Armbands (Chapter 2)

Three Requests

The next day I sat in the car next to my mom holding my small bag of belongings as we drove to the Transport office. It had taken far too little time to collect my things since I wasn’t taking any clothes with me. I had a pathetic amount of things to take with me, all in my little drawstring, cloth bag. 

I had my diary, a family picture, my sketchbook, my pencil case, and a small flashlight. Everything else I had left home told I wouldn’t need it where I was going. In my hand I held a small, smooth, stone a bit bigger than a quarter. I had made it in my art class once and had taken to rubbing it in my hand whenever I was nervous. 

I looked out the window at my town as we drove by toward the Transport office. I wish I had more information about what would happen. It scared me how little I knew about it. I didn’t even know how we would be transported much less where.

We turned a corner and the Transport office came into view. It was a large, white building that had a lot around the side that was surrounded by chain link fencing. My mom turned into the parking lot out front and parked the car. 

My mom looked over at me and I saw that her eyes were rimmed with red which told me she had been crying too, or was on the verge of it at least. 

“I have something for you!” She said reaching into a bag on the floor. She pulled out a small book and gave it to me. The outside was made of soft,brown leather and on the inside were lines of blank paper.

“A notebook?”

My mother nodded. “No one knows what happens where you’re going” she said taking my hand, “It’s a mystery, just by going through those doors you will be seeing things no one out here has ever seen. I want you to use this notebook to write down everything that happens once you leave. Figure out what’s happening,solve the mystery!”

I clutched the notebook in my hands. Figure out the mystery. Find out what’s happening and why I have to leave. Maybe I could find a way to get the information out so other people would know what to expect when their tests came back positive.

“I’ll try”

My mom smiled pulling me into a hug. “I love you Megan, always remember that.”

“I love you too mom” I said, more tears coming to my eyes. 

Finally we let each other go, wiped our eyes and got out of the car. I held my mom’s hand as we walked in the front doors to the Transport office. The room was full of families-most of which were crying- there to drop off their kids. There was a short line at a desk to the left that my mother and I got in. To the right of the desk I could see the doors from the video I had watched. The doors no one came back from. The doors I would go through.

We got to the front of the line and my mother gave the woman at the desk my name and she checked me in on a computer. “Paisley will take you back whenever you’re ready” The woman behind the desk said motioning to a woman with dark brown hair standing by the door. Paisley waved at me and smiled, I nodded back nervously.

My mother led me aside. “Alright Megan, your mission is to go through those doors and find out what’s on the other side.” she said as if we were in a spy movie. “But, there are two rules that I want you to follow, one is don’t do anything that will get you hurt, stay safe, and two is come back. You come back to me, Megan! I don’t care when, I don’t care how, but you come back! Alright?!”

I pulled my mom into a hug and held on as tight as I could. “I’ll come back mom.” I whispered tears coming to my eyes. “I promise.”

I finally made myself let go and stepped back wiping my eyes. 

“You ready?” My mom asked.

I nodded too afraid to speak.

My mom motioned over to Paisley who had been quietly watching us. She came up to us and put a hand on my shoulder. I turned away from my mother and walked with her toward the doors.

I tried to stop myself from looking back at my mother knowing I would probably break if I did but I couldn’t and looked back at my mom standing there knowing the image would stay with me forever no matter what happend.

In front of me the gray, metal doors loomed,no one knew what was behind them. No one that was,except the ones who went through them and never came back. I took a deep breath. The doors opened automatically revealing the hallway beyond.

I stepped through the doors into the hall; the doors hissed shut behind me and I suddenly felt terribly alone and fought back my tears and the fear swelling in me. Through the door I could hear someone start sobbing. I knew without question who it was. My mother was as alone as I was.

***

I felt Paisley’s hand tighten on my shoulder as if she expected me to run.

I tried to focus on my breathing to stop the fear swelling in me. I didn’t want to be here,I didn’t want all the uncertainty of the situation. I felt my body tense up even more than it usually did (which was a lot) and tried to force myself to relax but my body and mind weren’t listening.

I let my feet move me and looked down at the ground as Paisley steered me where she chose while my mind went into hyperdrive spinning out worst case scenarios ending up with my mind spinning in a loop of thoughts.

Please don’t hurt me! Please don’t hurt me! Please don’t hurt me! Stop,Stop STOP!

I felt like screaming or crying or falling to the ground and curling into a ball until I could calm down. Back at home when feelings like this happened I would run off into my room and hide until my mind was able to calm down;but here I had nowhere to go. 

I gripped my small rock in my hand tightly focusing on its cold surface. I closed my eyes focusing on breathing deeply and relaxing. Stop! Relax I whispered to my mind you’ll be alright,everything will be fine, you’ll be alright...

Paisley led me into a room with white walls and closed the door behind her. In the room there was a cushioned chair and a wooden table with a paper,pencil, and a kleenex box. She motioned for me to sit in the chair;I sat pulling out a kleenex and wiped my eyes and blew my nose. I wasn’t worried about messing up any makeup because I hadn’t worn any, I knew I would end up crying at some point.

“Please fill out the worksheet in front of you and then we can start” Paisley said motioning to the paper.

Start what? I looked down at the paper in front of me and read. 

‘Each patient who enters our program is allowed three requests that are always to be followed in all engagements with said person. Under no circumstances are these to be violated in any way by any member of our staff.’

My heart lept inside me. I had a choice in something! I had some control! There were lines on the paper for me to right down my requests. 

Three requests I thought breathlessly Three promises that won’t be broken.

I knew what the first one would be immediately. To not get hurt. I quickly wrote on the first line: I am not to be harmed by any person or device. Then thinking of the tests and the fact that I might have a disease I added to the end. Unless absolutely needed for health purposes. 

I leaned back wondering what my other two requests should be. I felt my books in my bag pressing into my back and remembered my mother’s mission for me. To find out what was going on here. I thought about how to phrase it and wrote down my second request. 

You are to explain to me any process to be done including the why,how,and what.

At the thought of my mother tears sprang to my eyes again and I fought them back. An idea jumped into my mind for my last request. It was outlandish,and possibly unthinkable given the secrecy around everything,but I wrote it down anyway.

I am to be allowed at least one email home a week and am to receive all emails sent to me from my family with no alterations to either.

At the bottom of the page was a signature and words saying that the document was approved by the highest level of authority at the program. I pushed it across the table to Paisley who examined what I had written. She read my requests giveing me a pitying look and then stamped my paper. She stood, walked over to a computer and held up my paper. There was a flicker on the screen and a picture of my paper appeared on it.Paisley typed some things on the keyboard and the computer beeped. 

“Follow me please.” she said standing and going to the door. She led me down the hall and through another door to a hall with doors on either side. She motioned me into one of the small rooms to the left and told me to wait there for her.

The room looked just like examination rooms in doctors offices that I would go to for checkups. A padded table was by the wall with white paper on top of it. There was a sink on the other side of the room and a desk with a computer on it.

I sat down on the padded table the paper crinkling loudly as I shifted my weight. I moved my cool rock through my fingers switching hands letting the cold, smooth surface calm my nerves. 

The door opened and Paisley walked in wheeling a strange device on a pole with wires hanging down from it toward the ground. I clutched my hands into fists nervously my fingertips feeling like ice on my palm. When had my fingers gotten so cold?

Paisley had me lay down as she got a piece of wax paper with round electrodes stuck to it. As I layed on my back my breath caught in my throat as pain erupted in my back and turned my head toward the wall next to me to hide my grimace. This wasn’t new, it had been happening to me for months though I had never told anyone about it. I took some deep breaths slowly letting it out as my muscles relaxed bringing a bit more pain before relaxing completely, the pain leaving as my muscles came to a rest.

Paisley walked up to me holding the paper with electrodes stuck to it. She pulled one off and stuck it to my temple. Then pulled off another and put it on the other side continuing until I had four on my forehead and many more stuck to other parts all over my head. She wheeled the strange device with gray wires over to me and started connecting them to the electrodes she had put on.

“These won’t shock you like the things in movies” she said with a reassuring smile “they just measure brain waves.”

I let out a breath I hadn’t realised I was holding. The electrodes felt a bit strange,not bad, just strange. The cold of the adhesive on the edges that stuck it to my skin mixing with a strange, warm, tingling feeling in the middle. 

Paisley walked over to the computer and pulled some things up as the thing the wires connected to started beeping. She typed some things on the computer and watched a series of lines that appeared on it from my scan.

I started thinking trying to figure out what was going on. There had to be a reason people had to leave. The Transportation center was just the first step in something, we went somewhere after this. Where would we go? What would happen there? Why did no one return? Why was it so secret? If what was going on wasn’t bad why would it be kept so secret?

What if it is something bad? What if people never come back because they aren’t allowed to? What if everyone that leaves becomes a prisoner,or worse?! What if the conspiracy theories are right? 

I gripped my rock in my hand focusing on its smooth surface trying to calm my mind,taking deep breaths blocking the endless string of thoughts. 

Focus! I told myself What has happened to prove that something bad is going to come? Nothing. I may not know what’s going to happen, but that does not mean that whatever it is will be bad. 

I glanced over at Paisley to see what she was doing. She had a lot of different scans with the wavy lines and seemed to be comparing them to the one that still had lines appearing on the screen. My scan.

Even if what it is ends up being bad I still have the requests. They can’t hurt me. 

That thought brought me a bit more stability,even if everything went crazy with this I wouldn’t get hurt. How do you know that though? A part of my mind whispered If things go downhill and things are bad what’s a piece of paper going to do? 

I sighed not responding to the thought instead staring up at the ceiling tiles counting them to distract me. A few more minutes passed in silence,I counted the ceiling tiles to occupy my mind trying to stay in the present and stay away from the uncertainty of the future.

Twenty one…twenty two…twenty three…twenty four…

Paisley stood up from her computer and went over to the device the wires connected to turning it off. It stopped beeping. She had me sit up and she started disconnecting the wires from the electrodes wich were now cold. 

“You can pull the electrodes off now” She said going over to the computer and looking at something. 

I touched my face finding the electrodes on my temples and pulled them off. It felt like pulling off a bandaid. I stuck the two together and ran my fingers through my hair searching for others. I pulled one off my head wincing as it pulled my hair. Paisley finished with the computer and went to a drawer pulling out a sheet of red plastic and ripped a plastic armband off it. She fiddled with the band and then walked over to me as I was pulling off the fourth of what felt like thirty electrodes on my head.

“Do you want some help?” she asked with a smile seeing my obvious struggle with the electrodes.

“Uhh..yes, please” I answered timidly.

Paisley put the armband down and started gently pulling off the electrodes. She was much faster than I was and eventually I gave up letting her do the rest as I stuck the electrode stickers together. In two minutes she had them all off. 

“Can I keep one of these?” I asked holding up one of my groups of stuck together electrodes.

She shrugged “Sure, I’m throwing them away anyway.” She picked up the red armband. “You’re right handed,right?”

I shook my head, a smile coming to my face. “Nope. I’m a lefty.”

She smiled. “That’s why I ask, usually it’s the right but every once and a while you get a Lefty” She took my right arm and snapped on the wristband. It was bright red and like the kind you get at the hospital that is impossible to get off without scissors. There was a plastic tag in a slot that had my name,birth day and,today’s date. 

Paisley went to the door opening it. I took this as a sign that it was time for me to follow. I put my two electrodes in my pocket and swung my backpack on hopping off the table. I followed her out the door and down a hallway. We turned a corner and came to a line at a table where some men were searching people’s bags.

A security check. I thought. This was probably why no one had any video of what happened even if they managed to sneak in a camera. 

Paisley led me to the end of the line and motioned for me to get in. I stepped into line another kid getting in behind me. Paisley gave me a smile and a wave;then turned and walked back around the corner out of sight.

I tensed feeling the fear of being alone again. With Paisley there I had felt like there was some sort of stability and direction to what was going on. Now I was lost in my own uncertainty of what was happening. The same way I had when I went through the doors.

What’s going to happen to us? Where are we going? What if I never see mom again?

I put a wall up against the thoughts and tried to find something to focus on. I looked at the line ahead of me,there were six people ahead of me. At the front of the line there was a table where the bags were searched and another station off to the side where people got pat downs.

Five I thought counting the people in front of me to distract myself.

Three people in line tried to hide their phones. One,a girl with pink highlights tried hiding it in her pocket but was found and the phone was confiscated. The next person trying to hide theirs was smarter stuffing the phone down their bra so they couldn’t get to it ,but was found out during the pat down.She was taken off to the side until she reluctantly handed the device over. The next person who tried to smuggle a phone through the check was a tall muscular boy with brown hair. He had hidden it in a pocket of his backpack,thinking it was a secret.

“Give that back! Its mine!!” The boy yelled angrily at the man searching his bag.

The man in white searching the bags held the phone out of the boys reach. “Sorry son but it’s for your own good”

“That’s my property you have no right to take it!!” The boy said slamming his fists on the table with a loud bang. I was impressed with the man’s bravery as he didn’t even flinch,setting the phone far away and leaning closer to the angry boy.

“Listen kid,I have-uff”

The boy raised his right fist and punched the man in the face in his anger making the man stumble back. I saw a look of triumph in his eyes mixed with his rage. Two other men in scrubs came up to the boy and grabbed his arms dragging him away from the man. On the boy’s left arm I saw that he had a green wristband similar to my red one.

I glanced at the person in front of me as the line went ahead there was only one person ahead of me the girl in front of me had a red wristband as well. I glanced behind me and saw that the person behind me had a blue wristband.

What could the colors mean? They must mean something. 

I looked forward and saw the man was motioning for me to come forward. I slipped my bag off and walked upto the table. The man smiled despite the bruise he had on the left side of his head.

“Hello, what’s your name?” he asked kindly as I handed him my bag.

“Megan.” I replied

“Hello Megan will you turn out your pockets for me?”

I took out the electrodes and turned my pockets out to show I had nothing in them and showed him my rubbing rock that I had in my hand. He motioned me toward the men doing the pat downs and I stepped up holding my arms out to the sides as I had seen the others do. I clutched my rock tightly in my hand against the strange feeling of people touching me as they patted me down searching for hidden phones. I glanced over at the man searching my bag.

What if they take my notebook? What if I don’t make it through the check?!

The man put my bag on the table behind him and the searchers finished their patdown motioning for me to pick up my bag and go to the door. I picked up my bag and hurried through the door into the sunlight beyond. 

For a moment I was blinded by the light and had to stop blinking to get my bearings. I spotted a man next to a school bus waving for me to come to him. I went over to him and he helped me into the bus.

I stepped up and looked down the aisle for an open seat. The bus was full of other kids that got their Tests back positive. I spotted one of the girls who had tried to hide their phone crying in a seat,when I got close she looked up glaring and I continued down the aisle. Out of the corner of my eye I saw the boy who had punched the bag surcher and I gave him a wide berth. Finally I found a bench without anyone on it and sat down by myself next to the window.

I looked in my bag to make sure everything was still there and found everything still in their places. I pulled out the notebook my mom had given me,a pencil and opened it to the first page. 

This book belongs to Megan Willington.

I turned to the next page and put down the date then started to write everything that had happened.

I got my letter yesterday that said that my Tests came back positive. Today I have gone to the Transport center. I had to say goodbye to my family and friends and my old life. Before I left my mother gave this book to me with the mission to record all that happens to me so that is what I will do today and onward as things change around me. 

I said a tearfilled goodbye to my mother this morning and followed a woman named Paisley through The Door in the Transport center. She led me to a room with a paper in it that she had me fill out. It said that every patient that goes into this program is allowed three Requests that are never broken by anyone employed by the program. These were mine.

1. To not be hurt by any person or device unless it is absolutely essential for health purposes.
2. To have every process explained to me including-

“Can I sit by you?”

I looked up startled to see a girl with long black hair and bright green eyes looking at me nervously.

“Umm…yeah, sure.” I said nodding to the girl. She sat down on the bench next to me putting her backpack by her feet. I glanced at her right arm seeing that she had a red wristband too.

I continued writing down my three requests.

Including the why,how and what.

3. To be allowed at least one email home a week with no changes in either the messages I get sent back or the ones I send out.

I closed my book and looked over at the girl sitting next to me. 

“Sorry” I said blushing “Just had to get that down before I forgot it. What’s your name?”

The girl smiled. “Vinessa, what’s yours?”

“Megan”

“Nice to meet you. If you don’t mind me asking what were you writing down?”

I thought for a moment,should I tell her about the notebook? Or keep it to myself. 

She’s like me were both new in this, It’d be good to have a friend in all this.

“I’m writing down everything that’s happening” I said quietly to her. “My mom told me to figure out what’s going on here so I’m putting it all down in case I forget it or something happens.”

Vinessa smiled. “Sound’s cool! Do you need any help?”

I was excited by her quick offer to help me in my mission. Maybe it was the fact that it was something mysterious and exciting,though like I had found in myself thinking of what was happening in terms of a mission or mystery took away a bit of the fear of what might happen to us.

“Yes, but first. How do you spell your name?”