I Didn’t See Anything

Rain. I can hear the water drops hitting the ground. My hair…soaked. I slowly opened my eyes. I felt severe pain in my head. I had to bite my tongue. This had to be the worst headache I’ve had in a while. I slowly stood up and looked around. I looked down at my shirt and noticed red stains. My hands were also slightly red. I couldn’t recall what happened earlier, after opening my eyes. I could hear some noises but couldn't make out what I was hearing.

“Excuse me, kid. Why are you still outside? It’s past curfew.”

I turned to my left and noticed a soldier talking to me. I was trying to recollect myself. He had a red military suit on. He must be from the Royal Guard. Shit. I had to respond.

“I-I’m sorry, sir. I was just…taking a night walk and wanted to be in the rain.”

I didn’t know how else to respond. Hell, I was surprised I was able to speak coherently. My head was still foggy and the hard downpour of rain was not helping me think straight.

“Look, kid, don’t make my job any harder than it needs to be. Just head home already. I didn’t see anything, alright?”

I nodded my head and proceeded to walk away, until he grabbed my arm.

“What’s on your clothes, kid?” he asked.

I didn’t know how to respond, again.

“Kid, answer me. What are those red stains on your clothes?” he repeated.

As soon as I was about to speak, I saw a man jump over the Royal Gate and kept running away. The soldier turned around and started yelling at the man. The soldier released my arm and ran after him. I just stood there. This was my chance to run, and yet I couldn’t move. I wanted to see what was happening.

“Hey! You there, what are you doing here?” the soldier shouted.

The man tripped on the ground and fell to the floor. I heard glass breaking and saw red liquid coming from underneath the man’s clothes. The soldier got closer to the man. The man was shaking and started yelling at the soldier.

“Go to hell!”

He then threw a handful of the red liquid at the soldier’s face.

“Fuck!”

The soldier fell to the ground and started screaming in pain. I ran up to him and tried checking on him. I tugged on his suit and he grabbed my arm, tightly.

“Kid, please help me! I can’t feel my face!” screamed the soldier.

I swiped his hand away from me and started to back away slowly. His face was expanding. His eyeballs were popping out and his cheeks kept getting bigger. The skin around his head began deteriorating. Lumps were starting to grow around his head and all over his body. After a couple of seconds, he stopped struggling. He was completely still. I looked over at the man who was drenched in the red liquid. He was laughing maniacally.

“The bastard wasn’t compatible! Now it’s my turn, I’m going to become immortal!”

He then took out a vial full of the red liquid and proceeded to drink the whole thing. Seconds went by and the man was just standing there. He still looked normal. What the hell was going on? He started grinning and began to shout.

“I’m finally—”

His body exploded. I just stared blankly at where his body once stood. I didn’t blink once. Am I imagining things? Did I just witness a guy explode? There were too many questions going through my head, and it was definitely not easing my headache. I heard other soldiers shouting and proceeded to run away. I didn’t look back. I didn’t want to look back. I just kept running in the complete opposite direction. I didn’t see anything.

I looked up at the digital clock tower while running and noticed the time.

12:24 AM

I was way past curfew and needed to find the nearest teleporter pad. There was no one else outside. I was sticking out like a sore thumb in the streets. I ran into an alleyway and saw a teleporter pad. I could tell it was one of the faulty pads that can accidentally teleport you to a random location. I couldn’t remember the odds off the top of my head, but I didn’t have time to think. I could hear the soldiers shouting, and I had to get on it. I noticed the keypad with the card reader on it. A hologram of a woman popped up and surprised me.

“Please input your area code and password,” she said.

I didn’t remember either one. Fuck. I checked my pockets and found a keycard. This has to be it. I swiped my keycard on the card reader, and the light turned from red to green. I stepped on the pad and saw a green light glowing under my feet. I closed my eyes, hoping it would take me to a location far away from here. I began to hear a woman’s voice.

“Tom? Where have you been?”

I opened my eyes and noticed I was in a living room. My…living room. I looked over to the woman and realized she was my mother. She ran over to me and hugged me tightly. I could feel her tears on my cheek.

“Don’t ever worry me like that, again. With your father gone, and your brother missing, I can’t bear the thought of losing you as well,” she whispered into my ear.

I hugged her back and apologized. She then grabbed my shoulders and looked straight into my eyes.

“What were you doing out this late?” she asked.

I looked at her and responded bluntly.

“I wanted to walk around the city at night, while feeling the rain.”

She kept staring at me. I was able to keep my composure.

“You didn’t do or see anything crazy, right? Bad things happen during late hours.”

I nodded quickly.

“I didn’t do or see anything,” I replied.

She then let out a sigh and told me to go take a shower. I began to head upstairs to my room. As soon I got to the stairs, I heard my mother call out to me.

“Please don’t end up like your older brother.”

She went back to cleaning the dishes. I continued walking towards my room and looked around. My room was dirty. I recalled what happened earlier and shivered. I hope no one saw me. My luck was way too high today. From escaping the soldiers to getting the faulty pad to somehow work, I needed to calm down and act like nothing happened.

I threw my clothes into the laundry bin and took a shower to clear my head. We were able to upgrade our home to get hot water and it felt good, so good. I can’t even imagine what the higher-section homes have. I finished showering and was able to clear my head. I needed to clean my room as well. I heard footsteps behind me and noticed my mother was by my door. She had her arms behind her back.

“Did you finish your homework?” she asked.

I looked at her blankly. I forgot I had school tomorrow. She sighed.

“Please finish your schoolwork before going to sleep, that’s all I ask,” she said.

His mother closed the door and walked away to her room. She closed the door behind her. She looked down at the shirt she was holding, which had red stains on it. She clenched the shirt and began to sob quietly. She wondered what her son was doing out late that night.

I sat down near my desk and began to start my homework. I had to write a paper about why Germany was so successful during the Great War. It had to be at least two pages. I checked my analog clock.

1:33 AM

This is what I get for staying out so late. Damn it.

A ghostly figure was standing by a wall in the boy’s room.

I noticed a boy sitting near a desk doing some homework. He didn’t notice me. Am I invisible to him? I looked down at my hands. They were see-through. What happened to my body? I was able to think but very limited. I can’t remember what happened to me. I don’t even know who I am.

TWO HOURS AGO

“Doctor, one of the test subjects escaped! What should we do?”

The Doctor looked up from his screen and stared at the nurse. He sighed and began to speak to her in a monotone voice.

“Don’t mind him. Go back to work.”

He turned back to his screen and continued analyzing data. The nurse was still worried and spoke softly this time.

“But Doctor, what happens if he escapes the facility?”

“If he escapes the facility, then the soldiers will kill him. If he drinks the blood, then the blood will kill him. He was a defect, so I could care less about what happens to him.”

“But he stole a dozen vials of blood,” said the nurse.

He stared at the nurse. A cold stare. He told her to leave, and she left the room immediately. He continued to review the new data he gathered on the other test subjects. One of them showed promise with the new blood samples. The Doctor grinned. He hasn’t been this happy in a while.