Diner Time

[Sweetcherrie]

OOC: This is written for a contest on Worth 1000. There the word limit was 800 words so I had to cut down drastically. I felt I wanted to share the full version here

 

I feel my feet tingle, and try to wiggle my toes. Somehow they don’t exactly want to work, and then I feel the memories rush over me as a flood wave. I remember the accident, I remember the truck driving into my car, and I remember pain. Then darkness. Where are my parents?

 

I try calling out softly, “Mommy?”

 

No reply.

 

I attempt to move my hands, and I can feel how my fingers try to connect to what I’m telling them. Then they move. My body starts to feel warmer, blink with my eyes, and open my eyes. I see white, only white. Turning my head to the side I see more white, and in the distance something blurred.

 

“Mommy?”

 

“You’re mother is not here, in fact you’ll never see her again.”

 

The voice had come from my other side and sounded mean. A shiver pulls down my spine, and I feel how I can move my legs. I turn to see who spoke. A little boy is standing in a corner of the white room. I try to sit up, and feel how my body protests, but obeys nonetheless. I manage to drop my legs off the floating bed I’m on, and sit up straight. Now I have a better look around, and take in my environment.

 

The entire room is white, and there’s light, but I don’t see any lamps. There are no shades, and even as I slowly slide off the bed, I cast no shade. My hands grab for the bed to hold on while I have difficulties standing, and the boy only looks while the muscles in my legs struggle to carry my body weight.

 

“Where am I? and why won’t I seem my parents again?”

 

The boy cackles, and takes a step forward. He is dressed in white, and a cruel line runs left from his mouth. He looks about as old as I am, about ten years old, but at the same time so much older.

 

“Because your mother is dead.”

 

The words hit me, and I stumble backwards, “Dead?”

 

“You’ve been asleep for the past 200 years, your mummy hasn’t.”

 

He said the word ‘mummy’ on an overly sarcastic tone, mocking me for my need to see my parents. I don’t understand, but my body feels stronger every moment, and I risk a step in his direction. With a dangerous sway to the left I find my balance back, and take another step.

 

“Then where am I?”

 

Another step forward and I see that where I thought at first that the whole room was white, it now seems to change colour slightly. From absolute white it changes to a soft grey, and behind the boy the outline of a door appears.

“You’re in the cryo centre, and-“

 

Somewhere from outside the room I hear a woman’s voice, “Menando! Leave the subject alone!”

 

The boy cringes barely noticeable, but I see it nonetheless and smile. Behind him the door slides open soundlessly, and a woman steps in. Her clothes are white, just like the boy’s clothes, and mine. Their hair is black, and I can see that this must be his mother.

 

“Have you cleaned the regenerator already?” She asks the boy called Menando with a strict tone.

 

I can see how Menando hasn’t and looks for a reason to tell his mother, but she’s not buying it, and before he can speak she points with her finger out the door.

 

“Then go do it now.”

 

My eyes cross Menando, and I feel hate shine in them. I wonder what I have done to deserve these strong feelings of dislike even though I only met him, but then he turns around and walks out the room, following his mother’s orders.

 

The woman turns to me, and looks at me with her hell blue eyes. I can feel interest, compassion, but also something else, something less easy to define. Disgust?

 

“How are we today?”

 

“I…” I start, but then stop. I have no idea what I am supposed to answer, and I simply nod to her. I wonder why I don’t feel sadder about the fact that my parents are dead, but at the moment I am too weirded out to question it further.

 

“Fine I see. Come with me, you can walk I assume?”

 

As I nod again she walks out of the room, clearly expecting me to follow. The space we walk into is as white, and for the first time I wonder where the windows are.

 

“Miss? Where am I?”

 

Without looking back she replies, her tone the exact opposite of her son’s earlier. I sense warmth in her voice, and feel better for it.

 

“You’re in the cryo centre, aboard ‘The Crossing’. You’re one of the last of the old species you know.”

 

I say nothing as I let this information drip into my brain. It’s hard to imagine that I’m all alone now, and that I’m no longer on earth.

 

The woman leads me into a room where again all the walls are white, but in the middle there is, what seems to be, a large bathtub. Inside there is water, and it steams a little. It smells of the mint leaves my mom used to use for her soup. Suddenly I feel tears well in my eyes, and I have to swallow hard not to cry.

“You can undress, and take a bath. We’ll be back later.”

 

She closes the door behind me, and I look around. Then I shrug and walk towards the bathtub. I stir my hand in it. The water feels warm. I get undressed and step into the water. Slowly I sink in.

 

Then I feel how something grabs my hands. I try to pull away, but I can’t get loose. Then one side of the room slides open, and I see the woman and the boy. They both grin at me, and the boy reaches for his head. Slowly he seems to undo a zipper, and peels off his skin. I have no idea how to describe what I see now, but I feel my insides chill as he speaks again.

 

“Guess what…you’re invited for diner..”

 

The top of the tub starts closing above me, and I feel how the water gets hotter and hotter around me. I pull desperately at what’s restraining me, but the last thing I hear is the mother’s voice.

 

“Menando, how many times have I told you to not play with your food, stressed food is chewier.”