Shattered Minds

A mini-story based on the perspective of Eve a designer baby from the future. She describes her world, how glamorous and yet how dark it is.

Shattered Minds

“If you had a superpower what would it be?” asks the male reporter. The blonde-haired girl lifts her index finger to her check and tries to think. “Ummm…well, I would like to fly.” She smiles at him. “So, why would you like to fly?” he asks with wonder. “Why not. I could see the whole world and its beauty.” She replies. The reporter turns to me and asks. “If you had some form of power, what would it be?” I raise my head up and stared at him with my dark eyes. I could tell by his expression he was feeling uncomfortable. Leaning towards the shacking mic after some time I reply with a sinister smile. “I would blow your brains out. So that as they scatter, I could hear what you’re thinking.” His eyes widen as he backs away and I smile even more. Felix bursts with laughter and tries to lighten the mood. “That’s Eve for you. Don’t worry man she’s just joking.” The reporter laughs awkwardly “Yeah…you’re right. G-good one…Eve, right?”. I lift my eyes at him, “I wasn’t joking I was being serious. I want to blow your brai--”. “Eve!! That’s enough. Say you’re sorry, now!” Felix yells and I obey. The paparazzi flashes more cameras and it hurts my eyes. I clench my fists, “I’m…sorry.” I turn and walk towards the limo and go in. I hear murmured voices as my siblings apologized in my place. The reporter waves it off with his awkward smile. “She is so rude and weird.” Says a fat female reporter. “Bad parenting, I would say.” Another adds and they all burst into laughter. 

“Not sorry.” I frown as my lips quivered. My body begins to boil with anger and I take my pills out and eat them. I grip the bottle and drink the water fast. I start to cough some out and breath in heavily as I choked back the tears. I wipe away the salty water from my eyes as my siblings climbed back in the car. Felix smiles at the flashing cameras and closes the door. “Wow, what a night, wouldn’t you say so Alice?”.  The blonde-haired girl turns to him and smiles weakly. “Felix, we’re all tired. I don’t see why you’re so energetic about this.” Night looks to him with an annoyed expression. “Okay, okay I will admit it was a stupid movie and a really boring interview.” Felix yawns and turns to me.

“Are you okay?”

“I hate them.”

“I know, but what can we do?”

“Let’s fly away from here.” Alice replies.

“It’s not that simple Alice. We can’t leave, remember?”  Night looks to the stars and sighs. We drive off in the rain back to our mansion. Moses will be waiting for us to give us a stern lecture. “Hey Lucas, can we stop by Wendy’s? I want a large burger.”  “But sir, we can’t the Master won’t be happy if you consume garbage like that.” “I don’t care. I will receive the punishment, let’s just drop by.” Felix is persistent when he wants something. Our driver sighs to himself and goes through the drive-thru as Felix orders for us. “I don’t want it.” Night pushes the burger back to Felix. Alice looks at hers and does the same after taking a small bite. “Awe, come on guys. Oh well more for me.” He takes big bites from all three burgers and smiles to himself. “Disgusting pig.” Night sneers at him and looks to me.  “Are you gonna eat it?” I look to her unsure myself. I stare down at the warm bun, with melting cheese and greasy meat. Sloppy Lettice but a red juicy tomato to tempt the eyes. I could hear my stomach growl at the smell of the sweet onions, I gulp and stuff it inside my purse. “No, I have to ask Moses first.” “Why wait? when you can eat it now.” Felix finishes devouring his burgers and extends his oily hand to me. “I can eat it for you if you can’t finish it.” I turn away from his offer and he shrugs with disappointment. The drive seems long and we finally arrive at the mansion. We get out and walk towards the well-lit manor. 5 maids greet us as we step in in our fancy clothes. “Lady Eve, allow me to take your purse, we have the bath ready for you.” She gently pulls my purse from my shoulder and I yank it back to her surprise. “Uh, that… won’t be necessary Symphony. I will take care of it.” Her eyebrows knit together and she smiles while backing away.  “Nice one.” Night says sarcastically. Before taking a bath we are lead to the family room and I could see Moses standing over the fire with a cigar in his mouth. He sees us approaching and dismisses our driver Lucas. The doors are closed and we sit as Moses steps back and forth in the spacious room. It had portraits of his ancestors and all types of plants. The furniture has red velvet and white colors. The couch was large and white along with the fur carpet. The chandelier hug below the decorated white ceiling. His chair was the only thing that was black. “So how was the event?”. He looks to Alice and she shudders at his gaze. “It was…very pleasant.” Her green eyes look to his with a smile but a hint of fear. Moses looks satisfied and turns to Night. “Well, it was not particularly fun, but it was tolerable…I guess.” Night looks to him with absolution in her dark blue eyes. Moses scoffs, “Tolerable, you say?”. He laughs to himself as smoke escapes his lips and dismisses them leaving only Felix and me.

“Now, Felix how was the movie?”. “The war was hard on us all and I saw the death and gruesome fighting the soldiers had to go through in the past. But…” He stops. “But, what?” Felix continues, “It was a necessary sacrifice for us to be at peace.” Moses raises his back and smiles with satisfaction. “So, would you say they were heroes?” “H-heroes? I think so.” Moses continues “And since they were good soldiers who followed orders, that later made them heroes wouldn’t you say?” He looks to Felix, who was puzzled but agreed. Moses nods and walks to him and slaps him hard across his face. Felix falls to the ground with a bruised face and looks to him with fear and slight anger. He looks to me with cold red eyes. “I hear you had an interviewer that questioned ‘what kind of superpowers you would want’. I was utterly disgusted with your answer Eve.” I look at him with lifeless eyes but my hands were sweating. He draws closer and blows smoke to my face. I cough back and feel my chest tighten in pain. He pulls out his cigar and presses the burning side on my arm. I feel the burn but close my mouth from screaming in pain. He presses it harder as tears filled my eyes. I push him away knocking my purse off as the burger fell out. He stops and picks it up and walks back to Felix. “So, you decided to eat burgers without my permission. Now tell me Felix, is that following orders?” Felix looks to him and shakes his head no. Before he could reply Moses stuffs the burger in his mouth and it starts to choke him. I watch in horror as that monster pushes it down his mouth as Felix tries to fight back his overflowing tears. When he’s done, Felix vomits the burger on the white carpet and gets kicked in the gut by Moses. “Call the maids to clean this filth up!!!” I rise from the couch and grab my purse to get the maids. They come rushing in to pick up Felix and clean the mess. As he is being dragged off I could hear his rasped breathing and felt my body boil with anger. Moses lights his cigar and closes the doors.  I stand in the hallway for some time. I hated this place, I hated Moses and the maids. I want to get away from this place.

I step out of the bathing pool and look at my reflection in the mirror. I am a “perfect child”, the product of what the past called “designer babies”. Yes, I was born from ordinary parents, who sold me as a fetus to be designed by scientists. Not just me but hundreds of us. Moses was the one who decided to adopt us after they killed our parents. They wanted to continue experimenting on us and restrict us from eating processed food but to eat organic food. Our lives are controlled and monitored by the government. Ordinary people treat us like celebrities and are fascinated by our beauty and intelligence. We are what they are not and what they always dreamed to be.  My arm is red from the burn I received. I pour water on it and it stings even more. It was a 1st-degree burn that would not only be a permanent scar but reminder, that I am not yet free from this place.

Wide Asleep

I always imagined the world and the people in it to be… sleeping. When a person finally wakes up they see the waking world’s reality. However, I envy those that are asleep, but at the same time, I pity them. They live their lives in a dream, while they are dead to reality. For those of us that are awake its pure agony for we know that one day when all those are asleep finally awaken, they will turn to us for order from the chaos of reality. We ourselves were asleep and when we awoke and found that what we were living was a lie, we struggled to find answers and we struggled to find the truth. For those asleep will only know what they live. However, there is hope for those that are asleep. They have whispered the way to live by those whom they label as geniuses, role models, idols, and experts. “Knowledge is power”.  who said those words? When that person woke, what did they have to endure to find that answer?  Surely that person wouldn’t be able to find that answer while they are asleep.  Whether they struggled or not who was it that told them that “knowledge is power”? What is power and what is knowledge? Who can say? For those that are asleep may never know. However, humanity was blessed and cursed with one thing… curiosity. I wake to a world that is achromatic, I can see its colorless beauty but at the same time, I feel its colorful ugliness. 

Author's Note

I would like to know If should continue with it. How I can improve. What questions and comments you have.