The Journal of Memories

We woke up in the morning when Dr. Simon was standing in our room with a tray of food, “Good morning! I hope you two slept well. This must be very stressful. I am sorry for that so I brought some food made here in New York.”

This guy says sorry a lot. Weird... another thing that makes me skeptical of this place.

He set the tray down at the foot of Luna’s bed, “I am sorry if it is not much. We have a whole city to feed out there after all.”

I got up and sat next to her on the bed. The tray was filled with two muffins, some coffee cake, and two mugs of coffee.

“It is perfect, actually much better than what we have been eating. Thank you.”

He smiled when Luna picked up a muffin, biting into it, “I am glad you enjoy it.”

Luna dropped the muffin on the plate while her eyes grew dim. Her whole body froze for a second then relaxed as her eyes came back to normal. Dr. Simon stepped forward, “Are you okay?”

She nodded, “Yeah... yeah, it was just a shock.”

She smiled a bit to get him to stop worrying.

He stepped back, pushing up his glasses, “What did you remember, if you don’t mind me asking?”

“Oh not at all... I used to work at a small coffee shop. Well still do I suppose,” She chuckled.

His voice turned caring but his eyes were still serious, “I am sorry that must be so hard for you, remembering your life.”

There he goes apologizing again. Why does he seem so serious? It is like he is acting nice when he really isn’t. These people are really creeping me out.

I could tell she saw his eyes too, as her smile faded to confusion, “It’s not that bad actually. I am used to it by now.”

He gave one last smiled before turning to leave through the hologram, “I will let you two eat. See you later.”

The moment he was gone, Luna hit my arm, “Dude, that guy gives me the creeps... Did you see how weird he was acting?!”

“I did... I don’t like it. I want out of here, something is off.”

“We can’t just leave Ben. All those people are out there and trust me, I don’t think they are just going to let us walk out of here now that they know we are different.”

I sighed, “I know... Just give them what they want for now but if they get any more weirder, we are finding a way to leave.”

She nodded, “Agreed.”

We both started picking at the food and drinking our coffee. I shook my head, “This isn’t as good as your coffee.”

She laughed, “Damn right it isn’t!”

She made me laugh too.

She is so funny.

Dr. Cory was standing behind the holographic wall, we didn’t even notice he was there until he spoke, “Looks like you guys are having a good time. I hope you are enjoying the food.”

Luna shoved coffee cake into my mouth to get me to stop laughing, she spoke for me, “Yes we are. Thank you for being so nice.”

He gave another creepy smile, “Good... When you are done we would like to ask you two some questions and maybe run some tests. If that is okay with you, of course?”

He said more like we didn’t have a choice.

Luna smiled back, “Of course, whatever you guys need, we are glad to help.”

“Great,” He opened the hologram for us to walk out, “This way please.”

We followed him over to another room we haven’t been in. There was a girl scientist with long, black hair and a pink flowery dress on, sitting at a desk, “Oh hello Dr. Cory, please have them take a seat.”

He directed us to two chairs at the back wall of the room then walked to the door, “Dr. Simon would like the results sent to him as soon as possible.”

She didn’t look at him, “No problem. It will take about a half an hour.”

He nodded his head and left the room, closing the door.

The lady stood from her chair and walked toward us, smiling, “Hi, I am Dr. Flora. They want me to draw some blood and look at your eyes and skin. Are you guys okay with that?”

She is much nicer than the others. She actually sounds like she cares.

We both nodded our heads.

She clapped her hands together, “Well let’s go started... Is anyone afraid of needles?”

Luna shook her head and I laughed, “Not that I can remember but we will find out soon enough.”

Dr. Flora laughed too, “I will try to make this quick then. Just try not to think about it or look at it.”

She had us hold our arms out while she put a machine over the bend at our elbows. She pushed some buttons and saw a needle go into my skin.

Shock.

Yup... I am definitely afraid of needles.

Dr. Flora noticed and smiled, “We are almost done.”

The needle came out of my arm and she pulled a vial filled with my blood out of the machine, “See that wasn’t so bad.”

I laughed, “Yeah... I guess it wasn’t.”

She went to a drawer pulling out some band-aids and placing them were the needle hit our arms.

She pulled over a chair and sat in front of us, “This next test is pretty easy. You just have to look at me while I look at your eyes.”

Luna seemed really relaxed and it made me relax too.

We both stared at her.

She gasped, “Your guys eyes are so bright. I haven’t really looked at them until now. They are really beautiful.”

Luna smiled, “Thank you. We don’t remember them being this bright before though.”

She smiled back, “Well you two are very lucky to have such pretty ones.”

She rolled backwards in her chair and pointed to some posters on the wall in front of us, “Can you two take turns reading the letters on these charts?”

Luna looked at me and busted out laughing, “Umm... Dr. Flora. Ben can’t read.”

Her eyes widened and looked at me, “I am sorry. Did you never learn?”

I shook my head, “I learned and actually it was the one think I cherished... I just can’t remember. It all looks like wavy lines to me.”

Her expression turned sympathetic, she reached over squeezing my hand, “I can’t even imagine how that feels. I am so sorry.”

I gave her a warm smile, “It’s okay. Thank you.”

She stood up, “I have an idea!”

She pulled out a marker from her pocket and draw a big dot on the chart, “Can you see this?”

“Yes I can.”

She drew a smaller one, “This one.”

“Yes.”

She repeated the process all the way until there was microscopic dot on the chart, “This last one.”

I was actually surprised I could still see it clearly, “Yes.”

She gasped, “Wow, you have some pretty good vision. I wouldn’t even be able to see that.”

She then looked towards Luna, “Can you read the chart for me?”

Luna smiled, “Yes ma’am.”

Luna read all the letters perfectly, amazing the doctor again.

Dr. Flora sat with her chair in front of us again, “Alright let’s look at your super pale skin.”

I thought she was going to have us do something but she leaned in close to Luna and started to whisper something. After a couple seconds, she moved away and Luna sat there, eyes wide and tensed.

What did she say?

Dr. Flora leaned over to me too and began whispering, “I am warning you. These people are not who you think they are. They may act nice but keep your guard up. They have mics and cameras in your room, so watch what you say and do. I have kids about your age and I am truly sorry you have to go through this. Just keep acting normal and do what you are told but try not to give them too much information. Please be careful about who you trust.”