The Mind Games

1 - The Sapling

First, being a Gray sucks.

Why? Because we're all stuck in mirrored rooms. All alone. We rarely speak to anyone.

The only other people we talk to are the scientists and their techs. If you can prove that you're not so dangerous that you'd kill anyone who came into contact with you, you'd get to talk with the techs a bit, if they weren't afraid of you. Rumor has it a lot of times Grays go mad and start talking to themselves.

Some of the techs came into to talk to you, but everyone's favorite techs came in to talk with you. Those are everyone's favorite. Sometimes they even brought other children.

Every child is taught the "Gray Rules" before they are allowed to even come near us. The rules go like this:

1. If a Gray does not want you there, you leave immediately.

2. If the Gray becomes hostile you, leave immediately.

3. You do not touch a Gray, and the Gray will not touch you. (I mean, it's not like we want to go through your memories.)

And the rules are about like that. Fairly simple. But it's so rare anyone comes in to see us.

Grays can only destroy what they can see, so all the surfaces in the room are mirrors. The roof, the floor, the walls. Everything.

I mean, that alone is enough to make a man go mad. Now put kids in the age group of 9-15 in there. It sucks.

I hear a tap on my mirrored door, it's not like I say anything, because whether they come in or not is not up to me.

"Andrew?" A familiar voice asks.

"Yeah?" I sigh. I don't see anyone behind the tech, so it looks like I'll be testing this time.

"Chamber 315 today, I'm sorry," the tech pokes her head into the room. She's not apologizing for the chamber, but for everything.

Grays are thought to have a very high IQ. So they like to make us do puzzles, like giant mazes, or real puzzles.

The automatic doors slide open, as Cami leads me to the chamber. Cami is the name of the tech.

"This one is new," Cami says sadly, "so it'll be one of the harder ones."

"Alright," I say dully, "Thank you." I enter the chamber. Whenever I escape the room I am held in, I constantly expect to see myself, and when I don't, I am as surprised as someone who doesn't have to see themselves constantly.

The chamber is empty, and the automatic doors slam behind me, and I know there isn't any way I'm getting out unless they say I'm done.

The room has all white walls, and roof, and floor, but the white surfaces have small white bumps for traction. Expect- this time, there is small sections of the room with smooth gray areas instead of the white bumpy surface. There is a small raised platform in the middle with an object on it.

I completely bypass the object in the center, which I know is what the scientists want me to interact with, but I dash over to the gray patch of floor in the rightmost corner. I slide to it on my knees and rub my finger against it.

Metal. I run over to the other one.

Carpet. What? I spend several minutes running from gray surface to gray surface. I return to the carpet, as it is the softest surface, and I haven't felt carpet in three years.

The patch of carpet is just big enough, that if I curl up really tight on my side, I can lay on it. I do so for a solid half an hour.

I decide I should get up, considering I will get food after this, I need to finish whatever they want me to do. I see a small white camera, camouflaged in with the wall, looking at me.

I have a sudden urge to explode it, because I don't like people watching me, but I catch myself. Destroying anything at this point, accidental or not, would return me to the dangerous and unpredictable category. Which, is bad, because those without company, well, it makes a man mad...

I retreat to the object in the center. I don't understand why they don't expect me to remember what it is.

It's a small thin object. It has many limbs coming from different directions off of its skinny little brown core, and limbs coming from the limbs. They branch out in all different directions, and they have cute little green things coming from the brown limbs coming from the core.

I smile at the small sapling. It's so cute. I immediately love it. I reach out to touch it, and I feel the smooth wood of a tree that is not able to produce its protective skin yet. I touch the baby leaves, gently.

I remove the sapling from the pedestal. It's in a light brown clay pot, and the soil inside the pot is so dark brown, in bad lighting it would look black.

I carry the small plant over to the gray carpet. I sit on the carpet with my legs crossed. I adore the plant for a very long time.

I hear the doors open, "Okay, Andrew."

My head shoots up. It's Cami.

"You're done."

"The sapling," I say. I want to keep it.

"Sure, Andrew," Cami says kindly, "It's a sapling. A baby tree. What about it?"

"I want to keep it," I state firmly.

Cami looks sad and sighs, "But you can't keep it."

"Why not?"

"Because I said so."

"Okay..."

"Bring it to me on your way out, okay?"

I stand up sadly, defeated. I just wanted to keep the tree. Is that too much to ask?

I bend at the waist, and I grab the little tree. I look at it with defeat. I never hurt the plant.

I bring it to Cami, who takes it away from me, "I'm so sorry," she whispers.

We walk back to my mirrored insanity, and she opens the door. I enter with my head hung low.

"Here," she says, handing me the pot, "Take it. You earned it. I am your full-time scientist now, so I am the only one who should be coming in to see you. If anyone else does, say that I'm running another test on you outside of the chambers, alright?"

"Congratulations," I smile, and I take the little tree. The sapling will be my friend. It will keep me company.

I return to the room, with my baby tree in hand. Cami shuts the door, and I sit down on the mirrored surface. I put the tree in front of me.

And I smile.