The White Room

“Of all the labs you have been to, this one is peculiar. Dangerous even.” 

Maggie, my boss and my best friend rummages through her desk drawers in search of something. As stressful as the situation is about to become, she’s composed. Kind of.

“I’m sure it will be fine-” 

“And that’s where it gets dangerous,” she interjects. “You have to be aware of everything the entire time: your surrounds, what you consume-” 

“Don’t drink or eat anything that they might give me,” I roll my eyes. For as long as I’ve been in the ‘business’ one would think that I knew how it would go.

“Exactly.” She pulls out a small paperclip and holds it up to the light, inspecting it. “This will go in your journal. It is the best tracker I’ve got right now considering that you have to be in the car in ten minutes.” 

I nod and swallow down the bubbling fear. Working against the government has never ensured me or anyone I work with, a long happy life. We lost two agents last year to Officers who know how to do their job. The rest of them are quite stupid, but this lab is different. It could be the answer to so many questions and my main mission is to find out their purpose. 

“Character check,” Mags slides the paperclip onto a random page in my soon-to-be notebook which has been filled out perfectly so that I will fit the part. 

“I am Reece Leonidas, a journalist from Area 4, and have just come from the Falcon Lab, the cloning center at the premises of the city. I am interviewing and investigating labs around the country about their service to the civilians and will be writing an article on the best of the facilities,” I pause and squint at Mags, “that sounds so stupid just so you know.” 

She leans back in her desk chair and shrugs, “Phil wrote it.” 

Phil, her assistant will get us all killed. 

Of course he did. 

“I looked it over Willa. Okay? You know what to do,” Mags smiles. “You’ll make it out.” 

“I always do.” 

Silence envelopes the distance between us for a moment, the soft ticking of the clock on the wall behind Mags being the only thing I hear. “I’ll get the information,” hesitating, I continue, “Promise.” 

—----------------------

For whatever reason, saying goodbye to Maggie this time was harder than the other times I have taken jobs. Perhaps the rut I’ve been in has been a little too hard to get out of. Sometimes it seems that we are getting nowhere and I’m convinced this journalist job will be evidence of that. 

The hummer speeds along the road, too quiet for my thoughts. I need to talk to someone, “Ernie? Do you even like driving us around?” An old man to be working for Maggie, usually we have a life expectancy of 30 or 40 years. The government has sensed rebel groups for a while now and is getting good at eliminating us. 

“I do.” 

“A man of few words,” I joke.

His eye meets mine in the rearview mirror, his pupil a deep black against his crystal gray iris.

“Well, considering how I lost my eye to working for Mags, and considering how I’m still working, I do quite enjoy my time with ya’ll,” he pauses as if to continue but he doesn’t.

He lost Stellar last year. She was like a daughter to him and was Maggie’s best agent. Yet, out of the people we have lost, it is only a small number compared to the number of people that disappear around the country every year. Even though my family and I have not seen each other for seven years, it hurt to find out that my youngest brother, Max, was among those reported missing. 

The way it goes with Maggie is that we are either all in or dead. Once you decide to be all in, Phil hacks the government software and sends the short and callous message to their bands. Willa Thatcher died at 11:42 pm on Wednesday, August 16. There is never an explanation or a funeral held afterward. You die and life moves on for the rest of the world. That is how the government likes it and how it has always been. My ‘death’ was truly the only way I can properly do my job to this day and I am grateful to all that Maggie has done for me.

“We’re here, love.” The Hummer comes to a gentle stop in the empty parking lot of a burned-down building so that Ernie’s Hummer won’t be picked up by any cameras. He turns in his seat to face me, “I’ll pick you up three miles from here. Looks just like this. You have two hours to do your job.”

I nod and reach out to squeeze his hand. “I’ll see you later, Ernie,” I turn to gather the leather backpack with the journal inside. “Also, Maggie told me you will have the tracker linked to the Hummer?” 

“Yeah, all set-” 

“Great, it’s six blocks from here, so I’ll walk the rest of the way,” I open the door and step out of the vehicle and Ernie pulls away as I smooth down the white blouse and the plaid green pants. 

I look around. While Area 8 isn’t the most luxurious of Hallis, Area 5 makes our country look like a dump. It was an eleven-hour drive by the Hummer which reached speeds up to 200 miles per hour on the speedway once it linked with the circuits, making this my first time here. 

The city is similar to Area 4, with tall glass buildings and skyscrapers with minimal windows. Small stores dot the outside of the city and sit on the first floors of many towers. The sideways are cracked and the streets are tight. The gray sky looms overhead and paints everything a foggy white so I have to squint my eyes as I walk. I have voiced my concern to Maggie that I have to get a better prescription but either she doesn’t care or doesn’t have the time. Probably the latter, but that’s one of the things that annoys me about her. She works too hard for people that don’t even care. They are all robots at this point and the government running Hallis knows exactly this.

I turn down a street where I have to walk two more blocks. Hummers race past me and carry a hot wind. The pollution is horrible and our world is not what it used to be. Maggie has shown me pictures once.

“Ma’am?” 

My hand instantly shoots to the side of my hip where my gun is under the white blouse. Spinning around quickly I come face to face with a young girl about my age. She has short blonde hair that falls just past her shoulders. The girl’s clothes are clean and pressed. She looks like she is from Area 10. 

Her eyes bags are horrifying and her lips tremble as she reaches for my arm, “Have you seen a man about my height? He has blonde hair too,” she points to her hair and starts to pull on my arm. “I got here a couple days ago. He’s my dad. We look the same. We were walking and then he just vanished-” 

I stop the girl, “I’m sorry. I can’t speak with you right now.” Pulling away, I turn from the girl and leave her behind. It hurts my heart when I do but I remind myself of what Maggie always tells me, you are making a difference. You are working with me and Phil, Ernie, and our other agents to pave the way toward a better future. Persevere, Willa. 

When I finally get to the lab, my stomach twists and spins in circles. The building is a blinding white square, perfection at its finest. I start up the black cobbled path to the glass doors, walking in and being met by a man in thick-framed glasses at a long desk. It stretches from one side of the lobby to the other and a wall behind him hides the secrets of the lab from outside view. 

“Sir,” I nod in respect and walk up to the desk.

He looks up from tapping on his flatscreen, “Reece Thatcher?”

My heart drops into my stomach. “Yes, how did you-” 

“She has been waiting for you.” I think his eyes flash a warning but I can’t tell under the scrutinizing gaze he gives me. “You can come through the door to the right to have your personal belongings inspected.” 

A hidden doorway in the wall opens up and my flats clap gently as I walk through to the back desk. The man in the thick-framed glasses rolls over on a wheelchair and asks me to set my bag on the table behind the counter. He pulls out each of my belongings, the journal and the pens, searching the pockets and the bottom of the bag, the straps and the zippers. This lab is no joke.

As he hands back over my bag, he holds on just for a second too long so that our eyes meet once more. Yet again, there is a warning. I force a smile, “Shall I head back now? I have many questions for my article.” 

He presses a red button and another doorway appears. Without another word, or contact with the man, I walk through the door to an empty and pristine white room about ten feet wide on all sides. Turning, I see the doorway close quickly and my heart rate intensifies. Stay calm, Willa. Each lab has a different security checkpoint, and this just may be it.

Except that, it’s not because a silver fog starts to creep in from the corners of the room. It starts to fill the air just like the pollution outside. I try not to breathe and hold in a breath as it comes down over and around me. My lungs are burning and I let out a breath of air and suck in the fumes. My hands start to prickle and my eyes feel heavy. Willa, stay calm. Willa! It’s like I can hear Maggie’s voice in my ear. Then Phil’s, Maggie loves you so much. You’re the best now that Stellar is gone. Then Ernie’s, I do quite enjoy my time with ya’ll. Then there’s a voice that I haven’t heard in years, my mothers. Willa, come home.

Voices fill my ears as my head spins. I think I’m going to be sick and clutch my stomach just as everything goes black.