You Said We Were Best Friends.

Chapter 2 - Hawkins Lab

It was a random morning when I remember waking up, but my eyes still shut. I felt weird, cold, and different.

"Good morning, three" Papa said.

"Where am I?" I asked.

"Home. you're home."

I opened my eyes to see his face. He looked so sweet, so comforting. I still had no idea why I was there.

"Are you a doctor?" I asked.

"Sort of. My name is Dr. Brenner. But, you may refer to me as "Papa." he answered, smiling.

"Why am I in the hospital?" I asked again.

"So many questions!" he said. "Sit up, let me do a few tests."

I sat up, but realized my head felt weird. Bare.

I felt my head and it felt bald. I had a buzz cut.

"Where's all my hair??" I asked, nervously.

"We had to shave it for you. Come, let me take your temperature." he said.

It was awfully quiet and sketchy in there. I felt very scared.

After he did those normal doctor tests on me, he told me to follow him into a different room. The room read "003."

It was a small room. There was a bed and a desk.

"Sit." he said.

I sat down on one of the chairs by the desk. He plugged in a few wires to a weird device, and then placed something around my head.

"What is this?" I asked.

"You'll find out soon enough." he said.

I just sat there, shaking. I was terrified of what might happen next. Where were my parents? Where am I? Who is this man? What's my name?

Oh my god.

What's my name???

"Hey, sir?"

"I told you, refer to me as papa" he said, while writing down something on a paper.

"What's my name?" I asked.

He looked at me with a strange stare, grinned, and said "Three. You're name is Three."

"No it isn't!" I said back.

"Your memory is foggy, I know. You just need to listen to me. Trust me, okay?"

"Fine."

"Okay. Now, close your eyes. And if you see something, tell me what you see."

I closed my eyes. It was dark. All black.

"What do you see?" he asked.

"Nothing." I said.

"Try harder, try to look for my paper."

I didn't know what he meant, but I still tried. What if this was important? Maybe for my memory. Maybe by doing this, I would be allowed to go home.

I tried My hardest. And eventually, I saw a red stripe. But it went away after a second.

"I saw a red stripe!" I said with excitement.

"Okay! You're getting there. You're very close." he said. "Open your eyes."

I opened them. He was smiling at me.

"You're doing very well for your first day." he said.

"My first day?" I asked.

"Let me show you something." he said as he was taking that machine off my head.

But then, I felt my nose running. I wiped it with my hand, but there was blood.

"Oh, my nose is bleeding! Can I have a tissue?" I said.

"No, it's okay. Get used to that. It will happen often. It means you are making progress."

I was so confused.

"Come." He said to me.

I followed him into the room with two doors.

There was a lot of rainbows on the walls and floor.

There was another kid with a shaved head, and a teenager with all his hair. They weren't speaking. One of them were drawing, and the other was trying to hit a certain number.

"This is the rainbow room. You'll be spending a lot of time in here."

"A lot?" I asked. "How long am I staying here?"

"Don't worry about it. Go talk to them, they seem lonely." he said. "I'll come check on you in a little bit."

I walked up to the kid with the shaved head.

"Hello. What's your name?" I asked.

He looked at me, as if I was crazy.

He showed me his tattoo, on his wrist. It said "002."

"Your name is two?" I asked.

He nodded his head.

"Hey, you can talk to me if you want. My name is..." I paused for a second. "My name is three."

Then, I looked at my wrists to see if I had a tattoo.

I did.

It read "003."

"Why do we have numbers on our wrists?" I asked.

"I don't know." he said. "Go bother number one. Maybe he'll have the answers."

"I'm sorry." I said.

I was guessing number one was the other guy in the rainbow room.

I walked over to him and sat by him.

"Hello. What's your name?" I asked.

"My name is one." he said, smiling at me.

He was very handsome. And he had a soothing voice.

"Cool! What are you doing?" I asked.

"I'm trying to get the number 3. Papa said I'd be meeting number three today, so i've been trying all day." he answered.

"Oh! I'm number three. Look!" I said, showing him my wrist.

He sighed.

"That's not something to be proud of" he said, whispering.

"What?" I asked.

"Nothing." he said. "Did you try anything with papa yet?"

"What do you mean?" I asked.

"Did you do any experiments? Like with the machines?" he asked.

"I think. I mean, I guess. He told me to look for his drawing. I saw a red stripe, but then my nose started to bleed." I answered.

"That's a lot of progress, three. You're gonna fit in great here. This is your new home." he said, smiling at me.

I smiled back.

My new home?? What does he mean?

I guess I live here now?

Well, if I do, it can't be that bad. I mean, number one looks happy. He's very nice too. Maybe I could get used to this new home.

But first, I want to get to know number two.