*LIARS - PART ONE - "THE TRUTH"* It was one morning when I woke up like any other. I followed the usual routine, slipping out of bed, taking a shower, going downstairs for breakfast. This morning, the breakfast menu consisted of the typical cold cereal, sliced bananas, and orange juice. Nothing special, it was an ordinary breakfast. "Alister!" called my mother from across the house. I put down the milk, which I was just about to pour into my bowl of frosted cornflakes, and walked over to the dining room, which is a walk away from the kitchen. "Yes?" I asked with a yawn as I rubbed my eyes. My mom got up from the table, as she had been doing paperwork and talking at the phone like she usually does during the morning. "I scheduled you an appointment at the doctor's, we're gonna be leaving in about an hour or so, so make sure you're ready." she told me, "And you took a shower this morning, yes?" "Yea," I replied, tilting my head, "Yea, I did, but... Mom, why do I need to go to the doctor's? Am I sick or something?" A chill went down my spine. I couldn't stand being sick. Germs and sickness and disease and death, these where all some things I feared over most. My mother stood there for a second with her jaw dropped, "Well, no... It's just," she took a deep breath, then stared at me. "Making sure you're all fine and healthy." I nodded, thinking not much of it, and continued the day as usual. It had been a few years since my last appointment, so I assumed there was some catching up to do. There was just something that was always unsettling about Dr. Savina, I'm not sure if it was her ginger-blonde hair, the dark red lipstick mixed with the pale color of her face, or just the look she gave me whenever I looked into her eyes... It was like staring down from the top of a spiral staircase that goes down forever, or looking through a black hole. Maybe it was her bony fingers, ice cold whenever they touch my skin, or her voice, because she always sounds like she wants to hurt me. I could feel a pit in my stomach as I got into the front passenger seat of the car, I never enjoyed going to hospitals or clinics. It was just too stressful for me, and it wasn't the germs that drove me away; - it was the people. Always the people. Suffering patients, doctors, nurses, in a way, it was overstimulating for me. I turned on the radio, in the hopes it would soothe me. I was lucky I had some extra time, since my mom also had to drop off my younger sister before we went into the hospital. Eleanora was about six years old, her favorite color was green and her favorite animal a kitten. She had barely learned to read, and unlike me when I was her age, she always seemed so excited to go to school, and would always come home with stories of what she'd done that day. During the ride, she was playing with her favorite stuffed animal(Which she had named Haley) in the backseat, and she was wearing her usual green shirt and pink shorts. I turned my attention to the road, just as my mom was doing. "Mommy," said Eleanora, "Is Alister coming to school today?" I turned my head to my mother, as I had not brought my backpack or my lunchbox with me at all. "No." my mother sighed, "Not today." Before Eleanora could respond, I asked my mother why I wouldn't be attending school that day. "You just won't, Alister." she said in a harsh tone. I sighed, nodded, and crossed my arms. After we had dropped Eleanora off and arrived at the hospital, I got out of the car. My breath was visible, as it was the middle of winter and it had been snowing for the past few days. I felt frozen already, but I tried not to complain as my mother lead the way through the parking lot. When those two doors slid open at the entrance of the hospital is when the nightmare started. Images of hand sanitizer, gloves, painkillers and bloody scalpels entered my mind as we went to the front desk. The woman behind the desk immediately got up and showed us our way, pulling us through corridors with blinding lights blasting down onto us, making everything seem like it was all just shadows on a blank canvas. The only colors I could really see through the light was the blue of the gowns and the uniforms. It was when we entered a silver door, with the words "Doctor Savina" engraved on it, I could see clearly again. Inside the room, the walls where colored peach, there where some leather chairs by the metal table, and a sink in a counter with some medicines and plastic cups stacked up next to it. Although it was rather nice, I still felt incredibly nervous, and I had no idea why. "It's just the doctor's office," I thought to myself, "Only a coward would be afraid of this! But... what if I am a coward?" My thoughts where interrupted by my mother patting me on the back. "Don't be afraid, it's just a checkup." she whispered. Just then, Dr. Savina entered the room as the lady from the desk left. I took a deep breath, staring at her. There was a desk near the front of the room, where she had asked us to sit at. "Good morning Mrs. Resch and Alister Resch, what seems to be the issue?" she pulled out a paper and scribbled something down, "I understand it was something rather urgent." At that moment, I saw my mother mouth something to Dr. Savina, I could almost feel the energy she was putting into it, it must've meant something like "Shut up" or "Be quiet". I knew it was something more than a check up. Then my mother shook her head as in yes. Dr. Savina cleared her throat, "Okay, yes, um.." she rubbed her nose with a sniffle, "Okay, let's continue. Ah, Alister, I haven't seen you since you where about ten years old or something like that, how old're you now? Eighteen? Nineteen? Something like that?" "Sixteen, just turned." I corrected her with a smile. "Yes, I see now." Dr. Savina said. But just seeing her again sent a chill down my spine, and so went the rest of the checkup, except for one strange thing before we left. She had pulled out a syringe, it was full with an almost transparent thick-looking material. It had a slightly green color to it, but it was hard to tell. "What's that for?" I asked. "It's just an injection, Alister. No need to be afraid," My mother told me as she sat down next to me, "This'll barely hurt at all." I nodded with a slight smile on my face, I felt pretty proud of myself for getting through the "checkup", although one could easily call me immature. As I saw the needle pierce through my skin, I blacked out. I felt like I had been falling through an abyss, one that went on forever. Finally, I opened my eyes. My head hurt. I felt like my head had been cracked open like an egg and the yolk had just slipped out of it, or like a rock that had been broken in half after being thrown from up high, and making head-on collision with another rock. I was in different clothes. It felt like I was wearing rubber. I couldn't really tell though, and my heart was racing. I rubbed my eyes and looked at myself, I was wearing what looked to be a leather jumpsuit. Like one a prisoner or test subject would wear. My eyes widened, "Oh my gawd." I quivered, "where am I!?" I shouted at the top of my lungs, "Is anyone hearing me!? Save me! Someone! Please!" I cried. The walls, floor, and ceiling of the room where all white, the only thing that I could really see was a window on what must've been the door. I scrambled to get up, and weakly walked over to the door. I felt like I had lost so much strength. I looked outside, but I could barely see, as the window was rather high up, and I wasn't strong enough to stand on my toes. What I had seen was a wall. A grey wall, and a painting. That's all I saw. I crawled back down to the corner and fainted. I had awoken who-knows-how-many hours later to Dr. Savina standing over me. "Aha," she laughed, "You woke earlier than I thought you would." "Wh-Wh-Where am I!? Was the check-up a lie!?" I demanded. "Your whole life was," She responded. I stared at her, "What are you talking about?! Don't you dare say that!" She sighed, got up, and put her hands over her eyes, "You'll see soon enough... Follow me." I got up, and did as she said, a furious expression on my face as we walked through the door. Outside was a dark corridor to the left, and to the right. And, of course, the grey wall with the painting on it in front. "You see," said Dr. Savina, "As I just said, your whole life was a lie. What you have just experienced was the life and death of Alister Resch." "What?" I gasped, hardly being able to believe it. "But... that can't be true..I...What're you doing here, then? This is a dream, isn't it!?" Dr. Savina shook her head, "Far from it... We had to replace Savina's image with mine, as there was no images or DNA samples of her in our database. So, of course, I'm not Dr. Savina." I rubbed my eyes, I felt very light-headed, tired, sick to my stomach, like I was going to throw up. "Then... Who am I? I...I don't understand this.." I told her. "You will soon enough, my name is Dr. Orsa Flowers, mind you, I'm not a medical doctor." The woman said to me, "Now, I'll show you around the facility." *To Be Continued* *Please Comment, Share, Favorite, and Love-It*
