Mary-go-round
By: Carla Sierra Arzuffi
(If you missed some of the other chapters of this story, like 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, or 7 just scroll down and you will find them, yes as simple as that)
Chapter eight: The white halo.
If you have this constant itch with your life, like something is wrong, as if you are supposed to be doing something better and you feel that you don't belong were you are, would you do something to change it?
Of course I was nervous, no matter what Peter said, I didn't like this idea, at all.
He said that you can die in a dream, and all of this was supposed to be a dream, even so, it was just irrational and stupid to think that I could jump off a building and not die. But I had to do it, I at least had to try, if all that Peter had said was true, then I had to do something.
We walked into town, hiding with caution, as Peter could not be seen, yet. When we finally arrived at the back alley of the elders building we realized we had no idea on how to get to the roof. Peter was pacing round and round making me dizzy.
"There has to be a way" he said determined to see his plan trough.
"There must be some external stairs to the roof don't you think?" I said
"Yes, maybe" Peter said excited "Wait here".
While he was gone I tried to concentrate, I had to believe all of this was real, that what I was about to do was worth so something. My mind kept going back to old Tom´s book and all that he had wrote. I thought about all my life, those moments I thought they were real, but they were not. Did the people in this town real deserved the truth? Would they want it? Could they take it?
10 minutes later Peter was back. "Come" he took my hand and I followed him to the front of the building.
"Peter, what are you doing?, they are going to see us"
"Shh" Peter said "Just act normal"
"Normal?" and with that said Peter walked trough the main doors, I followed him closely trying to act as normal as I could. We were not the only ones entering the main building. There was a cop behind the front desk reading the paper. I watched as the employees passed and ID in a little machine that made a peep sound. We didn't have one of those and I almost started to panic, but then Peter took something out from his pocket, he pressed his body into mine so we were considered as one person, he then passed what it seemed to be an ID trough the peeping machine and two small metal doors let us trough. Nobody noticed anything, the cop didn't even lift his eyes from the paper. I guess people of this town are expected to do the right thing, and bad things like two intruders trying to wake everyone up from and endless sleep are not expected, not even at the elders building. Maybe.
"Where did you get that?" I said to Peter smiling.
"In Happy Bagels" Peter answered with confidence. "I was lucky Mr. Zuckenbergig had a craving for and onion and cream cheese snack".
"So you just took it from him?" I asked.
Peter ignored my question "Come we don't have much time until he notices his ID is missing, we should take the stairs"
We climbed the stairs as quickly as we could holding hands. We arrived on the top floor and there it was: the door to the roof. I was nervous, but inexplicably excited. Peter turned and smiled at me, he then opened the door.
The light blinded me at first, we stepped trough the metal door. Thats when I noticed that we were not alone. A group of old eight men in black suits were standing in a semi circle in front of us. Although I had never seen them, I didn't have to ask, I knew they were the elders.
"We were expecting you" said the oldest man in the group, his face was full of wrinkles (too much if you ask me) and his white hair was perfectly trimmed and polished, he had blue and white vacant eyes, he didn't look like a nice grandpa you can sit on the porch with to drink iced tea. He was scary.
"Oh the rebel kids, Marie and Peter, it was a nice try, but we cant let you do it" said another elder man, he barley moved his thin white lips, but he voice resonated trough the roof into my ears giving me the chills.
"We are not kids" Peter said, still holding my hand, which was sweaty and slippery. "How can you this to people? We deserve the truth, we deserve to wake up, to see the real world, to live real lives".
"Thats what you think young boy, but the order of things can not be changed, it will only bring chaos and destruction" the oldest man spoke again.
A thought to just make a run for it and jump of the building crossed my mind, surely someone must see me, and then that someone would be free, as would I. But I was completely paralyzed, I didn't know if the elders were doing something to my body so that I couldn't move, or if my body simply wasn't responding. It made sense that these old men that controlled all of us were standing here in-front of me, of course they could not let something like this happen. The whole "creeping into the building like spies" had felt to easy, they knew everything, they knew we were coming all along.
"It is over" one of the elders said.
There was something familiar about him, and then it hit me.
"Tom" I screeched.
"Tom?" Peter whispered.
There he was, old Tom, the one that had involved me into this whole thing, the one who had told Peter everything, and now he was one of them.
"What are you doing?" I asked. Old Tom didn't speak, he just stared at me, I noticed that his eyes were different, they had this white halo around the iris that they didn't have before. All of the elders had it.
"Tom decided to join us, he is good to us, he has a great mind, powerful, he is of great use" the oldest elder said.
"What have you done to him?" I screamed, I wanted to punch him, I wanted to knock all of them out with full force. They had brainwashed, or something, the man that wanted more than anyone to be free. He was a slave. All he wanted was gone, and now he was everything he hated.
"Don't be upset Marie, you will be free, and you too Peter. We can forgive your useless attempt to sabotage us, you will be set free, but let me warn you." Old Tom said "Don't think or try to come back here, if you do, we will kill you and your whole family and loved ones, you will be dead forever, and believe us when we tell you, we will know if you try to come back. We know everything."
This man that I had known all my life was now a elder-controlled-zombie threatening to kill us.
Peter turned and looked at me one last time, that look told me everything, we had lost, this was it.
And then I was gone, everything went black. I was conscious and I was lost. The dark was my companion, I could remember what had happened and then I couldnt. I didn't know what had happened to me.
Darkness. Cold. Darkness. Cold. Darkness. Cold. Desperation. Insanity.
Suddenly there was light, I could hear my own breathing gasping for air, my eyelids felt heavy, I opened them slowly and the intense light made me close them again. I tried several times until I could open them completely. I studied my surroundings. I was in a white room. I had tubes connected to my body. I gathered energy and managed to sit upright, I started disconnecting the tubes with my shaky hands. With every second that passed I felt stronger.
I placed my bare feet on the ground, I was surprised to be able to stand up. I walked towards what seemed to be a door in the room, I placed my hand in the doorknob and opened it.
Fresh air, real fresh air hit me in the face.
All I could see was beauty. I felt more alive than ever. Stronger. Healthier. Powerful. I felt happy, completely, utterly and undeniably happy. I smiled. And that was the beginning.
THE END.
