The doors behind us open and Purity is brought in. They lay him gently on the floor and I rush over to him. He’s still breathing, but his eyes keep vibrating. “It’s okay Purity, these people are going to help you.”
Just as I soothe him the floor clicks and opens. A box forms around him and blue lights go back and forth. I bang on the top, it opens and a protrusion knocks me off my feet. More noises come from the floor and straps lock my extremities down until a box covers me. A vacuum snatches away all of my clothing. I attempt to free myself but the restraints glue me to the floor. “Help?” I scream to no avail. Lights move up and down my body. A piercing pain explodes in my brain, and I convulse. Then it stops the box recedes and I lie there naked as the day I was born. What was that?
As the shock slowly fills conscious thought, I crawl over to Purity who too is fully naked. He lifts his hand. I stop. The other hand raises, and then his knees bunch. He turns his head towards me and for a moment just stares. Purity smiles so bright, my heart doesn’t know what to do. He pushes himself to his knees. His eyes stay on mine as we crawl to one another like two tigers greeting.
“Thank you,” Purity says.
“You’re better?” I ask.
“Like never before.” He remains grinning. I want to touch his face, but he touches my hand. A feverish warmth grips my gut and below. I don’t know what to call it, but its pain and euphoria and I want more of it.
“Separate!” A voice shouts and we bulk away from each other. The both of us scramble to our feet. Even though there are clicking noises coming from the floor and a wide opening appears. I cannot help but look at Purity in all of his glory. He does not shy away from my gaze, but returns it. Fire thrives in his expression like a need to consume. An invisible string snares us and he smashes his lips to mine. Nothing touches but sensual sensation. “I said separate!” The voice hollers again. Purity slowly draws away and gives me an amused look. My face warms and I look down to the side. He kissed me, someone kissed me.
A man and a woman sit in large gold chairs. Their hands rest lazily on the arms of the chair and they glare at us through their masks. The slim man in tight fitting white suit stands up. “I don’t know who you are or where you come from, nor do I care. You have landed in my world and therefore you belong to me.” He begins walking down the steps. I see nothing but Purity. “It proves my theory there are more of us out there.” He stops in front of me. “You, whatever you are, are not welcome in Serenity.” He turns to Purity and I touch my lips. “You my boy, may eat at my table. It has been a long time since I’ve seen such an unpolluted genetic makeup as yours.”
Purity moves away. “Saved is my friend. We stick together.” The man frowns.
“Forgive me son, I gave you the impression that you had a choice. That is not the case. Choice is how the Great Cleanse occurred, we gave too much freedom.” He pulls Purity to his side. “There is no reason to remain among pollution if you can avoid it.” Purity attempts to twist out of his grip but I shake my head. We don’t know what these people are capable of and he just got a second chance at life. A life that his actions show could include me.
The man mounts his mobile floor and the two of them gaze at me. “You are a defect, here at Serenity we weed out all impurities,” the woman says looking at me. With that the ground underneath me opens and I free fall. No fear quenches, no anger arises, all I can think of is that single kiss. So when I crash into the ground there is no pain or confusion, I’ve been kissed. The lights dim, numbness follows, but emotions prevail. I readily succumb to whatever is packaged.
Chapter 10
“Get up!” Someone shouts in my ear. “Get up!” I hear even louder. My eyes open then shut after the bright light burns them. Is this the Universe? Something slaps me across the face and I jump off of the table I had been lying on and land in a crouch on the floor. Its cool solid touch feels like places on Earth. Slowly but surely I adjust to the pristine light. A girl with waist length silver hair has a beautiful green eye and a blue eye. Her dress hugs her curves and flows around her feet. “It’s about time you woke up,” she hisses. “You show up and disrupt all of my hard work and then expect to sleep through it.” She steps forward and I stand up. I tower over her by a good four inches. “I am not having it.” She looks up at me. “What’s your name?” No aches complain or pain blames. There is nothing to suggest I’ve just smacked into a solid substance.
“Saved,” I answer while trying to figure out what is going on. “Is this heaven or the Universe?”
“What a stupid name and even dumber question.” She crosses her arms over her chest pushing them out a little further. “You’re not dead yet. You’re still in Serenity.”
I chuckle at her miffed expression. I can’t help myself. Her rosy lips pucker in disbelief. Where am I? “If you say so; is yours any better?”
“Of course it is. My name is Asorra.” Why didn’t I think of that?
Now that I realize Asorra is a champion of the mouth and not of the fist, it suddenly occurs to me that I’m stark naked. “Do you have clothes for me?” For some reason it doesn’t particularly bother me.
Asorra stares unabashedly at me for a few moments then turns around and walks through a door that opens when she gets near. I follow along behind her out into more whiteness. Periodically doors with a smoky covering appear. “What’s your crime?” Asorra asks.
“Excuse me?”
“What did you do to piss off the High Councilor and his wife and get sent down here?”
She rounds a corner and I try to keep up. “I don’t know, he said something about me being a defect.” We pass five doors before we stop in front of a door. “How do we get out of here?” All this white is making it difficult for me to formulate any ideas about anything. It’s seems to be blinding my inner chi as well.
“You don’t,” she says while waving her hand over the screen. It beeps and she signals for me to do the same. “This is your room for the remainder of your life.” She turns away from me and begins walking. She stops and glances once more. “Just so you know, I see nothing repulsive about you. I’ll be back in fifteen minutes.” Asorra disappears around a corner leaving me smiling and falling into my room. Did she just compliment me?
The room is all white with a white bed and white walls. There are white clothes in a drawer and a screen that makes noise, but I don’t care about how odd these things are; or how advanced this world is. All I care about is finding Purity, making Asorra my friend and, getting everyone to the island. To do that I need a bigger boat and I think I know just the person to show me the right door. Despite the fact that I’ve been thrown down a pit to meet death and awoke to a ferocious beast known as a girl, today’s been a miraculous day. Now it’s time to return the favor. There’s no way the Universe didn’t send me here.
I step outside of my room just as Asorra comes into view. “Good, now you can make-up for your intrusion,” she says. I follow her foot prints to the letter.
We enter a circular room that is filled with large screens. Each one shows a different area. Along the bottom are boards with the letters of the alphabet lined up in three rows. People with various defects sit around the twelve tables pushing the letters down. There is a girl with no arms using her feet to complete her work.
“Princess?” A man calls. His left ear is missing. “Mr. Chase and Miss Holden are getting near again, shall I avert them?”
Asorra storms forward and clicks a button. The events on one of the smaller screens appear on the larger central screen. A very dark complexioned boy is walking slowly towards a pale red head. They circle each other smiling but do not say anything, nor do they move away. “Argh!” Asorra roars. “When will these two learn? They are never going to be together.” Asorra turns to the man. “Cecil, write; good evening Mr. Chase, Good evening Ms. Holden. Return to your separate homes.”