Chapter 3: A Forgotten Friend

Personally, I love this chapter.

           Kye slowly opened his eyes to find himself in a bed. The room was cozy, but rather small. There was a desk, a lamp, a digital clock, a bookshelf - wow. There were lots of books. Those would be fun to read sometime.

            Kye’s brow wrinkled as he became aware of a low, quiet vibration reaching his ears. He turned to his left to find a beautiful, purring cat staring up at him. He reached out to let the cat smell his hand, but the cat immediately pushed its head into his hand and began purring ever louder as Kye scratched behind its ears. He couldn’t remember ever having pet a real cat before. It was nice. Very soft.           

            After a few moments, the cat jumped down from the bed and marched to the bottom right drawer of the desk. Its tail twitched in the air as it scratched at the wood and meowed as if calling Kye over. Kye stood up from the bed and pulled the drawer open, exposing a bowl of cat food and a dish full of water. He picked up the food and water and placed them on top of the desk, as the cat promptly and silently jumped up to enjoy them.

            This made Kye take notice of his own hunger. He decided he’d go find something to eat. He walked to the door and turned the knob. Locked. Kye stood confused for a moment before returning to the desk and throwing open all the drawers. He found some snacks and decided on a bag of peanuts for the moment, returning to the bed to sit.

            Where was he? Why was he locked in this room? Was he in his own house? Why couldn’t he remember anything?

            These questions and more swam around and around in his mind as he sat watching the cat across from him. It seemed content; even used to this, as though it were routine. Kye and the cat finished their food at the same time, and the animal returned to the boy’s lap. Kye was getting bored. What was he supposed to do while he was all alone?

            After a few minutes, Kye stretched out on the bed and laid his head down on the pillow. His companion curled up against his chest. Kye glanced at the digital clock: 1 P.M. He decided to just lay with his eyes closed. Not for very long though. No. Just for a bit…

           

v  

 

Kye sat up quickly in his bed. There had been a noise. One loud click, like metal clanking together. He instinctively looked at the door. His cat - (was it his?) - was circling in front of the door being incredibly noisy and looking at Kye as if waiting for him.

Had he been asleep? He couldn’t remember having drifted off. He looked at the clock.

“Six o’ clock??” Kye said aloud. He had slept for five hours?

The pleading noises from the animal before the door reached his ears again. Kye hopped out of bed and walked to the door. Bending down, he scooped up the cat, who fell silent, resting its head on Kye’s arm that was wrapped about it.

Kye stared at the door for a moment. Then, supporting the cat with one arm, he reached out with the other and turned the doorknob. It clicked, and the door popped open a bit. Kye pulled the door open and peered out. Every other door along the hallway stood open as well.

As he stepped into the hallway, Kye pulled his door shut and found himself surrounded by an eerie silence. He walked slowly along the corridor, peeking into every room he passed and finding them all empty. At the end of the hallway, signs on the wall pointed to different places. To the left: Recreation, Gym, and Games; to the right: Dining, and Lookout. Kye turned to the right, hoping to stumble upon something to eat soon.

After a few more minutes, three more turns, and an inspection of a few more empty rooms, Kye began to hear voices in the distance. Young voices. They became louder and louder as he walked along the corridor.

Finally, on the left side of the hallway, an archway appeared with the words “DINING HALL” spelled above it in large, dark blue letters. Kye stood underneath the arch, gazing wide-eyed at the room. There must’ve been a hundred kids, maybe more. All of them looked as though they were in their teens. They were all dressed in plain, dull clothes like his own. They sat in seats at any of the four long, thin tables in the center of the room, or else walked around and mingled at the smaller, grouped tables that were scattered about. The place looked like an oversized cafeteria, appearing as though it could seat hundreds at a time.

Kye began slowly working his way through the dining hall, though he was not exactly sure where he was supposed to be headed. He had almost made his way to the opposite side of the room when an excited voice called out to him.

“KYE!”

He turned in the direction of the voice to find a young boy with dark hair running towards him, his hand waving in the air. He had a large grin on his face.

Upon reaching Kye, the boy threw his arms around his neck and hugged him.

“Oh my goodness! I was so worried. You weren’t at lunch,” the boy said, releasing his hug and raising an eyebrow at Kye.

Kye paused a moment out of shock before answering: “Yeah…I fell asleep.”

“Of course you did,” the boy laughed. He turned his attention to the cat. “Oh, hello, little Shadow!” His speech morphed into high pitched noises as he made exaggerated facial expressions in front of the cat, as one does with a baby or young child. Kye stood feeling quite awkward throughout this scene. He didn’t even know who this boy was.

“Shadow,” Kye whispered to himself.

“Yup,” the boy said, still focused on the cat. “That’s what you named him.”

“I named him?”

“Sure did.”

Kye didn’t respond again, but just looked at the ground in confusion. The boy broke the silence.

“So…I guess you don’t remember me.”

Kye shook his head sadly. “I don’t have any idea what’s happening.”

The boy’s smiled faded for the first time. In fact, he looked deeply disappointed. He quickly regained his composure, however, and, grabbing Kye’s hand, dragged him to a row of machines lined against a wall.

“You probably won’t remember how to do this, so I’ll do it for you,” the boy said, stepping in front of Kye.

He tapped his finger on the electronic screen in the center of a machine.

“Please position head in the center of the screen and face the camera,” an automated voice instructed. The boy did as he was told. “Welcome, Connor. Please choose your dinner.”

The boy spoke over his shoulder to Kye. “Oh, yes, my name is Connor. Just in case you didn’t catch that.”

Connor proceeded to tap different pictures of foods, adding them to his “plate” on the screen. After he was finished, he pressed ‘DONE’ and waited a moment. A panel at the bottom of the machine opened up, and a tray filled with the foods he had chosen popped out. Connor grabbed the tray and placed it on top of the machine. He tapped the screen again.

“Please position head in the center of the screen and face the camera,” the machine said again.

Connor grabbed Kye by the shoulders and pushed him to where his face could be seen on camera. Kye saw himself looking back; he had almost forgotten what he looked like.

“Welcome, Kye. Please choose your dinner.”

“Don’t worry. I know what you like better than you do!” Connor winked at Kye before stepping up to the machine and tapping a few more times on the screen. He retrieved the food from the machine and grabbed his own from the top, carrying both trays to a two-person table near the edge of the room. Kye followed him, Shadow in his arms. They sat in chairs on opposite sides, and Shadow jumped onto the table, sprawling out between them.

They ate in silence while Connor scratched Shadow’s head. When they had eaten a good amount, Connor initiated the conversation.

“So yeah, my name’s Connor,” the boy stated proudly. “You don’t remember me " you rarely do " but we’re friends. I like to think best friends,” Connor chuckled slightly.

Kye stared at this boy across from him. Nothing was making any sense.

“Why don’t I remember you? Why don’t I remember anything?”

“That’s quite a loaded question.” The boy slouched back into his seat. “It’s also one that I’ve explained many times before.”

Kye furrowed his brow.

“I’m not blaming you!” Connor quickly corrected himself. “It’s not your fault. It’s just awful. I wish things weren’t this way. I wish you’d always walk in and remember me and everything but…”

“What are you talking about?” Kye interrupted.

“Well, I’m not exactly sure where to start.” Connor sat silent for a few moments and watched the people walking about the dining hall before continuing. “This is a kind of…research facility.” Connor sounded unsure of himself.

“Research for what?” Kye inquired.

“None of us know exactly. Everything seems so confusing and unrelated at times.” He paused. “You showed up here only a few months ago. I’ve been here for slightly longer. I suppose they told you some messed up lie about your family paying for you to stay here while they went on vacation. Or maybe they told you this was a boarding school. Who knows? We were all told different things. Anyways, you didn’t talk to anyone for the first few days, and anyone who tried talking to you quickly realized how shy you were. People talked to me about you, and I watched you sit alone for days. I regret not having approached you sooner. I still can’t shake the feeling that I could’ve helped in some way. Regardless, you didn’t show up for breakfast one morning and I knew something was wrong.

“When lunch rolled around, you showed back up, shaking and completely pale. It was then that I confronted you to ask what was wrong. You babbled unintelligibly about a book. Apparently, you drew something and everything went wrong. You were terrified. You collapsed into tears right here in the dining hall. A few men swooped in and dragged you out right away, and everyone was shocked. You had been so quiet, and now you were the talk of the whole facility. You shook things up quite a bit.”

“Oh, great,” Kye interjected. “I’m the weirdo.”

“No, not necessarily. We all understand; everyone here has had their fair share of breakdowns. That wasn’t the weird part. When it was time for dinner, you were back; quiet and reserved again. Naturally, everyone had a bajillion questions for you, but you couldn’t seem to remember anything. Your previous life, the facility, your cat, the ‘book’ you were talking about: it was like they had never happened.”

Connor paused for a few moments, and pushed some French fries around on his plate. Kye stared at him, unable to speak. When Connor began his story again he sounded more distressed than before. His blue eyes were intense and filled with concern.

“The worst part is that I have no idea what’s happening. I don’t know how to help you. And it’s tough explaining these things over and over to your best friend…Having your best friend forget who you are isn’t the best feeling.”

Connor stared seriously into Kye’s interested eyes for a few seconds before looking away. Even Shadow was staring at Connor; perhaps he’d never seen Connor so upset.

“Why would I be forgetting everything?” Kye asked. He wasn’t expecting Connor to know, he just couldn’t stand the sad silence.

“I don’t know,” Connor said somberly. “The only thing I can think is that they’re performing experiments on you, and if they don’t get the results they like, they decide when they want to wipe your memory.”

“Experiments?”

“Yeah. We all take part in individual experiments. We’re all little guinea pigs,” Connor spat out angrily as he waved his pudding-covered spoon around, motioning towards everyone in the room. “And none of us know why.”

“What kind of experiments?”

“Well, they sit me in a room and just tell me to create something. There’s supplies: painting materials, clay, drawing utensils. It’s always different.”

“Every day?” Kye asked shocked.

“Oh, no! No one gets tested every day. There’s not nearly enough workers for that.”

“Oh. So, what do you create every time?”

A devious smile spread across Connor’s face. “Nothing.”

“Nothing?”

“Nothing. Usually I just sit there. It ticks them off. And that’s really fun to watch.” Connor laughed as he thought about previous incidents in his head. Then he paused for a moment. “Well…I guess I can’t say that I never make anything.”

“What do you mean?”

“Well…sometimes I make…explicit artwork.”

“Explicit how?”

“Just pieces depicting Mr. Chernoff in a way that I guess he finds…unsavory?” Connor burst out into laughter, causing some people from surrounding tables to turn for a moment. Connor had the most infectious laugh, and Kye found himself starting to laugh too. But he didn’t know why. He was still worried. Not to mention that he had no idea who Mr. Chernoff was; he supposed he must be a higher-up.

“And they’re okay with that?” Kye asked quizzically.

“Oh, by no means,” Connor responded. “They ‘do not tolerate it’.”

Connor reached up to the collar of his shirt and pulled down, stretching the fabric farther down his chest. Kye’s breath was cut involuntarily short as his eyes took in the marks and scars that lay across Connor’s chest. He stared unblinking for a few moments. There were so many. Some were healing. Some were faded. Some looked fresh. Connor released his shirt and moved it back into place.

“What…do they do to you?” Kye asked slowly. He was shaking and could barely breathe.

“All sorts of things,” Connor said quietly. “Shock torture, burns, you name it.”

“Why?”

“Why what?”

“Why would you let that happen? Why don’t you just do what they want?” Kye demanded.

“I’m not going to give these monsters the satisfaction of controlling me. I don’t want to end up like The Empty.”

“The what?”

“The Empty,” Connor nodded his head towards a smaller table near the corner of the dining hall. About ten teens sat around the table, talking and laughing. A few attendants were bringing food out of a door and to their table; their food didn’t come from the machines. “They look happy,” Connor continued, “but on the inside, they’re dead. They’re those who gave up; those who do whatever these people say, just to have ‘the good life.’ But in doing so they lost sight of themselves, and soon became like robots. There’s not much left of them. To Mr Chernoff, they’re the Top Tier. To all of us kids: The Empty.”

Kye stared for a little longer at The Empty before looking back at Connor.

“So, you just don’t want to become like them?” Kye asked, trying to piece things together.

Connor scoffed. “Kill me if I ever become that. Watch out for them, too. The Empty are extremely loyal to Mr. Chernoff, and they report happenings to him regularly.”

Kye couldn’t believe what he was hearing. Experiments, torture, mind wipes: it all seemed so unreal. And yet, despite it all, Connor seemed genuinely happy and full of life.

“How do you stay so happy while all of this is happening?” Kye wondered aloud.

“Well, what would be the point in being depressed? That wouldn’t change anything. At least this way I have a bit of fun. I just want to remain who I am, and I’ll do anything to keep that. I make the most of each situation now, in the hopes that one day I’ll have the best. Besides, I have you. And you make great company, even if I have to explain things to you over and over.”

Kye smiled weakly and looked away. Things still weren’t making sense. It was so much to take in at once that everything was getting lost.

“So, if we just got here a short while ago, is there any chance--” Kye was cut off by Connor holding up his hand.

“No more questions for now. I can tell you more later. For now, let’s get out of here, it’s getting too crowded.”

Connor grabbed both trays and dropped them on a conveyor belt that Kye assumed led to the kitchen. He started towards the archway and motioned for Kye to follow. Kye scooped Shadow off the table and trotted up behind Connor.

“Where are we going?”

“The Lookout. It’s always pretty at this time.”

Connor led Kye up a series of staircases and down a hallway. He stopped in front of a set of large, wooden double-doors. ‘LOOKOUT’ was posted over the door in the same style as the Dining Hall.

“This is my favorite place in the entire building,” Connor said with a smile.

With that, he pushed all of his weight on both of the doors, which swung slowly and grandly open. Kye squinted as a warm glow fell across his face. The walls of the room were made entirely of glass, allowing the light from the setting sun to stream in. Kye was awestruck at the beauty. Light of orange, red, yellow, pink, blue, and purple danced before his eyes. It reflected off of the glass and cast shapes along the floors, which were hardwood. There was no furniture; there was only floor, and a few steps on which Connor now sat. He patted the spot to the left of him, and Kye accepted his invitation.

“Isn’t it beautiful?” Connor said as he stared out at the horizon.

“It is,” Kye replied softly. “It really, really is.”

“I knew you’d like it…You always do.” Connor turned to look at Kye and smiled weakly, before returning his eyes to the sunset.

There was a long period of silence, as both boys gazed at the sunset. The questions that had dominated Kye’s mind only minutes before were now fading away. He was confused and scared, but in this moment he was also happy. He cared only about this moment.

After a while, Kye stood and walked closer to the windows, peering over the edge at the land below. They were lower to the ground than Kye had originally thought; only about four or five stories up. The courtyard of the building was surrounded by an enormous black fence, with a gated archway in the center. A sidewalk ran along the outside of the fence. They seemed to be in a city.

Kye was surprised. He had envisioned the compound to be in a secluded area, where no one would ever find them. Instead, he had discovered that they were right where people could see. He watched a woman push her child in a stroller along the sidewalk. He followed the path of two men having a cordial conversation with each other as they passed in front of the gate. His eyes traced the course of a cyclist zooming past. Did any of them have any idea what was happening behind these walls? Did any of them care?

Kye took Shadow from his arms and placed him on the floor. He pressed his hand against the glass and stared outside, becoming more and more infuriated the longer he thought about his condition; about Connor. All of these people were doing nothing. He slammed his hand against the glass.

“Hey!” Kye yelled.

“Kye, no.” He heard Connor’s voice, but he didn’t stop.

“Can’t any of you see? Can you hear at all?? HELP!” He was screaming now.

Kye began banging furiously against the glass and waving his arms. He was falling into hysterics as he heard Connor’s footsteps running up behind him.

“Kye! Stop! Please!” Connor reached from behind Kye and seized both of his arms. His grip tightened as he tried to pull Kye away from the window, but Kye only grew louder, screaming expletives at the unfazed people below. Connor dragged Kye in his arms towards the steps, while Kye flailed and kicked.

“Kye, stop! They’re going to take you away again!!”

“NONE OF YOU CARE AT ALL,” was Kye’s last cry before he relinquished his fight against his friend’s strength. Connor fell onto the steps and held Kye in his arms. The tears were flowing freely from his eyes as Kye’s body was wracked with sobs. After a few minutes, Kye’s muffled voice was heard.

“Why do none of them help?”

Connor thought for a second. “I don’t think they have any idea what’s happening. How could they? It’s not likely that any of this is announced to the public.”

“We could signal them. They might see us.”

“I’ve tried. No one so much as glances up here. I don’t think they can see us. Besides, if you keep making so much noise, they’ll come take you away again like that day in the dining hall.”

“No one is in here to hear it but us.”

“That’s what they want you to think. They monitor almost every inch of this place.”

Kye steadied his breathing before sitting up from Connor’s lap. He pulled his knees up towards his chest and wrapped his arms around his legs. Shadow sat staring concernedly at Kye.

“So we’re just stuck here then?” Kye said hopelessly.

“I’m so sorry,” Connor breathed. “I don’t know what to tell you.”

“It’s not right. Those things they do to you. They’re not right.”

“Don’t worry about me"“

“We’re going to get out of here,” Kye cut him off. “I promise. I don’t know how, or when, but I’m not forgetting you again, and I’m not letting you be tortured again.”

Connor thought it best not to argue with Kye while he was in this state. “Okay. Okay, we’ll get out. Together. One day.”

“Soon.”

By now, the sky outside was dark. The moon cast shadows across the faces of the boys and patterns of light across the floor. Silence settled upon the room once more until a loud ring was emitted throughout the room.

“All guests should please return to their living quarters for the night,” a woman’s voice announced.

Guests, Kye thought. More like prisoners.

“Well, that’s it for tonight,” Connor said as he stood.

Kye extended his hands and allowed Connor to pull him to his feet. “We have to go back?”

“Just for the night, yeah. We only get a few hours out of our rooms every day. Don’t worry, though; breakfast is at 7 A.M., so you’ll just sleep and then I’ll see you again in the morning.” Connor smiled warmly, yet Kye still felt uneasy. He had no idea what troubles could befall him between now and breakfast.

Kye glanced at the doors to the room, not wanting to move. Connor softly placed his hand on Kye’s arm and pressed him towards the door.

“Come on,” he said quietly. “We have to go.”

Kye and Connor left the Lookout both feeling incredibly somber, yet happy; content to be together with a friend. Neither of them could quite understand their own feelings at the moment.

They walked back to the stairwell and began quickly jogging down the stairs, with Shadow close on their heels. At every floor, kids were pouring out into the halls from the stairway and walking into their respective rooms, which locked automatically behind them. When Kye reached what he remembered to be his floor, the boys stopped and looked at each other.

“I’m one floor down,” Connor said.

There was an awkward pause.

“I’m sorry for--” Kye began, but he was cut short by Connor.

“Do not apologize.” Connor sounded firm, but still gentle and caring. Kye dropped his eyes down to his feet. “I’ll see you in the morning, okay?”

Kye looked back up. “Okay.”

Connor pulled Kye into a hug and squeezed him tightly. Kye’s body relaxed as he realized how happy he was to have a friend with him in this situation. Especially a friend like Connor.

After a few moments, Connor let go and stepped back. He smiled once more at Kye before turning away.

And Connor, commencing his trip down the stairs, disappeared from sight.