Bullets

What is the Matrix?

This is different from getting expelled from school, this is way scarier. I've been confronted with death, have some tracker attached to me, and now I'm meeting a stranger in my computer.

Under the bridge, there was someone else standing there. The closer I got, the more familiar he became.

"You!" He yelled first.

"You!" I said back. "I knew it...I knew it was a trap."

"Did you lure me here!" We yelled in unison.

"What is going on?!" He yelled back, pushing me up to the wall. "Are you tracking me?"

"I was told to come here by my computer!" I say, innocently.

"So was I!" Thomas said.

"Uhh!" I screamed. "What in the world is going on!"

"You tell me!" Anderson said. There was a long, awkward pause.

"Don't worry about me. I'm not going to give you away to them. Not willingly, at least."

"You're one of them."

"Not anymore." I say.

"What happened?"

"You did. I was waiting for out next target and then, they put this in my neck."

"What is it?" Anderson asked.

"I don't know, some kind of tracker I think."

"I think they put one on me too." He said, leaning against the wall and looking down the road. "Here comes someone."

I looked, and he was right. There was a black car, similar to the one the Agents drove. The door opened and the woman scooched back over. "Hop in."

I glanced over at Thomas. "Ladies first." He offered. I nodded, climbing in first. It was cramped when everyone was in.

"Ouch. That looks pretty painful." The woman said as she looked at my collarbone.

"It is. Those agents betrayed me and stuck me with it."

"Betrayed you?" She questioned.

"Mhmm." I hummed.

"Neo, lie back, lift up your shirt." The woman said. He did as instructed and while I sat in the middle, she pulled some...thing from his stomach. It flopped around in the vile.

"Okay, eww. That's disgusting."

"Your turn." She said, her fingers moved swiftly across my collarbone. "It's connected with a strong magnetic pull. If we grab a hold of this piece, we can pull the other magnet from under your flesh. This is going to be harder than I thought. We're gonna have to operate when we get there.

"Operate? Can't you use one of those security magnets that stores use for their tags?" I asked.

"It wouldn't get the magnet out from underneath your skin. It would only take the one attached to you. We have to get underneath to get them both out. So unless you want a huge hole in your chest...you'll wait."

"Magnificent." I sigh.

After a while of driving we found ourselves at a large building. "We're here." The woman up front said. "Trinity, you take Neo, we'll take Natasha and get her settled in for the operation." I followed nervously, bit obediently.

"Let's take her to him first. Whatever she decides we can take it off afterwards."

"Good idea." She said. We climbed a flight of stairs for a while and when we arrived, the woman shook my hand. "Go ahead in when you're ready."

After a deep breath, I opened the door, peaking inside. There was a man there. "Hello, Natasha, I've been waiting for you." I looked him up and down. Black sunglasses like the rest of them. He wore an all black suit. It's jacket reached all the way to the floor.

"You have?" I asked.

"I wondered how long it would take them to betray you." He said.

"What are you talking about?"

"You know, what I'm talking about."

"The agents." I say. "What do they have to do with you."

"You may have heard otherwise...but they're your enemy. They want to brainwash you and make you one of them. We're lucky we got you out within those minutes. They were coming back to do just as I said." The man said.

"Why should I believe you?"

"Why did you believe them." The man countered. "Sit, Natasha." I followed his directions.

"I'm pretty confused," I say. "Just a week ago, I was a normal young adult, running around, going to parties, paying taxes...what happened?" I asked, crossing my arms.

"The agents." He said. "They found you helpful for the moment. You were vulnerable enough to easily believe them. But it's not like it would have gone any differently had you said no."

"What would have happened had I said no."

"They would have taken you into custody and captured Neo that day, we wouldn't have had as much time to track you two down." He said.

"So what I did was good?" I asked.

"No. What you did didn't have an impact on the situation."

"But didn't you just say you guys wouldn't have found us as quickly?"

"I didn't say we wouldn't have found you. It doesn't mean that it meant that was a good, or bad situation. We would have found you and gotten you out. Even if you hadn't left tonight."

"So why am I here?"

"You have a question for me, Natasha."

"What is the Matrix?"

The man I now knew named Morpheus smiled, and went on to explain the Matrix to me.

"So, if I'm in the matrix right now, wheres my body in this real-world you're talking about?"

"In a growing chamber, along with a collection of others. When you awake in it, we will bring you onto our ship." He said. "I leave the decision to you. Take the blue pill, and you'll wake up, thinking whatever you want. Or, you can take the red pill, and join us."

I made the decision quickly, picking the red. This was probably a dream anyway. I was curious about this...what would it hurt.

Morpheus smiled after I swallowed the pill down with the water.

I was directed out of the room. And into a new room where they already had a chair set up. I sat down, and turned my head away from the tracker. "Just do what you're doing and get this over with. The woman, Trinity, knelt in front of me.

"Hey. You okay?" She said.

"Dont tell me what you're doing, just do it." I say, squeezing my eyes shut.

"She's nervous." With some personal reinforcement, they started again and I held tightly to the chair arms. "Its okay. You're gonna feel a little punch, but then you'll go right to sleep." I felt hands run through my hair. I leaned into the hand. "S'okay." She assured.

I kept my eyes closed as they stabbed me with various needles, and numbing. When I opened my eyes again, Trinity was stitching up the scar.

"Genuine question...is that scar gonna be there in the Matrix?"

"Well have to see." Trinity said, with a light smile. "For now, take a deep breath, this is going to feel very strange."

I dont remember much after that. But there was a shattered mirror that fixed itself. In my awe, I hadn't realized I touched it and that it's goo had stuck to my finger. That was one of the last things I saw.