Ego/Ego

I hate my body. 

I still do.

I feel like something sentient stuck inside a suit with flesh all around it. Waiting for the day I can peel it off and become something new. I still couldn't bring myself to gaze upon it for long as I caught a glimpse of it on the light of the steel door.

 I knew avoiding these feelings would serve me no good, but it's all I wanted to do. Open my eyes, look at my distorted reflection and see something different. I still didn't know how to overcome them.

But this time, I'm okay with it. 

I'm okay with finding out who I truly am. What does it mean to not hate who you are? Is there something else out there, another thought, feeling or ability that could reverse it? I always assumed I could never change, but I am. I could feel it.

I am changing. 

***

I put the key inside the door and for a moment, I hesitated. That stark image of that person's head being blown off by that man appeared in front of me. I didn't want that to be my fate either. 

So, those people worked day in and day out, to provide materials for above ground. Were they the ones who resisted? Why were some working, and others behind a cage? And even Aylis had mentioned it was for a goal that was above her. What could it all be for and why was I relevant?

"Hey," Daiya awoke me, "Open the door. I want to get out of here as soon as possible."

"What's behind the door?" the boy questioned.

"You've never been here?" 

"I only left the room a little, but once I accidently used my powers on a scientist, they chained me up and I never even left," he pouted, "They called me stupid."

"Oh, well. I don't know how to explain it-

Suddenly, a blaring siren went off that made me cover my ears. A slivery voice spoke into the intercom as the alarm kept ringing. 

"Shift Change. Shift Change. All current workers return to your cells. All current workers return to your cells. Shift begins in 5 minutes...Shift Change..."

It was an eerie voice. I couldn't tell if it was programmed or not.

"Hurry, open the door!" Daiya grumbled, "I think I have an idea."

I turned the key to the door and immediately was hit with a smell of burning metal. All the workers scattered around the work floor under the florescent green light that hung above. A crowd of workers ensued as they abandoned their workstations and put their equipment down. All of them headed towards a single room in the corner directly in front of us.  The air was suffocating. I see why we had to wear masks.  

"Cugh, cugh, cugh," 

"I... can't" Experience III covered his mouth as he kept coughing.

We would have to get a mask to blend in but how?

"Reia!" she whispered to me over the machinery, "Open that door!"

I opened the door and immediately she threw 3 workers inside the white chamber from where we came and closed the door behind us. She punched one of them in the face and took their mask off. He had a distorted face like the prisoners. 

"Sorry, I'm going to need your masks," Daiya shrugged. 

"Woa-what the fuck...where is this place, wait, wait, wait! Where are you going?!" He put his hands up, "Who are you people? I swear, we're going back to our cells!"

All three of them stood at the edge of the platform that rose above the stairs and put their hands up. Slowly, they removed their masks and revealed their glitching faces as well.

"We're going to our cells, please!" one of them begged, "Please...we'll go back to our cells," one of them grabbed on to Daiya's legs but she kicked them off. 

"Get off me! We're not going to do anything to you. We're just trying to get out of here..." She looked up at the alarm on the wall. The siren continued to blare.

"Shift Change. Shift Change. All current workers return to your cells. All current workers return to your cells. Shift begins in 3 minutes...Shift Change..."

"This shit's messed up. Just give us your masks and-"

"We're going back to our cells! Please-"

"Shut up," Daiya gritted through her teeth, "That siren is going to end in 3 minutes, and we'll all be dead. Either make us three more masks or stay here and give us yours,"

"We're not allowed to do th-"

"Then we'll take yours-"

"Okay, okay, okay, huh...huh...huh, I can do that." He breathed heavily and got up slowly. 

The man removed his gloves and drew three masks, three pairs of gloves, and three white hazard suits from thin air. Each one of us grabbed a suit, mask, gloves and swiftly put them on.

"Take us to your prison cells, please." I asked them as I opened the door, letting them lead the way in front.

"Hehe, this is fun!" Experience III exclaimed.

There were hundreds of workers with white suits and white masks that scurried in a large glob toward the single room in the corner. Green lamps hung atop of the hundreds of workstations, illuminating it just enough to be able to see through the slit of the masks. We followed the three workers in front of us through the crowd and blended in the mix. 

"What is this place?" Experience III spoke to Daiya and me within our minds. 

"Who knows? It's like a death camp..." Daiya responded.

We waded through the pack of workers, until we finally made it to the door where everyone filed in. Something in me wanted to turn around. As we finally crossed the threshold to the door beyond, I looked back and saw the floating clock that suspended itself in the air.

10 million/10 million

100 million/100 million

# of Work-related incidents: 1,001 persons of interest

"Shift change end. Shift change end. All workers assemble to your stations. All workers assemble to your stations...Shift change end..."

***