Material/Material

Who am I?

When someone asks who you are, what should you tell them? Is it a characteristic? A feeling? The things you like or enjoy? The way you look or are referred to as, or is it something else altogether?

There wasn't anything memorable about me, nor did I particularly like anything. All that was left of me was this burden of a body that others seemed to care way too much about. Maybe it was my lack of care towards it that had led me to this point. Who am I? 

A simple question shouldn't be so difficult.

"Don't open your mouth to speak, they're watching," the voice rang softly inside my mind. It had playful nature to it, so much so that it almost put me at ease if I wasn't stuck inside an echo chamber. The boy stared at the both of us and flickered his eyes above, signaling towards a window panel with a group of people in lab coats with suits underneath them. The one that stood on the very far left by himself glared at me intently and I immediately knew from the metal on his ears and the black streaks that ran across his face, that I should stay as far away from him as possible. A horrible chill coursed down the end of my spine. 

"What is this place," Daiya trailed off as she ran her finger along the baseboard of the white wall. "There are walls, and something to restrain us in here, but it feels like there isn't anything here at the same time. Ugh, this is making my head hurt..."

A loud sound went off behind us and before we could realize, the door shut us in and disappeared. 

The boy continued to look at us and watched our every move with curiosity. All there was in this room were the chains restraining this small boy who sat cross-legged and the window that studied us from above. What remained was white. My footsteps became gunshots, and the rattling of the binds holding the boy down sung eerily in the atmosphere. 

"Not bad! It's an image projection. It's a real room if you believe it is!" the voice played off in my mind again. Was it this boy speaking to me? "Even though, these chains are real, that sucks. Who knows how long it's been,"

Daiya kneeled down toward the boy and sat cross-legged in front of him. She went to shake his hand but remembered he was in chains and the boy just laughed. "Hehehe, what is that? A custom where you're from? That's cool, I like it. Where are you from? I have a feeling that I know you, hehe!"

"So, it is y-"

"No talking out loud, okay?!"

How were we supposed to talk if not out loud-

"You can. It's the same as, hmmm, you know, like, I don't know! Thinking!" the boy interrupted my thoughts. "All you have to do, is talk, but don't! Just think it!"

He heard what I said in my mind, what I was thinking. Just who is this boy?

"Nu-uh! I asked you first. Fine, I'll tell you, but you have to tell me next, deal?"

"Wait, hold up, hold up. So, I can hear Reia's thoughts as well, and mine, but not yours," I heard Daiya's voice ring in my head. "That doesn't seem fair, now does it. I'm Daiya. But I'm sure you already knew that."

"Yup. Well, it's my game. So, I can do whateever I want. Hehe," the boy laughed.

 And you?" he looked at me. I noticed that he was wearing a white shirt that covered his arms and white pants that covered his legs. He's the only person I've ever seen without a suit on. Underneath the cuffs of his shirt and pants, large cuts revealed themselves to me. "What's your name?"  

"Reia. What kind of game is this?" I thought in my mind. It was weird and definitely something to get used to. 

"A game where I can hear what you think, and guess what you'll say next!" 

Daiya looked over at me with some sort of contempt, then turned away. I guess she still doesn't want to speak to me. It's natural, but it still hurt. I don't know why.

"I can hear what everyone is thinking!" the boy said, "That guy, the scary man with the lines on his face has no thoughts. He never thinks! He's weird! The other people are wondering what we are talking about. They say they see brain activity but can't make out the speech patterns!"

"Ho-" I heard Daiya's voice cut off.

"How do we know if what I'm saying is true? Hehe, I win!" the boy looked towards me, "You're not thinking. I like you! This is gonna be fun. I haven't had fun with anyone else before. Okay, that time you won. What do you want to know since you won?" the boy sang in my thoughts.

"What?!" Daiya exclaimed.

"If I can't finish your sentence, you win, and I'll tell you one thing you want to know! If you lose, I won't!" the boy smiled and looked at me, "Your turn."

"Are you the same as me? Do you know who I am?" I asked him. I can presume that we were put in this room for a reason. A tingle sounded off deep in the pit of my stomach. It started to twist and turn and form knots in my gut. It felt right.

"Hmmmm, no. I don't know who you are. But they do," he pointed upstairs to the window, "Your turn," he looked at Daiya with a wide grin. 

Why was he looking that way? A person in those cages' downstairs flashed me a look like that. What could that mean?

"You didn't answer h-"

"You didn't answer my question!" the boy yelled loudly in my mind. I felt my head shake.

"No, actually, I was going to say her question," Daiya smiled, "Ha, you lose. Who are those people in those cages' downstairs, and those workers in that factory? Why are they there? Where are we?" Daiya asked the boy.

"I don't wanna answer!" 

"That's not fair, you lost! It's your stupid game, follow the rules!" Daiya said to the kid, and it must've been something he didn't like because it was the first time he looked down to the floor. An expression I knew all too well.

"Look, I'm sorry. That wasn't nice of me. But you have to understand, we're scared. We don't know anything. We just want to get out of here. Don't you, too?" Daiya spoke inside my mind while rubbing her arms, "I used to be in a room like this," she rolled up her pants to show the same scars he had on his legs, "I know what they do to you. And probably the people downstairs too. It has to do with Experience, doesn't it?"

The boy's eyes lit up and frantically started pulling at his chains, shaking them to let off a sound of metal scraping metal, "Relax, relax, we're not with them," she pointed above, "How about this? Let's just start with your name and we can play whatever game you want, okay?"

He slowly started to ease on the pulling and let his hands fall down back to the side. He inhaled deeply and took a breath; closing his eyes, and exhaling it through his nose, "Okay," he whispered to both of us, returning to his playful voice.

"The only name I've heard them call me is Experience III," he laughed.

"Hehe, so what game are we playing next?"

***