.” Maybe not.


My head still feels fuzzy as I start waking up. It takes a while before I can think straight again and before I can take in my surroundings. I blink and open my eyes carefully and slowly. As I turn my head towards the window, I can see that it’s dark outside. “F****** high dose, it knocked me out the whole afternoon!” Almost immediately after I looked outside the window, I sense that something has changed, but it takes a while before I realize what it is. There’s breathing. Slow deep breaths coming from the other side of my bed. At first I think it’s Gloria who came back to check on me, but it’s not her breathing. Hers is louder and sounds more forced. I turn my head and my eyes fall on another person, a boy about my age who is lying fast asleep in a bed next to me. I’ve never had a roommate, so why would they assign somebody to live with me now? I don’t like strangers. Well I don’t like other people in general. They scare me. This boy scares me.

I keep staring at him when he suddenly stirs and starts moving. His eyes flutter open and I can tell by the way he acts and by his uncoordinated movements that he must have been anesthetized as well. He starts looking around and focuses on a point in my general direction but he doesn’t look straight at me. “Hello?” His voice is rough and thin. It almost sounds scared. “Hello.” , I reply, still looking at him suspiciously. “Who are you and what do you do in MY room?” I know this sounds a lot more unfriendly than I intended to make it sound, but I don’t take it back. I want to know what’s going on here.

Word count: 1068