• It felt like I was waking up on a bright weekend morning. I was warm, wrapped in my huge feather blanket on my soft relaxing Water Bed. My muscles ached throughout my body, as if I had been doing some form of exercise the day before. The feeling was as if I were floating and as if I were safe.

    Unfortunately that was when the reality came to light. Feeling these warm homely feelings caused me to open my eyes. I was hoping to see the sun shining through my bedroom curtains. Instead when I opened my eyes all I saw was the harsh flash of lightening through a tiny window. The windows were small and close to the ceiling. It appeared as though I were in a basement as i could see flecks of dirt and grass growing up from the bottom of the windows. As I peered through the dirty glass I saw storm clouds descending upon the land, further darkening the night sky. Lightening slashed its way across the sky giving a moment of clarity and vision of hills and trees, then left as fast as it came leaving the world in darkness.

    All around me there appeared to be a soft green glow from nowhere. I peered around the room trying to determine the origin of the glow when i noticed a figure hunched over on the floor. It was a boy, apparently around my age by the looks of him, wearing big thick gloves and a large plastic apron. He was on his hands and knees scrubbing at some kind of spill. The floor where he was cleaning was bubbling and seemed to eat away at the polished concrete. The boy seemed to be saying something, angrily, but all I could hear was a muffled sound.

    His hair was a soft pale brown, tousled about as if he had just gotten out of bed, or perhaps not seen a bed in days. He was thin, but not skinny. In the flashes of lightening I could see that his eyes were deep blue, gentle eyes, but there was also an anger blazing in those eyes waiting to strike out. He suddenly stood up and threw his cleaning brush down onto the floor and pushed over the table next to him so that it tipped over and rolled onto its top. After that his rage seemed to subside a bit. The boy in the thick apron dropped into a nearby chair and pulled off his gloves and tossed them into the bucket that was nearby.

    I could tell he was tired as he rubbed his face and eyes, and then sighed and slumped back into the seat. It was now that I noticed the bruise around his eye and along his cheek. He touched it delicately a couple of times as if to assess the progress of its healing. I wanted to talk to him, to say something, but my mouth didn't seem to want to work. I never talked much anyway all through my life. It's just how I was.

    At that moment I began to get curious about a few things. When I had first awoken I felt like I was in a bed, but as I am viewing the world around me I am in a vertical position. In order to see what it was I was sitting, or standing on, I looked down towards my toes. I saw wires and large tubes sticking out of me in all directions and all leading to a panel that was in a circle around me. I also notice I was naked, which caused me to begin to blush furiously. Who knows how many people have seen me in my birthday suite. Unfortunately my embarrassment and humiliation didn't give me the strength to do anything about it. There was a jacket on a chair at a desk in front of me. I reached out hoping it was closer then it looked and maybe I could just grab it quickly, but my hand was stopped only sixty centimetres in front of me. Feeling around I began to determine that it was glass that was surrounding me and that I was in some kind of tube or round tank. I touched my face and found a mask around my mouth feeding me air. I felt sick. I had no idea what was going on. I held my stomach and closed my eyes, hoping for it all too just be a bad dream and that when I opened them I really would be back home on my nice waterbed with the suns morning rays drifting through my window.

    When I opened my eyes again, I was staring straight into the eyes of the boy. He was standing a few meters away from where I was positioned. His expression looked concerned as he looked me in the eyes.

    "This isn't supposed to happen," he said as if he too didn't believe I was really there looking back at him. I shook my head in incomprehension as to the meaning of his words.

    Aren't I allowed to be awake? I thought as he walked toward the desk in front of me, and began to push at controls and buttons.

    "This is all wrong," he spoke again, this time with more panic in his tone. I tried to say I was sorry. To tell him not to worry, I'll just go back to sleep and everything will be alright. Still the words wouldn't leave my mouth. He pressed one final button then pushed the chair backwards slightly and watched me. There was a great 'whoosh' sound as something began to happen in the tank. Soon I notice the glow dissipating as a kind of liquid was draining from around me and I lost the feeling of warmth and floating. I noticed a light begin to flash in front of the boy, then the sound of a door crashing open.

    "What is the meaning of this?" a voice screamed from towards where the door crashed. A man in a white coat appeared from a hallway in the far corner of the room. If this place was a basement I would assume that would be the stairs that led up to the main house.

    "I'm sorry Sir, I don't know what happened," the boy spoke fearfully as the man pushed him out of the chair and sat down in the chair himself, "She woke up on her own."

    "This isn't possible," the man mumbled as the last of the green liquid drained away from my tank.

    My feet finally felt the floor beneath them, but I was too weak to remain standing and crumpled to the ground. The man pressed a larger button and with a 'hiss pop' all the wires and devices attached to me flung off and withdrew into the panels around the bottom of the tank. The wires left behind small round red marks with some sort of hard lump in the middle. I was sore, aching all over. I sat up and looked drowsily at the man in the white coat. He was staring straight at me, glaring almost. Leaning on my right hip and right arm I used my left arm and left leg to cover myself from him as I stared back as best I could.

    "Jake, take notes. Now," the man demanded as he stood up and walked away from the desk in order to see all of me.

    The boy, Jake, jumped into the seat and began typing on the computer. I glanced at him typing a few quick times but kept my focus on the man.

    "Can you speak thirteen?" The man asked me, crossing his arms across his chest.

    Thirteen? That's not my name; I thought and looked at him quizzically.

    "Can you even understand me?" He asked again, this time with an annoyed tone in his voice. I nodded slowly glancing at Jake again, then back to the man. He seemed to be getting more frustrated and frowned deeply at me.

    "Sir, would you like me to conduct the survey?" Jake asked nervously.

    "Of course I do. Don't forget to record everything you discover," he said as he turn and began to walk towards where he had entered in the first place.

    Jake looked back at me and I shifted my position so as to cover myself with both arms.

    "Do we have some clothes for her or something?" Jake asked the man, turning back to him.

    "I thought boys your age enjoyed this kind of fantasy?" the man mocked continuing towards the exit.

    "Usually a fantasy involves a bed not a glass tank," Jake's voice answered back with attitude and contempt.

    The man stopped and looked back at Jake with an angry flashing across his eyes, "Do as you wish with it," and he turned and continued out the room.

    Jake and I stared and watched him until he was out of sight, and even then stared at the place he disappeared through until we heard the closing of the door at the top of the stair case. It felt like ages waiting for the sound of the door closing, and as soon as I heard it I let out a great exhalation. I didn't even realise I was holding my breath until that moment. It seemed that Jake too was holding his breath for the man to go, as soon as the door shut Jake was on the move. He walked speedily towards a cupboard to the side of the room. The door opened on an angle so that I couldn't see what Jake was doing, but it sounded like he was searching frantically for something. When he finally found what he was looking for, he walked towards me holding some kind of material. I was still weak and drowsy, and wanted to go back to sleep, to return to that warm place in my thoughts.

    I watched Jake as he moved around to the side of the tank, to the right of the desk. There I noticed for the first time some kind of three door device that opened into the tank. Jake opened a draw then placed the bundle inside. When he shut the draw the bundle started to move towards me, passed the first door in the device, then the second. When it stopped Jake tapped on the glass in order to catch my attention. I looked up at him and he smiled briefly at me.

    "You need to open it from your side," he pointed to the device, "it's a towel and some clothes. Sorry the clothes aren't the best, it's all we have for some reason."

    I slid towards the device and reached out with one hand, leaving the other arm to cover my chest. I noticed Jake realise with a brief widening of his eyes before he turned around and faced his back to me. I smiled as I dragged myself closer in order to reach the items better. I used the towel he gave me to wipe away the last remnants of the green liquid from off of myself. The bottom of the tank was a bit wet also so I manoeuvred the towel so that it was underneath me. Jake leaned his back casually against the glass and combed his hand through his hair.

    "Harold probably won't let you come out of there for a while yet. Sorry," Jake spoke nervously, trying to spark a conversation. It just made me smile since he should realise I wouldn't answer him. At least now I know the crazy man's name.

    All the materials he had given me where pure white and the towel now had pale green marks on it. I pulled the top over my head slowly and carefully. It was a long baggy top, a size or two too big for me, constantly causing one of my shoulders to be exposed to the open air. My muscles seemed to be aching more and more, So much so that when I tried to stand in order to put on what appeared to be a pair of short shorts or long legged underwear, I kept falling down. I managed to wiggle myself into them in a sitting position before I tapped the glass to get Jake's attention.

    He turned to look at me, still with that worried expression on his face.

    I rubbed my legs with both my hands and gave him a pained look.

    Jake just shrugged in incomprehension. I sighed and slumped backwards.

    "I'm sorry, I don't get what you're trying to say," he mumbled, sighing also. I had to make him understand somehow. He was still looking at me so I started to try to stand again. My legs wobbled and I stood for all of three seconds before my knees buckled beneath me and I fell once more.

    Jake seemed to understand and walked back over to the same cupboard as before. He returned with a small cup containing two tablets, and placed them into the device.

    "It's a combination drug, for pain relief and alertness. You were heavily sedated. That's why you shouldn't be awake right now. I just don't get how you could've gain consciousness all drugged up like that. Probably wasn't the best thing for you to wake up to hey?" rambled Jake nervously.

    I smiled and shook my head, no not really, I thought to myself.

    He picked up a small laptop, half the size of a normal one, and cleared his throat, "there are just some questions I have to ask you, is that okay with you?'

    I nodded but then covered my mouth and held my throat to remind him of my lack of voice. Jake's eyebrows furrowed deeply into a frown. He groaned slightly in thought and frustration. An idea came to his mind for he then walked over to a desk at the far corner of the room. He lifted something out of the second draw, but it was obscured from my view.

    He approached the tank close to the device, "can you at least try to talk to me?" Jake asked.

    What do I say? I thought to myself worriedly, 'Hello' maybe?

    I sat up straight and stared at Jake's eyes. Taking a deep breath I tried to say 'hello' but could only utter a grunted noise. I tried three or more times before slumping against the glass behind me in a sulk. Jake nodded in understanding and placed the object he collected from the desk into the device to give it to me. When it came to my side I opened the device and lifted out the object. It was a small laptop computer identical to the one Jake had.

    Jake sat at the desk with his laptop and I opened the one he had given me. A message appeared on the screen. Jake and I were talking to each other via instant messages.

    Jake C: Is this better

    013: Much better for me =), this way of communicating made his questions go a lot faster.