Virus

          What? Where… Where am I? A metal box? Why?

Questions flooded my mind, I was surrounded by three walls of metal and one wall of glass. A boy was on the other side of the glass.

“Hi” He said “Where are we?”

“I don’t know” I shook my head

“I’m Josh” If there wouldn’t have been glass he would’ve held out his hand

“I’m Phoebe” But that wasn’t an option

“Why does it say I have a power?” He pointed at a silver dog tag around his neck

“I don’t know, it says I have one too” I looked at mine

This was weird and it made no sense. At least, I don’t think it made sense.

“Well Phoebe, I’ll get us out of here. I promise” He smiled

“Okay” I smiled

“What’d you think they’re gonna do to us?” He asked me

“I don’t know, maybe test on us? I mean, we have powers, so they’re gonna try something, right?” I guessed

“Probably” He shrugged

“Well, if you’re gonna be here then I don’t care if they test on me” I smiled

        I could hear some people outside of my box. 

“This one’s name is Phoebe, 7 years old, number 203” A high voice said “On the other side is Josh, 8 years old, number 204”

“Who’s that?” I asked

“Probably someone who’s gonna test on us” He strugged

“That’s a good point” I said

“We’ll have to wait and see” He shrugged

10 years later

“I wish I broke mirrors instead of promises, ‘cause all I see is a shattered conscience staring right back at me” – Adam Young (Owl City)

          I looked at him. One sheet of glass kept us apart. Locked up in these metal containers, holding us forever. See, none of us were normal. We all had different powers. His power was stopping blood circulation and just stopping your heart. Mine was mental torture, no matter what I could hurt someone. His green eyes looked at me, sad, heavy. Our hands on the same spot of the glass, just different sides.

         Our whole lives had been in these boxes, the other person was the only one we’d ever seen.

“How’re you doing?” He asked me

“Cold” I whispered, pulling my blanket up around me

“I’m so sorry” He said

“You haven’t done anything wrong, Josh” I shook my head, curling up

“I haven’t done anything, Phoebe” He pointed out

“But you’ve stayed here with me, that’s all I need” I told him

“I swear I’m going to get us out of here” His fingers curled off the glass

          I pulled myself into a ball, trying to retain heat. He seemed depressed, like he couldn’t do it. But I knew he could. His eyes closed, he was tired. Our days were mentally tough.

“Even though I’ll never know what’s up ahead, I’m never letting go.” – Adam Young (Owl City)

          Josh fell asleep, but tonight I couldn’t fall asleep. My mind was racing, questions kept presenting themselves. Did I really have these powers? I’ve never used them, so how do I know if I have them? Why have I only ever seen Josh? Not that I have a problem with him, he’s my best friend. I wouldn’t trade him for anything. Not even freedom.

          But why? Why can’t I see other people? Even if they’re going to torture me, why can’t I see them? Not like thinking about it will do anything. I sighed and rolled over, I was tired but restless. All I wanted to do was hit someone or something. Have something make sense. But no chance of that.

          These metal boxes we were in were about three feet tall and five feet wide. Freezing all the time. A rock hard mattress fitted perfectly in the box. A huge fluffy blanket that matched a thin pillow were the only other things we had. My heart hurt, maybe it was just the heaviness of this box. Maybe it was Josh feeling so depressed. Whatever it was, it hurt.

           Images of my little sister flashed across my mind. Somehow I remembered her,  bright red hair, blank skin, turquoise eyes.

“Now those lonely lullabies just dampen my tired eyes, because I can’t forget you” – Adam Young (Owl City)

           She was my one memory from growing up. But I couldn’t really remember anything else about her, or what happened to her. But I missed her. Somehow, with that little girl in my mind, I fell asleep.

“There’s just too much that time cannot erase” – Evanescence

           I woke up to what seemed like it should be hours later. My eyes opened slowly to a grinning Josh.

“What are you so happy about?” I laughed tiredly, rubbing my eyes

“Reach over” He smiled

“What?” I reached my hand out toward the glass

          My hand enclosed around a pen and a blank notebook.

“Josh!” I said, surprised “How?!"

“It’s a secret” He smirked

“This is amazing!” I hugged it

“I’m glad you like it” He laughed, smiling

           I smiled, happy. This was insane, how did he get it? There wasn’t a way out of these boxes. At least I don’t think there is… Well, however he got it was just amazing. I flipped it over and drew him, personally I thought it looked terrible, but I wanted to show him.

“Look” I smiled and showed him the drawing

“Well I look handsome” He laughed

“You are handsome!” I laughed, knowing it was true

“Well, thank you” He smiled

           We sat there for a while, silence, smiling. But the air was heavy, like something was above us.

“Tell me, do you ever wish we’d fall in love?” He asked me

           Even though we had known each other for years, the thought that he would like me had never occurred in my mind. 

“All the time” I said

           He nodded, thinking it through.

Not like we’d ever be able to fall in love. Glass separated us, nothing we could do.

“Frozen inside, without your touch, without your love, darling. Only you are the life among the dead” – Evanescence

           That whole day we had written short stories and drew. We had fun, something we rarely had. Neither of us mentioned his question—or my answer. Finally it was nighttime again, we were both looking at the ceiling, silently pondering what to do.

“Why?” I just asked

“Why what?” He looked at me

“Why do we have to be separated by glass?” I looked at the ceiling

“I don’t know, Phoebe” He shook his head

“I hate it!” I kicked the glass, something we had tried so many times 

“Phoebe, we both know that won’t do anything” He tried to calm me

“I don’t care!” I cried, kicking the glass

“Phoebe, stop.” He sat up and looked at me

           But I couldn’t stop. Not now. Not after so many years of this one room torture. I yanked off the dog tag that had my information on it, I stabbed the glass with it.

Surprisingly, it cracked. Only a little bit, but it cracked.

“Oh my god…” Josh said, pulling off his dog tag

“We can break it” I kept stabbing the glass with mine

“I think so” He did the same thing, cracking the glass even more

            Finally there were so many cracks that I just punched it. Glass shattered, it fell in between our mattresses. We looked at each other, shocked. After at least three minutes of complete shock, I mauled him, hugging him as tight as I could. It was nice, he was warm. We were both tired and ended up falling asleep in this embrace.

“I sang my princess fast asleep, ‘cause she was my dream come true. Anne-Marie, believe me, I’ll never forget you. I’ll dissolve when the rain pours in, when the nightmares take me. I will scream with the howling wind, ‘cause it’s a bitter world and I’d rather dream” – Adam Young (Owl City)

            After a long night we woke up. Back in our beds, alone. The glass, replaced.

“No…” We both said

             It had happened, we had broken it. We knew that.

“NO!” Josh yelled, pounding on the glass

             I found my dog tag, which was Josh’s. Josh had mine.

A five inch door opened in Josh’s box.

“What the?” He looked at it

             A hand came in and grabbed his arm. 

“WHAT ARE YOU DOING?!” I cried, not wanting anything to happen to him

             This hand was holding an IV.

“Don’t do that to him, do that to me” I cried, not wanting him to die

“Humans cannot reject temptation. When they are
plunged into the depths of despair, likened to hell, they will hold on to
anything that may help them escape from the situation they are in, even if it’s
merely a spider’s thread, no matter what sort of humans they are.” - Ciel Phantomhive

“No.” He wouldn’t let anything happen to me

“We as humans have the power to do such, but whether we grab on to the thread or not is our choice to make.” – Ciel Phantomhive

              With that the hand put the IV into Josh. Almost instantly after that a five inch door opened on my side and stuck an IV in me.

“What are they doing, Josh?” I asked him, hoping he would know

“I have no clue” Slowly I saw tears run down his cheeks

              A thick blue gel started oozing its way through the tubes that were connected to our veins.

“What do we do?!” I asked, crying

“I have no clue” He repeated, crying

“Peer over the edge, can you see me? Rivulets flow from your eyes. Paint runs from your mouth like a waterfall as your lungs crystallize” – Adam Young (Owl City)

              For hours we had these IVs in us. They made us dizzy which caused us to lay down. Soon enough Josh got insanely tired.

“Kill me…” He whispered, it was obvious he was in immense pain

“I can’t…” I cried, I was in pain too, but mostly from watching Josh feel like this

“Please, Phoebe. You need to stop this.” His chest was heaving in unusual patterns,  losing control over what he had left

“I can’t live here without you” I told him

“You’ll find a way out here without me dragging you down..” He blinked slowly

“No” I ripped the IV out, something that hadn’t occurred to me until that moment

             I took his dog tag and slammed the glass down again. He didn’t even notice, I ripped his IV out and pulled him into a hug, more like cradling him. But it was obviously comforting to him, since he just curled up in my arms. I loved him and I couldn’t even realize it. 

“Don’t let me die here…” He whispered, I knew exactly what he meant 

“You’re not going to die in my arms, or this god awful place. We’re going to get out of here and you’re going to die many, many years from now” I said, pulling him closer

“Don’t leave me” He shook his head

“Never” I whispered to him

“It’s darkest just before the dawn” – Adam Young (Owl City)

              We were like that for hours, finally it somehow left his system and he was back to normal.

“I’m so sorry” He hugged me, feeling terrible for what had happened

             But I didn’t respond, these people didn’t know about the glass, but they knew about the IVs. I had given them both of my arms, they had thought it was both of us but it was just me. Now I had two tubes of this blue gel going through me.

I felt sick.

             He saw this and grabbed my arms, yanking out the IVs. Little did he know that I had had those in for hours on end. Finally it had started effecting me.

“The more that I am with you, the more that I am all alone” – Evanescence

“I’m so sorry…” He cried into me, holding me 

           Slowly this fluid had killed me. But I was still conscience. Which was painful. Watching Josh cry over my deceased body. But mentally still processing it. Somehow I reached up and touched his face, gently, delicately. My hand fell back into my lap with a soft thud that I never heard.

“Death is just life’s next big adventure” – J.K. Rowling