Tears of Gold

Venus, like the planet

"Venus, you need to focus."  A woman's voice says in the silence of the lab room. I nod, but my but my mind is elsewhere, my thoughts drowning out her voice. I hear a frustrated sigh as a hand rests on my shoulder, causing me to jump and spin around.

"Sorry." I mutter, looking down at my shoes to avoid her piercing blue eyes. "I just..." I trail off, shrugging my shoulders. She tilts my chin up, forcing me to look up at her. I feel my eyes sting with tears and humiliation as she stares at me with a cold expression on her face. 

"You just what?" She demands, raising an eyebrow. 

"I just wanna know what it would be like to be one of the other kids. They seem so happy. They all have each other. They're friends. I wonder what it would be like to have friends, that's all." I reply after a moment of hesitation. I force myself to hold back my tears, knowing that the woman in front of me doesn't like when I cry.

"You have Thomas, Teresa, Rachel, and Aris. Those are your friends." She says, letting go of my chin.

"I know, Ava. I'm sorry." I mutter, looking down and grabbing my left arm with my right hand.

"Those four are your equals. The rest of them are our Subjects." I nod, barely even paying attention to what she's saying. My mind is imagining what it would be like to be playing with the other kids my age instead of being cooped up in a lab room all day every day. I wonder what it would be like to laugh and tell jokes with them; what it would be like to be a normal kid for once.

"Venus!" The woman snaps, causing me to snap out of my daze, my head snapping up to meet hers once again. She sighs again, clearly frustrated with me. "What am I going to do with you?" She asks, more to herself than me. I look down at my shoes again, a feeling of disappointment washing over my body. "Go to your room. I'll have a guard escort you to dinner in a few hours." She orders.

I nod and walk out of the room, feeling the woman's icy stare on my all the way out of the room. When I'm finally out of her sight, I look around to make sure no one else is watching me. When the coast is clear, I make a beeline down one of the hallways, already knowing where I'm going to go.

Once I finally reach the doors, I take a deep breath, smoothing out my clothes before opening the door. I smile as I see all the other kids my age sitting in small circles together playing games. They're all laughing and telling jokes, not even aware of my presence. I take another deep breath before walking over to a group of six boys, tapping one of them on the shoulder.

The boy turns around, furrowing his eyebrows when he sees me. 

"Hi." I say, sticking out my hand. "I was wondering if I could join you guys." The rest of the group looks up at me, eyebrows furrowed and their heads tilted.

"Who are you?" One of the boys asks, his blonde hair cut neat and short. His green eyes are kind and welcoming.

"My name's Venus." I reply, offering him a smile.

"Venus, like the planet?" 

"I guess." I shrug, brushing a loose strand of hair that had fallen out of my two braids away from my face. "So, can I play?"

"Are you new here? Why haven't we seen you around before?" A boy with funny eyebrows asks, narrowing his eyes. 

"No, not new. Just haven't had the chance to introduce myself." I say with a smile. The boy scoffs and shakes his head, looking away and down at his hand of cards. "I'm sorry, did I say something to offend you?" I ask, tilting my head. The boy shakes his head, but doesn't look up at me.