Chapter 2: Best Day

They finally entered the city, and 9320 was excited and nervous at the same time. The light was almost blinding, but he gazed in amazement at the sky. It was as blue as his mother described. He looked at all the buildings, so many ranging from big to small, tall to short. It was bustling with life, people walking through the streets and sidewalks. Other cars on the road, 9320 got startled when he heard a few honks of their horns. This all felt like a dream to him; his mind raced trying to process all of it.

“It is big.” He muttered. “This is Central City,” Dr. Amber replied, “It’s where we’ll spend the day.” 9320 continued looking awestruck. “This…not real…” Amber placed her hand on my shoulder, but he didn’t turn around. His gaze was too focused on the passing buildings, the passing cars, and the various people walking. “We’re about to get off.” Amber said, and he finally turned to look at her. “Really?” He asked. She nodded, and his smile grew even bigger. The car stopped, and Dr. Amber unbuckled her seatbelt. She sighed, “Well, we’re here.” She went to help 9320 unbuckle, but he wanted to do it himself, and after a minute or two, got it. They opened our doors and walked out. Once they got off, the car immediately sped off, leaving them on the sidewalk. He looked all around, taking in all the sights: Traffic lights, the cars passing, the ground itself…everything.

Amber took out a small notepad from her pocket, “So, I have a list pre-made of activities we’ll do,” She started, “So the first thing is…huh?” 9320 had run off to see, smell, and touch everything. “Ohhhh! Ahhhh!! Ouuuuuu!!!” Every little thing he saw astonished him. Then, his gaze locked on a person…a man walking with a suit and a briefcase. “OHHHH!!!!!” He pointed before running and grabbing the man by his face. “Hello! You are a person! You be my friend?” The man was startled by his approach, his eyes widening with panic. “L-Let go of me!” He said, trying to pull 9320’s hands off. Soon, Dr. Amber came over and pried his hand off the man. “Bad!” She yelled at him, then turned to the man. “I’m so sorry, sir. He’s just a real people’s person.” The man scoffed and walked off. 9320 waved goodbye to the man, then turned to see Amber’s upset expression. “You aren’t allowed to leave my side, got that? I don’t want you to get in any trouble.” She was pretty mad at him. He looked down sadly, “I am sorry. I will not do it again.” She sighed and patted me on my head. He looked up, seeing her smile at him. “It’s alright. I know this must be a lot for you, but let’s just do one thing at a time, okay?” 9320 smiled and nodded, “Okay!”

Afterward, the two went to the first “sigh-t-seeing” place. A fast-food restaurant, she told him. They went inside the building, and the floor had black and white tiles, spinning chairs with red tops, and people dressed in white uniforms with red vertical stripes. 9320, though their clothes were weird, especially the white thing on their heads. A hat is what 9320 remembered it being called. Dr. Amber asked one of the people in white to bring them a hamburger with fries and a soda. “Ham-ber-gurr?” 9320 question. “It’s a kind of food, you’ll see.” As they waited, the wolf boy looked around the building, entranced by the surroundings. After a while, the same person Dr. Amber talked to came back with two plates of their food. He tilted my head in confusion at what it was. It certainly smelled good, but he wasn’t allowed to eat anything without his mother’s permission.

“What is this?” He asked, poking at the bun. “It’s the hamburger,” She replied, “It’s food, you eat it.” He looked up at her and saw her picking it up and taking a bite out of hers. “This isn’t stuff I would normally eat,” She said, covering her mouth, “But today’s your day. So, I’ll bear it.” He looked back down at the “ham-ber-gurr,” then picked it up with both my hands like Amber did, and then took a bite out of it. His eyes widened as an explosion of flavor went off in his mouth. He swallowed it, “OHHHH!!!!!” He shot up and shouted, “SO GOOOOD!!!!” People all around looked at them with confusion. Amber laughed, “I had a feeling you would like it. Now, sit back down so you can finish it.” He nodded and sat back down to continue eating this amazing food. Far better than just salted steak with water. That reminded 9320, the person who brought our food had also brought this dark bubble-filled water. Amber told him it was soda. Specifically, cola. He took a drink of it, and it fizzed in his mouth. The taste was so good, he gulped it all down in one go. He ate a fry, it was crispy and salty, and 9320 tossed all of them into his mouth.

After that, she took him to a very large building with tinier buildings that she told him was called a ‘mall.’ Then, they headed to the park. That was 9320’s favorite, playing with the pets that were there. Of course, other people there looked at him, confused. Amber simply smiled and laughed. The two went and got another new food. Ice cream. 9320’s was green with little slices of almond in it. Pistachio was what Amber told it the flavor was. He bit into it; it was cold, and it hurt his head, but it was really good. Finally, Dr. Amber decided to end the day by eating their ice cream and sitting at the beach. 9320 was very excited by that because he knew that was where the ocean was. They sat in the sand, looking out at the ocean. The water was a deep blue, seagulls squawking as they flew through the sky. The sound of the waves crashing against rocks and the shore soothed 9320; he could listen to it for hours.

“Today was so amazing!” 9320 told her, finishing his ice cream. “Yeah…” She responded, keeping her eyes on the ocean. She looked down for a moment, her expression slightly saddened. “Mother, what is wrong?” She snapped out of it, turning to the wolf boy. “I’ve been forgetting to do this, but I’ve been meaning to give you a name.” She said. He looked at her, confused, “I have a name. 9320.” Her face became sadder, “That’s not your name. I mean a real name.” She replied. “Oh...well…what name do you want me to have?” he asked, and she looked at him a little surprised. “Really?” She asked, and he nodded. Amber looked back down, “Well…how about…umm…Ferral?” 9320 looked at her for a second, then smiled, “Yeah, sounds cool. My name is Ferral.” She looked back up at him, staring intently at the boy, then gave him a warm smile.

“Well…Ferral, I want you to know something. Something important.” She started. “Yes, mother?” “One day you’ll leave your home…that wretched building. When that time comes, I want you to live. Live to laugh, love, and be free…” He looked at her, confused about why she was saying this. What is love? What is it to be free? Amber continued, “Everyone sees you as some monster, but I know that’s not the case. You are a kind, caring, and fascinating human being. You are NOT a monster. One day, the Organization will see that.” Her face slowly melting into sadness, tears started to well up in her eyes. Ferral never really saw this happen to his mother. For some reason, it hurt him, made his heart hurt. She took a deep breath and wiped the tears away from her eyes, then got up. “Come on, it’s time to go back.” She said. Ferral replied, staying in a good mood. “Okay!” He got up, and the two started walking back to the city.

As they were walking, Amber continued to look somber, but Ferral didn’t know why. About halfway through our walk, he got distracted by a butterfly and tried to catch it. Dr. Amber was too distracted to notice and continued walking. Once she made it to the area where the car was supposed to pick us up, she noticed that he was gone. “Ferral?” She called out, “Ferral!” As she tried to find him, a steel gray car pulled up in front of her. One of the doors opened, and someone got out. Amber’s eyes widened…filled with fear.